Massive Apparent E30 Market Price Increase

[Shock(/\)ave]

I was browsing through the inventory of Enthusiast Auto while discussing recent E30 M3 pricing with my dad tonight when I came across this:

http://enthusiastauto.com/id/4731.html

I was stunned: a 1990 325is with 40,000 miles on it that wasn't originally owned by somebody really famous just sold for close to $30,000. I could comprehend this price if they were just sitting on the car, but it just sold.

Is this seriously where the upper end of the market is on these cars right now? A few months ago this was lower mileage E30 M3 money...

[Xat1cZ]

Unless I'm missing something that ad says "Sale pending" and it might aswell have said so for the the last 3 years..

[Ray Smoodiver]

Lol asking price does not equal sale price.

[Shock(/\)ave]

Unless I'm missing something that ad says "Sale pending" and it might aswell have said so for the the last 3 years..

I've been keeping an eye on their inventory fairly regularly, and when they have a car listed as "sale pending" it nearly always sells and disappears from their inventory a short while later.

Lol asking price does not equal sale price.

True, but they aren't known for selling their cars at much of a discount. Even a $10,000 discount would make this a $20,000 car, and I still find that amazing.

[Nick_S]

That dealership is known to often ask outrageous prices for cars too.

[nrubenstein]

Enthusiast Auto and the rest of the market have a disconnect. They sell difficult to obtain cars to people with more money than time on the premise that you'd have to spend months, if not years looking for an equivalent car. It's a good business if you can carve the niche out for yourself. And the reality is that just by existing and buying up many of the nicest cars, they lock in a lot of that market.

That they are now selling regular (very nice) E30s is more a reflection of just how hard it is getting to obtain them. Honestly, it's a lot harder to find a cherry 325is these days, IMHO, than an M3. They are all getting driven into the ground. And since they are cheap, many people (like me) have spare E30s, and others have been parting out every E30 they can get their hands on. Between that and cash for clunkers, well.... I watch craigslist in our area a lot, and the inventory is a lot less than it used to be.

[GillesBigCowboy]

Maybe if i show my wife this thread she will let me buy more e30s....?

[E30 Wagen]

and others have been parting out every E30 they can get their hands on.

Hate these fucking assholes.

[goldenbb]

Not sure how many E30s bought it because of Cash4Clunkers, I think mostly SUVs like Ford Exploders and those Awful Dodge abominations, Durango? ate it pretty hard. The parting out stuff kind of bugs, me, too, but the auto market is in a complete glut with new cars competing with used cars and except for enthusiasts, nobody wants an E30, you can't hardly give away an eta, so what are you going to do except junk it or part it out and then junk it? It's their property, they can dispose of it how they like.

Oh, and yes, driving cars into the ground is typically what Americans do because few people can be bothered to really maintain something mechanical. It's all part of our cultural collapse. Poor people just trash everything and rich people buy new at the first sign of trouble.

[reelizmpro]

I can see maybe 12-15k, which is probably what eag paid. As mentioned, they are good at finding these cars , cleaning them up and advertising them. They have done all of the work for those with more money than time.

[freeride53]

Have these guys actually sold any E30's at these types of prices?

[ClayW]

This kind of crap has been going on in the 2002 world for years.

Aside from the aforementioned niche-carving, it is rumored that dealerships like this one will often jack up prices with fake sales to push the market up for certain cars, so they can sell at exorbitant prices. It's like hedge-fund managing.

They probably bought this car for $12-15K, cleaned it up did a few minor repairs. Then they keep it's price sky-high, along with everything else they sell. Eventually, someone with more money than brains thinks they're getting a deal on a rare car.

All that being said, unless you get an agreed-upon value for it, that thing will only be worth $7-9K in insurance value.

[slammin.e28]

Hate these fucking assholes.

I do this with e28s, trying in vain to make mine worth a mint in a decade or so.

I will make bank one day, mark my words.

[agent]

Isn't the increasing value of E30s a good thing for those of us who already own them?

[nrubenstein]

This kind of crap has been going on in the 2002 world for years.

Aside from the aforementioned niche-carving, it is rumored that dealerships like this one will often jack up prices with fake sales to push the market up for certain cars, so they can sell at exorbitant prices. It's like hedge-fund managing.

They probably bought this car for $12-15K, cleaned it up did a few minor repairs. Then they keep it's price sky-high, along with everything else they sell. Eventually, someone with more money than brains thinks they're getting a deal on a rare car.

All that being said, unless you get an agreed-upon value for it, that thing will only be worth $7-9K in insurance value.

Your logic is backwards. Eventually somebody who values their time more than their money comes along. Let's be realistic here: if you have $30k cash to spend on an E30, you're probably an accredited investor. Finding an equivalent cherry E30 today and not paying the EAG premium means spending how many months, and traveling how far, and putting how much effort in? If you're billing a few hundred bucks an hour, it generally makes more sense to pay someone else to get that car for you.