shurick

Hey Everyone,

I'm in the process of purchasing a 2004 530i 6spd. I was wondering if there is anything in particular I should be aware of with these cars? This car has 57k and its not going to be a CPO.

Any kind of insighs would be great.

Thanks
Alex

BOBUCRUZ

There is a number of things I'd be aware of. I don't know how thorough you checked the car. But here is what I'd look out for:

Paint chips on the hood, and additional door dents. If present, negotiate price down furthur...

Does it have navigation. If it doesn't, and you want to get it later, it's going to be a bi*ch. You'll have to spend $2500 plus to locate a nav retrofit kit and pay dealer installation fees-if your lucky enough to find a dealer that will do it.

Make sure you have the wheel lock present to remove the stock rims, in case you want to put on aftermarket ones. Don't get caught like me with your car up on the rack, already purchased rims and no wheel lock to take of the factory rims.

Does it have sport or premium packages installed?

Does it come with any extras?

I know you said it wasn't CPO. But that doesn't mean the previous owner didn't purchased an extended warranty or maintenance. I'd look into that too. Remember, without any warranty, if your car sh*ts, it's going to cost you big time...

What color is it? Remember, cleaning a black car is a part time job. Just ask my girl

Other than that, happy shopping. Someone else can chime in...

shurick

Thanks for the quick reply.

The car is black with a light cream color interior. I haven't seen the car in person yet, but the dealer states there are minor rock chips on the hood and minor door dings. It does not have a navi.

Not sure about any other packages, I'll have to further ask the dealer.

Getting a pretty sweet price on it... $23,500 + tax, tags.

Is there a way to find out if there's extended warranty on it or what exact packages were purchased with this car?

I have the vin (WBANA73594B047165). Does anyone have easy access to run a carfax on that vin?

Thanks again,
Alex

BOBUCRUZ

To find out what your car has installed and to check on the warranty, simply call a BMW dealer or BMW na with the last seven of your VIN.
Also, $23,500 sounds almost to good to be true for a 04 530. I would at least look at the car first and probably have it checked by a mechanic.


The KBB is $33,915 on that. If your getting it for 10k under blue book with no warranty, there's got to be a reason....

shurick

So I went to see the car today, its super clean drives great. Called the dealer and they said the car has the premium package, cold weather package, xenons, and an extended maintenance package till 100k.

there's no nav, sports package, cd changer, or sirius.

I can also buy the CPO warranty since the car hasn't hit 60k yet. Going to talk to the dealer tomorrow.

I couldn't see anything wrong with this car, it was a local dealer trade in and sold by a whole saler on ebay. I don't think they knew exactly where to price it.

According to KBB this falls right inline with Good trade in pricing so it's not TOO cheap, but considering BMW's rarely sell at trade in, i'll chalk it up to a good find.

EBMCS03

If you drove it and it was fine... and you dont see anything wrong I would go for it. BUT DO get it CPOed... since you're getting the car so cheap it'll be worth it to spend the $3K to CPO it... it'll at least cover any mechanical issues... and as for software issue... since it doesntt have NAV it will be fine... most dealers are witches about s/w upgrade under warrnaty... that why i said since you dont have nav dont worry too much.

So summary... Get it and CPO it.