Thinking of buying a used BMW or Mini? Read this First!

Never buy the cheapest one you can find

This is the most common mistake we see. People scrimp and save up for their "dream car," whether that's a Cooper S, 335i, or whatever other model. They finally find one they can just barely afford, and its priced cheap. DON'T. DO. IT. The cheapest one you can find almost certainly has been rode hard and put away wet so to speak. These are the cars you find at used car lots, on Facebook Marketplace, and Craigslist selling for a suspiciously low price.

Often including descriptive words like "all it needs is," or "it has one small oil leak." These sellers almost always try very hard to minimize or gloss over very serious problems the car suffers from. I had one unfortunate soul recently who convinced his parents to buy him an E60 545i as his first car. They picked it up for the low-low price of $4500. Seems like a good deal, right? Wrong.

They wanted me to inspect the car before turning their 16 year old son loose in it (which is smart). The problem? It had every single warning light known to man illuminated on the dashboard, and was leaking oil and coolant from just about everywhere. After spending a few hours diagnosing and inspecting the car, I made them an estimate for just under $6000 to fix all the warning lights and fluid leaks. Not such a good deal anymore, is it?

Don't Buy a Car With Aftermarket Equipment

Another telltale sign of a problem car, is a car that has a whole bunch of aftermarket parts on it. I don't know how many times I've seen these cars with all sorts of aftermarket fake carbon fiber trim covers, aftermarket gauges, displays, silly lighting systems from amazon or ebay, unsafe suspension components, "go-fast" parts like intake systems, tuning devices, and all sorts of cheap goofy parts.

These cars 100% of the time are absolutely hemorrhaging oil and/or coolant, are way past due for routine maintenance, and suffer from warning lights and battery drains caused by these goofy aftermarket parts.  I don't know what the attraction is with these aftermarket parts, but they always do more harm than good, 100% of the time without fail.

You can spot a lot of these components by looking under the hood. Most of these parts are owner installed, which typically means a lot of really poorly done wiring. You'll be able to spot this pretty easily. Look for wires and other little "control boxes" that look out of place. Most of the time there will be wires simply laying across the engine bay, shoved into fuse receptacles in fuse boxes, little controllers zip-tied here and there. Run, don't walk away from these cars.

The "boy racers" with their go-fast parts and tuning devices are even worse. Easily spotted under the hood, it usually starts with some poorly installed intake tube and open element conical filter all held on with zip-ties, and goes further with charge pipes and intercoolers. Even so far in some cases as to have catless downpipes and more. Some of these parts are more easily spotted than others, however a lot of these problem cars can be easily spotted by the fact that they're lowered, have non-factory wheels, and/or have spray painted brake calipers. Aftermarket engine parts and altered engine control unit software ends poorly every. Single. Time.

Not only do these cars with aftermarket components have WAY more problems than those that are in stock form, but it's very rare that I drive one that is in any way faster or better to drive. These owners have basically been spending money to install problems, while neglecting simple repairs and maintenance. It's the Mini Cooper, 1 Series BMW, 3 Series BMW, and sometimes 5 Series BMW crowd that is most commonly guilty of these offenses. RUN from these cars.

Be Very Hesitant Buying From a Used Car Lot

While used car lots can be a decent place to pick up a used BMW or Mini, there are definitely some things to look out for. For starters, be wary of used car lots in Sacramento. There's several of them who are selling some really really awful cars. I imagine they're picking these cars up at auctions, however I've seen so many cars come from these used car lots in Sac that have junkyard engines, really terrible paint work, and too many other atrocities to list.

Used car lots in general are profit-driven. They're picking cars up for as cheap as possible, putting as little work and money into them as they can get away with, then selling them for as much as they can. They also make money by selling the car buyer some janky 3rd party warranty for their car, so when the car inevitably has problems shortly after driving off the lot, they tell the customer to just go have it fixed at a repair shop.

The problem with that is, the janky warranty they sold doesn't cover very much. It covers major internal engine components, which is good, however they often don't cover fluid leaks, suspension, or electrical problems. Got a coolant leak? Sorry, not covered. Water leaking into the car? Sorry, not covered. Horrible rattle from suspension while driving over bumps? Sorry, not covered. Battery drain from some wiring or control module problem? Sorry, not covered.

While there are some good cars to be had at used car lots, it's really hit or miss. I'd be much more inclined to purchase a 3-5 year old car with very low miles than I would be to purchase a 10 year old car with 150k miles on it. And I'd really only buy that car if it I knew the exact model, color and options I was looking for and they happened to have it. The bottom line is, don't make an impulse buy.

Another tip I tell people is, the best used cars are to be had at a dealership that sells and services that brand of car. Fore instance, A BMW dealership will have the highest quality used BMW cars. A Mini dealership will have the best quality used Mini cars, and so on. They also have "Certified Pre Owned" cars that automatically carry extensions of the factory warranty.

The dealerships have very strict guidelines they must follow when it comes to which used cars they can have on their lot. The cars that don't make the cut get sent to auction, where they are picked up by the small local used car dealers.

Green Flags - How to Make Sure You're Getting a Good Used Car

• Look for low mileage and low body count. Generally, a 10 year old car with 3 owners isn't going to be as good of a car as a 10year old car with one owner. The same goes for mileage. A 10 year old car with 75k miles on it is generally better buy than a 10 year old car with 150k.
• Service records are a huge plus.  The type of person that keeps all their car service records in order is typically the kind of person who is studious about keeping their car maintained. I'm not talking about the guy who can show you a receipt of a recent service, I'm talking about the guy who has ALL the service records, (usually in a file folder stacked in chronological order) that's the guy (or gal) you want to buy a car from.
• Make sure it has a clean title. This should be obvious, however a lot of people don't know to ask this. Up in the top right corner of the CA DMV Vehicle Title there's a white box. The white box is where they would fill in details like "rebuilt" or "salvage." Make sure there's nothing in that white box in the top right, if it's empty, you've got a "clean title." That's where that term came from. If it has ANYTHING in that white box, walk away from the deal.
  

There's one simple way to make sure you're not getting ripped off, or buying a lemon of a used car. Have it inspected BEFORE YOU BUY IT!!! For whatever reason, I've seen a sharp decline in Pre-Purchase Inspections over the past 10 years or so. My guess is that the instant-gratification type of mindset that is pervasive these days has really taken hold in the car buying world. I'd say it's about a 10-1 ratio of calls I get that start with "I just bought this car and..." to "I'm thinking of buying this car."

I've had people burst into tears or fly into a fit of rage when I tell them the car they just bought for $5000 needs $3000 worth of repairs. I understand that emotional response, however I can't feel sorry for them when all their problems could have been avoided by spending a little bit of money to have a specialist look at their car before buying it.

Nobody selling a car should have any problem with that, whether its a used car dealer or a private party seller. It's a major red flag if someone doesn't want you to have a car inspected before you buy it. And really, you want it to be inspected by a specialist, someone who knows those cars inside and out, even if it costs a bit more. While a pre-purchase inspection won't be able to tell the future, or predict a breakdown, it will enable you to understand what the state of the vehicle is currently, what repairs or maintenance services are due, as well as identify any horrific problems that should make you pass up on the sale.

Informed decision making is the key to buying a used BMW or Mini, and we're always here to help answer questions regarding your used car buying decisions here at North State Auto. Give us a call anytime at (530) 319-5166