Would you buy a car that has sat for a year at a dealer?

[n1ckt001]

This car has been at this dealership for a year...it is Certified, and would fit the bill for me (the fact I am in Milwaukee and should be looking at AWD 3 series aside because of the winter!).

But would you be concerned buying it, it is certified...? I presume they would fully service and rectify anything that has perished due to the time it has been sat? Or would there be potential for issues down the road that a service wouldn't pick up now?

http://www.concoursbmw.com/ou/milwaukee-bmw/3958_3...

[Yazza54]

Standing for a year won't do the tyres, wheel bearings or battery any good for a start. Unless it's been moved around a bit I guess. I'd make sure it got a thorough check first.

Edited by Yazza54 on Thursday 30th December 16:32

[rottie102]

n1ckt001 said:

This car has been at this dealership for a year...it is Certified, and would fit the bill for me (the fact I am in Milwaukee and should be looking at AWD 3 series aside because of the winter!).

But would you be concerned buying it, it is certified...? I presume they would fully service and rectify anything that has perished due to the time it has been sat? Or would there be potential for issues down the road that a service wouldn't pick up now?

http://www.concoursbmw.com/ou/milwaukee-bmw/3958_3...

You do know that even when you're buying a brand new car from the dealership, it's not unusual for the car to be standing somewhere in the docks/warehouse/storage yard for a very long time? And I'm sure nobody moves them around every week to save the tyres

[Yazza54]

Not for a year though surely

[joncon]

i purchased a mg "new". i knew it was 2 years old.
it had no real mileage on it, about 20 miles from where it had been moved around factory/motor shows etc.
car had a pre delivery at the dealer ...all was fine.
make sure you get a discount !

[rufusgti]

I know a local dealer who has had an SLK with 100k miles sat on his forecourt for well over 18months, he also has an xj6 thats been there even longer.
I can just imagine the electrical gremlins waiting to raise their heads when they finaly get sold.

[Yazza54]

Mmmm well, I'll stand corrected...but I'd want it cheap and checked.

[redstu]

rufusgti said:

I know a local dealer who has had an SLK with 100k miles sat on his forecourt for well over 18months, he also has an xj6 thats been there even longer.
I can just imagine the electrical gremlins waiting to raise their heads when they finaly get sold.

why? Is the dealer stupid , greedy, both?

Surely anyone that comes along is going to want a hefty discount. I'd be suspicious of any car that's been at a dealers for more than 6-8 weeks and that's probably too generous.

[CarlT]

We bought a car that had been at a dealers for over a year. Insisted that it had a new battery and a service and all was fine. Kept it for 2 years / 20,000 miles with no problems whatsoever...

[GKP]

Where I used to work we had a brand new Honda Civic Jordan (one of those yellow things - the owner won it in some obscure competition) in stock on a SOR basis. It was at the dealership for about 15 months. As it wasn't ours it was taken in every night. So, every day for over a year it was started up, driven 15 yards to the forecourt frontage and switched off. Then, every evening it was started up and driven 15 yards to the secure workshop.

Every couple of months it would start to tickover really badly and chug about as though someone had stuffed the exhaust full of rags. This was solved by driving it around the block at enthusiastic revs to get some warmth into the car. Gallons, gallons of water would pour out of the exhaust pipe when the throttle was applied.

Eventually a new owner was found and the car was pressed into everyday use. As far as I know there were no lasting side effects.

[markmullen]

It will be fine.

[Jw Vw]

Yazza54 said:

Standing for a year won't do the tyres, wheel bearings or battery any good for a start. Unless it's been moved around a bit I guess. I'd make sure it got a thorough check first.

Edited by Yazza54 on Thursday 30th December 16:32

indeed! personally i would give it a wide birth

[christofmccracke]

Im sure that the car has been driven in the last 12 months. Salesman will propbaly have taken it home during its time at the garage