Getting history from BMW ?

David _b said:
Il have a look anyway. I will only have a m3 a few months by the way. I dont keep things long. Also found this one and its close
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/148964.htm
Opinions
Click to expand...

that is much more like it.
have you been on e36coupe.co.uk ? there will no doubt be a few for sale on there, or the owners of the ones you are looking at might be on the forum.
 
I havnt looked on e36coupe. Im trying my best to source one in northern ireland first. If the 200sx goes for roughly what i want for it then i can go to england for a bargain.
 
This is going to end in tears. When you buy a car like an M3 you don't want 'a bargain' you want to pay that little bit extra for a properly cared for example.

Bargains are for when you buy a cheap hack for going to the shops in, not when you buy a high performance car.
 
Grrrrrrrrr you lot seem to find the pricing here in northern ireland how i mean a bargain.5k in england is a 6.5k here Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
 
Can you not buy in England and drive it home? Are there any sort of charges imposed by your government with this?
 
I would have to agree with Fox on this.
I was damn lucky with my S4 that the second one I looked at had a wallet bursting with service receipts, every MOT advisory (followed by receipt for the corrective work done the very next day), every stamp in the book by Audi dealer and then by a well known Audi specialist. Every single nut and bolt ever purchased by any of the owners was all there so was easy to see if a cambelt had been done or a wheel bearing replaced and at what miles. I have carried on doing the same myself so that come sale time theres full documentation for the new owner. I dont expect to get more money for it because of this, I just think a car that cost coming on for 40k brand new still has to be cared for to the same standards throughout its life.
Its a common thing that people think an M3, S4, RS4, etc are now "cheap" cars, they still have the same expensive parts under their bonnets as when they where new.
Seriously mate, the M3 is a car that should have been loved and cared for if you want to expect it to run and run, which it will do, but if corners have been cut in its past they could bite you in the ass a few months down the line.

Thats my take on it.
 
Nothing beats the feeling of satisfaction you get when you go to buy a car and everything just feels so right. You talk to the owner, who bores you to death about how much he loved the car and how he polished it every weekend. He hands you a huge A4 binder absolute jammed with every invoice ever issued relating to that car, the service history stacks up perfectly, etc etc.

It makes you so much more confident about the deal you've done and IMHO it's EASILY worth the extra cash such cars tend to command over otherwise similar yet slightly more questionable examples. Especially when its something like an S4.

It's why I didn't think twice about a 140k mile car - becuase I had all the above.
 
I have tried doing this, BMW are very reluctant to give up any information – in my experience some dealers will take a fax of the v5 and some of your identification – but will then tell you what it has had done at their dealership.. Could be a long process, and at the end of the day you wont have any proof of service history when it comes to selling up, and to echo most of the posts in this thread – you’ve got to be a few sandwiches short of a picnic to buy an e36 M3 with no record of service history – walk away.
 
jackoh said:
I have tried doing this, BMW are very reluctant to give up any information – in my experience some dealers will take a fax of the v5 and some of your identification
Click to expand...

When I almost bought a 530 at auction I traced the entire service history in an afternoon despite not owning the car. Here is how I did it, incase its useful to anyone else.

Firstly, call BMW Customer Information. The phone number is on the BMW website. Explain you are buying a used BMW and wish to check the service history is genuine. They will then provide you with a list of Dealership Visits.

This list simply contains the date a car visited a dealer, which dealer it visted, and the phone number. Thats it. Nothing more.

You then phone each dealer and repeat the story. Some can be funny about it, but most will help - if it's had a straightforward service they can and will tell you over the phone what it was and the mileage of the car. They'll also tell you if its had repair work but if it was paid for by the original owner they won't tell you any more.

I built up a comprehensive service history - from day 1 to present day - of a 135k mile Y plate 530i. Which sold for stupid money and then appeared on Autotrader 2 weeks later with just 70k miles on the clock but with an 'unfortunately mislaid' service book. People DO clock BMW's, so do your best to avoid one.
 
[TW]Fox said:
When I almost bought a 530 at auction I traced the entire service history in an afternoon despite not owning the car. Here is how I did it, incase its useful to anyone else.

Firstly, call BMW Customer Information. The phone number is on the BMW website. Explain you are buying a used BMW and wish to check the service history is genuine. They will then provide you with a list of Dealership Visits.

This list simply contains the date a car visited a dealer, which dealer it visted, and the phone number. Thats it. Nothing more.

You then phone each dealer and repeat the story. Some can be funny about it, but most will help - if it's had a straightforward service they can and will tell you over the phone what it was and the mileage of the car. They'll also tell you if its had repair work but if it was paid for by the original owner they won't tell you any more.

I built up a comprehensive service history - from day 1 to present day - of a 135k mile Y plate 530i. Which sold for stupid money and then appeared on Autotrader 2 weeks later with just 70k miles on the clock but with an 'unfortunately mislaid' service book. People DO clock BMW's, so do your best to avoid one.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I did when buying mine, You're right about the dealers - some are really helpful and just run your plate through the database and list off the service info.. Others seem to be hesitant and start asking for proof of identity and the like!

I was unaware it was common to clock them though, a simple laptop procedure I assume!
 
who owns an M3 and loses the service book? im sorry but you just wouldnt - unless there was a reason to say that it was lost?

and if they didnt care about the car etc then you'd probably want to avoid it anyway!
 
£4300 for a supposedly 'absolutely mint' M3 with FSH?

FWIW I expect you will find he has exagerated the condition of the car - it says the seats are not worn. Even 50k mile BMW's have minor wear to seat bolsters, there is simply no way the seats in a 12 year old E36 are completely without wear.
 
The £4300 was just from the grape vine. So could be billy Bull. Going for a look at 5 anyway and will take a few pics. Its only 20 minutes up the road.
 
reference the leather comment. Wear is expected but i dont mind that. Only thing that annoys me is rips, fag burns or tears. Leather creases with age it cant be stopped. As long as the bolster doesnt have stuffing hanging out i dont mark it down. As you say its a 14 year old car, not expecting something rolled off the production line yesterday.
 
David _b said:
reference the leather comment. Wear is expected but i dont mind that. Only thing that annoys me is rips, fag burns or tears. Leather creases with age it cant be stopped. As long as the bolster doesnt have stuffing hanging out i dont mark it down. As you say its a 14 year old car, not expecting something rolled off the production line yesterday.
Click to expand...

I fully agree. I was more highlighting the fact that I cant see his advert being accurate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom