Possible owner questions

[aurelius]

Found on Dallas.Craigslist in May of '08, about 6 weeks after buying a pristine e39 530 Sport. I tell the seller I gotta sell the 5. He says ok and pulls the craigs post.

Enter credit crisis. 7 months later I finally had a cash buyer for my 5. Amazingly, the ZHP was still tucked away in the seller's garage (he also has a company car).

Very lucky and a very low price. In today's über-tight used car market, that would not happen. Quite the opposite. These days, be prepared to POUNCE once you've found THE ONE...

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Exactly. Someone just posted that story about the used car market being extremely tight.

We see how fast that ZHP in Florida just sold. You had to be on top of it immediately and you had to be ready to travel.

I knew that I would have to travel for my car. It's really difficult to confine yourself to the area you live in. Way too limited.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Story about the used car market: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...168816464.html

[johnrando]

Interesting. I wouldn't have guessed.

[aurelius]

Not that this is necessarily a reflection of the entire national used car market but I found a 2002 325i non-Sport, automatic with 66k miles back in January for $7500. And 2 weeks ago I sold a friend's 2003 Honda Accord EX coupe, V6, automatic, 94k miles for $8900.

[HokieZHP]

And, Chris, I also tell people to prepare for frustration along the way. If you find yours right away, great. If not, be patient. There are a lot of bad sellers out there. I had to dig to unearth a lot of information that was not disclosed by the selling parties. Lots of material nondisclosure. Very irritating.

Yeah I know how annoying that can be. Luckily one of my mechanic's good friends owns a dealership around here and bought the car new. Drove it, sold it to a Duke doctor for 2 years and bought it back from him. Sold it to my mechanic friend. Then bought itback after. Then sold it to his best friend who has the car now. So he knows the entire history of the car which is good. And it isnt being actively sold yet. The dealer's friend who has the car now called the dealer the other day and said he was selling it and I happened to be there talking to him so i get first dibbs on it since he's friends with my mechanic friend. So I was in the right place in the right time.

Sorry that's kind of confusing but hopefully it'll make sense. Main point of all that is that the history of the car is pretty well known. I'm hoping the car is still in good shape when I go look at it either tomorrow or Saturday.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Made perfect sense. As I said, if you get one quickly (this one), that's great. If it's not everything you want it to be, though, and you have to start a new search, then be prepared to exercise patience.

You sound quite capable, though, so my words are really be said for others who may need a reminder.

[HokieZHP]

Either way thanks for the advice. I'm sure I'll have to dig at least a little to find out more of the detailed history of the car.

Hopefully this one will be nice because NC and the immediate surrounding states don't have the best car selection. Wish I lived in cali! Coolest cars are always out there

[goofiefoot]

I lucked out with mine.

There happened to be 2 in my city that I was able to test drive. One sold out from under me, and the other had some issues I wasn't willing to take on. I had already sold my DD, so I was ready to buy. Daily scavenging of all the online BMW forums, as well as nationwide craigslist searches yielded very little. I was getting a little panicked when I happened to check a forum (not this one) and saw a newly posted zhp in Colorado. I got in contact with the owner, had a friend that happened to live in Denver go check it out, and I was on a plane with a cashier's check the next day. What a great feeling to drive JUST the right car home.

Hang in there. You'll find the right car. Good luck!

[HokieZHP]

So here's an update. I went and looked at the car yesterday. First thing I noticed...it's de-badged. It has new rear tires and good front tires. Front seats are faded a so is the stearing wheel. It has black cubed interior with tan leather. Exterior looks great except for the worn window seals. I've seen the seals worn on every one that I've looked at. Can anyone give me an estimate on what it would cost to replace those?

The interior looks good besides the seats. Everything works and maintenance has been kept up with. I drove it also and it drove well. It had quite a bit of road noise and some brake noise. Is that normal?

He wants $12.5 for it