E53 Value...

[SARAFIL]

I'm a Used Car Manager for a BMW dealership. I appraise and buy BMWs every day, so I'm pretty good with BMW values. In the past several months, I have noticed X5 values start to drop, but it has not been all that dramatic.

The 3.0 models are still doing well... 2001 and 2002 have seen little change, 2003 have dropped a bit but nothing major. 2004, 2005 and 2006 models have dropped more noticeably because they tend to be priced very closely to a new model, and as a result the incentives on new ones have trickled down.

The V8's are a different story. "Plain Jane" 4.4 models are down quite a bit... these are the non-sport, non-nav trucks. They're basically selling for a very small premium over 3.0 models. Gas prices have hurt these trucks. Trucks with Sport Package and Navigation are still commanding a premiuim, more of a difference than just those options should command.

The 4.6 and 4.8 models are still relatively rare, and are holding up ok.


So what is causing this? I don't think it's a huge drop in the value of these models. If anything, it is the market starting to return to normal. For the past few years, there has been a strong export market for X5s and that really inflated the market. Some people were paying as much for 100,000 mile trucks as they would pay for similar trucks with 50,000 miles. For a period of time, the value of an X5 was based on a few simple factors: engine, color (black, silver commanded big premiums), navigation (BIG premium), and whether it had sport package (even BIGGER premium). Mileage was irrelevant if the truck met this criteria. Wholesalers bought all the X5s that they could, even with 100,000 miles, and they ended up on their way to Eastern Europe.

The export market for these cars has cooled a bit, and the market has come back down to reality. I really don't think it is a sign that the E53 is loosing value. My guess is that other than a minor drop in the next year that is inevitable with the release of a new body style, the E53 will hold strong resale over the next few years. This is quite different from experience with the E38-E65 and E39-E60 changeover. In both of these cases, continuing to date, the old bodystyle have continued to drop in value significantly. A late production example of the E38 or E39 has taken a huge hit in resale in the past few years. I'm predicting that this will not happen on the E53, at least not in a major way.