Concerned about a buying a used BMW
Asked by Tjsinclair13 Aug 18, 2018 at 11:08 AM about the 2008 BMW 5 Series 535xi Wagon AWD
Question type: Shopping & Pricing
I’m looking to buy a 2008 535ix wagon
with 123k miles. I’ve read good and bad
things about these cars. They either have
zero issues or they’re in the shop more
then out. I just received the carfax and it’s
had nothing majors replaced on it. Is that
good or bad? Am I looking for everything
to go wrong with it now at 123k? Good
thing is no accidents. It looks very clean
Do you guys look any the carfax for us and
weigh in?
Thanks
Tom
2 Answers
Bmw dealerships tend not to cooperate with autocheck and carfax . Service records are not reported just to hide actual problems and frequency they occur. German cars go by the simple rule: cant afford a brand new one , you definitely can't afford a used one
Christopher answered 5 years ago
Hey celynka, Saying if you can't afford a brand new one, you definitely can't afford a used one. Is a typical BMW owner reply. Let's see reasons for buying a used BMW. You don't feel like spending $50k plus on car knowing its over priced. Or maybe not wanting to spend that knowing BMW has a history of lemons. More so perhaps you like a particular body style or engine model. I mean what if they really liked the E46 and were to young to drive at the time. Now they can drive and that is what they want. Basically stop being so the stereo BMW typical owner. People like you are why I elected to go with an Audi. Now to the question. High miles doesn't always mean a bad thing. I live in Houston TX and racking up 30k miles a years is normal. Hell you can find BMW's 3 years old with over 100k. It really comes down to the driver. I can tell you if the inside of the car looks like it was driven hard. Chances are they didn't do great on the maintenance. Avoid any used car with a lot of owners. The more owners the high the chance one of them raged it out. You want to do a good visual check. That means tires, breaks, engine. You want to tap the body to check for any body work. A lot of used cars will say no accidents and they just didn't make a claim. Also to me the best thing to do is to a mechanic and have them check it out. It will cost you some money. But I would rather pay $200 and have peace of mind. Then find out the hard way the push rods are shot. At the day of the day. Buying a used car is a risk. So you just have to do your homework and research the model you want. Checking for recalls and the history of that year in general.