May it be worth buying a rebuilt car?

M

miercoles

New member
Hello,
I am thinking about buying a BMW Z4, and I wonder how much will I risk if I buy a rebuilt car. The thing is that the choice of Z4 E85 cars is quite narrow and most of them are in fact rebuilt after getting salvage title in USA. I have some specific requirements concerning the interior and other elements of the car, that even if I look among all of the Z4 E85 cars that are offered, only a few of them fit my needs. But unfortunately all of them are rebuilt even if I wouldn't care about the price. If I want a car that fit my description and wasn't badly damaged in the past, I would have to look for it in other countries. This is not only more time-consuming, but also more expensive, largely because of additional fees applicable when importing used cars.
So here I stand trying to make a decision. Should I buy a rebuilt Z4 with salvage title (for 12000 Euro) in the history and quite low odometer reading, which would allow me to choose among the cars available in my city or should I pay around 20000 + 3000 Euro of import costs for a car in a really good condition, looking for it abroad?

Is there anyone here, who owned a rebuilt Z4 and used it for more than half a year? If yes, was it worth buying? Did you rebuilt it yourself or bought already done? How many problems did you have when using a rebuilt Z4?
 
E85s are pretty cheap now, buying a write off is always a big gamble then you have saleability. The import also makes the cost makes it less of a worthwhile purchase.
 
As your compatriot, I've had a similar dilemma. I've seen a couple of rebuilt 350z's, all were flawed beyond the point of acceptance. Poor wheel alignment, signs of rust, peeling clear coat, radiator leaks. :(

That led me to search for other options, and that is how I found my Zed at a bank auction (PKO, the guy who leased it defaulter on the payments; a Polish delivery car, DEKRA reports, no accident history, low mileage and so on). Anyway, it was a lucky one-off, as all other Zeds were autobahn wrecks.

On the other hand, in 2008 I imported a salvaged Tiburon from Miami and resprayed it in my city, which proved a good value. Of course, after shipping it occurred that the car had a few more 'surprises' than advertised, so it was good to have a few grand more to cover the additional expenses.

So, in my experience, it worth rebuiding a car with bodywork damage only, and having it done by your chosen specialist. Other 'value' salvage cars can be money pits in the long run.

There's a guy on http://forum.mustangklub.pl/forum/ (nickname: Koral) who imports quality US cars, quite new and with minor body damage. He doesn't charge much commission, as sometimes he just has to fill the extra space in the container.

Good luck!

PS

UK RDH Zeds are much cheaper than EU LHD cars... made my head spin when I compared the prices. I would've had an M for 3.0SI money. Still, you can't register an RHD car in PL.
 
Thanks guys!
One of the choices I can make is to wait until such lucky occasion, as Corsaire77 had, but as I care a lot about the interior, I may be too picky to find a Z4 that suits me. Thus I am also looking around for other makes, but so far I have realized that Mercedes SLK has to small interior for me. Mazda MX-5 is also small (but I will have to check it), BMW Z3 has interior that I completely don't like and unfortunately I don't like Honda's roadsters. An old Jaguar XK8 (even if its not a roadster), Chrysler Crossfire or Pontiac Solstice may fit, but I haven't tested any of them so far.
There is also a problem with cabrio cars that they start to creek after much less than 100 000 kilometers. Thus getting an older car with no accident history, but creeking because of large mileage may be more irritating than coping with problems connected with being rebuilt.

Corsaire77, how to look for a bank auction cars in Poland?

And one more thing: I am going to use the car rarely. I won't be driving more than 5000 km per year - usually from 15 to 80 km in and around the city, 2-3 days in a week. I'm not going to race in it and probably will rarely exceed 100 km/s. I want it for fun and comfort of driving with an open roof. I will probably want to sell it after 3 years. Thus I suppose that the biggest problem with a salvaged car will be poor wheel alignment which is very hard to be made better.
 
I've tested the Solstice, and it was a major disappointment. On paper, it looked perfect: the performance, the suspension, the sexy looks. In reality, it was a cramped, rattling affair, the suspension jumped on every bump, which was dangerous in turns; on top of that, I found it impossible to fold the manual top without another person's assistance. I've also checked the forums, and the reliability record is horrible.

You can check banking auctions here:
http://www.licytacje.pekaoleasing.com.pl/

Other banks have similar sites as well. It's hard to spot a proper sports car there, but if it happens, it's from a Polish dealership with a full DEKRA report. Worth checking on a regular basis.

Otherwise, you're facing a short trip to Germany... but the excise can kill the deal.
 
Thanks a lot! I will try to take a look at the Solstice though, just to check how it feels.
corsaire77 said:
Otherwise, you're facing a short trip to Germany... but the excise can kill the deal.
Click to expand...
Excise, additional fees, examining it by professionals there and maybe going there more than once, because sometimes the car in reality is really worse than it appears through the Internet. One unsuccessful and one successful trip would cost me probably more than just a little bit less than 1000 Euro (including the cost of my time and the fuel needed to go back by car), which is around 8% of the value of the rebuilt car in Poland. This 1000 Euro is often enough to cover repair cost of one serious issue in a car.
 
... not to mention the fact that many of the German sellers are Turkish traders - odometer rollback and fake service books are the norm!
 
Curious: can one replace the front parts ... nose, side panels ... from a front-damaged Z4 coupe (2006+) using
parts from a pre-facelift roadster (pre-2006)?

I am pretty sure that the parts are the same for a post-facelift (2006-2008) roadster and the coupe. But, would the parts actually fit from the pre-facelift roadster?
I know it might look a bit funny - but some coupe owners seem to mod theirs to have that look with the round foggies etc
 
@Krusty, I've seen one Z4 from 2006 with "si" engine equipped with pre-2006 bumpers. I think that the rear lights were from 2006 and the metal cover around them was from before 2006. But I can't find it anymore on the Internet.

@Lightning87 - where on the Internet can I look for cars from Holland?
 
look at this sites

http://www.marktplaats.nl

http://kopen.marktplaats.nl/auto-s/bmw/c96.html?xl=1&ds=to%3A%3Bl1%3A91%3Bl2%3A96%3Bpm%3A%3Bpa%3A%3Bdi%3A%3Blt%3Azip%3Bsfds%3A1%3Bpt%3A0%3Bmp%3Anumeric%3Bosi%3A2&ppu=0&ts=1&postcode=Capelle%20aan%20den%20ijssel&aw%5B35%5D%5B0%5D=9858&srt=pu


http://www.speurders.nl
http://www.gaspedaal.nl
http://www.autoscout24.nl

sportscars are getting les expensive because of the high gas prices.

watch out for some dodgy car dealers. like jet cars in rotterdam doens't have a verry good name. but sometimes even them sell a nice car, so if you go to buy a Z take a friendly mechanic with you. also you can the ANWB do a buying test.

also watch for de APK ( dutch mot but harder dan mot). if you can look at the underside of a car if it wasn't damaged, also lift up the board over the battery to check if the car is straight there.


hope you'll find a nice one, here or somewhere else.
 
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