XSeries-forum

Hi All,

I mentioned on a thread a few weeks ago the possibility of buying an X5 3.0D that was a CAT D repaired. Many of you kindly gave me lots of good advice and things to look out for.

From the original pictures on the thread it looked mint except for a small dent on the passenger side rear quarter:





But once I actually saw the passenger side up close, it is obvious that it has been scraped up the Passenger side.

The damage starts at the rear quarter, goes onto the rear door, a little on the front door and on the front wing near the 3.0 badge.

Front Wing Area:



rear door:


Rear Quarter:


There were a few other marks around the car (not related to the main damage) and some marks to the wheels etc.
All 4 tyres are worn
The pixels on the stereo have started to go slightly in one strip
Both Mirrors need repair due to damage, one has a crack on the back case and one has the black front trim missing and no glass.

It does however, drive, stop, change gear etc beautifully and feels like an A1 car on the inside.



that damage above wrote the car off as a CAT D loss in March 2010 and it has been driven as it is since then.

But the question is, how much is it worth?

ignore the price shown on the pics, the garage selling it have given me 2 options to buy it:

1. They will put new tyres on it and sell it as it is.
2. They will put new tyres on it, repair both mirrors and repair all of the damage to the passenger side of the car.

So before i mention any prices or anything, what do you guys think its realistically worth with/without repair.

Any help would be great. Also apologies for the rainy pictures, annoyingly it started raining just as I got there, I took these pics after a test drive.

Thanks in advance guys!

Might be better off giving us your prices. Personally I'd walk away with all them faults. Looks and sounds abused and resale value will be worthless when you come to shift it. You can get a 3.0d for £5k according to fifth gear lol...just mind them swirl flaps

Swirl Flaps? What swirl flaps? They weren't fitted to the X5 version of the 3.0d engine. Or at least the discussion here some months back found no E53 with them fitted, even though other cars with the sane engine do (such as our 2005 E46). And some of us did go and check carefully.

Not sure I'd go for that X5 either. There are much better ones out there.

Thanks for the reply,

Im hoping to get some comments etc off you guys and use that to negotiate further.

Most of the other cars in my price range are 2002/2003 cars with 120k+ and pre-facelift. Driving this 2004 one felt a much nicer experience than the 3 others i've driven and I way prefer the look of the facelift (interior & exterior).

So with that in mind, do i buy a 2002/2003 'straight' car or this facelift cat D that I much prefer the look and drive of....

Forget the prices above though, if you were buying the car, what would you pay (considering if this was not a cat D cat it would be more like £10k)

Thanks

For me it would be

How much extra will it cost to insure per year
Will I ever get rid of it once I want to swap

I've seen a few on autotrader and it always seems to start with insurance hikes and confering witha trader friend suggesting n not to pay more than 50% of a non cat d value equivalent

just an opinion though

[quote=""X5Sport""]Swirl Flaps? What swirl flaps? They weren't fitted to the X5 version of the 3.0d engine.[/quote]

Sorry for the confusion... Was taking the p*ss out of the program

I'd say for £8k you'd get a well spec'd late preface lift that's straight. Don't rule out a national search on autotrader and be prepared to travel for the right car. You will get the car you want for the price you want without having to accept second best. Also gives you time to save a little more and increase your budget while you wait. I spent 6 months looking for mine and paid £13k for a decent spec'd facelift built jan 2005 on a 54 plate. Patience pays.

i think i would look for another which would not put you in a harsh position if and when you need to sell it. if you say that you are buying it and will use it untill it dies than maybe but still for the price you are planning on spending on this vehicle will be well over 10K once you try to get it all serviced and all.might as well try to get something with a decent history and less to worry about with 9-10K if you can. that's just me though

I agree.....

Even if the repair is to a good standard, 1k less than market value is not a great deal. Big cars are getting hard and harder to sell nowadays with petrol prices etc and if your car is a CAT D then you will be really struggling to sell it on UNLESS the price is very tempting.

My advice would be go for a genuine, looked after straight car and keep a little money to one side for potential works as whatever you buy will be 7-9yrs old. Trust me I have learned how much these cars can/will cost.

Hope you find the one for you

I certainly would not recommend it at that price,If it was that good a deal he would of already sold it,
Good deals sell quickly and this is not a good deal. Nothing wrong with a cat D at the right price
Good luck

Thanks for the replies guys,

If I can get it at the right price I can live with the CAT D status, I've bought cars before that were HPI clear but I later discovered were accident damaged anyway, so as long as I can negotiate a price that's worth having that 'CAT D' stamp on the logbook (or whatever they do) I may still try and do a deal. (Especially if i can get the repair work thrown in)

It seems a shame to let a great car 'go to waste' as such, I loved driving it! It just needs a little TLC

It's just hard trying to figure out what it's realistically worth.

That one on eBay that i linked on the other thread (the one that had the interior/nav/clocks/mirrors/steering wheel stripped out) was a CAT D and sold for £7200 within a day of the listing.

I've noticed quite a few other 2003-2006 CAT D repaired's that sold on ebay recently from about £4k up to £9k and there were plenty of bidders not put off with the CAT D.

I'll see what deal can be done and report back

Just an update to this,

The seller does not seem keen to negotiate.

It needs new tyres straight away, needs both mirrors sorting out straight away before it's MOT worthy. Although it does currently have valid MOT

I left an offer to take it as it is but they don't seem interested.

But I probably won't be buying it after all.

Good. You've saved yourself a lot of hassle, and you don't need to drop your trousers and grease up either

Where are you based?
Would you consider a 4.4 V8?

A lesson I learnt from my previous car was, when buying a car think of the resale not the prospect of owning it. My old car was an Audi TT with a reconditioned engine and I spent a fortune getting it restored to its original standard when I sold it I lost a fortune and would have been better off buying a TT from an Audi Garage with low miles and full service history.

I spent a couple of weeks looking for the right X5 and managed to buy one from a dealer that gets BMW's from the dealership, its got full BMW service history and 66K on the clock with all the added extras for 12K. There was a couple little things to sort out but other than that its 100%. You're better off spending more on a better car than trying to save on a CAT D or a car with high miles as you'll end up loosing more money when you sell it and more than likely you'll have hidden costs along the way as its so hard to determine what the damage has done to the shocks, struts and chassis, which isn't cheap not forgetting the tyre wear it will cause too.

Sorry for my rant...... I think everyone will agree with me, think of the resale!