How do I value this rare E30?

[pugboy]

Hi guys,

Here is the deal. I have been offered a 1989 318iS in white.

Its one lady owner from new with 49k. The car is mint - no rust, dents etc. All original and a possible future classic?.....

Anyway - how much would it be worth realistically? I have been looking on the autotrader etc and they seem to go for about £1-2k, but non of them seen as good or original as this one.

Thanks for your help. Hopefully I will soon have it parked on my drive.

[Alex]

i would happily pay 3K-4K if as it has such low mileage

would be better to value if there was pics

[dom-1984-320i]

Some where around the 3k mark possibly?

[schuey]

£3 k sounds good,offer her 1500 though

[hammoj28]

I reckon 2600-3k. depends but people will pay more than the odds to get a decent car and the iS seems to be getting quite popular now.

[pugboy]

Really?!

Here is the catch - its been bumped and needs a new wing, bumper and headlight.
This car belongs to someone in my family and they knew I liked the car hence they offered it to me. The car has served them well in the past 19 years and they were thinking of replacing it soon anyway so they have decided not to spend the money having it repaired (accident was there fault).

So I was wondering if its worth me spending a few hundred quid repairing it? Sounds like it probably is.

So my next post will have to be where to I get the parts from - I have a mate that works in a bodyshop so he will be painting it. Not sure if second hand wing would be much good though as dont these things normally rust?

I'm a complete BMW novice as I have mostly owned 205 GTi's (with the odd exception of other French stuff, a mk2 Golf 16v and a Mitsubishi FTO). So I know about older cars and what work they need, but not the E30 specifics.

[CustomX]

Offer £500.

[Alex]

give them a daft offer of £1000-£1200 or something they might let it go

[HairyScreech]

its posible to find a wing and bumper in the right colour without any rust. and best of all they just bolt on.

[e36boy]

Good ones usually go for 2 - 2.5k, some people might pay 3k for a minter but id never pay that for a 318is.
If i were you id pay 2 grand tops maybe 2.5 because of the mileage and owner history. Like schuey says though..............offer 1.5k, The lady owner might not be in the no and let you have it for that

Welcome to the zone aswell mate.

[dom-1984-320i]

Hi guys,

Here is the deal. I have been offered a 1989 318iS in white.

Its one lady owner from new with 49k. The car is mint - no rust, dents etc. All original and a possible future classic?.....

Thought you said in this post the car is mint with no dents etc?

[e36boy]

Ive just seen what you said about it having the bump.............In that case go in at around 800 quid............A family member should let you have it cheaper anyway.

[e30bmlover]

£3 k sounds good,offer her 1500 though

come on dont insult the woman, offer her £1750! for some reason i like that number..
iv just read the whole post, if its damaged and she dosent want to repair it offer her the ''zone'' agreed sum of 800 bar.

[dom-1984-320i]

Ive just seen what you said about it having the bump.............In that case go in at around 800 quid............A family member should let you have it cheaper anyway.

Am with you on that one, what are family's for if not to help out the nearest and dearest.

[pugboy]

Sorry guys just wanted to gauge what club members thought it might be worth once I have had it fixed. It really is a lovely car though and a rare find.

Just to confirm this car was mint and probably one of the best standard 318iS in the country. Its suffered an encounter with a Nissan Micra so its not exactly been hit by a bus and bent in half.

I thought it was probably worth fixing, but you guys have made my mind up. Watch out for some wanted posts then.

If anyone has some front end parts in white let me know. Would consider another colour, but they would have to be cheap and worth the effort of painting.

[CustomX]

If it's mint, you should fix it properly. Brand new wings and bumper, fresh paint etc.


Hence the offer of £500, as you'll spend £5-700 getting it 'mint' again.

[dom-1984-320i]

If it's mint, you should fix it properly. Brand new wings and bumper, fresh paint etc.

the right thing to do for sure. Good luck and let us know how you get on mate.

[pugboy]

Well the dealer has quoted her about £900 inc labour and vat hence she says it isn't worth it. However as my mate works in a bodyshop the labour/paint is not an issue for me.

So its just the cost of the parts. Its about £30 for a pattern wing - wonder how much genuine is.....

[Andyboy]

DO NOT put a pattern wing on. They are normally rubbish. I would look for a mint original (used) wing and get it painted.

The car is worth £3000 fixed - the Paddies will rip your arm off for that. Do it right and there's a £1500/2000 drink in that.

[bodger]

dont bother with pattern wings mate they are shite at the best of times, bmw wings in the region of 130 i think but well worth it

[madaboutthe30]

Take a look in the Classifieds section in the forum.
lately quite a few zoners have been breaking their e30s 318is', you may find some parts there.

Another good bet is to keep an eye out on the threads, someone is bound to break their car, and most of the zoners keep their cars in good nick.

Hope that helps

[mineralblue]

Offer 500, fall in love and keep it, or make a killing flogging it on fixed. Buy a tasty 325 with the proceeds,jobs a good un

[Simon13]

If your mate is in the trade you'll get a wing for £100 a genuine one that fits like a glove. Pattern is poo and they do not fit right!

[JohnH]

I paid £1500 for a white iS in great condition with 100k a while back. As yours has half the mileage but is damaged you should offer about £1,250 and then buy a new genuine parts wing from zimmerbimmer on here and get it repaired properly. You'll have a lovely mint car then which would easily go for £2k+. As Andyboy says one of us Irish lads will pay a premium for it (though do it quick as the tax gets MUCH worse in Ireland from July 1)

[Gwynleym10]

Is there any damage on the inner wing? You need to have a real good look behind the lights to see exactly what is damaged before you offer anything.

[hammoj28]

Take a look at it carefully and hopefully it just the outside thats damaged. Go on about how its an old car and parts are hard to find etc etc but you will take it off her hands. Offer "500quid for a bashed old h reg bm".lol. if you dont ask you dont get.

[Rosc0PColtrane]

Here is the deal. I have been offered a 1989 318iS in white.

Its one lady owner from new with 49k. The car is mint - no rust, dents etc. All original and a possible future classic?.....

Here is the catch - its been bumped and needs a new wing, bumper and headlight.

Sounds like most for sale ads. Hardly mint and a misleading advert. Offer a grand, get it fixed with oem parts. Paint will possibly be pricey part. If the damage is entirely cosmetic, then you'll have a very desireable car.

Check whether the insurance company is aware of the accident. If so, when you apply for the log book, there's a possiblilty that the insurance company will want the car VOSA checked, which will put a nasty sentance on your V5 about the accident. Though if it was light, you shouldn't have any issues.

Just don't under estimate the damage a 900 kilo lump of tin can cause.

[E30Mark]

Is the car registered as damaged? ie Cat C/D with the insurance company?? Or was the third party bump incident sorted out cash?

[tristan325]

If the car is recorded with the insurers then it would be worth 1500 tops when fixed and would be an absolute pig to sell on. People considering paying top money for low mileage classic cars will nearly always do an HPI check.

[fuzzy]

no more that a grand as an absolute limit as an accident damaged car. play on the fact that the insurance company could well write it off due to the damage repair costs.i once got quoted £1200+ for a similar amount of damage to my 325 touring.fixed it myself at a cost of around £250.

[pugboy]

Its not on the register. No claim against it so if I get it repaired properly it wont effect the value of the car.

The car is costing me £100 so I reckon its worth a go. I will post on here for the parts I require once I have stripped it down. However I 100% need a wing, bonnet, headlight and really should get another bumper to make it mint.

[tristan325]

Regardless of how well you repair it, if someone knows what they're doing they will spot it's been bent. Do yourself a favour when you sell it and be honest and upfront about the repair.

[Jon_Bmw]

£100, I thought it might be costing you pence.

Happy days for you, that will make you a tidy profit.

[pugboy]

If I like the car I will keep it. I used to have 2 cars (one to mess around with) so this car could fit the bill as my weekend car.

I dont have the disposable income I used to have though so if its not good fun as standard I cant afford to be modding it so it will have to go.

I dont much care for the Audi A4 TDi I use at the moment so if this car is ok on fuel I might get rid of that and use this every day.

If the car is to badly damaged then I will advertise it for sale on here as spares. I'm sure it must be worth more than £100.

I have put a wanted post for the body panels now.

[Frenchy]

If you don't want it let me know i will offer a fair price, drop me a pm.