Buying a BMW 318 CI ...

rG-tom · 23 Jul 2008 at 12:36

[TW]Fox;12143939 said:
He lives in Haverfordwest. It's not going to attract similar insurnace issues to yourself, living in Manchester.

It's relevant becuase most people assume they cannot insure certain cars without ever bothering to check.

northwich isnt even in the same county as manchester btw

[TW]Fox · 23 Jul 2008 at 12:37

Whatever, this isn't a thread for Muffin to whinge about having a crud postcode

Muffin` · 23 Jul 2008 at 12:43

[TW]Fox;12143955 said:
Whatever, this isn't a thread for Muffin to whinge about having a crud postcode

It's not, it seems like it's trying to be - you can compare cost and running between people but insurance is entirely specific - it's not a go at you just the general consensus on here that if one can, the rest can.

[TW]Fox · 23 Jul 2008 at 12:44

The point, which you've missed by such a margin it's 3 miles away now, is that he needs to actually check the insurance quotes properly rather than run one quote with a random company, becuase such a car IS insurable at 22.

Unless you live in the Ghetto (Or share a postcode with the Ghetto) insurance doesn't differ hugely between areas, either.

Rilot · 23 Jul 2008 at 12:56

I think you'll find the quotes to be fairly similar for a 318ci vs a 325ci

Guv · 23 Jul 2008 at 13:36

When I was getting quotes the difference between a 320ci and 330ci was just over £100 IIRC so you'll probably find a 325 isn't much more than a 318 or 320.

You'll enjoy the 325 a lot more than the 318 as well

Sh3rlock · 23 Jul 2008 at 14:58

Thanks, gunna phone my insurance company tommorow and see what they can afford me. Along with running a few quotes on the 325 through confused and money supermarket.

Lord-Jaffa · 23 Jul 2008 at 15:02

wouldnt 330i sport be a better choice than the 325Ci for 7500? Or is insurance a factor here?

Morba · 23 Jul 2008 at 15:06

Lord-Jaffa said:
wouldnt 330i sport be a better choice than the 325Ci for 7500? Or is insurance a factor here?

cost is a factor ;]
ci sports are premium and will cost more for a similar spec and condition car.

iraiguana · 23 Jul 2008 at 15:12

What does the CI sport get you then? Just a slight deviation.

m4cc45 · 23 Jul 2008 at 15:18

Don't just ring one company. Goto a search website such as confused.com / moneysupermaket.com / etc. and fill in the form and let it do it's searches.

The range, when you see it, is massively different and it all depends on what extras you want, how much excess, etc.

M.

Morba · 23 Jul 2008 at 15:25

iraiguana said:
What does the CI sport get you then? Just a slight deviation.

sport kit (exterior and interior changes)
sports suspension
sports seats

im sure someone else will tell you a bit more. essentially they look better inside and out and therefor cost more :]

mrk · 23 Jul 2008 at 15:41

Look & Handle better :-]

[TW]Fox · 23 Jul 2008 at 15:44

Damien. said:
Thanks, gunna phone my insurance company tommorow and see what they can afford me. Along with running a few quotes on the 325 through confused and money supermarket.

No, confused and money supermarket are rubbish. You need to manually run quotes with insurers yourself.

Confused is great if you are a 42 year old mother with a generic hatchback. If you are a young driver who wishes to insure something good, its garbage.

Morba · 23 Jul 2008 at 15:47

Its good to get a general idea though, then goto the best sites for a quote through them?

Though I did this with the 306 and found that the elephant quote came out exactly as the confused one (for elephant) :/

Tom|Nbk · 23 Jul 2008 at 18:01

[TW]Fox;12145142 said:
No, confused and money supermarket are rubbish. You need to manually run quotes with insurers yourself.

Confused is great if you are a 42 year old mother with a generic hatchback. If you are a young driver who wishes to insure something good, its garbage.

I'm a young driver who wishes to insure something good and every time I have got a Confused quote the majority of prices are exactly the same had I gone through the actual websites?

Locky · 23 Jul 2008 at 18:15

is there a site that checks your insurance value postcode?

Kitchster_uk · 23 Jul 2008 at 18:43

[TW]Fox;12145142 said:
No, confused and money supermarket are rubbish. You need to manually run quotes with insurers yourself.

Confused is great if you are a 42 year old mother with a generic hatchback. If you are a young driver who wishes to insure something good, its garbage.

Only if you have no no-claims in my experience, or are insuring something unusual. I'm paying £350fc on an MX5 1.8iS with 6 points on my licence. The kicker being my missus was 24 when I took the policy out, fault accident (£10k), no no-claims bonus and epilepsy declared. That was through confused but then again, I have 6 years NCB so it should be cheap!

You are then looking at going to places who will actually under-write policies, not just let the computer generate a price. Then you're looking at specialists.

roughlad · 23 Jul 2008 at 18:50

Confused and money super market were giving me quotes around £1300 upward's for my e46 323i, direct line quoted me £960fc with 0 ncb 0 accidents and parked on the street.
Adrian flux on the other hand quoted me £2600.
so you really have to shop about

radderfire · 23 Jul 2008 at 19:10

Damien. said:
When i goto see the car, what do i need to avoid, what does it go like and how economical are they. Also anything else worth mentioning would be appreciated.

I don't know how knowledgable you are on car mechanics, but I have found the following websites helpful in terms of assessing cars:

http://www.usedcarexpert.co.uk/
http://www.parkers.co.uk/
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/

Also, assess the seller as much as the car, nice people tend to sell nice cars, and if your gut instinct tells you something is wrong, walk away and think about it.

Rgds