Beast_Power said:
MiniMike19@DefinitiveDetailing said:
Okay this is how I see it. There are two kinds of Car Owners:
People that cannot afford the basic car from the word go, these are those that will tell you that after 100 000km (or expiry of the motorplan) that they are expensive and randomly combust.
But before we continue, lets take the following into consideration:
If you buy a BMW, expect BMW parts prices.
If you buy a BMW, expect BMW labour charges.
If you buy a BMW, expect to perform general BMW maintenance.
If you buy a BMW, expect to pay for random things that go wrong on a BMW.
If you buy a BMW and load on a 40% Residual, 72 Months and can barely afford the payments and insurance from the onset then yes, once the safety net that is Motorplan is gone then they are bloody expensive as even the smallest of issue on said BMW will bankrupt you.
If you buy a BMW, are not living above your means and can afford the car then no, its wont explode and it wont cost more than your average Opel Corsa to maintain.
So yes, they can be mighty expensive but at the same time they are reliable, affordable vehicles particularly the 118i which is a pretty simple and basic motor.
If you are living on salty cracks 3 weeks into the month then yes, sell it before it hits 100 000km.
Mike
Mke I beg to differ on this point, BMW's spare are not that expensive is you say compare it to Opel or Chev parts.
A lot of the maintenance can be done by a reliable private mechanic eg services and there is a lot of other maintenance items that you can do yourself if you are willing to get your hands dirty.
Any car with higher mileage has maintenance.
If the car is all paid for, the maintenance on the vehicle will not even come close to what a monthly payment on a second hand or new car is going to cost you.
If you can not afford the maintenance, it does not matter what car you are driving you already have a problem.
Beast, I dont think you are differing as I agree with you completely.
Coming from a sales position at a BMW/MINI Dealership I know first hand that 7 out of 10 clients that purchase BMW's these days can only just afford them. In fact, how they were even approved is a miracle.
People that at the end of 4 years ownership on a 320i cannot even break even on their finance yet want to trade in for a newer car because the motorplan is about to expire.
People that cannot even afford to extend the motorplan, five years of hassle free driving with everything paid for but R2500 to extend it and they cannot afford it.
If you take your car to a private mechanic then yes you will save money, however even then there are parts on these cars which are not cheap, this cannot be denied.
Generally yes, a BMW out of plan is no more expensive than general servicing on an Opel Corsa (ours just came back from a 60 000km service with an invoice for over R2800 and we supplied the oil and brake pads).
My point in my post quoted is not that they are expensive to maintain after 100 000km or MP expiry but rather that if you can afford a BMW, in other words you have sufficient cash flow and extra money at the end of every month to pay for things like tyres, major services etc then they are not expensive to maintain at all.
However, on the other end of the scale if you living above your means (which in my experience of BMW clients from working for BMW most are) and can barely just make your monthly re-payment then yes anything that breaks that this kind of BMW owner needs to fix will cost a fortune and lead to the comment "BMW's break after 100 000km" because they cannot afford even basic maintenance on a luxury vehicle.
People need to understand that these are exceptionally good cars, but like with all things in life things break and that when they do it costs money.
And BMW money is unfortunately more expensive then Ford or Chevy Spark money.
If you cannot afford the car from the onset, then you cannot afford it after 100 000km. :thumbs:
Mike
