Low Mileage M

nick_z4

Member
 Brighton
So i'm looking for a low mileage MR at the moment and found a nice one with 29K on the clock,

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/bmw/z4-roadster/bmw-z-series-z4-m-roadster--------------2006/4050700

Agreed a price with the owner, bearing in mind its missing History and is overdue an Inspection 2; Given what its missing - this could be a little pricey...

I arranged to travel 250 miles to meet him at a local specialist, they're happy to check it over and HPI it for me - this was all this afternoon. Then the owner came back and said he wouldnt take it over there as he has another person viewing at the same time and that he knows its a good car and wanted to do the deal at his house instead of at the garage.

Is this normal, or am i missing something?
 
There's nothing wrong with wanting to have the car checked over by a specialist. If it's in as tip top condition as he's made it out to be then it shouldn't be a problem at all. If you're paying that amount for a car you don't want anything going wrong anytime soon.

I wouldn't rush into buying anything mate, i took my time when i bought my //M, viewed and drove 4 examples before i bought mine. :D
 
If you have agreed a price and he has agreed to meet you. I would say it very naughty of him to now move the goal posts.

And maybe he is worried and there is something to hide?? Missing history and low millage. You could add 2+2 and 5 on that. I mean what if it has been serviced (but at one dealer) and its done more miles and serviced at another.... Then lose the service book get a new one and only have the stamps up to a service say 25k say the history is missing get the car clocked (extremely easy to do on these cars!!!) and then sell as a low millage car missing history??

I might be being paranoid. But if they dont want an inspection hpi and or the car getting a good going over just walk away as something is not correct. Its a lot of money if your not sure and there will be others.
 
I couldn't agree more, i thought i'd found the 'one' - nice colour combination, the miles are very good and it was a fair price given the looming inspection2 with missing history. I did also ring the last garage who did the inspection 1 (in 2010) and they confirmed all was well and so i think the miles are ok. No more history since then though!

It is very naughty, he wont get any more than what we agreed from someone else. I'm a little annoyed, but as Minihen_Ldn said, i'm good to go and happy to wait for another good one to come up.

I just wonder if anyone else on here is going to look at this car; Just be careful!
 
Also worth pointing out that the Photo's in the Advert are from when he bought it 6 years ago and not current.
 
Is it not also quite under valued?? Something doesn't smell right to me...
 
JAD said:
Is it not also quite under valued?? Something doesn't smell right to me...

I sold my one year newer car with less miles and better condition to Bing for less :poke:

Anyway, back to the car. It is not due an inspection 2 until 40-oddk miles anyway so quite a bit off from that.
 
pvr said:
JAD said:
Is it not also quite under valued?? Something doesn't smell right to me...

I sold my one year newer car with less miles and better condition to Bing for less :poke:

Anyway, back to the car. It is not due an inspection 2 until 40-oddk miles anyway so quite a bit off from that.

And I am delighted at the current implied value :D
 
I thought the price was near on what it should be for a late 2006 with 30k miles; Prices are a little confusing right now - on auto trader there's a 2007 on with 50k miles for £13500 and some on at £13,750 with 750000 miles. Another I've seen with 43000 Is on at £15,500 needs an inspection 2. I think the dealer prices are keeping the private ones a little high at the moment and given that it's summer time too.

I guess with the prices as they are, it's all about whether you want to sell quickly or wait a few months. I imagine a trade in price on something like a 2007 with around 40k miles can't be much more than £12000-13000 these days and so private sales should come down a little.

I did ask for current pics which he did send and the cars still in good condition.
 
OP forum member stu truman on here has a very very low mileage roadster that he wanted to sell not so long ago... maybe a pm is in order but I'm sure it was around 14k miles when i last spoke to him, so very very low....
 
I spoke to a dealer and isn't it every 2 years it needs either an inspection or an oil change service - it might have covered 29k miles but based on time, it needs a inspection 2 rather than mileage.
 
nick_z4 said:
I spoke to a dealer and isn't it every 2 years it needs either an inspection or an oil change service - it might have covered 29k miles but based on time, it needs a inspection 2 rather than mileage.

Not for an M, mileage based with interim oil / brake fluid services until mileage is reached. Perhaps an interim gearbox oil change if wanted, but the expensive checks for valve clearances makes no sense if you don't do the miles.
 
Beedub said:
OP forum member stu truman on here has a very very low mileage roadster that he wanted to sell not so long ago... maybe a pm is in order but I'm sure it was around 14k miles when i last spoke to him, so very very low....

Not when i saw him a couple of weeks ago - higher miles and not for sale ...
 
pvr said:
nick_z4 said:
I spoke to a dealer and isn't it every 2 years it needs either an inspection or an oil change service - it might have covered 29k miles but based on time, it needs a inspection 2 rather than mileage.

Not for an M, mileage based with interim oil / brake fluid services until mileage is reached. Perhaps an interim gearbox oil change if wanted, but the expensive checks for valve clearances makes no sense if you don't do the miles.

The S54 generation and pre CBS generation have a service indicator based on quantity of fuel consumed and/or time, whichever comes first. The time part seems a little excessive if it's been a genuinely low road mileage car but it is advised to carry out a service whether inspection or oil service every two years.

Short journeys/track use will lead to the service indicator counting down quicker so it is possible to need an inspeciton 2 in late teens/twenties. I really wouldn't apply the interim oil change logic unless you're fully aware of the full history of the car.
 
Babw said:
pvr said:
nick_z4 said:
I spoke to a dealer and isn't it every 2 years it needs either an inspection or an oil change service - it might have covered 29k miles but based on time, it needs a inspection 2 rather than mileage.

Not for an M, mileage based with interim oil / brake fluid services until mileage is reached. Perhaps an interim gearbox oil change if wanted, but the expensive checks for valve clearances makes no sense if you don't do the miles.

The S54 generation and pre CBS generation have a service indicator based on quantity of fuel consumed and/or time, whichever comes first. The time part seems a little excessive if it's been a genuinely low road mileage car but it is advised to carry out a service whether inspection or oil service every two years.

Short journeys/track use will lead to the service indicator counting down quicker so it is possible to need an inspeciton 2 in late teens/twenties. I really wouldn't apply the interim oil change logic unless you're fully aware of the full history of the car.

This always divides opinion, but using your logic would mean my car would have an Inspection 1 or 2 every 6-8,000 miles which to me is very excessive. I will be having 2-3 oil services between my inspections.
 
Standard service schedules only work for standard cars that do the 15k miles a year (or roughly that sort of mileage), where it would indeed work out as per their quoted schedule. "Normal" cars don't have valve clearance checks and shims replacements so the "big" services are not that much more as they change a few filters more.

On an M, that does not apply as it is not a standard car, hence the much, much more expensive Inspection services.
 
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