How to get best price on CPO i3?

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nickli

New member
Joined
Aug 6, 2018
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2
I am new to purchasing CPO cars. Recently I've decided to get a 2015 CPO i3. I have several questions.
1. 2019 i3 is coming out soon. Is the price of 2015 CPO i3 going to drop a lot?
2. Unlike new cars, CPO cars don't have any rebates/incentives. Does this mean it is very difficult to haggle with dealer?
3. I live in northern California. Which dealer do u recommend? I don't mind Southern California dealers as long as price is good.

Thank you in advance!
 
I just purched my 2014 CPO Rex from valley BMW in Modesto and I live in Everett Washington. I found it through cars dot com and filtered for cpo within 1000 miles. I purchased it sight unseen and had it shipped. That was a HUGE PITA btw and am still waiting to be able to register it.

1. Nobody knows what the prices will do. It can't help that there are plenty new ev's with a lot of range coming out soon. My stance was they have come down so much I believe they are worth it now at the right price. I got ours for $18000 and only option it doesn't have is the sound system upgrade.
2. During paperwork I was told there is a $700 or something rebate so effective price was somewhere around $17,300. I didn't even bother haggling as this was $3k cheaper than anything near me and they wouldn't budge either.
3. To me, color, options and price were more important than dealership.

BMW has a good search tool for cpo on their website too.
 
Thank you for sharing your purchase details. Btw, do you have opinion about the reliability of BEV vs REX? Logically, BEV must be much more reliable than REX, because it doesn't have ICE engine. People always talk about how unreliable used BMW cars are, keep having issue all the time. Since BMW i3 BEV is pure electric, is it supposed to be super reliable. Even if issues happen, they are minor, so that the repair cost is not high. Thanks.
 
Honestly I have always been affraid of used BMW's and especially Audi's as I used to have one and cost a lot to fix and maintain. You are absolutely correct with reliability between the 2. However, I wouldn't be ok with Bev unless I can go 200 miles. We used to have a leaf and continually caught ourselves far too close to zero miles. Even hit turtle mode 3 times and once was is 20° f. We didn't even consider Bev this time around. We have already gone through 10 gallons of gas over 1800 miles. It's a very nice insurance to have. Especially when it's cold. Also, my parents are 120 miles away over a mountain pass. If you do go Rex, definitely get it coded. It's super easy on a smart phone. I wouldn't have bought the car if I couldn't do that.

Take all of it with a grain of salt. I'm sure my needs are different than yours. CPO is a great way to go as prices aren't all that different. Pay attention to the original sale date when calculating how much time is left on it. Carfax makes it easy for you to find on the warranty page. My 2014 was sold in June 2015.

To answer your question, CPO will allow you to not have to worry about repair costs until it expires. By then, if you have had many costly repairs get rid of it. If not then keep the car that has treated you well. We will also know more about Rex reliability by then.

All just my opinion though. And I haven't had any issues yet.
 
We just purchased a 2016 CPO i3 BEV from our local BMW dealer . Skipped the REX as we don't need it for our local driving. We searched CarFax and OffLeaseOnly while shopping. The pricing was all very similar so we went with the local dealer. I think we were driving the car home about 3 hours after we arrived. Pretty painless process.
 
Another way to get a good deal on a BMW i3, is shopping for a lease return. If you can locate a licensed auto-broker or small car dealer in your area who will work with you, they will be able to "shop" the dealer auctions for you. Twice a month, BMW sends lease-return BMWs to the large regional dealer auction lots to be sold - and any licensed dealer, not just BMW dealers, can bid on the cars. We found a broker in the Dallas area, put down a deposit with him, told him exactly what we wanted - year, color, options, etc. He went to two auctions for us, found one at the first auction that was what we wanted, but had some minor body/paint issues, the second auction - he came up with the exact car we were looking for, 2015 Rex, white, Tera world, all the available options, and only 9,600 miles on the clock. Sent us an iPhone video walk-around of the car, we checked the online maintenance records for the car which showed just normal local maintenance, no "issues" being dealt with, so we gave him the go-ahead to bid on it for us. Got it basically at dealer wholesale, and the car looks and drives like it just came out of the showroom last week.
 
The method MKH used is the best way to pick up a used i3, although the CPO warranty won't apply. IMO, CPO is over rated, especially on an EV since there's not that much to go wrong.
 
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