My friend is thinking of buying a bmw 318i
 

However, icbc check showed these results:

Claim Date Type of Claim Amount Paid Nature of Payment
03-Apr-2003 COLLISION $7142.87 REPAIRS
11-Jun-2002 GLASS $556.08 REPAIRS
18-Dec-2001 GLASS $582.82 REPAIRS
09-Aug-1997 COLLISION $1060.09 REPAIRS
06-Oct-1996 COLLISION $2527.00 REPAIRS

also mileage was rolled back,
air care shows 56,000 in 2000 and then magically back to 41,000 when car was returned back to dealership (was returned as lease return)

Anyways,
I told him it would be a pretty bad idea to buy this car considering the multiple collisions and the rolled back mileage,
any words of wisdom from RS?

edit* car is a 1995 bmw 318i

unless hes getting it for $1k, don't buy.

he told the guy about this stuff and he said he'll sell it to him for $4900 :\

no. walk away.

I would not touch it. Once you mentioned the rolled back odometer, that was it.

no no I suggest running away instead.

wow rolled back odometer + $18,932.83 in collision repairs.

lowballing time........

oh, and how did u get that report from ICBC? did you have to pay a fee?

i convinced him stay away,
he really liked the car so.. he had problems getting away from it,
anyways,
Yes, you call in to ICBC and ask for a vehicle history report, it costs $21.00
I tried getting it at the motor vehicle office but they directed me to the claim centre,
tried the claim centre (in richmond) and they directed me to the telephone line,
i told him to call in,
i'll post the number later since i left the paper with it in my car

Wow this car must be extremely rare or collectible to still demand any money
oh wait it's neither...

walk away, who knows what else he has misrepresented

STAY AWAY

not safe to drive it on the road.

those cars aren't probably fixed right, a lot of shops just stretch the damaged frame, instead of replacing the whole thing.

:werd:

$1,000 is a good price for a car like that.

get him to pay you to take that POS off his hands

you can buy a 325i for sub $5K

Go for it......




If he seriously want something with a BMW skin but performs worse than a 95 Civic .

totally agree. why does your friend want a 318i? in addition to all those problems you posted, the 318i is quite underpowered and was never really desirable. I don't know what the market value is for e36 BMWs, but at $5000 it doesn't sound like a very good deal.

not even worth $1k as scrap.

you need new friends btw :lol

probably worth at least $500 for scrap metal

Hold up 7k in repairs in 2003?!?!?! why would ICBC bother...

The E30 318is is much better than the E36 318is imo. :).

i guess ur friend is just buying the brand and wants to showff to his friend that he owns a bmw.. when it is a piece of sh!t.

i'd rather drive a kia then this

I think that's a pretty arrogant assumption. You have no idea where the car was fixed, how it was fixed, or even what the damage was. A $2000 hit on a Honda might be $6000 to fix on a BMW. Insurance is paying for it anyways, it's not the dollar amount that matters but rather the work that was done.

I came within $1000 of writing off my '97 cavalier in 1998. I mean it was like nearly $19,000 worth of damage. It was fucked up BAD. To this day, the damage was fixed so well that it's impossible to tell where the accident happened, and 12 years later, there are no repurcussions of the accident.

Conversely, my '86 944 turbo had an *unclaimed* accident, that bent the radiator frame backwards on the bottom. It would only have been about $1000 to fix, but it wasn't fixed, and as a result, I've had ongoing problems with things touching the fan blades and leaking or whatever, until I fixed it last year.

The ICBC report alone should not deter you or convince you to buy a car - you need to look at the car in detail, using the ICBC report only as additional supplement.

At least if the accidents SHOW UP on the ICBC report, it means the guy went and had them fixed!!!

You could buy a used car with even MORE damage on it that was never claimed through ICBC and possibly never even fixed!

not so much that, the bmw has a sick body style that hes really attracted to,
he wants the 318 because its a 4 cylinder and also insurance is supposedly lower compared to other bmws. Anyways, hes not going for this car after that much money spent on damages. When we test drove the car it definitely felt heavy and underpowered compared to my civic :\ Anyways, anyone selling their car PM me and i'll forward it to him :thumbsup:

Interested in a Z31?

hes looking for a reliable 4 cylinder since hes going to be using it every day