[sthomson]

Hey guys

Looking for some feedback here on possible next moves.

I bought a 2014 335i xDrive from a dealership in Toronto. At the time it was not part of the CPO pool, but it had a clean carproof report. I asked the salesperson to put it through CPO, and I did a walkaround but really... clean carproof, CPO, I wasn't too worried about it.

A few weeks ago I was looking at it in a parking lot and I was like "something is off with those headlights" the driver's side one had more of a gap with the corner of the hood than the passenger side one. So I looked at the pictures from when I bought it and it was like that before the CPO inspection. See attached picture from the advertisement - the corner of the headlight assembly doesn't line up with where it should be at the corner of the bumper, and there's a gap between the top of the headlight and the hood.

I took it to a dealership closer to where I live and asked them to look at it, wondering if they would bring it up to CPO standard under warranty. They reported back that the bumper had been repainted, and they suspected the brackets on the back of the headlight assembly were broken. They didn't want to take it apart for fear of not being able to get it back in place, and suggested that I take it back to the selling dealership for rectification.

The dealership I bought it at was great, I emailed the salesperson and general manager, and the next morning I heard back saying they'd bring it up to CPO standard for me and give me a loaner.

What I'm trying to figure out -- I paid a certain amount for a car with no accidents, and now it's pretty clear that it has been in an accident. I expect that this repair will show up on the carproof report, and the value of the car is significantly degraded. Would you try to get some sort of remedy from the dealer for this loss of value? Would you try to just return the car? How do you put a price on the discount of having a car with an accident history?

Cheers thanks for your thoughts.

[vooonoo]

If you don't go through insurance/get a police report then it won't show up on things like carfax in the US not sure about canada. Those reports aren't always 100 percent accurate bc of this. As long as nothing else is fuck up i would just try to get some $ back, good luck with that though

[bavarianride]

To OP, do bring to a reputable body/paint shop and ask them to check paint thickness and confirm extent of bumper repair.

The misalignment can be due to bad re-installment of bumper.

Do check if it is spot paint fix, or the whole bumper is repainted(may include brand new bumper cover too).

BTW, bumper cover (both front and rear) fixes are very common, so there is no damage of underlying structure, and mostly important, no frame damage, then properly repaired bumper cover should be OK.

[anotheran]

Happens all the time. the risk you take when you buy used and didn't have an independent mechanic check the car

[zinner]

Yeah it could be as simple as some kid bumped into it on their bike and they got it fixed at a body shop for cash. I would think the selling dealer should make it right if there is some broken brackets and you be on the way.

Carfax/Carproof whatever is just a database service, they sell to a large extent false sense of security. Same for CPO too really.

I had a ding on my hood and got a police report incase I needed run insurance. Well that was a huge mistake beside the 500 bux to get the ding pulled out I lost about 2k value on the car because it's been in an "accident" now because of the police report. I will not make that mistake again.

[IK6SPEED]

Originally Posted by sthomson

Hey guys

Looking for some feedback here on possible next moves.

I bought a 2014 335i xDrive from a dealership in Toronto. At the time it was not part of the CPO pool, but it had a clean carproof report. I asked the salesperson to put it through CPO, and I did a walkaround but really... clean carproof, CPO, I wasn't too worried about it.

A few weeks ago I was looking at it in a parking lot and I was like "something is off with those headlights" the driver's side one had more of a gap with the corner of the hood than the passenger side one. So I looked at the pictures from when I bought it and it was like that before the CPO inspection. See attached picture from the advertisement - the corner of the headlight assembly doesn't line up with where it should be at the corner of the bumper, and there's a gap between the top of the headlight and the hood.

I took it to a dealership closer to where I live and asked them to look at it, wondering if they would bring it up to CPO standard under warranty. They reported back that the bumper had been repainted, and they suspected the brackets on the back of the headlight assembly were broken. They didn't want to take it apart for fear of not being able to get it back in place, and suggested that I take it back to the selling dealership for rectification.

The dealership I bought it at was great, I emailed the salesperson and general manager, and the next morning I heard back saying they'd bring it up to CPO standard for me and give me a loaner.

What I'm trying to figure out -- I paid a certain amount for a car with no accidents, and now it's pretty clear that it has been in an accident. I expect that this repair will show up on the carproof report, and the value of the car is significantly degraded. Would you try to get some sort of remedy from the dealer for this loss of value? Would you try to just return the car? How do you put a price on the discount of having a car with an accident history?

Cheers thanks for your thoughts.

Originally Posted by zinner

Yeah it could be as simple as some kid bumped into it on their bike and they got it fixed at a body shop for cash. I would think the selling dealer should make it right if there is some broken brackets and you be on the way.

Carfax/Carproof whatever is just a database service, they sell to a large extent false sense of security. Same for CPO too really.

I had a ding on my hood and got a police report incase I needed run insurance. Well that was a huge mistake beside the 500 bux to get the ding pulled out I lost about 2k value on the car because it's been in an "accident" now because of the police report. I will not make that mistake again.

BMW Dealerships /BMW Certified Repair Centers do not report repairs to Carfax.

That data is submitted by Insurance Companies and information collected from Police Accident Reports.

It is very inaccurate as a result - and does not tell you the difference in $500, $5000 or $50,000 of damage.

There was a post on a thread earlier this year of a vehicle buyback / legal action that went on for multiple years and the vehicle showed clean on Carfax.