How to sell my BMW – the ultimate guide

BMW has long been one of the most desirable car brands around. Known for high-quality engineering all housed within sleek design, if you have a BMW to sell, Motorway can help!

• Value my BMW
• Do BMWs hold their value?
• How to sell my BMW?
• Can I sell my BMW online?
• Where’s the best place to sell my BMW?

Value my BMW?

Used BMW resale values depend on mileage and overall condition — if your BMW has been in for regular servicing and/or hasn’t been driven much, you’ll get a better price than one that has been neglected.

Since BMW is reliably one of the UK’s most popular car brands, and known to be high quality, they tend to be popular with car dealers and private buyers alike.

Depending on your BMW model, you can make an informed estimate about the sort of returns you can hope for. To stay up-to-date on your BMW’s ongoing value, try our new car value tracker tool.

Do BMWs hold their value?

BMW is one of the top-selling car brands on Motorway. Based on our sales data, we can compare the depreciation rates of the 1 Series, 3 Series and 5 Series. 

The 3 Series, a D-Class compact car with a median new purchase price of £32,800, dropped less value in the first two years than the other two models. Two-year-old BMW 3 Series sold on Motorway for an average of 84% of their original price, whereas 1 Series sold at 77% and 5 Series 76%. 

This could either suggest that the model inherently holds its value better than the others, due to market demand, or that they are typically sold in better condition than the 1 Series (a C-Class executive car) and 5 Series (an E-Class executive car). 

When sold at five years old, the 1 Series (with a median original purchase price of £30,100) drops more value compared to the other models, fetching on average 38% of original purchase price, compared to 50% (3 Series) and 48% (5 Series).

But, at five years old, it’s the 5 Series (with an original purchase price of £41,500) that sells for the lowest proportion of original price, fetching just 18%, compared to the 1 Series at 21% and 3 Series at 20%.

These depreciation rates are very typical, with the highest drop taking place in the first two years. The best way to preserve your car’s value is to keep it well maintained, including servicing.

Read our guide to learn more about how best to care for your car, to keep its resale value as high as possible.

How to sell my BMW?

There are plenty of ways to sell your car, but, naturally, we think there’s only one answer if you’re asking ‘where can I sell my BMW?’ and that’s right here, with Motorway. Before we tell you about our hassle-free way to sell your car, let’s look at some of the other options you might be considering.

Private buyers

Private buyers have a lot of things going for them, most notably, the possibility of a higher selling price should you find a particularly enthusiastic buyer. That said, the sheer amount of admin can quickly eat into your extra earnings. Selling privately will likely involve listing fees so you can advertise your car for sale. Then you have to deal with time wasters and lots of back-and-forth with multiple would-be buyers. And at the end of it all, you might find you’ve been scammed when your payment falls through.

Dealers

Apart from the obvious inconvenience of having to drive from dealer to dealer to look for the best price (all while clocking up your mileage) dealers may not always offer the best price. This is because they’ll base their valuation on all sorts of variables such as their own stock, their understanding of the current market, the local demand, and so on. Motorway changes this so that dealers can buy your car from anywhere in the UK, and have to compete against one another for your car, so they can’t be complacent when it comes to making an offer.

Scrap

An option you can always turn to if your car is well past its best and unlikely to attract a new buyer. Scrapping your car can get you some money back if you don’t think you’ll be able to sell it on. Motorway works with a scraping partner who will collect your car right from your home.

Can I sell my BMW online?

Of course! There are plenty of options for car owners looking to sell their BMW online, all able to be arranged with a few clicks. There are a few things you might want to look out for, though, including:

• Collection fees
  This is when the dealer charges you to collect your car.
• Admin fees 
  These are usually based on your car’s valuation, so for high-end cars like BMWs you can expect them to quickly add up.
• Forced drop-off
  You’ll be made to drive your car to a dealer or designated drop-off spot, costing you time, money, and energy as you have to arrange your own way home.
• Forced inspections pre-offer
  Some car-buying sites will require you to drive your car to them so they can inspect it before making a valuation — this can cost time and money, as well as clocking up your mileage, and they may not make you the offer you want in the end, either.
• Commission
  Whatever price your car achieves, some selling sites might want to take their cut.

Where’s the best place to sell my BMW online?

Motorway, of course!

If you’re thinking about selling your BMW quickly and easily, at Motorway we offer a simple — and completely free — method of getting the best price when selling, whatever the model.

Just enter your reg on the homepage and you will be provided with an instant estimated sale price based on up-to-the-minute market data. We’ll then ask you a few easy questions about your car and guide you through the photos you need to take to complete your vehicle profile. It can be done right from your phone — in a matter of minutes.

If you choose to enter your car into a daily sale, it will be shown to our nationwide network of more than 5,000 verified dealers looking to add to their stock of used cars. Interested dealers will then compete to buy your car, offering you their best price.

In as little as 24 hours you will receive your best offer — and, if you choose to go ahead with the sale, your car will be collected for free by the dealer and the money will be quickly and securely transferred to your bank account.

Thinking of selling?

Want to learn more about selling your car? Check out more of our guides here, covering the most popular cars on the road, from Ford to Ferrari, Audi to Mercedes, and everything in-between.

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Car scrappage schemes
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