wmbiii

note to self: don't buy a used freaking car....?

knox

your from south africa huhhh. wow, i have some friends down their and they are trying to move soon. they tell me south africa is gonna fall apart soon. cant believe u guys have afirmative action still, amazing. and i hear the phone companies are bruttle...

oh fyi- south africans are the friendliest group of people i've EVER met. second to the alcoholic aussi/kiwis

clarence

Different shades may just mean the panel have been scratched or suffered light accident. In that case, the repairer has done a bad job matching colours. If it involves a heavy accident, then chances are it'll have poor panel fit (incosistent panel gaps).
I think if repaired to official BMW standards, then the car should still be fine.

dlevi67

Very possible that the car has been resprayed because of a minor accident (e.g. somebody scraped the doors while parking) by someone that did not bother to match the colour perfectly, and that while respraying they removed the airbag trim and snapped one of the plastic lugs. Or it may be more serious.

If you are worried, I would take it to a - preferably independent and trusted - car body repair shop and ask them to check by putting the car on a bridge and looking at the underside whether there is any sign of significant damage. Does the different coloration extend to the middle of the roof? Or just the lower part of the car? Is the inside of the B pillars (between front and rear doors) the same colour as the inside parts of the doors?

In terms of having legal recourse, I have no idea what the law is in SA - I don't think in the case of a minor accident you would have much to stand on, but certainly nothing to worry about either.

Good luck!

D

Uk525i

I would imagine that BMWs there go through thorough pre-delivery inspection. Most cars suffer damage at some time in their life, a newish BMW should have been repaired by authorised dealer. As the car came from dealer it is covered by warranty, including paint etc. If you have any quality problems I would take it back to them & they should sort it out to your satisfaction..
My last 3 series was involved in a smash, fixed by BMW, new bonnet / lights & a lot more. I was never that happy with paint shade on new bonnet in certain light. When I PX it for 5 series I did not mention it to BMW, they will have known as they fixed it anyway, but I doubt they told the next owner when they resold it.. In UK I think only total loss shows up on documentation, most repairs dont..

cliffysa

hi knox im afraid yout mates are wrong about sa falling apart we are a booming country that is preparing for the 2010 Soccer world cup inflation is down we have cheap petorl cheap places to stay cheap houses in the most beautifull areas , O and about the phone companies yes they are brutel oh and here is littel pic of paradice

snkpkp

over here in Bangladesh if you buy anything used the seller puts this in the bill NO WARRANTY NO GARUNTEE NO RETURN POLICY lol.....its applicable from grey market import electronics to used cars to anything which is sold under unofficial dealer.....

cliffysa

yip its the same here you can sell a car once its been in a smash and you as a seller do have a right not to tell the buyer about the smash

bmw4life

That SUCKs, you should do the same when you sell the car. in fact, sell your car to someone else and buy a diff car

cliffysa

hahah maybe i should