BMW Approved - Why so many Silver 520d Tourings

[curvature]

I've just been having a browse of what's on offer and there are loads of silver 520d Tourings available.

They are all SE spec and advertised as G31 520D xDrive SE Touring B47 2.0d and all have tow bars, 4 zone climate and around 25-50k miles.

I've counted around 20 cars.

Are they ex staff company cars?

My brother inlaw bought a white 520d back in 2012 and they were all ex Olympic cars, none had more than 5k miles and he could take his pick from 40+ cars.

[Timbo_S2]

I'm gonna go with a guess of ex police...

[curvature]

It's a strange spec especially having climate in the rear and why the tow bar?

[Driver101]

Does the registration plates all start with a Y?

[curvature]

Driver101 said:

Does the registration plates all start with a Y?

Yes, YH, YK, YL

[Welshbeef]

curvature said:

It's a strange spec especially having climate in the rear and why the tow bar?

Estate caravan larger family - rear climate is sensible otherwise your ok in the front but your kids in the back not so much.

[helix402]

Timbo_S2 said:

I'm gonna go with a guess of ex police...

Wrong engine. Police use 6 cylinders.

[Timbo_S2]

helix402 said:

Wrong engine. Police use 6 cylinders.

Doh! You are, of course, correct.

[curvature]

curvature said:

Driver101 said:

Does the registration plates all start with a Y?

Yes, YH, YK, YL

So having checked that is Yorkshire. I am intrigued?

[Driver101]

curvature said:

curvature said:

Driver101 said:

Does the registration plates all start with a Y?

Yes, YH, YK, YL

So having checked that is Yorkshire. I am intrigued?

BMW company cars, press cars and hire cars go out with Y plates. The track day experience cars are usually the same too.


I stay clear of BMWs with a Y plate. There will be privately owned cars from that area, but a large proportion will be ex hire cars especially for normal BMW models.

[helix402]

curvature said:

So having checked that is Yorkshire. I am intrigued?

They’ll be from the centre at Thorne.

[GTEYE]

I'd guess something like this - BMW Roadside Assistance

[GTEYE]

Driver101 said:

curvature said:

curvature said:

Driver101 said:

Does the registration plates all start with a Y?

Yes, YH, YK, YL

So having checked that is Yorkshire. I am intrigued?

BMW company cars, press cars and hire cars go out with Y plates. The track day experience cars are usually the same too.


I stay clear of BMWs with a Y plate. There will be privately owned cars from that area, but a large proportion will be ex hire cars especially for normal BMW models.

Not always. I've had 2 that were zero miles pre-reg cars. The hire cars are pretty easy to spot, they mainly get disposed of through auctions rather than the AUC site.

[helix402]

GTEYE said:

I'd guess something like this - BMW Roadside Assistance

Again, we used to use 6 cylinders for this role.

[Driver101]

GTEYE said:

Driver101 said:

curvature said:

curvature said:

Driver101 said:

Does the registration plates all start with a Y?

Yes, YH, YK, YL

So having checked that is Yorkshire. I am intrigued?

BMW company cars, press cars and hire cars go out with Y plates. The track day experience cars are usually the same too.


I stay clear of BMWs with a Y plate. There will be privately owned cars from that area, but a large proportion will be ex hire cars especially for normal BMW models.

Not always. I've had 2 that were zero miles pre-reg cars. The hire cars are pretty easy to spot, they mainly get disposed of through auctions rather than the AUC site.

I did say some Y plates would be locally owned private cars.

The hire cars do go through main dealers. It happens all the time.

[GTEYE]

Driver101 said:

GTEYE said:

Driver101 said:

curvature said:

curvature said:

Driver101 said:

Does the registration plates all start with a Y?

Yes, YH, YK, YL

So having checked that is Yorkshire. I am intrigued?

BMW company cars, press cars and hire cars go out with Y plates. The track day experience cars are usually the same too.


I stay clear of BMWs with a Y plate. There will be privately owned cars from that area, but a large proportion will be ex hire cars especially for normal BMW models.

Not always. I've had 2 that were zero miles pre-reg cars. The hire cars are pretty easy to spot, they mainly get disposed of through auctions rather than the AUC site.

I did say some Y plates would be locally owned private cars.

The hire cars do go through main dealers. It happens all the time.

They go through main dealers if they match up in terms of condition, the ones that can’t be reconditioned back to AUC standard go to auction.

Y plates are all cars registered in Yorkshire, a big area. But some of the ex BMW cars were zero miles, they weren’t all hire or fleet cars, so you can’t generalise that all Y plate ex-BMW cars should be avoided.

Buy on condition not on registration.

[Driver101]

GTEYE said:

They go through main dealers if they match up in terms of condition, the ones that can’t be reconditioned back to AUC standard go to auction.

Y plates are all cars registered in Yorkshire, a big area. But some of the ex BMW cars were zero miles, they weren’t all hire or fleet cars, so you can’t generalise that all Y plate ex-BMW cars should be avoided.

Buy on condition not on registration.

Have you seen the state of many of the AUC cars? Have you seen how many threads on here with poor repairs, cracked alloys that have been welded and bad accident damage?

Buying an AUC does not mean you are getting a better car. People need to stop falling for that.

[RammyMP]

Driver101 said:

GTEYE said:

Driver101 said:

curvature said:

curvature said:

Driver101 said:

Does the registration plates all start with a Y?

Yes, YH, YK, YL

So having checked that is Yorkshire. I am intrigued?

BMW company cars, press cars and hire cars go out with Y plates. The track day experience cars are usually the same too.


I stay clear of BMWs with a Y plate. There will be privately owned cars from that area, but a large proportion will be ex hire cars especially for normal BMW models.

Not always. I've had 2 that were zero miles pre-reg cars. The hire cars are pretty easy to spot, they mainly get disposed of through auctions rather than the AUC site.

I did say some Y plates would be locally owned private cars.

The hire cars do go through main dealers. It happens all the time.

I bought a 6 month old 318d with Yorkshire plates through the approved used scheme from the local dealer (Manchester), turned out it was a former hire car, the clutch juddered like a bugger!

[Earthdweller]

GTEYE said:

Driver101 said:

GTEYE said:

Driver101 said:

curvature said:

curvature said:

Driver101 said:

Does the registration plates all start with a Y?

Yes, YH, YK, YL

So having checked that is Yorkshire. I am intrigued?

BMW company cars, press cars and hire cars go out with Y plates. The track day experience cars are usually the same too.


I stay clear of BMWs with a Y plate. There will be privately owned cars from that area, but a large proportion will be ex hire cars especially for normal BMW models.

Not always. I've had 2 that were zero miles pre-reg cars. The hire cars are pretty easy to spot, they mainly get disposed of through auctions rather than the AUC site.

I did say some Y plates would be locally owned private cars.

The hire cars do go through main dealers. It happens all the time.

They go through main dealers if they match up in terms of condition, the ones that can’t be reconditioned back to AUC standard go to auction.

Y plates are all cars registered in Yorkshire, a big area. But some of the ex BMW cars were zero miles, they weren’t all hire or fleet cars, so you can’t generalise that all Y plate ex-BMW cars should be avoided.

Buy on condition not on registration.

The bmw U.K. import site is in Yorkshire

All company owned vehicles are registered there .. so that is all the staff perk cars, company cars, demos, plus the stuff going out on lease to rental companies as well as all the pre reg cars that get pumped out to dealers

The BMW system allows you to see whether it was an internal order and who too

Ive had three Y plate BMW’s one of which I still own

That one was an internal order for a staff car at HQ

The next was a pre reg bought with 3 miles on the clock which showed an internal code for a promo pre reg

The third one was a very high spec, low miles car that was a press car that had been used for photo shoots

I’ve also got another which has a London reg and comes up on the system as ordered by British Forces Germany .. yet I bought new

When I booked it in for a service in Ireland the service guy said “ I’ve never seen that before”

So, If in doubt ask the Salesman to show you the screen for the system which I can’t remember the name of off the top of my head

[Welshbeef]

I’ve had a YC reg BMW lodes up with kit and I ran it for years great car