advice on buying BMW in UK and how

[claude]

/I have never bought in the Uk so was looking for advice n roughly what areas to travel to make transport easy etc, Im looking for a specific car and if the right spec came in the Uk i would be willing to travel there and driver it back but sure whats the best way , i mean in terms of the financial transaction to what documents do you need and what the most accessible port etc and also would it be more sensible for us to go to the north instead of across the water.

car im looking for is 2010/11 320d e90 Msport / alpine white/auto/leather and Idrive preferably,

[kdevitt]

Holyhead is generally the easiest port to get to. You'll need to transfer insurance onto the new car, and have documentation verifying you're insured on it too. You're as well off getting a proof of purchase from the seller (other than the V5) just to cover your back.

North is obviously handier if you find a car which ticks the boxes. I'd personally avoid a UK purchase at the moment given the horrendous exchange rate.

[JohnH]

Claudio,

I've only bought in the Uk once but have driven over and back a few times.
If you're buying in England (excluding Devon / Cornwall) Holyhead is the best port to use as you get straight back to Dublin. If it's Scotland the do Stranraer to Belfast and come down the m1.

I brought cash when I bought my car but I'm not sure if you'd want to do that for such a large amount. Others who have done in can advise on that, I'm sure.

[m3 mick]

If it's not near Holyhead I normally fly over with a few viewings organised for the day and start at the best looking one and boat home but I've never gone over to look and not bought something to drive home in!!

[dergside]

About 70% of the BMW's we've had through the years have been swimmers and almost all directly imported by me. Some were sourced from UK dealers, some bought at auction and some from private sellers.

With flights being fairly cheap and car rentals easy, one thing I tend to do is take separate trips to view a car and collect it if I buy. This takes the pressure off forcing an unsuitable purchase when turning up and finding that a car, despite your best efforts and prior research, doesn't meet your expectations. Also, it helps your credibility with a seller if you've gone to some effort to see the car.

Depending on your supply source there may be a reluctance to accept some forms of payment if you simply turn up and expect to drive away with the car. They've all read about scams. Also, if a dealer or private sale, you need the vendor to believe that you will walk away if the deal isn't right. If not, your bargaining power is diminished significantly. I, deliberately, broke this rule with my most recent purchase in that I paid for it by credit card because other commitments meant I couldn't get back over in a reasonable timeframe if I bought but I had a return flight (which the dealer knew, so I could walk away if he thought he had me over a barrel) and it cost me a credit card fee on the purchase price. Both my bank and the vendor were aware in advance that I would use a credit card if proceeding.

Before going to look at anything, research can weed out a lot of duds so that your chances of a successful outcome improve. MOT history on line, HPI checks, or similar, service info that can be verified with the dealers are some ways of doing this. Likewise, sellers tend not to have too much of an issue giving you the last 7 digits on the VIN so that you can be sure of what spec you will find (in case of omission or error in the description) is helpful. Good questions in the conversation with the seller can yield a lot of information and as well as giving you direct information, can validate or flag up inconsistencies with information you already have from other sources.

With this research you done, your main purpose in going to view the car is to make sure there aren't inconsistencies or conflicts with the conclusions you've drawn from your research and to strike a deal that you are happy with.

In times past I've tried to have more than one potential candidate car to view in a reasonable radius of an airport but over the years I've gravitated towards more detailed research on a specific car that I'm fairly confident will meet my needs, in terms of condition, history, spec and price and the trip is either to buy that car, or not. In general, the greatest selection of cars will be in the vicinity of major population centres so access tends to be fairly good through Ryanair served airports. On the viewing trip I'll rent a car to get there but also be mindful about being able to get back there by public transport if collecting later. Renting through a portal like Ryanair or Argus often works out to be little more than the cost of public transport and more convenient when on the clock.

Having done a deal, in general I try to pay by bank draft but particularly private sellers can be wary of them so I scan and send them the details a few days before going over and give them details of the issuing bank so that they can enquire and verify it to their satisfaction (I mention this to the bank teller when getting the draft and they usually have no problem with it). Knowing all the paperwork you should have when you drive away is essential to make the process easier at a later stage and also understand the paranoia of sellers, dealers or private, when it comes to road tax. Even though tax discs are no longer used, the penalties to the registered owner of a car being on the road without tax mean they won't be happy with, "ah sure it'll be grand, I'm only driving straight to Holyhead" and the online DVLA road tax process is a pain. Paying with cash or card can give rise to other issues too. Customs tend to be very wary of someone travelling with wads of cash (never mind the security aspect), they can impound it if caught going through an airport and because of transaction charges on credit cards sellers won't want to absorb the cost of that. Debit cards should be an alternative but our banks seem to have made it extremely difficult for foreign payments of significant amounts. Its not clear what transaction limit there is, assuming available funds, and I've yet to find information on my banks website or had a clear and satisfactory answer from the branch or 24 hour banking staff about that. Some information I've come across suggests that the maximum payment that they'll allow is €1500-2000, regardless of available funds, but even that's ambiguous.

I tend not to pre-book a ferry ticket. Its a few quid more to rock up and buy at the port but there have been enough of times when an unexpected delay, traffic, etc. meant I didn't make the ferry I expected to.

That covers a lot of the practical things I've learned through the years.

Auctions have a whole other set of challenges, but I'm guessing that's less of a likelihood in this situation.