Value of a 95 e36 M3

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#1
I am about to purchase a yellow 2dr cpe 1995 e36 m3 with 70k miles on it. The car has black interior and is a 5spd. It is in near perfect condition. Would you say $13,000 is a steal or not. Car has clean title.
 
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#4
By "that" you mean $15k, not $13k. I don't rely upon NADA, Kelly or Black Book as gospel for specialty cars like an E36 M3. NADA will tell you average retail on a 1988 M5 with 80k miles is $10.4k. That is several thousand less than market value. I have watched the E36 M3 market for years, and most of the 1995s are in the 17k + range in terms of asking price, and that is for private party sales. Those cars appear to be selling for $15k and above all day. Take a look at the many M3s on autotrader and you will see what I mean.
 

Big Daddy

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#5
I meant 15k was average. I do not rely on NADA as "gospel" for any car, it is a guideline, a base. Your insurance companies and banks are going to use it as a guide as well. I do not consider the E36 M3 a 'speciality car", however I would agree that the 88 M5 is a speciality car. You can purchase a 95 M3 here in the Seattle area all daylong for 10-20K. I am not sure which Auto Trader your using as they are area specific. Also please note I said, "according to NADA..." I think we pretty much agree.
 
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#6
Big Daddy said:
I meant 15k was average. I do not rely on NADA as "gospel" for any car, it is a guideline, a base. Your insurance companies and banks are going to use it as a guide as well. I do not consider the E36 M3 a 'speciality car", however I would agree that the 88 M5 is a speciality car. You can purchase a 95 M3 here in the Seattle area all daylong for 10-20K. I am not sure which Auto Trader your using as they are area specific. Also please note I said, "according to NADA..." I think we pretty much agree.
We agree for the most part. I think the E36 M3 is rare enough, say 20k examples in the US, to be considered a specialty car under my definition, but now we are talking semantics as to what a specialty car is. Certainly banks will look at NADA or Kelly Blue Book retail in terms of their willingness to loan money on a particular car. I don't like the fact that NADA doesn't allow you to put in transmission type or color, which do have an impact on value of an E36 M3. Manuals are worth more than automatics; Avus Blau is generally worth the most, followed by, Articsilber, Cosmos Blau, and Schwarz (II?). After that, you may find the yellow, white and purple cars are a little more difficult to sell, but certainly have their following.

As for Kelly Blue Book, I don't like that they use a standard depreciation formula for all cars. They think that M5 is worth $5k, which is pure fantasy.

www.autotrader.com allows you to search without mileage limitation after inputting your zip code, so I am talking about the entire country.
 

Big Daddy

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#7
Ok go here, you can input all the options, mileage, locality, etc. They will then tell you 14k is average depending on the options you use. I read somewhere and I will look for it that there were 35k E36 M3's sold in the US.

Edmunds
 
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#8
35k sounds a little high, but could be right. I have the data in the 3-series Enthusiast's Companion (but not at work). It was only recently that the M-division sold 100k cars in total worldwide, most of which were E36 M3s.

A search of autotrader shows 84 1995 M3s with under 100k miles currently for sale nationwide (including higher-priced FI and LTW cars)

Highest price: $45000
Lowest price: $12995
Average price: $18402

I don't like Edmunds. I used to own their paperback guides, but the prices were always on the low side of my impression of the market.
 

Big Daddy

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#9
Wel I am glad to hear it, when I get ready to sell my M roadster I am going to let you put the value on her[hihi] . I have always felt the values in the guides were low as well, considering I am one of those fanatics who take far better than average care of my cars. Sometimes a bargain can be found, I just hope I am there when it reveal itself.[wave]
 
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#10
Here is the scoop on the car. I have a friend at a bank who is in charge at the place.
A lady filed bankrupt and doesnt have the M paid off. So if she doesnt make the payement by friday the car will go to the highest bidder. Only two other bids on the car and they were quite low. I think my bid for 11k is going to get me the car. Ill keep my fingers crossed. No doubt in my mind i could sell it where im at in So. Cal for 16k after seing the prices of them around here. Anyways the garage is going to look quite nice with the 74 2002 and the M3 next to eachother. Wish it luck
 


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