323 miles in two years and two years between MOTs!

[MitchT]

Relatively ordinary car...

31 January 2019 - First registration
1 February 2022 - First MOT - 17,609 miles
16 January 2024 - Second MOT - 17,932 miles

So, almost two years between the first and second MOTs and, during that time, it only covered 323 miles.

Run a mile or try to find out its story?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405219...

Edited by MitchT on Friday 24th May 07:57

[Auto810graphy]

Ask the question and see what the story is.

[Chris Type R]

My annual mileage is generally less than 500 miles - a combination of working from home & having access to another car. So, it could be attributable to a change in circumstances. While I might run a longer service interval, I'm not sure I'd skip an MOT - unless out of the country.

[Jamescrs]

I would avoid it personally,

As it is a dealer selling you likely won't get the proper story about why the mileage is what it is, they will make up something to sell the car

[MarkJS]

Oyster Dakota plus wrong, cheapo (& spurious) grilles & rear spoiler stuck on would put me off I'm afraid.

[MitchT]

MarkJS said:

Oyster Dakota plus wrong, cheapo (& spurious) grilles & rear spoiler stuck on would put me off I'm afraid.

The interior is subjective - Ivory White leather with Piano Black trim is by far my favourite combination. I spotted the grille and the spoiler too though. Kidney grille should be the standard chrome-look or the optional gloss black. M4 style rear spoiler is totally non standard. If they're the only mods then, fine, I could revert them back to standard, however, what else might have been fiddled with? If I bought one of these cars I'd purchase a comprehensive warranty from BMW, so I don't want to come unstuck if I ever need to claim because of some mod that wasn't easily detectable before I bought the car invalidating the warranty.

[Cw4578]

Unless you have made a typo then it’s gone backwards on the mileage.

[MitchT]

Cw4578 said:

Unless you have made a typo then it’s gone backwards on the mileage.

Typo - my bad! On the MOT records online the later date is at the top of the list, on my list the later date is at the bottom, so I must have got mixed up copying it!

[vikingaero]

During Covid, after MOTing Mrs V.'s car, the mileage only went up 757 miles! Made me resolve to drive it a little more.

[ScoobyChris]

Apparently it had a plate change which might account for the "missed" MOT in 2023:

P444 LLA - 5th Feb 2022

Chris

[Auto810graphy]

Lots of cars get parked up for various reasons, some are shooting tigers, some people go away for business etc, others just pass away.

We have a Russian client who has not been to the UK for 2 years and has 2 very nice nearly new cars sat on the road outside a property in London unused. We will have to do something about them soon as the first MOT is due on one.

[MitchT]

ScoobyChris said:

Apparently it had a plate change which might account for the "missed" MOT in 2023:

P444 LLA - 5th Feb 2022

Chris

Interestng!

This site - https://car-checking.com/ - shows two MOTs if you put in YG68RCR and one MOT if you put in P444LLA, so I guess that's the missing MOT accounted for.

This site - https://www.carcheck.co.uk/ - doesn't recognise P444LLA but does return a result for RG68RCR and displays some small thumbnails from a previous Autotrader listing with P444LLA just about visible on the car, along with larger wheels, so clearly the mods weren't just the kidney grilles and the spoiler.

[66HFM]

I've bought 3 cars from Weybridge Vehicle Consultants and they even sold an Audi on my behalf at one stage.
I rate them, although they tend to be on the higher price side, predominately Audi and BMW specialists, they do, however, offer high price trade-ins.

Any service history etc during 2022-2024?
How many owners has it had during that time...?

Good luck

[Gas1883]

Lady next door has had a Kia picanto from new , 67 plate , has apparently done 4, 000 miles

[TheDrownedApe]

Fishy

Plenty more around; avoid

[Pit Pony]

Gas1883 said:

Lady next door has had a Kia picanto from new , 67 plate , has apparently done 4, 000 miles

My son was given in 2014, a 14 year old Astra with 12K on the clock. Nobody in the family wanted it. (Apart from me)

[MitchT]

Pit Pony said:

Gas1883 said:

Lady next door has had a Kia picanto from new , 67 plate , has apparently done 4, 000 miles

My son was given in 2014, a 14 year old Astra with 12K on the clock. Nobody in the family wanted it. (Apart from me)

Depends how the mileage was accrued. If it has very low mileage, but it's been built up evenly over the age of the car, it's not so much of a concern. However, this car covered 18k miles during its first three years and then only 323 since. The fact that it might have spent a lot of time sitting around is a concern.

Edited by MitchT on Saturday 25th May 09:43

[MitchT]

66HFM said:

Any service history etc during 2022-2024?
How many owners has it had during that time...?

Two owners according to the HPI certificate which can be downloaded from the delaer's website. Don't know about the service history yet. The price is on the strong side at the moment but, if it gets down to my target price without someone else buying it first, then I'll ask the dealer for a pic of the service history in the iDrive screen. The service interval on these cars is 18k miles or 24 months, whichever comes first so, with a 31 Jan 2019 reg date it should have the PDI check and two services in the iDrive by now. The services have to have been done on time for a comprehensive BMW warranty (which I'd purchase for the car) to be valid, and it has to be devoid of any warranty-invalidating mods, such as remaps, so that would have to be clarified too. Essentially, if I can get it for the right price and it's eligible for the BMW warranty then we're good to go.

Going back to the price, I saw a very well specced 68 plate 440i with 18k miles for sale 18 months ago for £26,230 and that was an approved used BMW at a main dealer. So, this car, being 18 months older now and not an approved used BMW, should be quite a bit less than that. It's currently more. Anyone who pays more than £24,500 for it is welcome to it. If anyone thinks I'm being unrealistic hoping for £2k off the price, I recently watched an approved used 440i go from £23,990 to £20,990. I'd have bought that one but the mileage was on the high side and it didn't have the Harmon Kardon sound system.

Edited by MitchT on Saturday 25th May 09:10

[fido]

Auto810graphy said:

Ask the question and see what the story is.

This. Anything else is guesswork. It is Weybridge not Luton so it's possible someone just drives to Waitrose once a week.

[LimaDelta]

Not that unusual with older drivers. My mother's annual mileage was double-digits before she finally sold her car a few years back. Our MOT tester sees it regularly.