E92 335i Coupe buying advice (dealer refusing to replace tyre)

Soldato
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I went to look and test drive a 2007 BMW 335i Coupe at my local dealership earlier and really liked the car. I noticed that one of the rear tyres has more wear than the others and requested that as part of the deal it would be replaced. All tyres are 7mm with one of the rear tyres at 4mm which I am not happy with.

This was all agreed by both the salesman and his manager. However, when they phoned the director to get the deal 'signed off' and finalised he refused to replace the rear tyre saying that 4mm is fine and perfectly legal.

My argument is that all tyres should have roughly equal tread.

What is your opinion on this?
 
Tell them to change it or you won't buy the car, simple as that.

If they want the sale, they'll change it.

If you want the car so much you're not prepared to walk away then they know a £200 tyre isn't going to stop you and won't budge.

They're not legally obliged to do it, this is purely down to you negotiating your terms of sale with them. If they won't meet your deal then you're either not buying the car or you're accepting their deal, which is with a 4mm tread tyre, those are your two options.
 
I have told them that it could well be a deal breaker and we've left it at that. I have put down a refundable deposit so it is being held.

Tbh, I wouldn't really walk away from the deal because of the tyre. It's just a bit frustrating being told it would be replaced and then being told it wouldn't. Plus it doesn't have any tax. At the moment I've got nothing off at all and it's going to cost an additional ~ £500 for me to get 6 months tax and a new tyre on top of the asking price. I do think it was a fair price to begin with though so I'll probably still go for it. :)
 
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335i's take AGES to sell. If they won't negotiate, walk. They'll probably call back.

I got told nothing off mine. I eventually got over £2k off.
 
I tried, trust me! I do genuinely think it is still a good deal but I am going to get the tyre replaced and/or something off. I think I convinced them that I would actually walk once I was told the news that they wouldn't replace the tyre. They'd be stupid to lose a deal over a single tyre when they've spent the best part of 3 hours with me in total and taken it off sale!
 
I think you should glue a knife to the heel of your shoe. Then heel the tyre when you look at the car. Come back in a few hours and say it's flat.
 
I can't imagine you'll get much more than the tyre at this stage, if you given a deposit they know you're happy to pay for the car with new tyre at the price it's at.

You need to be doing the negotiation before you put down a deposit really.

They'll be laughing all the way to bank either way though I suspect, they've no doubt got a huge margin in the car, seen you're far too keen to have it and they've taken you hook, line and sinker :p
 
I can't imagine you'll get much more than the tyre at this stage, if you given a deposit they know you're happy to pay for the car with new tyre at the price it's at.

You need to be doing the negotiation before you put down a deposit really.

They'll be laughing all the way to bank either way though I suspect, they've no doubt got a huge margin in the car, seen you're far too keen to have it and they've taken you hook, line and sinker :p

I had negotiated a new tyre before putting down the deposit, they then informed me I would not be getting a new tyre. But yes, you're right, I won't have a chance of getting anything else off besides the tyre now that I had initially accepted that deal.
 
Just because you've been looking for ages is no reason to get taken for a ride by just snapping it up at asking price. A dealer isn't going to put a car up without a decent margin to work with and you can be sure the margin on something like a 335i will be sizeable, probably easily clearing £2k on the car if not more.
 
[TW]Fox;25087323 said:
Whats the car/price?

07 plate 335i SE Coupe, 44k miles, 1 owner and with quite a few options including navigation professional, bluetooth, BMW assist, parking sensors, etc. Most importantly it is pristine, literally no marks on the interior and just a couple of stone chips which they've agreed to sort out. It's up at £12.5k.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this deal Fox as I know you will know whether it is an acceptable deal or not?
 
It seems expensive to me, especially for an 07 plate SE which is in the high tax bracket, has the old iDrive, etc etc.

As a guide my old 335i came back on the market about 6 months ago for just over £15K. It was a 58 plate 335i M Sport with HDD Pro Nav and, at the time, 35k miles.

I don't think I'd want an 07 plate SE unless it was closer to 10k.
 
07 plate 335i SE Coupe, 44k miles, 1 owner and with quite a few options including navigation professional, bluetooth, BMW assist, parking sensors, etc. Most importantly it is pristine, literally no marks on the interior and just a couple of stone chips which they've agreed to sort out. It's up at £12.5k.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this deal Fox as I know you will know whether it is an acceptable deal or not?

Tbh I think they've priced that quite low. Out of interest how long has it been there? Theyll have told you it's only been in a week but have you any indication when it actually came in. I would expect a BMW dealer to price that at £14k. I bet it's been there weeks and they've been reducing the price to shift it and they're profit margins are being cut fine.

I would still want 6months tax and a tyre at least though. Or if they didn't want to give out 6months tax because it costs them exactly what it costs everyone else, maybe get another year warranty or a free service thrown in.

Btw have you checked everything on the service end has been done to schedule?
 
What month/year did the new iDrive system arrive?

I know this sounds a bit odd but in some ways I prefer the sleeper look of the SE compared to the M Sport which is probably a good thing because all of the M Sport 335i's I have seen have been out of my budget or high mileage.
 
[TW]Fox;25087393 said:
I don't think I'd want an 07 plate SE unless it was closer to 10k.

+/-£10k for a 1 ownered, pristine, fully kitted out car with 44k miles from a BMW dealer? Never. That car the op has described would be around £12.5k private.
 
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