So I had the 320d looked over yesterday. Brilliant Mechanical Workshop and Garage 808 were booked out for the next week so I had to go to Dekra which I've read mixed reviews of. I think I got lucky however because the mechanic who looked it over seemed competent and he was customer service oriented enough to explain his thought process on buying used cars in general and the BMW's in specific.
He said the 320d had wear and tear like with any ten year old car, but he thought it was in good condition for its age and mileage. He also said they see very few issues with the 320 diesel overall. I'm sure he could have missed something as the whole thing only took 45 minutes, but it's good enough for me to move forward.
Do you guys have any final thoughts on how I as a first time car buyer in SA can safely buy the car without getting ripped off? I'm doing a cash payment and I hear horror stories about people ending up sending someone money and ending up with no car. If you have any best practices for the actual transfer of ownership do let me know
Ah man it's a real shame those 2 booked out. Garage 808 will find things even dekra don't know to look at when it comes to bmws. No offence to the guy at dekra, but Colin is on another level when it come to attention for detail. It's magical how he finds the issues. I still love it when I get it back with those things fixed. Everytime after a garage808 visit my cars drive better and closer to like new.
Anyways, the buying part has some level of trust required. I usually want to see the ownership paper first. All the spare keys ect. Then only I worry about how to make payment.
Be warned, instant EFTs only work in business hours and even then, make sure your bank can get hold of you, else the payment just get declined. Especially for any value over R50k.
Make sure you have a copy of the blue and yellow forms on hand and it gets signed by the seller at a minimum. This is required to transfer ownership.
Finally, get a sale agreement letter that allow both parties to sign which have fields open to describe the car, how delivery takes place, how much you paying, how you paying. Also make sure Id nr and contact details of both parties are there. This is what you and seller use legally if anything in the sale go wrong. Basically your legal proof of the transaction. Sometimes when transferring ownership they ask for this, sometimes they ignore it.
Maybe have a friend go with if it make you feel better.
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