Service History Real?

[LewisWileman]

Hi,

I was looking at buying a 328i and have found what looks like the right car. Only trouble is, the trader says that he never received what was supposed to be a full service history book.

Is there any way of checking?

W258VLB vin: WBABM52000JM11736

Any help would be very much apreciated

Thanks

[Vee]

Call BMW customer services and they'll giv eyou details of all dealer visits.
You'll then have to call the individual dealers to check what was done each visit.

The first call to customer services costs £1 per minute though.

If you have a friendly dealer they can do it for you.

[PartsGuru]

LewisWileman said:

Hi,

I was looking at buying a 328i and have found what looks like the right car. Only trouble is, the trader says that he never received what was supposed to be a full service history book.

Is there any way of checking?

W258VLB vin: WBABM52000JM11736

Any help would be very much apreciated

Thanks

I have run the reg and chassis number thru BMW system and it doesn't show up as a uk car which is odd!
Odd because on the German system one of the items on spec sheet is UK english handbooks. its possible that it was bought in Europe and driven by a previous owner to the UK and then the servicing dealer didn't set it up on system to log any work done.Does it have any dealer details on the number plates?

[LewisWileman]

Thanks, I think you have just confirmed my fears that it's not a straight car. I guess if it's too good to be true then it probably isn't!

[PartsGuru]

LewisWileman said:

Thanks, I think you have just confirmed my fears that it's not a straight car. I guess if it's too good to be true then it probably isn't!

It was fairly comman practice for UK buyers to source cars thru Dutch or Belgian dealers in RHD format and bring them to the UK, there was some considerable savings to be made at the time. Are there no clues within the paperwork that show any previous owners that you could contact or any dealer info at all??

[mikez328]

LewisWileman said:

Thanks, I think you have just confirmed my fears that it's not a straight car. I guess if it's too good to be true then it probably isn't!

It's probably a car bought by somebody with "Diplomatic Status" (there are thousands of them serving with UNHCR, Foreign Office etc.) with a 20% discount direct from BMW Diplomatic Sales, Munich. I did exactly that in 1998.

It will have been registered on an International plate then re-registered in the UK. I did it, & hundreds of others also take advantage of the "Diplomatic" discount each year.

Edited by mikez328 on Thursday 29th January 13:49

[darronwall]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

i agree!! too much trust in a few bit of paper,get the thing inspected!!

[LewisWileman]

Thanks everyone for your help. You've all been great.