Best advice for getting a 7 series inspected ?

[jackal]

hope someone here can advise

ive seen a gorgeous 2000 740i for sale thats in the perfect colour and leather,
only thing is its from a typical west london dealer and although it has BMW service stamps up till 60k, its had specialist servicing after that. And the last owner bought it in april 2007 and then obviously relieved himself of the car fairly quickly after that without servicing it. In addition, teh history is not great.. a log book and the mot's but thats it. No bills or breakdowns or estimates or evidence of any work carried out.

It had no smoke, the engine idled fine for ~20 mins and the cooling seemed to work fine, all electrics inside worked great and the engine bay was immaculate. Overall the bodywork and bumpers had a few scuffs which is good to see and teh interior and boot were in extremely good condition... it looked liked acar thats had a pretty easy life.

BUt given the lack of recent BM service history, the fact that its not been near a garage for 10k miles and the shortness of the last owners ownership, I am inclined to agree a price with the dealer subject to a proper inspection.

so question is, do i go with the AA ? Or will BMW do this for me ? Whats the best thing to do ? Or am i being too cautious and shoudl i just go buy it given how well made these things are supposed to be ?

cheers

Rich

(I will obviously call teh various dealers next week to find out if there was any major work done on the car at all because the service history only includes teh log book and MOT's and has no invoices of service reports)

[parksie]

I to have 2000w 740i, i bought it on 102,000 miles with full bmw history,& 9 months MOT.

All was fine untill this August MOT time, and many new parts for the steering & suspenssion were requiring replacing,so don't pin your hopes on a faultless example,moreso try & get the price down £500/£600 then spend it immediatly on bringing the car back to new condition.

I also needed a new starter motor,have fitted new alloys & tyres & a alpina front spoiler, the looks & drives Fantastic now.

Enjoy your 7

Edited by parksie on Saturday 10th November 17:58

[jackal]

thanks,

good point

what sort of money should i be paying for a 2000 ~100k miles 740 ?

[madou]

jackal said:

Whats the best thing to do ? Or am i being too cautious and should i just go buy it given how well made these things are supposed to be ?

cheers

Rich

For West London I would recommend you ask Phil Crouch in Iver Heath for an inspection before you bid on the car

[parksie]

jackal said:

thanks,

good point

what sort of money should i be paying for a 2000 ~100k miles 740 ?

100K by the book is over average milage, so i would say between £6 & £7k ,it's difficult not having anything to look at, but I payed £6700 in March this year for 102k miles,& now after £1500 spent is the Dogs do da's

[jackal]

this car is up for 6500 (down from 6999) and they have moved it to a sister dealership and its seems to be that they are having difficulty shifting it.. but not because of teh car itself I imagine (because it looks great), probably because its winter and its a luxury, thirsty, 7 year old, high mile, expensive executive saloon .... quite possibly the poorest selling sector of the used motor industry.

i reckon i could go mid 5's and they'd let me have it .. with a warranty as well (not that that would necessarily prove worth anything). So providing theres nothing outrageously wrong with it it could be worth going for and then spend 500-1000 on it there and then.

and thanks for the contact, i will get in touch with Phil Crouch monday morning.

[Alfie740]

i would personally reccomend a high milage 7. they're built to go round the world, and the high milage motorway car you can pick up for less - don't go silly - about 150000is pretty much as far as you should go - and definatemake sure the suspention has been done. this is an expensive job, but most cars need it after about 95000. spend as much as you can afford on a better high milage / older car rather than a newer or lower milage hippo.

[jackal]

thanks very much for the advice

when you say supension do you mean the dampers and springs ?
what should i be thinking in terms of changing ?

and any idea on approximate costs
i also gather the rad should be changed every 50k or so

cheers

Rich

[parksie]

The usual stuff includes front,upper& lower track control arms/bushes,drop links that would cost around £700 fitted then four wheel aliagnment to ensure the tyres dont wear uneven, so all told including a bit of tidying up on the rear axle,£1200!

[gf15]

Excellent choice of motor. I am on my second now.
Agree about the suspension (bushes etc) check the springs (replaced 2 front on my last 98 735i and 2 rear on my 99 740i and this and that is with normal use).
All the electrics must work perfectly incl. the AC. The AA warranty is excellent (1 water pump £300, 2 springs £260 all for £60). Mileage must be below 100k when you take out the policy, and as long as the car is serviced by a VAT registered garage, you can keep renewing the warranty every year.
V.V. safe, no squeaks or rattles etc. Heavy on juice around town (20 ish), but as most of my driving is @ 80- 85 on motorways it averages 28 – 30 mpg on these runs. I would be cheeky and offer £5500 max (these are hard to sell), and will get more difficult coming up to Christmas. Play on the lack of service history, and the potential big bills. My car had over £4k of bills in the 12 months before I bought it (AC, suspension & ABS). In the last 2 years and 40k miles it has only needed 2 springs + suspension bushes (front & rear) + tyres & pads.
Crackin Car!

[jackal]

thanks very much everyone


bought for 5500 today !

phil crouch did the business and gave me a full report
a honest car but a few points need addressing so ill be spending ~1300 on it soon as i pick it up. hopefully then it will sorted for a good couple of years of motoring.

[parksie]

Nice one Dude, glad you got the deal