Buying Approved used ..............

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adam81

Member
Ive been looking for a Z4 coupe on and off now for what seems like an eternity !

Something that i have came accross when cheking out AUC's is the crazy amount that have not been serviced correctly, yet BMW are selling them as AUC's ! i was under the impression that to be an AUC certain criteria had to be met one of which being the servicing.
Due to the fact that im looking at lower milage cars say 25k on an 56/07 plate owners seem to be ignoring the 2 year rule and must just be going off the milage.

So i thought i better find out what BMW UK recomend, they state that all BMW AUC's should have been serviced correctly either milage based or time based (every 2 years). So i asked what if there was a problem with the engine and the car hadnt been serviced correctly would you still honour the warranty? The reply was "if the problem was found to be caused by the car not being serviced correctly then the warranty would be pretty much void !

So when your buying a car from BMW and you expect it to be too "BMW standards" theres a good chance it may not.
 
my zed was 27 months old when I bought it, and had only done 9k and so had never had a condition based service/oil change. I didnt realise at the time but 6 months later when I had to top up the oil and noticed the 'every 2 year' oil change in the book, I phoned the dealer who apologised and gave the car a free oil service (which by that time was due according the the milage computer in 600 miles anyway!).

Who knows if long term term harm as been done, but given the longevity of these fully synthetic oils I doubt it.
 
adam81 said:
So when your buying a car from BMW and you expect it to be too "BMW standards" theres a good chance it may not.
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Good chance or possible chance...... that's why you should do the proper checks irrespective of where it comes from. I would suggest that if a dealer supplies it with a warranty and a claim arises which defaults because of an issue over servicing intervals prior to purchase then the dealer is well and truly liable. But then if you've done the right checks before purchase then this will never happen.
 
AlanJ said:
adam81 said:
So when your buying a car from BMW and you expect it to be too "BMW standards" theres a good chance it may not.
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Good chance or possible chance...... that's why you should do the proper checks irrespective of where it comes from. I would suggest that if a dealer supplies it with a warranty and a claim arises which defaults because of an issue over servicing intervals prior to purchase then the dealer is well and truly liable. But then if you've done the right checks before purchase then this will never happen.
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Well based on the fact that i have enquired on a number of Z4 coupes id say 80% were not serviced correctly hence the "good chance" i must stress though this is only based on the Z4 coupe as i couldnt comment on the other styles BMW sell.

I think the point im trying to make is when you pay a premium for buying an AUC should you really have to check the cars been serviced correctly when this is meant to be part of the criteria of AUC's.

Obviously i do, do the checks but some people may not and just wanted to highlight this point
 
DrNick said:
my zed was 27 months old when I bought it, and had only done 9k and so had never had a condition based service/oil change. I didnt realise at the time but 6 months later when I had to top up the oil and noticed the 'every 2 year' oil change in the book, I phoned the dealer who apologised and gave the car a free oil service (which by that time was due according the the milage computer in 600 miles anyway!).

Who knows if long term term harm as been done, but given the longevity of these fully synthetic oils I doubt it.
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Dr Nick you kind of prove my point here as im assuming you bought that car expecting it to be to BMW standards ? which obviously it wasnt.

Dont take this the wrong way but i would never buy a car that hadnt been serviced for 27 months regardless of milage, unless im misunderstanig your post baiscally your saying your car was still running the same oil in it from new for 33 months in total. As im sure your aware oil deteriorates with time and you maybe right there probably hasnt been any damage done but when you come to sell you will have to explain this to any potetial buyer.
 
Dr Nick you kind of prove my point here as im assuming you bought that car expecting it to be to BMW standards ? which obviously it wasnt
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I think it was BMW standard - it after all a second hand car not a new one - any second hand purchase is a risk, one pays extra buying an AUC on the basis you get an AUC warrantee - if there had been an issue in the time and they argued that the problem was related to improper servicing they would not have a leg stand on as they state in their AUC guarantee that "A used BMW can only become Approved if has been maintained in strict accordance with BMW Servicing recommendations.". By selling it as as AUC they are saying that feel it has been serviced properly regardless of whether they have or not!

Dont take this the wrong way but i would never buy a car that hadnt been serviced for 27 months regardless of milage, unless im misunderstanig your post baiscally your saying your car was still running the same oil in it from new for 33 months in total.
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I originally thought the same, but overall it was a car that I wanted and was in perfect condition - as said before when buying a second hand car you take a risk - overall the state of the car indicated it had been extremely well looked after. Who knows - a car may have had oil changed every 12 months but reved to the limit with cold oil every morning which arguably would do much more damage to the engine than leaving the same oil for in the engine for 33 months and driving more 'kindly' to the engine.

With a lot of words what I am basically saying you never know the history of a car unless its factory fresh!! You just have to look at the car and make a judgement.

when you come to sell you will have to explain this to any potetial buyer
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when I trade it in they wont even look, and the chances of the salesman knowing that it was meant to have an oil change at two years....non existent!
 
adam81 said:
[
I think the point im trying to make is when you pay a premium for buying an AUC should you really have to check the cars been serviced correctly when this is meant to be part of the criteria of AUC's.

Obviously i do, do the checks but some people may not and just wanted to highlight this point
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I absolutely agree but when parting with £15-20k upwards of your hard earned cash a few moments to check is surely worthwhile irrespective of the person or agent selling. I hope you have advised BMW UK of your findings as they will certainly be interested in dealers who misrepresent the accuracy or description of any secondhand sale.
 
Very informative post, this is possibly even more important for the Z4M with its 1200 mile running in service. This can prove a sticky wicket if its not completed at the prescribed time.
 
Adam D said:
Very informative post, this is possibly even more important for the Z4M with its 1200 mile running in service. This can prove a sticky wicket if its not completed at the prescribed time.
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This is important as it's not normal oil that is first used so is a must.
 
AlanJ said:
adam81 said:
[
I think the point im trying to make is when you pay a premium for buying an AUC should you really have to check the cars been serviced correctly when this is meant to be part of the criteria of AUC's.

Obviously i do, do the checks but some people may not and just wanted to highlight this point
Click to expand...

I absolutely agree but when parting with £15-20k upwards of your hard earned cash a few moments to check is surely worthwhile irrespective of the person or agent selling. I hope you have advised BMW UK of your findings as they will certainly be interested in dealers who misrepresent the accuracy or description of any secondhand sale.
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Alan i totally agree, i suppose regardless of what it is your spending 15-20k on you should do some research first.

Regarding telling BMW UK my findings - i didnt actually name and shame but i probably should have :oops:
 
adam81 said:
DrNick said:
Sorry, that wasnt meant to be a rant, just expressing an opinion! :thumbsup:
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Hey Nick not taken as a rant at all mate, valid points made :thumbsup:
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:thumbsup: good, I hope your hunt becomes more fruitful so that soon you will be driving your z4 :driving:
 
Hey Nick not taken as a rant at all mate, valid points made :thumbsup:[/quote]
:thumbsup: good, I hope your hunt becomes more fruitful so that soon you will be driving your z4 :driving:[/quote]


Thanks Nick hopefully wont be too much longer :thumbsup:
 
srhutch said:
Adam D said:
Very informative post, this is possibly even more important for the Z4M with its 1200 mile running in service. This can prove a sticky wicket if its not completed at the prescribed time.
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This is important as it's not normal oil that is first used so is a must.
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While they might miss the strictly serviced every 2 years regardless on mileage on the non-M's, BMW are pretty hot on making sure the Ms they sell have had the 1200 mile service. Case in point, one demo / management car that slipped through the next (a 2008 Z4M R) ended up at Rybrook Volvo which is right next door to Rybrook BMW, for about 5k less than it would have been on the BMW lot some 50 yards away. They explained this was the reason that they were selling it through the Volvo arm, BMW wouldn't let them sell it through the BMW side of the dealership.
 
The Z4 that I am getting on Friday is an AUC and I didnt even check the service history as I read that to be an AUC it would have to be fully serviced. If I find out now that its not I will not be impressed but I guess I should have checked. Cant trust anyone it seems :(
 
My coupe was bought as AUC and its only service (Oct07 car) was done a few months after the 2 year threshold. I still bought the car as it had little mileage (18k) and the condition was better than all other coupes I had seen.
 
richtea78 said:
The Z4 that I am getting on Friday is an AUC and I didnt even check the service history as I read that to be an AUC it would have to be fully serviced. If I find out now that its not I will not be impressed but I guess I should have checked. Cant trust anyone it seems :(
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Check the book before delivery, if it hasn't been serviced correctly either walk away or get a further reduction.
 
Definitely check the service book, my car had apparently missed a brake fluid change but a bit of investigation showed it had been done but not stamped...sadly as this thread shows you can't trust the dealer to have done their homework before putting the car up for sale!
 
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