Clocked or not...

Agricola

Went to see a clean, low mile 3 series over the weekend. An 03 car with 49k miles from a private seller. The seller mentioned in the ad that the engine was "garage reconditioned" although he couldn't give me too many specifics on that as it was done before his ownership. He said he had it about 3 months and this was done 2 years ish ago. The car was reset to zero and has done nearly 50k since! Of course there is nothing documenting any of this.

The car seemed to check out, nothing obviously up like a worn steering wheel, or bolster, no tamper dot either. Running and driving well. Engine is bone dry, not leaking like a sieve like alot of e46's, very complete too, not missing the splash guard or any other bits like that.
His price is a good bit lower than other similar cars with twice the mileage. I quizzed him about that and he said he had to offload it as it was bought with the heart but not suitable for his needs (bad back, wife wants a certain make etc) and he just wants a quick sale. I said I'd have a think on it and come back....

So after some detective work online, the alarm bells are ringing. I found this ad on donedeal but it's also on Adverts, his profile history revealing he is a back yard dealer who has sold around a dozen cars from his home in the last couple of years. Nothing unusual about the cars he sold, they all seem honest, bar one other low mile 3 series, last year.

I stumped up for a history check for the vehicle. It hasn't been taxed since late 2013. He did mention a previous owner didnt like the high tax so it sat alot, but then how did it manage to accumulate 50k odd miles in the last 2 years! The last change of ownership happened in 2015, which is odd because he bought it 3 months ago! There is (of course) only one odometer reading in the report, from last year showing 47k miles. No idea what was on this car, say 5 years ago.

I should be running for the hills, quite fast, shouldn't I!

punisher5112

Unless you can verify mileage don't bother.

tossy

Yes, plenty of other 3 er's out there, walk away.

nhunter100

Run away.

Alanstrainor

Why bother with this heap of shoite. Absolutely run away. "Garage reconditioned" means they found another car with a working engine and put it in. I would guess we're talking about a 320d here? It could have 300,000 miles on it for all you know, and who knows what else has happened to it in its history. Not a chance I would even look at it again.

visual

Reset to zero and your asking if it was clocked. I think you know the answer

Agricola

visual wrote: »

Reset to zero and your asking if it was clocked. I think you know the answer

Yeah, I suppose I meant is there a genuine 50k mile engine in it, or was the odo just reset and a rag run over the interior!
It just seemed to be a lovely car and if there were no anomalies like this, I would be buying it, but it really isn't worth the risk, even at this price.

BigCon

Run as fast as you can

rex-x

The mileage relates to the car, not the engine, you cant just "reset the clock to zero" because of a supposedly reconditioned engine! I would run a mile

Buffman

From your description I'm guessing you're talking about this 316.

Way overpriced at €1750 IMO (€1950 trade in:eek:), as others have said, he seems to think a reconditioned engine magically resets the whole car to factory fresh. He almost deserves a spot in the dreamers thread at that price.

Also, his explanation about the previous owner not taxing sounds very suspect, it's a 1.8, not a 2.5/3.0. And if it is true that the owner was too cheap to pay 1.8 tax, how likley is it that he was bothered about paying for maintenance? Why did it need a new engine?

Too many issues with this one at that price, plenty more fish in the sea. If you're specifically after 03 316s, even from a quick check of Adverts I can see a lot more appealing choices with more sensible asking prices.

Special Circumstances

Agricola wrote: »

Went to see a clean, low mile 3 series over the weekend. An 03 car with 49k miles from a private seller.

...........


It hasn't been taxed since late 2013. He did mention a previous owner didnt like the high tax so it sat alot, but then how did it manage to accumulate 50k odd miles in the last 2 years! The last change of ownership happened in 2015, which is odd because he bought it 3 months ago!

Buffman wrote: »

From your description I'm guessing you're talking about this 316.

...
Also, his explanation about the previous owner not taxing sounds very suspect, it's a 1.8, not a 2.5/3.0. And if it is true that the owner was too cheap to pay 1.8 tax, how likley is it that he was bothered about paying for maintenance? Why did it need a new engine?
...

Hahaha fishy fishy fishy story from seller.

visual

Agricola wrote: »

visual wrote: »

Reset to zero and your asking if it was clocked. I think you know the answer

Yeah, I suppose I meant is there a genuine 50k mile engine in it, or was the odo just reset and a rag run over the interior!
It just seemed to be a lovely car and if there were no anomalies like this, I would be buying it, but it really isn't worth the risk, even at this price.

Garage reconditioned engine doesn't mean a new engine. Service maybe timing chain and couple of pulleys or might be engine repair work, certainly not a new engine and by no means did BMW reset the clock to zero. They wouldn't even do that if it had a brand new engine fitted. It was clocked simple as.

All cars look good after a professional valet and Polish

Forget about it there is plenty of other cars out there no point getting suckered into a dodgy car because it appears cheaper.

Lack of tax would suggest it was off the road. Engine repair might account for a couple of months but has it been off the road because it was crash repair who knows who cares, as it was obviously clocked and had engine repaired. There are enough red flags to walk away and not look back

Henry Ford III

visual wrote: »

Garage reconditioned engine doesn't mean a new engine...

Without back up documentation it means nothing at all.

Agricola

Buffman wrote: »

From your description I'm guessing you're talking about this 316.

Way overpriced at €1750 IMO (€1950 trade in:eek:), as others have said, he seems to think a reconditioned engine magically resets the whole car to factory fresh. He almost deserves a spot in the dreamers thread at that price.

Also, his explanation about the previous owner not taxing sounds very suspect, it's a 1.8, not a 2.5/3.0. And if it is true that the owner was too cheap to pay 1.8 tax, how likley is it that he was bothered about paying for maintenance? Why did it need a new engine?

Too many issues with this one at that price, plenty more fish in the sea. If you're specifically after 03 316s, even from a quick check of Adverts I can see a lot more appealing choices with more sensible asking prices.

Yeah that's the one. I actually thought the price was ok before I found all this out, considering aledged mileage and a valid NCT. There are a couple of '04's on donedeal with msport alloys, and all the extras with realistic mileage that are listed for in the region of €2500. Saw one of them on Saturday in Meath, lovely clean car again, driving great, but was leaking from every orifice!
Dodged two bullets in two days!

Agricola

Agricola wrote: »

Yeah, I suppose I meant is there a genuine 50k mile engine in it...........

Can't see anyone putting a new or freshly reconned engine into an 11 year old 316i 2 years ago.

Anyway, looking at 13 year old cars you really want to pick one up with no obvious concerns, the history and seller are a tad disconcerting with this one so I'd search on.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Agricola wrote: »

Yeah, I suppose I meant is there a genuine 50k mile engine in it, or was the odo just reset and a rag run over the interior!
It just seemed to be a lovely car and if there were no anomalies like this, I would be buying it, but it really isn't worth the risk, even at this price.

You can be absolutely guaranteed that no one who has ever fitted a replacement engine in a car has told the new owner the correct mileage. You can also be guaranteed if he's saying 50k then the real mileage is100+ k plus some.

He's an Arthur Daly type, will fill you with shÍte to make a sale but you should go back to him and ask him all the question again and point out the anomalies with his bullshít replies then walk away.

Agricola

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

He's an Arthur Daly type, will fill you with shÍte to make a sale but you should go back to him and ask him all the question again and point out the anomalies with his bullshít replies then walk away.

I would like to but he's not exactly local, plus it wouldn't achieve much. I'm quite sure he's used to loosing sales for various reasons and once you let him know you're not interested, he'll just shrug and try to offload it to the next person! He was all about the deposit after the test drive, but once I said I'd think about it first, it was "ok buh bye then!"

What would be more constructive would be to put the whole saga (and the info from my history report) up on DD and Adverts, but I'm not sure if that's my place to do that.

monkeysnapper

Agricola wrote: »

I would like to but he's not exactly local, plus it wouldn't achieve much. I'm quite sure he's used to loosing sales for various reasons and once you let him know you're not interested, he'll just shrug and try to offload it to the next person! He was all about the deposit after the test drive, but once I said I'd think about it first, it was "ok buh bye then!"

What would be more constructive would be to put the whole saga (and the info from my history report) up on DD and Adverts, but I'm not sure if that's my place to do that.

I wouldnt bother , just move on and forget the whole thing , glad you didn't buy it . sounded like a lemon to me