[scooba0010]

My neighbour just bought a z4 for his misses ,He called me over and said while i was washing the car i noticed the headlight seems loose have you any ideas?? also the bulb has gone how do i change it ? .
now he has had a friend look over this car prior to buying and said the wing has been painted albeit very well .
so he purchased the car and thought all was ok .

we decided to take the front wheel off to get in to the little access hole to change the bulb yikes its xenon and the starter stinks real bad like electrical burnt smell the loom in to the starter is burnt /melted ,then we noticed the wheel arch liner was less than perfect ,at this point i said i really think you need to get this in to a main dealer as i dont think we should be messing about with this ,

so in to bmw ,it seems the car has had a knock on the wing and broken the front light the bodyshop had refitted a glued together with araldite lamp it cost my neighbour

£556 headlight
£49 igniter for xenon
£116 bulbs
£70 for new arch liner
£280 labour to remove front bumper /light /wheel arch liner and then refit
all plus vat nearly £1300 all in with the £35 for courtesy car

also to make things worse the airbag light was on it seems the previous owner removed the front seats to clean under them etc unplugged the detonator for the seatbelt tightning thingy this makes the obc thing there has been a air bag deployment and to have that put on the computer and checked out and the warning light reset £100 plus vat .

I would be so depressed he seems at peace now just glad its all sorted .I now look at his car and because the lights are plastc they no longer match one looks mint the other has dulled and has scratches .

so if you buy private beware ,there is some consilation with buying from main dealer at least they pick up most of the bill

[mikem]

Thats a lot of cash, I guess he has the peace of mind of knowing its been done properly by a main dealer.
But if he was on a "budget" a used xenon on Ebay with ignitor and bulb £100-250 depending on how many paople want it. The bumpers easy to remove (loads of DIY`s on t`internet and the little plastic rivets that holds the wheelarch liner are 12p each from the dealer.
Airbag light reset can be done by anyone with Autologic (most indys charge about £25-50)

[dxb335d]

yeah she had been smacked by the sound of it!

i personally wouldnt be a car thats been involved in a accident where panels have been replaced!! some people just dont noctice. Your friend could have done with an independant inspection, costs between 100-200 quid but its worth it, could have saved him all that money he has now spent!!

least its sorted now and he can enjoy it!!

Carlos

[mikem]

Carl you`d be surprised at how many "brand new cars" are delivered to customers with new panels and/or paintwork. This is why all cars go to a "prep" centre first to have any damage sorted from the shipping containers (seas can be very rough )

The bottom line is, if its done right you or even an expert would never now and the "independent inspections" you pay for have an awful reputation for overlooking things.

[scooba0010]

we looked on ebay the only xenons were from a breakers and he wanted £450 plus vat plus post and would only sell as a pair .I think who ever had the wing repaired must have known the lamp price and decided to try and fix it just long enough to move the car on ,I do feel a bit for my mate as he is so f---- anal it bugs him so bad he hates the car now and wish he hadnt bought it ,its caused problems with his partner as it was the garage where she works that looked over it prior to buying and gave it the all clear .she told him the guys at work think my z4 is beautiful he told her one day i will tell them pricks how much it cost me to put it right ,

[dxb335d]

Originally Posted by mikem

Carl you`d be surprised at how many "brand new cars" are delivered to customers with new panels and/or paintwork. This is why all cars go to a "prep" centre first to have any damage sorted from the shipping containers (seas can be very rough )

The bottom line is, if its done right you or even an expert would never now and the "independent inspections" you pay for have an awful reputation for overlooking things.

i know, i have been to the docks where the cars come, i have seen some smashed up new cars which will subsequently be re-paired and sold on''as new''

if a car has the odd scratch done well without paint might be hard to tell... if its had a whole panel painted, i will be able to tell

if its had structural repair... i mean from a whack, its quite easy to tell.. once a car has been bent its almost impossible to get them as -new, metal bends and can never go back properly...the fittings of new front panels/wings after a deformation is very hard to get 90% and never 100%

if it was a dead straight car mever been in accident but you replaced many panels, say for (restoration) then it still can be hard to get them 100% but is far much easier than a car which has been involved in an accident

if a car had a smack, anyone with any sort of idea about car bodywork and structural integrity will deffo be able to tell.. jo public wont... ie my gf mother wouldnt be able to tell, my GF is getting better at it lol.. we had to look at 10 fiestas to get an un-touched one!

Carlos

[silverbmwz3]

Errrm shouldn't this guy be going back to who he bought it from???!! I'm not sure where he stands legally if he didn't ask if it had been in an accident...

As said on that post about the allegedly dodgy vx220.... why would anyone buy a 20k+ car privately (assuming it was that much) without getting it checked over professionally or doing a HPI check?

[scooba0010]

Hi the car was four years old private sale ,14k

[dxb335d]

Originally Posted by silverbmwz3

Errrm shouldn't this guy be going back to who he bought it from???!! I'm not sure where he stands legally if he didn't ask if it had been in an accident...

As said on that post about the allegedly dodgy vx220.... why would anyone buy a 20k+ car privately (assuming it was that much) without getting it checked over professionally or doing a HPI check?

hpi means fuck all, still could have gone thru a lampost

hpi covers you to an extent, dosent mean its not been in an awful accident

many many cars go unrecorded!!

a smashed re-paired car is not as strong as a non crashed car!!


pro check and hpi is the best!!

carlos

[silverbmwz3]

Carlos I can't keep up, you've gone from HPI isn't worth f**** all to "....and HPI is the best!!!" in one sentence :-p

[vivekk]

Originally Posted by silverbmwz3

Carlos I can't keep up, you've gone from HPI isn't worth f**** all to "....and HPI is the best!!!" in one sentence :-p

Carlos is having a maths lesson concerning dividing fractions...he now just loves inverting & multiplying!

Viv

[mjh93sa]

I think what our young friend it trying to formulate the words to say is that it would be best to have a proper independant inspection of the vehicle by a paid professional and an hpi check before going near a private sale.

That said, the guy buying my car is doing neither. But then he's seen it in the works carpark for the last four years.