-
My initial E61 maintenance bill was just over £2k, then around £1k every 6-12 months - I should have just spent that much up front and saved a lot of hassle.
I think in principle with AU you’re more likely to get goodwill from a dealer if anything does go wrong but like you say anyway, prices are keen and miles can be silly low.
Not just BMW either - our Seat was 9 months old with 3.5k on the clock (ex-motability, bizarrely) and 2/3rds of list price.
Dramatic_Hammer-
Yeah this is kinda where we are at. I prefer older cheaper/more odd ball cars, and used to do really high miles (35-45k a year) so I literally couldn't afford to run a newer car as the depreciation when trying to sell an 8 year old car (that I got with 50k at 4 years old) with 200k on it was a killer alone and no one wanted to buy them. SO older and higher mileage and who cares if i'm trying to sell a 20 year old volvo with 250-400k, it still worth very little lol!
But now I live 500m from my work, so I walk/ride with the dog haha. However my partner goess from working at home, to needing to be 40-90 miles each way each day at the drop of a hat, so something 'newer/reliable (lol, define reliable)' and nicer looking than a 25 year old wagon with million miles on it is starting to be an issue.
Also then when we go away, its mostly car based adventures, and something thats nice to drive to Montenegro/Sweden/Portugal (other countries that we now need a visa for) quickly and in comfort is nice, so no ford focus, needs proper seats (sorry Ford).For a family member I remember we bought a 10 year old Golf Plus, top spec trim, had 14k on it from new, 1 owner, serviced every 12 months at the same dealer that it was bought from, £7k. Sure you could buy an ex mini cab with 120k for £2k, but it was super tidy, had it for a year, put only 8k to 10k on it did absolutely nothing other than add washer fluid, made £400 on it lol, and that was buying from vw dealer and selling back to another dealer (height of used car grab last year tbf)
BrickMan
Normally buy cars much older (2-3x the age and 5x the mileage needing less work, by cost of work not by number of items lol).
Age old question, stay with what I've got, or buy newer, newer not always the answer though!
Yeah saw bmw main dealer prices are actually decent, seeing lower milage examples, MUCH lower, in higher spec trim, expect bmw warranty to be at least worth half of something, for the same money as small scale dealers/online private.