[donnynsc]

Long story short, I bought a 2007 E92 335i from Fawdington BMW in Newcastle Upon Tyne last year July. Sales person told me since it is a BMW Approved Used, means it is HPI clear, fully checked, original bodywork/paintwork, blah blah blah, no problem at all, and I believe them... And now I found out the car has been re-sprayed and possibly involved in an accident before.

Today I went in to a specialist car dealer in sheffield for a part-ex with a Cayman or an E92 M3. The guy who inspected my car has told me that at least the driver side door and front wing have been resprayed (same thing I've been told by a stone chips repairer 2 weeks ago), he also show me that the front wing has been re-aligned, there are scratch marks left in the engine compartment along the front wing which suggest that the wing has been pushed in, probably due to some impact. He also pointed out there are a few 'dotted' (can't remember the technical term he was using) on the paint work and a thick clear coat trail along the bottom of the door, hence he convinced me that these are dodgy re-spray work and I will be struggle to sell my car for a reasonable offer.

What should I do?

Go back to Fawdington and ask for refund or replacement? Don't think it would work since I had the car for 9 months already.

I know they would say it could be me who had it re-spray. If this is the case, at least I could argue saying that initially I have requested them to SMART repair the rear bumper which has a small dent on it and it is still there. I would had it done as well if I am the one who re-spray the door and the front wing.

I desperately need help, guys, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[F31-340i]

Got back to them and see if they admit it was done when it was sold.

If it was that easy to spot recently, why was it not picked up by their inspection? It seems strange they won't know about it - and if they did they mis-sold it if they specifically told you it had not had an accident / been sprayed.

[Gibbo]

What advice did the specialist give you?

Can you get the car professionally repaired under your current insurance and then it should be fit for full value sale?

[donnynsc]

Originally Posted by ///ajd

Got back to them and see if they admit it was done when it was sold.

If it was that easy to spot recently, why was it not picked up by their inspection? It seems strange they won't know about it - and if they did they mis-sold it if they specifically told you it had not had an accident / been sprayed.

This is exactly what I'm going to do tomorrow.

It was a sales person who I was dealing with, obviously he assumed the car is accident free since HPI cleared. Yes, the sales person told me that it is all original paintwork and accident free. By saying that, how could I prove whatever he said?

I am so regret that I should get someone like a RAC guy to inspect the car before I bought it. Should not listen to everything they said, not even for a 'BMW Approved Used'!

[donnynsc]

Originally Posted by Gibbo

What advice did the specialist give you?

Can you get the car professionally repaired under your current insurance and then it should be fit for full value sale?

He told me to ring the previous owner, check if it's been re-spray by him. I need to check my V5C for previous owner details. I hope his contact number is still valid.

No, I don't think I would get it repaired under my insurance at this time. I already have a dealer who has inspected the car an didn't pick up these problem, his offer is a little lower than the specialist dealer, but I turn down his M3 offer since it has too many stone chips and again, a dent on the rear bumper.

I want to make sure I got an unmarked M3 this time and treat it like a baby.

[lolololol]

I had my car RAC checked but that is because I bought privately - I wouldn't expect to get an additional inspection if I was buying from a main dealer tho !

[PeteJ]

Might be worth getting some legal advice too. Since this is affecting your resale price, you have been financially damaged by there lack of inspection or sudden memory loss while they sold you your car and should get some form of compensation.

Just my view anyway

[Hoops]

Is there anyway you could get in contact with the previous owner/s? Obviously, the last registered keeper will be shown on the V5 - so maybe write to them and ask them for their position ie. did they have an accident in the car etc etc?? If they are prepared to give you such info (which they should do providing you make it very clear that they wont be held accountable for any info they give you etc) That would at least put you in the picture as to when the damage may have happened. At the very least i would go back to the dealership and tell them that you have taken legal advice (whether you have or not, just scare them, it often works!!) and you are in the process of making a full and detailed investigation into working out when the damage and repair took place. If they were fully aware of the car being accident damaged then i would have thought they will start shitting themselves and will want to sort you out asap and get you off their backs. If you dont want to spend any money on legal advice just yet then go to your local CAB to kick start things. But in my experience, the moment you mention legal advice people generally start taking notice and cogs start turning, it may very well be the momentum you need to get the situation sorted to your satisfaction. IF they do indeed cough up and admit they were in the wrong somehow (cant see them ever admitting they knew it was accident damaged and then deliberately lied to you) then take them to the bloody cleaners and kick up a real stink - they may very well do anything to keep you quiet and you could find yourself in a better position than you were in originally. Dont forget to try the previous owner/s for info. Get the facts as straight as you can before you go steaming in!! Good luck. Steve

[MIKEYBMW1]

This is really bad news, I have always purchased my Bmw's from the same main dealer and I have had a few I can tell you , never had this though and would be bloody livid if this happened to me , good luck Buddy.

[Speedtrap]

Try the dealer first and see what happens; and see whether they are willing to cover the difference.

[donnynsc]

Ok, guys, I have contacted the BMW dealer today and explain the situtation, and the sales person rang me back about an hour and confirmed that his sales manager agreed to buy my 335i back with a reasonable price. Don't know how much is reasonable to their term, he asked me to get the dealer who I part-ex my car with to give them a call to discuss. Does it sounds acceptable?

So far the best offer I had from several indepent and BMW dealers are all £23k. The independent dealer who spotted my car's problem has reduced the offer to £20k (just may be, because he still needs his boss to agree on the price by Monday). Does it mean the BMW Fawdington willing to buy the car back from them for £23k in order to cover my £3k loss due to the paintwork issue?

Also, is £23k fair for part-ex? Should I ask for more?

They obviously know the car has paintwork problem, because he didn't even bother to argue with me or ask me to bring the car in for further inspection.

I'm still not happy, I was just trying the market, never thought I would have discovered the problem with my car. Now I must sell it because I just can't bear the thought of my car might be involved in an accident before and those paintwork are not original, they can't even do a good re-spray job, I don't even bother to put the wax on the car anymore...

[RCUK]

why not ask them to swap it for something else?

If they are accepting the car back so easily id def be pushing for a serious goodwill gesture!

[ShereKhan]

Originally Posted by RCUK

why not ask them to swap it for something else?

If they are accepting the car back so easily id def be pushing for a serious goodwill gesture!

You might find that they are probably more keen to swap the car. Maybe something that has been on the forecourt too long...?

I'd image they would just send your car to auction to get shot of it.

[donnynsc]

They got nothing nice on the forecourt.

I would swap for any current generation of M car if they have it in stock.

[F31-340i]

You've had the car for 9 months so will have had some use - hence some of the depreciation should fall to you. However it would be reasonable for them to look to help you not to suffer paying the usual margins on replacing the car.

E.g. (not actual values)

Buy 335i from dealer at £31k.
They would have bought it at around £28k - 3k margin.

Say car is now worth 20k due to damage, would be £23k trade in.

Hence without the damage the car would have actually depreciated 5k in 9 months, but you would actually have lost 31-23 - or 8k in terms of the showroom price.

IMO you have to live with the 5k drop, but they should help with the last 3k of your loss - but they can only do this by sourcing & selling you a car and waiving their margin. They could instead give you a very generous trade in of say £26k - but I think this will be very hard for them to do, even if it maybe morally right, so don't bank on getting this.

[lons]

Fawdingtons aren't the best dealer in the North East unfortunately and due to poor attitudes they've lost the potential sale of 4 cars from me in 3 years.

Don't just look at what they have on the forecourt in Newcastle though as they have more than one other depot ( I think Lloyds in Carlisle and Cockermouth are part of the same group) so that widens the range available to you. look on the BMW site - used cars.

The BMW preparation charter for approved used cars, all of which come with a minimum 12 months warranty, is worth investigation and you should have received a ring binder from Fawdingtons with info.

I think BMW customer services could be interested should Fawdingtons fail to come up with the goods as they push there approved car quality very hard.

Good luck mate