Husband has just bough a heap of crap and I'm raging

[swinglycat]

DH bought a 15 year old car on Wednesday. He did all the relevant checks and apparently the car has had all the proper BMW servicing done and just passed the MOT last month. The very night he drove home ( 20 mins) the lights at the back had gone off . Woke up the next morning and there is an oil leak now too.

I could cry. We don't have the money to be faffing around with cars.

I'm just so upset that we have been potentially sold a car that's gonna cost money to fix before it's even made it into our driveway.

Surely you understand that many people can't afford to keep buying 2/3 year old cars? Just seems an odd suggestion to someone broke.

@LeSoleil is another one who has no sense of the real world, just like many MPs. Most people can only afford old cars.

@swinglycat
It's very annoying especially when your DH did due checks before buying.
Instead of going to the BMW dealer could you find/get a recommendation of a local mechanic who should be able to sort out the problems at a much lower cost than the dealer?

These are not in the same price bracket.

@AndThatWasNY What was my 'suggestion'?

If it wasn't a suggestion to buy 2-3 year old cars then it would just be a brag post that you can buy 2-3 year old cars. HTH

HappiestSleeping
Just make sure you tick the box for indicators. They appear to be an optional extra on BMWs and Audis these days 😉”

Ha! I’d never get away with that. Youngest just passed theory test, practical in May. I have to be on best behaviour in the car with him 🤣

A brag post would be buying new cars surely? A 2-3 year old car with reasonable mileage on it, ex-company vehicle for example avoids wasting an enormous sum on initial depreciation. You then drive it for another 7-8 years and you get the cheapest total cost per mile you can before the more expensive items eg new clutch need replacing. I don't see how buying 2-3 year old cars can be a brag.

"I don't see how buying 2-3 year old cars can be a brag."

We know you don't see that. That's because you're so out of touch with the OPs situation. Not everyone can afford 2-3 year old cars. Not everyone wants to spend the money on a 2-3 year old car if they can afford it.

Think about it. You have come on this post offering no advice but stated that a 15 year old car should be purchased only if it's so niche that it will increase in value and that you buy 2-3 year old cars. In your mind, you're superior to the OP because of this and just wanted us all to know.

What rubbish! Sounds like projectionism.

My post to OP was only in the context of their opening post. We had no information from OP to confirm the context of the car purchase and that was what I was seeking to clarify. It might have been a hobby car, a 'do-er up-er' in which case I would agree that if funds were short it would have been a rash purchase.

There was in fact very little to contextualise matters at that point. Even now we do not know how much the car cost and the 'situation'.

You'd have been better off buying a Ford or Vauxhall. BMWs are expensive to repair.
The MOT only means it passed on certain things on the day of the test.

You have my sympathies op , I remember back to when we first married saving for everyone you need and especially first car .

When was the MOT done? It wouldn’t pass the MOT with an oil leak.

www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/8-nuisance#:~:text=You%20should%20fail%20a%20vehicle,there's%20an%20excessive%20fluid%20leak.

Not necessarily but you'd be right to query if it's worse than stated in the link.

Yep. We are still driving a 2002 Toyota hatchback. It was three years old when we bought it. It has never broken down and the few repairs it has needed have been minor.

I do think your DH was overly optimistic buying a much older vehicle from a private seller when he has zero mechanical training.

I know my limits regarding cars even though I took apart and re-built a car engine back in my early twenties. I buy second hand cars and always trade in and buy from a reputable dealer. Yes, you probably pay slightly more but you do have more protection in law.

I usually stick to Japanese cars as they’re very reliable. I traded in my 2006 Honda a couple of years ago and it only failed its test once in all that time and that was due to querying the amount of tread on one tyre when the Honda dealer had said it was ok. I’d been planning to change all four tyres but was going to leave doing it until after my summer holiday. Otherwise, it sailed through every MOT.

because if he did and she hasn't mentioned it he'd have a claim against them for not spotting it

OP would have possibly

1. not have paid over the odds just for it to say BMW on the front - lots of better brands for a family car
2. got a proper mechanic check before buying
3. bought from a dealer

any one of those three things would have been an improvement

BiL has bought and sold a couple of second hand cars for family members and he pays for the AA check. It's just a basic check of about £80 but it's good for people who don't know much about cars .

I'm no car snob, I've had cars from most brands over the years. I've had a lot of BMWs, some brand new and some very old. There are a lot of misconceptions on this thread. BMW are not really that premium anymore and no more expensive to fix than a lot of cars if you go to an independent garage.

A Ford or Vauxhall is cheaper but I've spent much more on parts and repair work when I've had one of those than on any bmw.

Japanese are of course bomb proof but they hold their value because of this.

My parents were not well off. They were made even less well off by buying old cars. Honestly, they just cost a fortune at the garage and seemed to be constantly being repaired or serviced. Eventually they did scrape up the money to buy a new car and the constant garage bills went away. I "inherited" the old car - it had a dodgy starter motor and to unjam it you had to crawl underneath it with a wrench. I credit the fact that it got stolen with stopping me make the same mistakes as my parents in keeping it on the road. I made do without a car - in a city that was not really set up for pedestrians or public transport - till I could save up to buy something decent. I have found cars 2-3 years old to selling at not much discount to a new car and when you throw in warranties and free servicing, I have twice ended up buying new cars rather than the 2-3 year old one I was looking for. My current one is 16 years old and has been very reliable - one largish bill in 16 years. It has been garaged to keep it out of the elements and my work park is covered too so it it has not been exposed to the elements. Japanese cars seem to be remarkably reliable.

This. 👆

I had a BMW a few years ago. It was only 8 months old when I bought it, and it was the worst car I've ever owned. Bits of it were amazing, but the build quality was shocking. I was lucky in that I had one with indicators 😉

I would infinitely rather have a 15 ye a r old one as it would probably be better quality than a recent one.

@swinglycat don't despair. If you can get the underneath cleaned, keep an eye on where the oil is leaking from. Once you know where it is leaking from, you'll get a view of a fix cost.

As long as the bodywork is OK, it is usually worthwhile fixing the engine.

There’s a lot of judgement and hindsight on this thread towards op who was just doing what they thought was best, which is what we all do.

motor trade of far too many years here in various roles.
you were better off (and in some cases still are) better off with a premium brand. Unfortunately all brands have their Achilles heel of a particular engine or gearbox as they’ve moved towards emission priority instead of reliability priority.
peek car manufacturing for reliability is 2000-2010 really and those cars are being legislated out. Doesn’t mean you won’t get a decent newer one, you just have to be more careful. There’s also the sharing of platforms now to catch people out, E.g certain Mercedes being Renaults in fancy dress.

having worked on premium and discount brands I would still take a premium brand, for instance one particular car you pull it’s wafer thin carpet back and it’s polystyrene underneath. The premium brand will also be a safer place to put your money for resale.

honest John and your local mechanic will know which combination of gearbox and or engine is more likely to give you grief than others to lessen chances. And the op did the right thing about checking history. Other than that any car purchase (new or old) is a gamble. I’ve known multiple 3-4 year old range rovers need new engines, 6 month old corsa’s needing roofs welded back on, multiple 3.5+ year old Nissans needing new engines and gearboxes.
the only one covered by warranty was the corsa. The others were also low mileage.

it’s all a gamble. Good luck op. If it’s happened so quickly even private sales can have some come back.

What a joker.
HTH.

Thanks all. Hopefully we will learn from our mistake. DH is going to take it to a mechanic tomorrow to get it checked out. The oil leak is at the front ( not sure if that makes a difference?