Was I just lucky?

rocky

Right, so I bought a 1 owner 2005 530i MSport at the end of January, and thinking about it now, I didn't heed most advice doled out in this forum, like:

- don't buy a car from a person that's not on the logbook
- sign the logbook - guy didn't have it, supposedly he sold it for a garage, and the logbook was with them
- don't pay the asking price never ever - well I did (minus 50 good luck money)
- last NCT was done in 2009, tax was out since April 2009

I got the logbook about 5-6 weeks after buying, I was a bit worried about that, but it worked out in the end...

On the upside, the guy seemed very honest, he had a few cars for sale and took me and a friend to the house where we got a chance to look the car over, then took it for a test drive... I also ran a Motorcheck that didn't flag anything except the NCT/tax out of date.

I'm sure I can think of some other things I might have missed...

I was looking for this type of car for at least 6 months, so when the situation presented itself, I took it.

So if conditions are right, can you skip a few best practices? How many can say that, after doing everything by the book were disappointed by some other aspect of the new ownership experience?

readytosnap

yes you were

Gumbo

Despite what everybody says, Of all the cars I've owned, I only sold one from my house. Most people will judge each other on first contact.

If somebody wants to buy my car, I will not be meeting them at my house for the first visit. If they are serious then the second meeting/exchange can be done at the house.

Riskymove

readytosnap wrote: »

yes you were

tbh I'd just say you were not unlucky!!

most people probably above board

Anan1

Never pay the asking price is certainly poor advice - if the car's well-priced and it's what you want then buy it. Tax is irrelevant, and NCT can be priced in. You took a (IMO big) chance on buying a car with no logbook, but hey, you followed your instincts and it worked out well. To answer your general question, as long as the risk/reward ratio stacks up i'm in.

tossy

Congratulations and fair play on buying one with a decent engine

Ironically enough it's the larger engined and rarer model that probably aided your luck,i wouldn't fancy your chances on being so lucky buying a 520D.

biko

rocky wrote: »

So if conditions are right, can you skip a few best practices? How many can say that, after doing everything by the book were disappointed by some other aspect of the new ownership experience?

If you know what you're doing then yeah.
But for most people, go with general "rules" and you'll be grand. There's plenty of thread in this forum to show not all sales go to plan...

rocky

Anan1 wrote: »

Never pay the asking price is certainly poor advice - if the car's well-priced and it's what you want then buy it. Tax is irrelevant, and NCT can be priced in. You took a (IMO big) chance on buying a car with no logbook, but hey, you followed your instincts and it worked out well. To answer your general question, as long as the risk/reward ratio stacks up i'm in.

If I missed on this car, I was set to go to Dublin and look at a few cars, and pay double the price for a 523i (maybe not even MSport) with no spec to speak of. Probably from a dealer with warranty, but how much is that worth?

Chris_Heilong

I dont know if I will sell my FTO near my house, problem is there are speed ramps everywhere and since the car is on lowered sports suspension it is not a good indication of everyday use if it where taken for a test drive near my home, would give a much better impression if we met somewhere more normal.

Atlantic Dawn

Best of luck with it.

<Cynical chap>
I presume you verified all chassis numberings on the car and didn't just verify the logbook and reg numbers matched your background check just to be sure it's not a stolen car cloned</Cynical chap>

rocky

VIN on the windscreen matches... where else? Would Shannon issue a new logbook if something wasn't in order?

Also the car had all the tax disks since new. Maybe I can flog them on ebay