RufRt12 wrote:There’s a spanking brand new B3s saloon at my local dealers in Harold Wood that’s been sitting on the forecourt at 75k for the past four (or so) months. I’ve offered them a cheeky 60k for it but, once they’d finished laughing, told me not to slam the door on the way out. Is this a typical occurrence of Alpina cars in general or does it ever reach a point where it HAS to become registered for road use and, therefore, advertised as a ‘Pre-reg’ & subsequently cheaper OR am I just kidding myself into thinking it’ll ever turn justifiably affordable?
These are horrifically expensive new, and as many are now cottoning-on, Sytner/The Trade are seeing the cars as only worth 55% of their new price some very few months after 1st registration. Personally, if a friend of mine were to suggest purchasing one, I'd refer him for a lobotomy unless he actually wanted to throw money away. Indeed I have such a friend, and at the moment he's managed to control his desire to own an F31 B3S as he can't really afford either the op, or the money drain.
It will eventually be pre-registered once the sales manager decides it has to go off his books. They'll write down against it tax-wise and probably use it as a demo for a while to get around the taxation loss to appease the tax man. Doubt it would be £60k, though, as we're talking about Sytner, they will have over-specced it, and the profit margin in these to ALPINA GB when sold new is wafer thin. Remember too, options depreciate even faster than the base car and only make them desirable to a future owner, not adding value beyond £hundreds.
The used, book values of these makes me want to weep for the owners. Bargains for used buyers, though, if Sytner forecourt prices are avoided.
Interestingly, my 2011 E91 B3SBiturbo cost £50350 OTR when new inc options. Almost 50% more now for similar car in F31 spec. Astounding. I don't recollect base F31 335i's having gone up quite as much in the same period.