Oct. 14, 2005 - Caveat Emptor: The M3 GT
Well, as the saying goes, if the deal sounds to good to be true...
But this is Germany where most of the people tend to be honest to a fault. Yeah, my guard was down a bit, but the car was advertised as "unfallfrei" which means it has no had any accidents. Most Germans I've dealt have gone to great lengths to show exactly where the car they were selling had been damaged, so I had been lulled into a false sense of security.
I set off with the cash in my pocket to pick up yeat another BMW rarity. Seems there were only 300 of these babies built. Alarm bells should ahve gone of when I met the owner. Bit dodgey looking to put it mildly. Then we went to look at the car, sitting on its own in a dimly lit parking garage. No plates, so a test drive on the road was out of the question. Great! Car started up nicely and I gave it as good a test as possible within the confines of the garage. Paperwork looked OK so what the hell, roll the dice...
I knocked a good bit off the already low asking price to cover some obvious shortcomings, and possibly insure me against any surprises. After all the car was going to live on the Nordschleife so I wasn't too worried about cosmetics, tyres brakes or the like. We went and purchased the short term plates and insurance and I drove the car home to Luxembourg.
I got about a km down the road when it became obvious that the right front damper was shot. Oh well, I had budgeted a replacement suspension anyway. On the Autobahn I refrained from testing top speed as the car was fitted with winter tyres, although it felt good to about 240 or so.
The bird was going riding about an hour away in France, so I let her take it with her just for kicks, and when she came home she mentioned that it ran a bit hot in slow traffic. Other than that she liked it.
Next day I figured I'd have a look at the overheating problem. I didn't have to look too far. The fan clutch had be welded. The welds had broken and the fan was just freewheeling. Hmmm...
Further inspection showed that not all the good bits were where they should be and that the car had been involved in more than a little fender bender. I promptly readvertised the car on mobile.de where I had found it in the first place. I was honest in my description and described it a a total mess. My ad appeared right above the ad that the original seller had posted, and the contrast was amazing.
Although the seller had lied to me about virtually everything, he did tell me the truth about another buyer who was looking for the car. He said the fellow was from Sweden, and sure enough that night I got a call from him. I gave him the lowdown on the car and he bought it. Saved himself some money in the process and got me out of the deal whole. Phew!
|
|
|
|
About Me
Motoring from a German/European perspective, seen through the eyes of a American Irish transplant.
Friends
|
