Should I sell or part it out??

[motordavid]

That quarter of a million miles. and still running well, is a pretty good ad
for the X5, imo.

Good luck with your decision to part or sell, or keep.
BR,mD

[Philly X5]

One question - was the transmission oil change before or is it still runing on original? Thanks.

[blktoptrvl]

I think the limiting factor will be the BMW crowd...

As far as I can see a majority of BMW owners don't even change the oil in their cars themselves. Isn't this group more likely to pay someone to do the work for them?

I think for that reason, you may have less of a market than you think for all the parts you would have to sell to break even on the deal.

On the other hand, if the vehicle was a Honda, I am sure that as soon as you announced that you were thinking of parting your car, instead of comments on the concept, you would immediately start getting "dibbs" requests (like that above ^^^) on certain parts.

I may be wrong, but just seems to be to wrong crowd for this.

[E61Silver]

I would drive it until you have a major failure; at that time you can part it out.

[tomgtv]

Originally Posted by Philly X5

One question - was the transmission oil change before or is it still runing on original? Thanks.

I have always changed transmission fluids on previous cars. BMW says it
is a "lifetime" fill and doesn't need to be changed.

I once asked a local high end tranny shop what would it cost and they came
back with $700. It seems its hard to get all the fluid out.

So I haven't touched it and it has been running for 224,000 miles and shifts smooth as silk!

I did have the transfer case go out about 175,000. BMW OEM price is $2200 plus another $500/$700 for install. I got a remanufactured one for $850 and paid my indy shop $400 to put it in. He rolled his eyes on the none OEM fix. However it was a BMW case with reworked gears which is what breaks. I have now found a Jeep tranny specialist who works on my sons lifted Jeep and he could fix these things in his sleep. So my recommendation if one of these goes out talk to your local 4WD guys. Believe me they don't pay $3K for transfer cases!

[tomgtv]

Originally Posted by blktoptrvl

I think the limiting factor will be the BMW crowd...

As far as I can see a majority of BMW owners don't even change the oil in their cars themselves. Isn't this group more likely to pay someone to do the work for them?

I think for that reason, you may have less of a market than you think for all the parts you would have to sell to break even on the deal.

On the other hand, if the vehicle was a Honda, I am sure that as soon as you announced that you were thinking of parting your car, instead of comments on the concept, you would immediately start getting "dibbs" requests (like that above ^^^) on certain parts.

I may be wrong, but just seems to be to wrong crowd for this.

You are probably right. Most people I know with BMWs don't know where the hood latch is located! They love the free coffee and donuts at their local BMW service place. I just hate paying $55 a donut !

I will probably run it til it blows up.......who knows maybe I'll get 400,000 miles! The hard decision is if faced with a $4000 repair to tranny do you do it or not? 10 to 1 the day after you get it back the motor blows!

I still keep dreaming about selling the doors, hood, sun roof, tail gate hatch for $10K which is 50% less than what you'd have to pay BMW. You could take 'em all off in 20 min! Just think about all those ABS, Cam, etc sensors that are on with one bolt..........!

[blktoptrvl]

I look at it this way...

If the vehicle is worth 8K and the tranny goes and is expected to cost 4K to repair, I am sure you will be able to find someone willing to pay 4-5K for the X with a bad tranny. (Those same Honda kids who are looking to move up and are not afraid of a little grease.)

In that case, I don't think you will really loose anything.

[wallyx5]

Tom,

I am in the same boat as you are. I am the second owner and the X had 80,000 miles when I got it back in 05. I am at 262,000 miles, and no major repairs. At this point the car is worthless for resale, but I runs excellent. I am going to kept it until it dies or my daughter can drive it. She is 14 now. Meanwhile I will buy another BMW next year and keep the X as a back up.

Good luck, I say keep it and run it hard! They like it.

[faz]

If you can deal with the hassle of parting out, and have room to keep a half-dead car for a while... that seems to make more financial sense.

I myself wouldn't want to deal with the hassle more than anything.

If the car runs good enough, just keep it and drive it until it dies beyond repair. You can always part it out then! )

[blktoptrvl]

Another thing to consider is that when people contact you and want a part. They more than likely will want you to send it out in the mail within a week.

Do you really want to be "on call" and "at demand" for people you don't know? Especially since a lot of people can be demanding jerks.