The Official Bring A Trailer (BaT) Thread

[maw1124]

These last 5 or 6 years in the car game have been interesting for me because I always bought cars that I thought would be future classics in the "one of the best ever" sense but not because I thought I would make money off them. Because I like driving them I don't see any need to sell them. And there's really nothing I don't love about this car, especially for the money.

That said, on exactly zero days have I thought the car was worth $50k or more. And I still can't really see the arguments for it. Maybe a brand new one still in the factory wrapping. Maybe. And I've seen one of my cars just take off value wise, to the tune of several times what I paid for it, and I wouldn't pay today's prices for it, ever. Finally a car that I think runs circles around that car and this car combined is worth basically nothing, pristine, sitting in my garage. I drive it basically any time the weather permits.

The only thing that explains any of this is the speculator's "cars as investments" game, similar to what we see playing out in Pre-Merger AMG cars. And while we all benefit from it to some extent (someone will call these the next air cooled 911, in which case it won't matter how many miles you put on the car) I suspect we're all a bit tired of the noise surrounding it. We just like to drive the cars, otherwise we wouldn't own them and care for them the way we do.

maw

[simon_c]

maw1124 I'm in the same boat as you. I do think there are going to be some that are extreme outliers in terms of value. I think the problem is now everyone starts to think their car is worth more. You can even see in the BaT comments people saying "I wonder what is my car worth now..." and honestly can't fault them but none of their cars (except for one person) is Estoril.

[discoelk]

Can't stand the seller. He was marketing and pumping this up SO hard "1 of 1 etc". I mean he said he bought it without the intention to flip but he is a freaking CAR DEALER. His sole business is flip cars and make money. I'm surprised it got bid up to $73.4K as well which is really strong. We'll never know if some of those were shill bids but that was the final bid. Would it actually have sold at the price is real question too. I expect to see this car pop again in the future.

To be clear, I thought this was a very nice car and well kept but didn't hit a lot of criteria for what we all think big money should go for. I also love Estoril and have been hunting one for awhile and wish I had pulled the trigger on clean one back in the day.

I agree about the seller, both in attitude and auction prep, photos, etc. I think it would have bid 5-10k higher with stock wheels and tall lights and represented by" 911R". I know most people like that stuff but a super low mileage"rare color" car is worth more with stock parts imo.

[BlueBimmers]

Like I predicted, wasted time b/c BaT agreed to a ludicrously high reserve. Whoever said only a dealer would get this was right on. Hard to see the point, except free marketing for seller and (debatable) entertainment value for folks like us.

[oceansize]

Auction prices for E46 M3s, and most other cars, have definitely dropped and dropped across the board regardless of the cars grade or pedigree (I'm not including super rare stuff). Great news for people like me who don't give a darn about collecting cars (and dust) and resale value. As an example when I was out shopping for a new daily I found dealers (outside big cities perhaps) are no longer in the driver's seat and I was able to negotiate like normal. I rather enjoyed that (who am I kidding, I freaking loved it).

Remember this, the E46 M3's worth is completely tied to condition, low mileage, and color combo. There are far far to many of these for the general car itself to ever be considered rare. I'm really glad prices have come down as I'll finally get the coupe I've been wanting. I'm really tired of people thinking their piece of shite M3 is worth far more than what it is. I've looked at few, when prices were insane, and I'm like "you've lost your mind".

[oceansize]

This is how you sell a high mileage e46 m3 at auction. I was actually interested in this one so I was watching but it went beyond what I would pay as a DIYer. Great job by the seller in responding to every question. He understood the mission unlike so many.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2006-bmw-m3-coupe-128/

[///Mthusiast]

This is how you sell a high mileage e46 m3 at auction. I was actually interested in this one so I was watching but it went beyond what I would pay as a DIYer. Great job by the seller in responding to every question. He understood the mission unlike so many.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2006-bmw-m3-coupe-128/

I thought this was an insane result. My brother asked me about this a few days prior as he wanted to bid on it and I thought it to be about a 25k car. It has quality mods, but high miles on the mods just like the car. Can't justify that price in any realm for high mileage, tracked, and modified m3.

[01SG]

That is a bit crazy. Original clutch. 80k miles on the coilovers. Due a valve adjustment. Lots of work done, and maybe the car is really solid, but certainly not one I would gamble on. I would bet there are a lot more than 4 track days on that car.

Meanwhile, they could have bought a brand-new z4 M roadster for 5k less:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2006-bmw-z4-m-roadster-93/

That has me kicking myself. 3,800 freaking miles.

[stephen]

I thought this was an insane result. My brother asked me about this a few days prior as he wanted to bid on it and I thought it to be about a 25k car. It has quality mods, but high miles on the mods just like the car. Can't justify that price in any realm for high mileage, tracked, and modified m3.

I was also thinking it would fetch around 25 having seen the car in person. Seller did well on this one. I thought he was leaving money on the table by not addressing minor things: shift knob, harnesses still installed, etc but apparently not.

[maw1124]

I thought this was an insane result. My brother asked me about this a few days prior as he wanted to bid on it and I thought it to be about a 25k car. It has quality mods, but high miles on the mods just like the car. Can't justify that price in any realm for high mileage, tracked, and modified m3.

That one will be back with an Alumni tag on it, is my guess. Either that or title will actually never change hands. In the words of the immortal, "It happens all the time, never cease to amaze..."

maw

[maw1124]

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1999-bmw-m3-coupe-32/

👀👀👀

maw

[BlueBimmers]

I had a Fern 99 for many years, fun cars. Two bidders who really wanted this one drove the price to top dollar. Nice but common color, no LTW wheels. Interesting that another BaT seller did the cooling refresh on the car according to comments.

[Gt4]

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2001-bmw-m3-coupe-19/

Will see if this low mileage LSB beat the low mileage Estoril from 3 weeks ago.

[NiceE46]

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2001-bmw-m3-coupe-19/

Will see if this low mileage LSB beat the low mileage Estoril from 3 weeks ago.

Grey interior 🤢🤮 Nice otherwise.

[Gt4]

I think those 2 did pretty good. Maybe I should get another E46 M3 but with a grey interior this time? …

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2001-bmw-m3-coupe-19/

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2002-bmw-m3-coupe-43/