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B'stard Child
5,789 posts
115 months
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missing the VR6 said: BMW's are on a time or distance servicing so it's quite possible that the car wasn't due a service! The calculation is based on fuel used (that knocks of the service lights) so a car used on M-ways and averaging high 20's low 30's will have a very extended service time I reckon to have to reset the service lights every 5 Oil changes (I change the oil every 3000 miles and oil filter every other change) - so for me that's 15,000 miles between resets
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E38Ross
10,515 posts
81 months
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yep, and on that note my car went 19k without a service at one point....but those 19k MUST have all been on the motorway as it was done in 7 months! so i'm not concerned at all and the fact it was still an approved used well after the service suggests it was done on time 
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Baryonyx
6,880 posts
28 months
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confused_buyer said: To be brutally frank, if you put an old E38 up for sale, there is at least a 50% chance it will be purchased by someone from Eastern Europe who will chuck the MOT and service book in the bin (I actually had one do this last year) as they leave and only intend to break it for spares (to keep some LHD examples on the road) however nice it is.
The other 45% of buyers will only care about the colour and whether it has bling wheels they can put a gold coating on and won't know what a service history is.
There is no excuse for lying but unless a dealer specialises in such things most would assume the above type of buyer from experience. You are quite right about some thing, but in this instance the dealer had said to me "I'm just glad someone is interested in the car for what it is. I've had loads of Asians ringing up offering me £1000 for it expecting I'm going to bite their hand off". Quite frankly, woe betide anyone who paid £1000 for it. He seemed to appreciate the fact I had researched E38's, rather than just being someone trying to chance their way into a cheap luxobarge. For him to lie to me about the car then was insulting as I specifically told him what I was looking for and that I would not settle for less, so I would appreciate his honesty and that it would save us both time. Frankly, having gotten familiar with Mercedes cars since then I would probably just look at S classes now. Even an S280 does not attract the same sorts as a 728i.
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confused_buyer
1,875 posts
50 months
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Baryonyx said: Frankly, having gotten familiar with Mercedes cars since then I would probably just look at S classes now. Even an S280 does not attract the same sorts as a 728i. Ooohhh...it does, if anything cheap Merc's are worse than cheap BMW's! 
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B'stard Child
5,789 posts
115 months
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Oh and I'm of the same opinion as another post on here - rather buy from an enthusiast who has serviced the car himself and has a raft of bills for parts by way of documentation/proof which I always keep for any of my cars (along with a detailed mpg record)..... This  had "almost BMW FSH" up to 88K miles (it had the service light indicator on so was overdue by 1000 miles according to the OBC) but the previous owner had a bill from a local independant to cover an oil change 1000 miles before he put it up for sale so I was more relaxed about that issue - got it in 2006 with a couple of faults that I found - missing belly pan and moisture in side the rear lights (badly fitted seals) Since then Changed the front indicators and side repeaters from orange to clear with silvered bulbs Changed the rear lights to crystal ones again with silvered bulbs Changed the gearlever from wood to leather (wooden one cracked one hot day) Changed the front grills from chrome to black Removed the mudflaps Fed and cleaned the leather (gets another feed every 6mths) Got the original 18's stripped and refurbed - Powder coated gloss black centres as summer rims Set up the autolocking once you hit 10 mph Service wise I've replaced Pollen filters Cabin Filters All the coolant hoses (2 of them twice) and as a result the coolants been done 4 times The electric coolant thermostat Partailly changed the Automatic transmission fluid 3 times (sump gaskets, magnets & filter once) (did a how too on here) Replaced the spark plugs (100K interval plugs fitted again - expensive but you can use cheaper ones with shorter change interval) Replaced the engine oil 6 times Replaced the engine oil filter 3 times Replaced the heater pump and valve assembly Replaced the rocker cover gaskets Air con gets re-gassed (Check for leaks and topped up every two years) It doesn't lose much but it's much more effective when it has max gas level Others Had at least 3 different sets of wheels on it - couldn't make up my mind if I liked the basket weaves which were a git to clean or if I wanted a plain wheel that was easy to clean  Replaced the pusher fan (if this fails you lose all the AC gas) So it got a full re-gas as a result Replaced the Transmission oil cooler Sourced and fitted the missing belly pan Replace Light control module and re-coded it so that the mileage tamper dot doesn't show Replaced the TV module (but it turned out the traffic master was to blame for the loss of the monitor problem I had so that's now removed) Fitted a new battery - sheesh it's got a big and expensive battery Fitted a towbar and full BMW electric so it can tow my track day car Currently I have the CD unit in a million bits as it refused to eject it's cartridge but like most things I'll get the thing working  Question is with 114K miles on it and last stamped in the book is 88K would anyone buy it if I were to sell it - I'd like to think that it would find a buyer
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Chrisw666
20,881 posts
68 months
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B'stard Child said: Question is with 114K miles on it and last stamped in the book is 88K would anyone buy it if I were to sell it - I'd like to think that it would find a buyer If you sold it, with a well written advert then it would sell. If you px it at a dealer, he sends it to auction and it turns up being sold by some semi-literate home trader via ebay then it would struggle.
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POORCARDEALER
5,644 posts
110 months
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Current condition and recent work is what matters on an older car, not that it missed a service 70K miles ago.
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Baryonyx
6,880 posts
28 months
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B'stard Child said: Question is with 114K miles on it and last stamped in the book is 88K would anyone buy it if I were to sell it - I'd like to think that it would find a buyer That is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for when I was hunting for a BMW. Well cared for by an enthusiast. I am of the opinion that you shouldn't just 'let cars go' once they're passed warranty or 100,000 miles. Look after them well and they'll last forever (almost).
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B'stard Child
5,789 posts
115 months
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POORCARDEALER said: Current condition and recent work is what matters on an older car, not that it missed a service 70K miles ago. Totally agree
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B'stard Child
5,789 posts
115 months
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Baryonyx said: B'stard Child said: Question is with 114K miles on it and last stamped in the book is 88K would anyone buy it if I were to sell it - I'd like to think that it would find a buyer That is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for when I was hunting for a BMW. Well cared for by an enthusiast. I am of the opinion that you shouldn't just 'let cars go' once they're passed warranty or 100,000 miles. Look after them well and they'll last forever (almost). That's normally what I do - I don't tend to sell cars - it a failing of mine It's a 4.4 V8 luxobarge, 14 years old and all the toys still work (apart from the CD player - fix in progress) it returns 22 mpg towing a track day car on a trailer and to be honest performance wise I've often forgotten it's behind me. It will do just over 30 on a run and it's never averaged less than 25 mpg across a whole year of motoring - having your cake and eating it I reckon. Only thing I can fault the car for is the ride is a bit BMW - over damped and over sprung
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hman
4,811 posts
63 months
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So the BMW in question was worth less than £1000 and the op was worried it had missed a service.
Oh dear.
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jatinder
1,580 posts
82 months
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I remember getting into an arguement with a dealer over the phone saying "Service history doesn't matter i've told you its had a service what more do you want"
This is after the advert claimed FSH but had no proof.
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Snowboy
3,255 posts
20 months
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hman said: So the BMW in question was worth less than £1000 and the op was worried it had missed a service.
Oh dear. I was going to say the same thing. On a £1k car I’d say that frankly you’d be lucky to get a couple of MOT certs and a money back guarantee to the end of the road. You ‘might’ get better than that from an enthusiast. But once it’s gone into a dealer/auction/trade then all bets are off.
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FoundOnRoadside
436 posts
13 months
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confused_buyer said: To be brutally frank, if you put an old E38 up for sale, there is at least a 50% chance it will be purchased by someone from Eastern Europe who will chuck the MOT and service book in the bin (I actually had one do this last year) as they leave and only intend to break it for spares (to keep some LHD examples on the road) however nice it is. Polish guy across from me buys old Mercs (mostly E300 W210 estates) and breaks them. I see his latest breaker is a very nice looking Alpina B10 (E34).
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VolvoT5
493 posts
43 months
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Baryonyx said: It's the same as the 'trade sale/part ex to clear' stock where they will state there is no warranty given or implied on the car. What they really mean is that the car is a heap of s  t and they're hoping that the customer will be daft enough to accept this rubbish when their new car blows up three days later, as if the SOGA is flouted by these wafer-thin terms. Yeah I (rather stupidly) nearly got my fingers burned with this trick recently. I have noticed recently that quite a lot of dealers out there now seem claim to be a "trade centre" and only selling the cars to the general public on "trade terms"....... of course they are still asking retail money but just don't want to stand behind the cars because they are shagged.
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mrmr96
11,958 posts
73 months
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hornetrider said: Dr G said: Were the numbers above just an example?
I'm sure a 7 series (unless much older) has intervals longer than 10k. It does - BMWs are condition based servicing, not every 10k. In fact I'm sure pretty much no BM serviced according to normal guidelines will be every 10k. Depends on the year. I have an E65 7 series and it uses conditional based servicing. The oil interval roughly translates to 20k miles I believe, because the car uses so called "long life oils". I also have a highly strung sports car with sub 5k intervals, so it boggles my mind that the 7er can run for 20k on the same oil. However it has an easy motorway life, and BMW set the intervals, and spec the oil that's used and if they say it's OK then I'm inclined to believe them. On the older 7 series' it could be that they don't use such long life oil, and therefore might have more frequent or regimented intervals - so a 20k gap might be more of a worry if it's supposed to be every 10k. OP, what year was the car with the perceived gaps?
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RichTBiscuit
Original Poster
399 posts
20 months
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hman said: So the BMW in question was worth less than £1000 and the op was worried it had missed a service.
Oh dear. I'm sorry, but have you actually read anything i've written? Not that it matters but the 7 series was up for 4k. The point i'm making is that in my opinion a car should not be described has having FSH when it does not. I've seen many cars advertised like this - when pressed, the dealer often just shrugs and says 'oh yeah, it's missed a couple' Fair point on the condition based servicing - it could be the case with this car.
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RichTBiscuit
Original Poster
399 posts
20 months
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mrmr96 said: Depends on the year. I have an E65 7 series and it uses conditional based servicing. The oil interval roughly translates to 20k miles I believe, because the car uses so called "long life oils". I also have a highly strung sports car with sub 5k intervals, so it boggles my mind that the 7er can run for 20k on the same oil. However it has an easy motorway life, and BMW set the intervals, and spec the oil that's used and if they say it's OK then I'm inclined to believe them.
On the older 7 series' it could be that they don't use such long life oil, and therefore might have more frequent or regimented intervals - so a 20k gap might be more of a worry if it's supposed to be every 10k.
OP, what year was the car with the perceived gaps? it was a 2000 car.
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hman
4,811 posts
63 months
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A 2000 plate 7 series with 138,000 miles.
worth £4k
So long as the previous owner left £3000 in the boot for you..
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B'stard Child
5,789 posts
115 months
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hman said: A 2000 plate 7 series with 138,000 miles.
worth £4k
So long as the previous owner left £3000 in the boot for you..  I'd value mine at £1500 - £1800 (probably optimistic but that's what I value it at)- no intention of selling BTW so not a thinly disguised advert The longer I keep a car the less depreciation bites - Paid 6K for it in 2006 so 6 year later it's lost £750 a year and whilst I don't like any depreciation I'm not unhappy with that.
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