Mega Contributor
BMW i3 REx Owner
Electric Miles: 33000
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Post by OCULUS on Nov 12, 2017 18:14:22 GMT -5
In July 2014, I purchased the first i3 in Albany, NY for about $54,000. This week, I was looking at the new Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid (Wow!) and learned that my loaded i3 REx was hovering around $17,000 trade value. You do the math, but what I'd like to know is how and why BMW allowed us to take a bath on these iconic cars like no other before them. One of the main reasons for low valuation seems to be the flood of lease turn-backs, including those low-balled BMWNA leftover leases to dealer employees. But I got my first hint of hit from a BMWNA sales pitch for a new i3, over the late summer, telling me that my '14 trade-in was worth....wait for it....$13,000! Come and get it! ["Again?" I asked my long-time salesman?]
Sorry, but after 40+ years behind the blue and white roundel, I'm ready to get out, despite the fact that I can't afford to. Anybody else headed for the lifeboats?
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Post by davecuk on Nov 15, 2017 20:56:17 GMT -5
In July 2014, I purchased the first i3 in Albany, NY for about $54,000. This week, I was looking at the new Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid (Wow!) and learned that my loaded i3 REx was hovering around $17,000 trade value. You do the math, but what I'd like to know is how and why BMW allowed us to take a bath on these iconic cars like no other before them. One of the main reasons for low valuation seems to be the flood of lease turn-backs, including those low-balled BMWNA leftover leases to dealer employees. But I got my first hint of hit from a BMWNA sales pitch for a new i3, over the late summer, telling me that my '14 trade-in was worth....wait for it....$13,000! Come and get it! ["Again?" I asked my long-time salesman?] Sorry, but after 40+ years behind the blue and white roundel, I'm ready to get out, despite the fact that I can't afford to. Anybody else headed for the lifeboats? I upgraded to a 94Ah rex, due to the potential for massive depreciation on the 60Ah Rex and I still had a need for an i3 Rex. Once a Hyundai or similar car to the Chevvy bolt comes out with the 60Kw packs and 240 mile range of the bolt...of course I will leave BMW. The depreciation is the same in the UK and it ruinous on the pure Bev 60Ah. The reasons the depreciation is so high is they made a car that's fantastically expensive to repair once out of warranty, is written off with a small accident at 3 or 4 years old. At 4 years old buyers are thinking about 4 years or so left on the battery and the warranty also has only 4 years left to run. BMW built an over complicated disposable car with a 8-9 year life, because people won't want to buy one older than that. People will never ever upgrade the batteries or replace a 60 with a 60Ah as we are compelled to do in the Rex. Simply because at BMW prices it will be so expensive, it's better to use the money to get a new model electric car with hugely better range and probably 1/3 the cost to run. People in the UK have the dream that independents will surface who can do battery upgrades repairs etc.. That has not happened in the UK and I don't think it ever will. BMW have been super careful to make the electronic side so complex, that if independents try to put a larger pack in etc.. they will find it so locked down that they might have to replace most of the control systems...then in the UK, good luck getting it insured. I have the last i3 I will ever buy, because of the Rex, but in a few years time, range will be such that it's not needed. P.S. I was told on a UK forum that "any numpty can repair carbon fibre", but this is completely untrue. If the life module side has even the smallest damage, you got $6000 to buy a replacement carbon fibre side, just so you can cut the part you need (at recommended 3 or 5 cut points) out of it as a replacement. This is before you even start repairs. That's in addition to other panels paint mirrors etc... costs of a minimal side impact will exceed 12K usd. In a normal car, you would just pull that dent out . This means lots and lots of write offs as the cars age. |
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Post by afadeev on Nov 23, 2017 9:51:25 GMT -5
P.S. I was told on a UK forum that "any numpty can repair carbon fibre", but this is completely untrue. If the life module side has even the smallest damage, you got $6000 to buy a replacement carbon fibre side, just so you can cut the part you need (at recommended 3 or 5 cut points) out of it as a replacement. This is before you even start repairs. That's in addition to other panels paint mirrors etc... costs of a minimal side impact will exceed 12K usd. In a normal car, you would just pull that dent out . This means lots and lots of write offs as the cars age. You are absolutely correct on CF being repair unfriendly. In the US, if the "life module" is damaged in any way, including a scratch to CF shell, it is not repaired. The car is totaled. My wife got mildly tapped in the rear bumper by a van the other month, while sitting at a traffic light in the i3. Scratches to the bumper cover that I would have NEVER touched, had it not been a leased car. Because I will need to lease-return it in ~15 months, I had to submit an insurance claim. When I was picking up the i3 from the body shop after $2.3K in repairs, there was a totaled i8 sitting on the lot. The only damage to the i8 - paintwork mess and scratches in the rear quarter panel. One of the cuts went too deep into the CF shell - totaled! What a waste! This explains why my insurance payments are marginally higher on the i3 than on the M3 ! |
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Post by davecuk on Nov 26, 2017 19:41:10 GMT -5
You are absolutely correct on CF being repair unfriendly. In the US, if the "life module" is damaged in any way, including a scratch to CF shell, it is not repaired. The car is totaled. My wife got mildly tapped in the rear bumper by a van the other month, while sitting at a traffic light in the i3. Scratches to the bumper cover that I would have NEVER touched, had it not been a leased car. Because I will need to lease-return it in ~15 months, I had to submit an insurance claim. When I was picking up the i3 from the body shop after $2.3K in repairs, there was a totaled i8 sitting on the lot. The only damage to the i8 - paintwork mess and scratches in the rear quarter panel. One of the cuts went too deep into the CF shell - totaled! What a waste! This explains why my insurance payments are marginally higher on the i3 than on the M3 ! This is a fact that is only slowly drifting into the Zeitgeist of enthusiastic owners. If you try to say anything, it often enrages the community. I tend to be philosophical about it. In fact people on a certain UK forum was told it's cheaper to repair Carbon fibre than steel and you just get a kit for a small amount of money to do it....it was a ridiculous statement, but grabbed upon by people who didn't want to hear anything different. I even got ragged for getting a 2017 i3 as to why did I do it if it was such a bad car. The reason I did was because unfortunately I had a very early 2014 car, it was a bit of a Lemon and had £1000s worth of faults just waiting to go wrong, because certain things had not failed under warranty. I had around £4,000 of faults under warranty....but I still had KLE, Rex and other well known faults still to occur. my brakes and disks were shot after only 27K (and I hardly ever used them), when taking it up to PX for the 2017 car, I got my first drive train error. So I was happy to be shot of it. The 2017 car is very different to drive and so far no problems.
Sadly there are a few more home truths just waiting to hit owners as the cars continue to age and I dare-say these will come out in the wash as warranties end. In the UK the first cars have already been out of warranty almost a year, in the UK they will soon start dropping out of warranty. I found this REALLY concentrates the mind on ownership issues. |
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