Your views wanted - Do I walk away?

S

Swami

Member
Hello all,

I have had an offer accepted on a 3.0i Auto I'm thinking of buying from and independent garagecand have done some research on the car using the MOT database: http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/html/home.html which has been a revelation!! I would like opinions on what the results were.

I found that the garage selling the car is the one doing its current MOT- although this doesn't get me necessarily suspicious i find it odd that the car has only covered 300 miles since its last MOT a year ago. Either the car has done barely any driving in a year (would this be a worry to anyone particularly?) or the garage could have clocked it and I would never know without ringing the previous owner (which I would do if I could). Is this being naive or over-sensitive?

Interestingly the vendor failed the car on its first MOT for ABS (a warning light was on indicating the problem) and power steering problems. 2 days later (with no additional miles on the clock) it was retested by the same firm and it passed. Is it reasonable to expect a car dealer to have properly repaired the car themselves? I can't help but think they would do the bare minimum to get it through, with a risk that they have disconnected the warning light...

The car is today having an AA inspection so who knows if they tested or report the things that were fixed in its MOT. If they come back as problems alarm bells would be ringing, but if the garage offers to fix them who would walk away and who would be ok with it if the work came with some guarantee?

The last issue for me is that the garage is 170 miles away if something went wrong :headbang:

Thanks and sorry for the long post!!
 
300 miles in a year would make me concerned, would want to see the service history and call the previous owner to see if he had been unwell in hospital or something to explain it. Plenty of cars out there so if it's not right walk away.
 
Why not give a BMW dealer a call with the registration plate and see what information they have on the car?

300 miles is kinda small for a year :o I'd definately want to talk to the previous owner and establish why - they may have been overseas or something.
 
The ABS light should be easy to check as they should all light up when you first turn the ignition on. If the ABS light doesn't flick on & off, then it's likely to have been disconnected. Although it could simply have been an ABS sensor problem, which is easy enough to fix.
 
Thanks for the feedback, appreciate it.

In case the car was serviced outside the BMW network would they still have any info on the car?

Does anyone know of a way to find out the previous owner's details without going through the dealer? I have the VIN, car reg and V5 cert number...

Assuming there is a legitimate reason behind it only doing 300 miles in a year, would there be any problems with the car that a basic AA inspection might not reveal? Doing my best to not fall in love with the car and be objective!

Motto- I needed the car reg plus either the MOT test cert number or the V5 cert number to find out when and where it was MOT'd, what advisory messages it came with, why it failed and the mileage at each one.

Hope it helps!
 
if the dealer doesn't have anythign to hide he shoudl be happy to give you the previous owner details from the v5, if he doesn't it's a sure sign he's got soemthing to hide.
 
With regard to mileage there is a tamper sign if somebody has been playing. (Small Dot)

How easy it is to rest this I have no idea though.
 
Cheers!

Well the AA Inspector tested the power steering and found no fault, and suspected the ABS warning light went off due to its inactivity. He said the condition was consistent with the mileage (front tyres were originals) and some things consistent with it being stood for a year- corrosion on the rear discs and the ABS sensor possibly just needing a clean.

He did say the orange oil warning light came on (implying low on oil) during the drive, but he checked the oil and it was fine. On restarting the car the lamp extinguished- has this been heard of before? Sounds like a sensor fault...

Also has anyone got any experience of corroded rear discs? I suspect it may clean itself on use or might just deteriorate, any advice is welcome!! As discs were also an advisory note in his own MOT I'm surprised the dealer hasn't mentioned it to me, how much should I ask off the agreed price to replace rear discs if he won't do it?

Thanks again all, hopefully be posting pics of a new pride and joy soon!
 
To me the answer to all this about mileage, MOT's, quality workmanship, would come down to a judgement of the garage. If it's a reputable large garage, they won't mess around with MOT's repairs, etc. If it's a quick turnaround backstreet garage then they may, but still not realy that likely.

I'd post all your question to the garage about the work, history that led to only 300 miles ask for the previous owner details (although it would take you 10 days to write and get a response unless they have phone contact information) then make your judgement. If you are unhappy walk away. Whatever you do it's likely to be safer than buying private where it's 'caveat emptor'. Still based upon the AA inspection sounds like you are getting there.

I'd want them to do the discs if it were an MOT advisory, but seek £250 plus if it's rears only
 
As above really do some more digging and deffo speak to BMW and as also said above plenty more cars out there so if in any doubt walk away.

The 300 miles in one year would concern me as its a bit strange look into that one

All the best whatever you choose :thumbsup:
 
Thanks, he said the previous owner had the car in a garage for 8 months while she was abroad, it sounds reasonable especially with the problems it has seeming to relate to it being stood... would like to verify that with previous owner!

Cheers for the good advice, will ring BMW and see if they have any info on it and ask if they think brake disc rust will come off the discs from getting it back in to use, hope so! They're probably more likely to say 'no bring it in for them replacing' :headbang:
 
Swami said:
Thanks, he said the previous owner had the car in a garage for 8 months while she was abroad, it sounds reasonable especially with the problems it has seeming to relate to it being stood... would like to verify that with previous owner!

Cheers for the good advice, will ring BMW and see if they have any info on it and ask if they think brake disc rust will come off the discs from getting it back in to use, hope so! They're probably more likely to say 'no bring it in for them replacing' :headbang:
Click to expand...

I'm confident that surface rust will come off in a day. Deep rooted rust might take a month.

I just got 4 discs, pads, sensors, rear drums, brake grease and a can of cleaner (all BMW parts) for £280. It will tke me about 3 hours to fit them slowly and carefully. Not a tough job but one that should not cost the £900 I once saw a dealer charge my lease company.

Well done for being objective and thorough. Good things come to those that wait.

Sceptre
 
Swami said:
He did say the orange oil warning light came on (implying low on oil) during the drive, but he checked the oil and it was fine. On restarting the car the lamp extinguished- has this been heard of before? Sounds like a sensor fault...
Click to expand...

I'm not certain, but it's almost universally the same, and that light is an oil low pressure warning lamp.

If the car is operating at all then the oil pressure is not seriously low, otherwise it would be broken, so this indicates a faulty sensor or more likely a dodgy connection to the sensor.

Just generally, I think I'd not be too overly cautious because the faults were resolved quickly. Doing an MOT costs them time, and as you have seen, registers the failures on a database visible to all. It would be much more likely, if they were to cover things up, that they would simply do a check off the system and then cover them up discretely, and then MOT it with a super clean bill of health. Doing the MOT and showing failures is almost a sign of them being transparrent I would think.

However, it's still prudent to check, so just noting the ABS lamp on startup is sensible.

Good luck with it anyway. Any car that has been sat for a year hardly used might have some issues when it starts to be used again... rear discs especially can easily rust up and appear not so great, especially on handbrake effort, so they fail easily, however after a few weeks of use they might be as good as new :)
 
Thanks for the reassurance on the discs! Love this forum! :D

Another issue has come to light- after its last service at BMW they forgot to stamp the service book :headbang: and it has now been sent back for stamping. It doesn't look like this will arrive back in time for when i was looking to pick it up on Saturday but the vendor has promised to send up to me by registered post when it does come back.

Would i be a moron to drive away without the service book? I will of course be ringing the dealer to confirm they have it and will be stamping it, but i still wouldn't feel great!
 
Turns out I did just that - drove away without the service book! Took a while to realise it too :oops:

Dealer (BMW) was actually pretty good - ordered a new one and sent it to the relevant dealers to get it stamped. Then they sent it out to me :D
 
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