Sub 600 miles and Registered March 2012 - concerns?

J

Jaunty

Member
 East London
Thanks alll for your input in my other threads (clearance and colour). What a nice bunch you all are. Appreciate the input. Blue it is. The car is on hold. This query got a bit lost in my "colour" thread so I am re-posting.

Can I now flag something and see if there is anything you gurus think I should check. Car was registered March 2012 but only has 512 miles. I commented that is low and for them to confirm it was ex-demo, or?? The answer given is that it was bought new by a long time Merc owner. He did not like it and chopped it in to Mercedes for a new SLK. BMW bought it off Merc and it is now for sale as an AUC. I have this in writing and that it is not a customer return or a "lemon". It will have the balance of the 3 year BMW warranty, but is there anything I should be asking? A car parked not driven for 8 months is presumably worse than one that is being used, should I ask how it has been stored? I know I should try and view it but it is + 3 hours away, I am sure cosmetically it will be fine (and I'm no mechanic to check anything else).

If am boring you all please tell me. I am going to buy but wondered if there are any things to check given the above. Sean
 
If its not been used, just ask about the state of brakes, battery, general condition etc, where its been stored. Its not going to hurt to ask. It has warranty so I'd not worry too much. It could well be someone that simply didn't like it, or it was a demo etc. I looked at a 911 C4S some years back and it had super low miles and was a year old. I asked the rep about it, the guy bought it, didn't like it so didn't use it, and traded it for something else months later. Some people really do have that much money.
 
Stuart Truman said:
Do the usual checks you'd do buying any used car but be confident that you have 2+ years warranty cover.

Then enjoy it!
Click to expand...

Yep thanks. 2 years full warranty is peace of mind (and the company pay any bills anyway - but I always make the same checks as I would for myself). Hopefully this should all go well and I will post a welcome pic next week...

Sean
 
Sounds plausible, why not contact the previous owner to confirm?

Haven't used mine since end of October and has sat in the garage hooked upto a charger and still only covered 800 miles, registered April 2012, so there are legit cars that are used little. My only concern if in storage is whether its been standing outside in all weathers or stored indoors. Wouldn't really fancy a car thats been sitting outside with no use. End of the day it has a warranty so should be fine.

Tim.
 
I posted my comment about the storage conditions in your "colour" post.

If you buy the car I would insist on a PDI - If its been stored outside its more than likely that the disc have a film of rust - and has it been put away with the handbrake on?

Tyres also suffer if stood on wet ground - They should be treated gently to get some warmth an flexibility into them ( I know there's not much flex in runflats)
 
I would get it in writing that the car has no faults. My car was rejected 6 months and 2800 miles due to a leaky roof that they couldn't fix.

They were telling potential customers:

"It was bought by a regular customer for his wife. It had a tiny leak which was fixed on the first visit, but the customer lost confidence in the car"

I know this cos I got a forum mole to phone up and pretend to be interested! When she pushed them about the leak, they said it had absolutely been fixed (and they were saying the 1st visit!).

So after 5 or 6 visits to the dealer and them keeping it for 44 days and eventually changing all the seals it still leaked (and they witnessed this, so it wasn't my word against theirs). Within a month of me returning it they had miraculously cured it? I cant say if they had fixed it or not, but I doubt it!

I see they've told you its not had any problems, but I'm just pointing out that they can be lieing bar-stewards just to get a sale.

I hope in your case its all ok. I would try and contact the previous owner. If someone phoned me about my old car I'd absolutely tell them the whole story.
 
BL12 CPY Sytner Leicester. Due to sort out payment on Monday - I am not overly concerned, was just more to ask the right questions before transferring the dosh! Thanks all.
 
When I bought mine it was 4 months old with 180 miles! But it's previous owner was Elms BMW.

Shockingly it had lost £9,990 for that 180 miles......
 
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