Help needed on private purchase 330d 2016

[zed0070]

Hey everyone,

I have seen a BMW 330d xdrive 2015 which is about 130 miles away from me. Ideally I wanted something closer and also purchase from a garage.
This is around £1100-1400 cheaper than a car from the garage. It's done about 80k miles and 2 owners, FSH, last serviced earlier this year. A couple of MOT's in the last 3 years have failed for shock absorbers and tyres.

I really don't know much about cars so was thinking about RAC or similar vehicle inspection and depending on the findings either go ahead or stay away.

Any advice on what's the safest approach to this? or just stick to local

I've had 1 bad experience about 7-8 years ago where I travelled almost 150 miles to purchase a car from a private seller and the car was awful and that was a horrible experience

Thanks

[MrBen.911]

If you would be more comfortable buying from a local garage, then do that. There are thousands of 3-series BMWs out there and the right car will come up locally if you wait a little. I've found the biggest mistakes in buying cars come when you get impatient. There's always another car.

[Pica-Pica]

I would be wary of a car that failed an MOT on tyres. An advisory, OK, but a failure on something that any owner should keep a regular eye on - no.

[zed0070]

Pica-Pica said:

I would be wary of a car that failed an MOT on tyres. An advisory, OK, but a failure on something that any owner should keep a regular eye on - no.

My bad, it didn't fail it was an advisory (just checked online) and he had replaced all 4 with pirellis when i spoke to him on the phone

[zed0070]

Still thinking about this car

May go ahead and look/purchase the car but at the same time will take out BMW monthly warranty for a few months just in case I am really unfortunate. It is a bit expensive around £100 per month

Sound good?

[shtu]

zed0070 said:

Still thinking about this car

May go ahead and look/purchase the car but at the same time will take out BMW monthly warranty for a few months just in case I am really unfortunate. It is a bit expensive around £100 per month

Sound good?

If you're going to spend several hundred on a warranty (that will likely have 1001 exclusions), why not just buy from a dealer and get all the sales protection that brings?

A few hundred difference on a car of that value isn't enough to justify going private.

[Dog Biscuit]

At 9 years old and 80k you could well be buying a wallet opener.

That kind of age and miles you are looking at worn suspension bushes/arms/shocks, possible turbo issues, DPF/EGR blockages etc

If you are set on buying at least go for an inspection at a local specialist prior as theres nothing more expensive than an older diesel bristling with emission control tech thats starting to fail.

[Browter]

zed0070 said:

Still thinking about this car

May go ahead and look/purchase the car but at the same time will take out BMW monthly warranty for a few months just in case I am really unfortunate. It is a bit expensive around £100 per month

Sound good?

Are you certain you can take out the warranty for only a few months if it’s not already on a BMW warranty? I thought they charged you a larger amount upfront to put a new warranty on it, to basically cover people doing exactly what you want to do. If not then everybody would take out a months warranty and get everything repaired if it needed doing.

[zed0070]

I didn't really want to spend more than £13k , last couple of cars have had a heads up display and although there's quite a few 330d's for sale on autotrader there's very few with a heads up display.

Maybe I misunderstood the BMW warranty but I thought it was like pay monthly and cancel whenever you want

[zed0070]

Dog Biscuit said:

At 9 years old and 80k you could well be buying a wallet opener.

That kind of age and miles you are looking at worn suspension bushes/arms/shocks, possible turbo issues, DPF/EGR blockages etc

If you are set on buying at least go for an inspection at a local specialist prior as theres nothing more expensive than an older diesel bristling with emission control tech thats starting to fail.

You do have a very good point. Thanks.

[zed0070]

shtu said:

If you're going to spend several hundred on a warranty (that will likely have 1001 exclusions), why not just buy from a dealer and get all the sales protection that brings?

A few hundred difference on a car of that value isn't enough to justify going private.

You are right, ideally I want to purchase from a dealer and happy to pay more but I haven't found one with a heads up display.
I guess I can forget the heads up display

[Browter]

zed0070 said:

I didn't really want to spend more than £13k , last couple of cars have had a heads up display and although there's quite a few 330d's for sale on autotrader there's very few with a heads up display.

Maybe I misunderstood the BMW warranty but I thought it was like pay monthly and cancel whenever you want

Maybe you can. I know there's a pay monthly option because I have it, but when I originally looked into it people said there was an increased charge initially if it was a new warranty. Mine was already on a warranty because it was a BMW approved car.

[zed0070]

Browter said:

Maybe you can. I know there's a pay monthly option because I have it, but when I originally looked into it people said there was an increased charge initially if it was a new warranty. Mine was already on a warranty because it was a BMW approved car.

Yeah I think the chap said the warranty just ran out a few months ago so maybe thats why the price isn't sky high.

[Browter]

zed0070 said:

I didn't really want to spend more than £13k , last couple of cars have had a heads up display and although there's quite a few 330d's for sale on autotrader there's very few with a heads up display.

Maybe I misunderstood the BMW warranty but I thought it was like pay monthly and cancel whenever you want

Maybe you can. I know there's a pay monthly option because I have it, but when I originally looked into it people said there was an increased charge initially if it was a new warranty. Mine was already on a warranty because it was a BMW approved car.

[Belle427]

I believe these are the ones that can lunch their engines so the service history is critical on them, i would guess selling it just after the warranty expires is the right thing to do for them really.
I personally would not buy one of these without a decent warranty in place.

[Brett748]

Make sure it is Euro6 or I’d walk away because it may depreciate like a stone at any future government or local authority whim.

I had a 65 plate Euro 6 330d and it was excellent!

[dave_s13]

Don't buy an older car from miles away and expect the dealer to accomodate anything other than you getting it back to them and getting the train home.

Older BMWs need to meet certain criteria for the approved warranty as well. Need to be under a certain mileage and have a full main dealer history....or that's what it was when I enquired a few years ago for an E93.

Good choice of car though, if you can get a good one.

Edited by dave_s13 on Tuesday 9th July 20:03

[Dog Biscuit]

Brett748 said:

Make sure it is Euro6 or I’d walk away because it may depreciate like a stone at any future government or local authority whim.

I had a 65 plate Euro 6 330d and it was excellent!

Thats a very good point re the Euro6 actually

Nobody will touch a 5 in the near future I reckon

[zed0070]

Thanks everyone. I have checked and it is euro 6 compliant, which is good.

I really don't want the hassle of buying it and running into issues

Going to think overnight and make a decision but it looks like a decent 60-70k mileage 2015/2016 330d xdrive with the spec I want is over my £14k budget.



May have to consider alternatives i.e. 320d or a 2 year cheap lease