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)

[jackal]

thanks,

good point

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

[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.

[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

[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.