Does Anything Look Fishy With This M5 Carfax? - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

Ben Carufel · 13th April 2006, 07:36

Anything look fishy or out of place? What's with the "Vehicle exported from Sweden"?

Ben

bayerischemotor · 13th April 2006, 08:07

I don't know what they are supposed to look like, but exported from sweden Probably is a swede that moved to the US, and thus bought a new tax-free car. For a car to be tax-free you have to buy it in the country you are leaving. My cousin did this when she moved from Finland to Belgium.

Low mileage. Wow!

Ben Carufel · 13th April 2006, 08:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by bayerischemotor

I don't know what they are supposed to look like, but exported from sweden Probably is a swede that moved to the US, and thus bought a new tax-free car. For a car to be tax-free you have to buy it in the country you are leaving. My cousin did this when she moved from Finland to Belgium.

Low mileage. Wow!

Hei hei,

I just read in an older post here on M5Board that all M5's were exported out of Sweden or Norway, it seems...something of that nature.

So, maybe it's not so weird to have that note in the carfax after all?

Yes, the Carfax is clean but the story the seller told me isn't exactly consistent with what the Carfax says, so I'm doing a whole bunch of extra background research.

Kiitos!!

ard · 13th April 2006, 08:18

Did you get a record of all BMW services from the BMW system?

Any dealer can pull that up...might take some finageling... or the current owner can OK it with his local SA and they can fax it right to you.

I note a lot of cars come from other countries... never got a solid answer...m y theory is that some boats have funny manifests that might include a stop in norway or sweden on the way across the atlantic, so the US customs sees the last stop prior to US entry....

A

Ben Carufel · 13th April 2006, 08:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by ard

Did you get a record of all BMW services from the BMW system?

Any dealer can pull that up...might take some finageling... or the current owner can OK it with his local SA and they can fax it right to you.

I note a lot of cars come from other countries... never got a solid answer...m y theory is that some boats have funny manifests that might include a stop in norway or sweden on the way across the atlantic, so the US customs sees the last stop prior to US entry....

A

I was thinking that about the boat manifests, too.

I haven't had a chance, but I do have a good contact at my local dealership who has happily pulled up service records for me before.

I'm currently trying to backtrack the VIN to the date of auction and find out who took the car to auction. My thinking is that with that mileage, a BMW dealership would almost certainly have CPO'd it and put it on the lot for sale rather than sending it to auction.

Need to talk to the seller tomorrow and find out why his story doesn't jive with the Carfax, then based upon his "explanation", I can determine if it's worth it to me to bother my contact at the $tealer to run a BMW records check.

JEM · 13th April 2006, 09:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Carufel

I'm currently trying to backtrack the VIN to the date of auction and find out who took the car to auction. My thinking is that with that mileage, a BMW dealership would almost certainly have CPO'd it and put it on the lot for sale rather than sending it to auction.

I'd think the destination (BMW in NJ) and that it's presumably a US-market BMW VIN probably deals with the origin issue.

As for being sold at auction - it's an old car, CPO is only 6yr from in-service so it'd only have had a year of CPO on it no matter the mileage - or am I wrong?

The low mileage is a bit scary, never got driven, all the stuff that normally breaks/gets fixed under warranty probably hasn't broken yet but the warranty's long gone.

WylM5 · 13th April 2006, 09:36

The CARFAX info that I ran on several E39 M5's state that the vehicle was imported from Germany to South Carolina. All except one which did not have that info.

As far as the car being bought in Sweden and imported to US--Why? Also the mileage would be just a bit higher than 9 miles.

I would take this very slow and play it safe. Get whatever service records you can on car as well as a PPI done by a dealership. Afterall if you were the owner of a car like this would you put it up at a auction of all places? Just doesn't make sense.

JEM · 13th April 2006, 09:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by WylM5

The CARFAX info that I ran on several E39 M5's state that the vehicle was imported from Germany to South Carolina. All except one which did not have that info.

Euro Delivery? I've never run a carfax on mine to see where it shipped out of, though since we dropped it off in Frankfurt 7/00 I'm sure it shipped out of Bremerhaven etc. I know mine never went through SC, POE was Long Beach.

WylM5 · 13th April 2006, 10:02

JEM,

I kind of wondered why everything was through SC but I just figured because BMW has their plant there. My Dad did Euro delilvery for his 535 but unfortunately I didn't run a CARFAX on it, too bad as it would have been interesting to see if it went from Germany to Hawaii.

As for this particular car I thought about Euro delivery and them driving to Sweden but the mileage is off. 9 miles doesn't get you very far.

SoCalJD · 13th April 2006, 17:36

[quote=Ben Carufel]Hei hei,

I just read in an older post here on M5Board that all M5's were exported out of Sweden or Norway, it seems...something of that nature.

<<<
I just checked mine (also bought in San Diego). It says: "Vehicle imported to Port Hueneme, CA." Doesn't say from *where*.

Ben Carufel · 13th April 2006, 17:39

[quote=SoCalJD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Carufel

Hei hei,

I just read in an older post here on M5Board that all M5's were exported out of Sweden or Norway, it seems...something of that nature.

<<<
I just checked mine (also bought in San Diego). It says: "Vehicle imported to Port Hueneme, CA." Doesn't say from *where*.

Makes sense that that would be the California port of entry for new BMW's. I've heard that before at least.

SoCalJD · 13th April 2006, 17:45

[quote=Ben Carufel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoCalJD

Makes sense that that would be the California port of entry for new BMW's. I've heard that before at least.

>>>

What *doesn't* make sense is that my car was originally sold in Maryland. It came in to CA, was sent to MD, now it's back. Not sure if I should be rooting for SDSU or the Terps.