Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

i posted some pics a few pages back,

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/14292979/

E60 550 manual touring - any reason why i shouldnt go and buy it right now.............

Sounds like a practical car.

155,000 on the clock though.................

Nice, I would definitely like to visit the ring next year. Looks like a really good atmosphere. Not sure about driving it tho ha, don’t want to crash / be crashed into

That can't be much for a well looked after bmw. I don't know much about them, but for the equivalent merc it's nothing.

Unless it's all city driving and with a poor service history, but that goes for every car

well its got some rear bumper scuffs and claws from dogs in and out the car, plus some dash bits are worn - handles and windows etc...........wondering how much it would cost to bring it up to pristine - especially the interior bits which can be fiddly! hmmmmm im talking myself out of it.........

What year is it? With a car that's potentially 15 years old I think the years might be wearing it down more than the miles. I don't know how a bmw interior should hold up, but the merc w124 I had from '94 had very little signs of wear on the inside. Interior quality seems to be the same for w212's that I'm currently researching.

Can you take it to an bmw dealer / garage that you trust and have them look it over? That way a mechanic can spot anything out of the ordinary

Have you found one because it's my understanding they're impossible to find

Ah right you have found one!

That V8 is much much stronger than the V10

thats a good idea about the garage kboy - its a private sale - i could get that RAC/AA inspection or call a garage close to the owner that has some good review and get it looked at - its 2005 so its 13 years old - folder of stuff and mot history check shows nothing major and usually fixed and retested within a day/2 days. apart from the rear end and the minor interior worn bits on well used items its excellent, rear seats look unused....
ive also been looking at merc estates too :D

I dont know how true it is, but estates are more common now that saloons due to the Fast and Furious 6 ( urban myth is they bought as many as they could find, pimped em, sprayed them, and then ended up trashing quite a few of them ! )

...and the car is not yet for sale on the market - so i need to be fast (and not furious!)

Pretty sure the AA/RAC thing will be fairly worthless - might pick up generic wear and tear but anything model specific will be vague at best. I’d go to a specialist if possible.
Definitely check the Idrive for warnings and test the rear suspension with multiple people/a heavy load in the back - loud compressor or error messages are spendy.

i'm scared about spendy spend spend :(

Then a high end estate with self levelling rear might not be a good idea. I’m about to go down the very same road though so I shouldn’t really say...

logically if i were mr spock i would agree too...............but ...................... im not mr spock....and i want a high end estate with toys and big engine

Brace yourself with Dammits list of things to fix on his merc, it might give you a taster :)

The Merc was/is on 79,000 miles, as a point of reference.

A change to the norm, but thought there's something here everyone can enjoy. From my worx car park.

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There's a life goal right there - an airbrushed PT cruiser

Possible insurance scam - any advice?

Letter arrives from our insurance co yesterday advising that our vehicle has been involved in an accident. Mrs called them as car and policy are both in her name.

Seems that someone has alleged that we hit their car whilst unattended and left a note with our details on their windscreen. What actually seems to have happened is that someone scraped our car whilst it was parked in south london location and for reasons best known to themselves, decided to try to claim on our insurance.

At the time, mrs didn't notice scrape on bumper. I noticed a couple of days later and asked if she knew how it had happened. As she didn't, I just assumed it was an unknown party's parking error whilst our car was parked in our street - would not be the first time this had happened.

What I don't understand is how this chancer is expecting to succeed with his approach - best case outcome I can see is 50/50 which would be the same as if he just claimed on his own insurance in the first place. Damage to our car is minor so I can't see it being much different on his car.

Strange, I can't see how they profit from this either.

£500 excess and £600 of damage
They succeed with 50/50
Your insurance pays £300 they pay £300 as it’s within their excess.