Places to purchase a BMW?

[Marcus81]

Hi,

Looking at getting a 320D (57 plate onwards) and looking for a good garage who deal in BMW people can reccommend? I've been told about Big Motoring World in Maidstone but are there any others not over 75 miles from North London?

From BMW dealers they have the 320D in my price range but often for the options I want like leather and sports seats the price increases a few £k compared to Big Motoring World.

Thanks

[Marcus81]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Thank you

I'll keep looking at the dealers for that one car that stands out then unless another independent is worth a look?

[kentmotorcompany]

Bear in mind that the vast majority of 3 year old 320d's available for sale will be ex lease vehicles.

Not a bad thing in itself, in fact quite a good thing because there is so much choice for the buyer of this type of car, at this age.

However most will be fairly standard spec. If you look beyond this (i.e. must have a M Sport with Leather) you will reduce your choice quite a bit, and therefore the opportunity for value.

Don't worry too much about where to buy from, lots of different dealers will have cars like this. Spend some time looking at few cars so you get a feel for what to expect.

Some ex lease cars will have had poor quality body repairs, so look out for this, and also the service history. Lease cars do have to be serviced as part of the contract, but the evidence for this servicing often goes missing, so ask to see this too.

The main point is there will be plenty to choose from, so be fussy about condition, (but not spec if you want the best value), and look at a few.

Edited by kentmotorcompany on Tuesday 8th February 22:40

[mattman]

there is the internet car showroom just off the M3 between Basingstoke and Fleet. just check the prices online first as the screen price tends to be higher and go with your eyes fully open. Majority is auction stock/ex-lease buy they do usually have good stock levels and a wide range of 95% beemers

[charge]

I bought one of the best cars I have ever owned (540 sport touring 6 years ago) from Northover Cars, think they were Canterbury way. They specialised in BM's and Merc's, and still seem to have a good stock list at good prices. Got my latest BM from Autoquake.com and can't recomend them high enough. Clean cars, no pushy salesmen, no show rooms, test drive if you want but all at just over trade price. They can do finance too if you like, but you can't mess about as they have a huge turnover of cars, so if you see one, put a returnable deposit on it if you like it, and you have seven days to sort payment or you lose it and it goes back up for sale.

[Lostprophet]

charge said:

I bought one of the best cars I have ever owned (540 sport touring 6 years ago) from Northover Cars, think they were Canterbury way. They specialised in BM's and Merc's, and still seem to have a good stock list at good prices. Got my latest BM from Autoquake.com and can't recomend them high enough. Clean cars, no pushy salesmen, no show rooms, test drive if you want but all at just over trade price. They can do finance too if you like, but you can't mess about as they have a huge turnover of cars, so if you see one, put a returnable deposit on it if you like it, and you have seven days to sort payment or you lose it and it goes back up for sale.

Is there any haggling? to be done or is the price as seen?

[Lostprophet]

mattman said:

there is the internet car showroom just off the M3 between Basingstoke and Fleet. just check the prices online first as the screen price tends to be higher and go with your eyes fully open. Majority is auction stock/ex-lease buy they do usually have good stock levels and a wide range of 95% beemers

Any ideas on the name of the company?

[NLB]

Lostprophet said:

Any ideas on the name of the company?

Think it must be this lot:

http://www.theinternetcarshowroom.com/

Never used them, I must stress, but have driven past on the M3 many times...

[sjj84]

charge said:

I bought one of the best cars I have ever owned (540 sport touring 6 years ago) from Northover Cars, think they were Canterbury way. They specialised in BM's and Merc's, and still seem to have a good stock list at good prices. Got my latest BM from Autoquake.com and can't recomend them high enough. Clean cars, no pushy salesmen, no show rooms, test drive if you want but all at just over trade price. They can do finance too if you like, but you can't mess about as they have a huge turnover of cars, so if you see one, put a returnable deposit on it if you like it, and you have seven days to sort payment or you lose it and it goes back up for sale.

Northover cars are in Tankerton near Whitstable. You'll have to phone though as they don't bother to reply if you fill in the form on their website.

[CypherP]

NLB said:

Lostprophet said:

Any ideas on the name of the company?

Think it must be this lot:

http://www.theinternetcarshowroom.com/

Never used them, I must stress, but have driven past on the M3 many times...

Not meaning to name and shame or anything like that, but as its been mentioned, I wouldn't advise them, at all.

[mattman]

CypherP said:

Not meaning to name and shame or anything like that, but as its been mentioned, I wouldn't advise them, at all.

Nice to know its not just me then - can't quite my finger on exactly what, but it just doesn't feel like a place i'd want to by from - hence the eyes open comment - they've been trading for a few years now so I guess it can't all be bad.

I was looking at a 320 saloon a couple of years back priced at 12995 - starting talking and they were massively keen to do a deal on the spot - offered great p/x price, over book even, pressure, pressure, pressure - didn't really know if the spec was good or not so went home to do some research after I managed to escape - looked on AT and there was the same car listed at 10995 - safe to say I didn't go back

[Gibo993]

Pistonheads classified - buy most of my cars from there private from someone who cares for their car.