Had a look at a Dealer M4C...
Discussion
Hi,
I went to look at an M4C the other day. Lovely car, ticked the boxes apart from the one that said "budget" lol, but everything else in order , erm...mostly.
seemed very nice from the description, black on black, HK, Camera etc. £41k. BMW AUC website.
Looking around the car I noticed the black paintwork / lacquer was very dull, and in the same place on both rear quarter panels where the lights blend in, it was quite poor and visibly worse than the rest of the car, no shine at all and the lacquer was dulled off like it had "bloomed". Any idea why this would happen?, also had several surface scratches on the laquer as you'd get by passing a bush too closely along both sides. All other panels were fine but lacked a real depth of shine IMO.
I might speculate and ask if poor PPF application make it appear like this? or If this a common issue with black or just a poorly washed / valeted car?. I know using crap products will dull the finish of a car fairly rapidly, especially if it's "Polish Bob" and his mates down the local Tesco, but at less than 20k miles it was pretty bad.
Next, the warranty. Initially I was told the car is covered by the dealer warranty, not BMW, but it then transpired it would be manufacturer (BMW) covered (it's on the AUC site so I thought it would have been) but only for the first year. While we were running the figures, I was offered the dealer warranty to continue after the 1 year but not the BMW one. I was told they're exactly the same apart from the name, no claim limit etc etc.
Alarm bells rang a bit, I'm not convinced any dealer warranty will be equivalent to the BMW AUC one, unless I'm wrong and they're one and the same. For this 2019 vehicle it was £1029 for a 3 year extension, I'd have thought a BMW AUC one would have been more than that.
Salesman was a nice guy, knew his stuff, was a petrolhead, and he offered me a very fair PX (above WBAC) plus said he could do something with the price, but not vast fortunes. It was tempting but the paint / lacquer niggled me a bit, plus I need to find out if a dealer warranty is different from a BMW one.
Having slept on it I've decided to let this one go. Have I done the right thing?.
There seems to be some good choice out there on the AUC site at the moment, so I'll bide my time, plus it's not the best time of year to buy a car anyway. That's what I'm telling myself.
FWIW I think this is one of the friendliest sub forums on PH, always good advice and straight answers, so many thanks in advance to you guys.I'm determined to one day step into M Car ownership, but as it's not the cheapest option in the world, I'm exercising as much due diligence as I can.
TIA for all the replies. Virtual pint of V power to all of you.
I went to look at an M4C the other day. Lovely car, ticked the boxes apart from the one that said "budget" lol, but everything else in order , erm...mostly.
seemed very nice from the description, black on black, HK, Camera etc. £41k. BMW AUC website.
Looking around the car I noticed the black paintwork / lacquer was very dull, and in the same place on both rear quarter panels where the lights blend in, it was quite poor and visibly worse than the rest of the car, no shine at all and the lacquer was dulled off like it had "bloomed". Any idea why this would happen?, also had several surface scratches on the laquer as you'd get by passing a bush too closely along both sides. All other panels were fine but lacked a real depth of shine IMO.
I might speculate and ask if poor PPF application make it appear like this? or If this a common issue with black or just a poorly washed / valeted car?. I know using crap products will dull the finish of a car fairly rapidly, especially if it's "Polish Bob" and his mates down the local Tesco, but at less than 20k miles it was pretty bad.
Next, the warranty. Initially I was told the car is covered by the dealer warranty, not BMW, but it then transpired it would be manufacturer (BMW) covered (it's on the AUC site so I thought it would have been) but only for the first year. While we were running the figures, I was offered the dealer warranty to continue after the 1 year but not the BMW one. I was told they're exactly the same apart from the name, no claim limit etc etc.
Alarm bells rang a bit, I'm not convinced any dealer warranty will be equivalent to the BMW AUC one, unless I'm wrong and they're one and the same. For this 2019 vehicle it was £1029 for a 3 year extension, I'd have thought a BMW AUC one would have been more than that.
Salesman was a nice guy, knew his stuff, was a petrolhead, and he offered me a very fair PX (above WBAC) plus said he could do something with the price, but not vast fortunes. It was tempting but the paint / lacquer niggled me a bit, plus I need to find out if a dealer warranty is different from a BMW one.
Having slept on it I've decided to let this one go. Have I done the right thing?.
There seems to be some good choice out there on the AUC site at the moment, so I'll bide my time, plus it's not the best time of year to buy a car anyway. That's what I'm telling myself.
FWIW I think this is one of the friendliest sub forums on PH, always good advice and straight answers, so many thanks in advance to you guys.I'm determined to one day step into M Car ownership, but as it's not the cheapest option in the world, I'm exercising as much due diligence as I can.
TIA for all the replies. Virtual pint of V power to all of you.
Edited by texaxile on Wednesday 22 June 20:38
texaxile said:
Having slept on it I've decided to let this one go. Have I done the right thing?.
Yes. If there's any doubt at all, why buy it? There are plenty around. These cars (I speak as an F90 owner) are only going to come down in price over the coming months / year what with petrol prices and inflation being as they are. Dealers are very skilled at extracting our money, but there won't be that many buyers of M3/4/5/8's at the moment. Just look at the stats, EV sales & enquiries growing massively.Edited by texaxile on Wednesday 22 June 20:38
Take your time, trust your gut.....and enjoy it when you get the one that's right for you! Welcome to M car ownership (in advance!).
JMBMWM5 said:
You should avoid it, it looks like a cheap re-spray. What happen to it?.
Many more out there.
Yep, many more and plenty of choice, plus I'm not in any hurry.Many more out there.
I checked the panels etc, they all seemed to line up OK, no evidence of overspray or damage but I'm far from and expert on these matters. I was just wondering if BMW's suffered from lacquer fade and if it was a potential issue.
The warranty discussion we had also rang alarm bells. I couldn't believe that a dealer warranty is equal in terms and conditions than a BMW AUC one.
texaxile said:
Yep, many more and plenty of choice, plus I'm not in any hurry.
I checked the panels etc, they all seemed to line up OK, no evidence of overspray or damage but I'm far from and expert on these matters. I was just wondering if BMW's suffered from lacquer fade and if it was a potential issue.
The warranty discussion we had also rang alarm bells. I couldn't believe that a dealer warranty is equal in terms and conditions than a BMW AUC one.
I think at £1029 for a three year extension you can be fairly certain that it won't be equivalent to the BMW AUC warranty or anywhere close to it.I checked the panels etc, they all seemed to line up OK, no evidence of overspray or damage but I'm far from and expert on these matters. I was just wondering if BMW's suffered from lacquer fade and if it was a potential issue.
The warranty discussion we had also rang alarm bells. I couldn't believe that a dealer warranty is equal in terms and conditions than a BMW AUC one.
The proper BMW extended warranty is around £800 for a 1 year extension on an M car if you take the comprehensive one, and that's only if the car has less than 60,000 miles. It takes a huge jump once the car goes over 60k miles.
The salesman will claim their own warranty is 'identical' to the AUC or BMW Insured Warranty, and it might be broadly equivalent, but there will be some items where the service is not the same (e.g. random breakdown & recovery service instead of BMW Assist; no hire car; higher excess; more exlclusions; etc.) - so you'd have to compare between the 2 policies to see if the saving is worth it.
In my case the Fully Comp BMW Insured warranty (with BMW Assist) is £720/year - whereas the dealer's (via Car Care Plan Limited) one was offered to me at £1000 for 2 years.
I went with the dealer one because I've been hearing the BMW one is more pernickety than it used to be.
Here's a link to mine from Listers BMW and the BMW Insured one to compare.
...and I'm not saying the warranty is better or worse, as I haven't had cause to use it yet.
In my case the Fully Comp BMW Insured warranty (with BMW Assist) is £720/year - whereas the dealer's (via Car Care Plan Limited) one was offered to me at £1000 for 2 years.
I went with the dealer one because I've been hearing the BMW one is more pernickety than it used to be.
Here's a link to mine from Listers BMW and the BMW Insured one to compare.
...and I'm not saying the warranty is better or worse, as I haven't had cause to use it yet.
Edited by mmm-five on Thursday 23 June 13:36
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