[Deadgame]

Can anyone suggest which dealer in Houston would be the best choice to do an independent inspection for me? I tried Advantage mid-town already and they said they don't do independent inspections, so scratch them off the list. Every dealer has an avg rating of 3 stars... Any suggestions???

 

[AGO]

Try Momentum BMW West, you may ask for Cash Jacobson, or the service mgr Jed Newsom.
Or if you prefer Momentum (out of Southwest freeway), ask for Baker - will help also w/Dinan mods (dealers)

 

[Deadgame]

WOW. I called 4 BMW dealerships in Houston and everyone told me due to liability reasons they cannot do a pre-purchase inspection for me. AGO, I called Baker directly and he told me the same thing. The only thing he could suggest is for me to "call one of those Auto Check places." I looked them up and reviews were mixed. the inspection seemed pretty basic too. I mean, when my wife flys down and picks the car up she'll be able to look for dents, scratches and rattles. Seems to me that any internal problems will be covered by warranty for the next 20 months. What do you guys think I should do?

 

[AGO]

I would check with Eurocarwerk, ask for Eric. They are an independent shop with lots of experience on high end cars, mainly Porsches and also BMW. I go there for my E46 M3, and previous Porsches... Good Luck !

 

[tmiked]

I would check with Eurocarwerk, ask for Eric. They are an independent shop with lots of experience on high end cars, mainly Porsches and also BMW. I go there for my E46 M3, and previous Porsches... Good Luck !

Bavarian Machine Specialties 713-524-8365
Bavarian Machine Specialties - exclusively BMW service, parts and performance since 1980

and

Silvio's Autohouse 713-523-5565


are both also good


from my experience, all the dealers suck.

anyone know what happened to Bob Braden @ BMW-N ?

.

 

[tmiked]

What do you guys think I should do?

Assume you have Carfax'ed.

Is it a dealer or individual?
I would be happy to go look at it.
The alternative would be take it to either a dealer or independent for a formal inspection.

 

[Deadgame]

Yeah, have the Carfax. One owner with no reported damage. I called Eric at Auto-Werks and he said it wasn't profitable to do pre-inspections anymore, so he stopped doing them. He had a good friend, who he called "a BMW expert", who has a shop right behind his. So he referred me over there. I talked with him on the phone and he seemed pretty straightforward and legit. So the dealer took the car over the next morning and Steve at Taussig's Auto did the inspection for me. He drove the car, gave me the run down on condition, put the car in the air, removed a bunch of covers under the car to check for leaks, checked tires, brakes, SMG, checked electronics, checked for recently cleared fault codes, etc. Pretty thorough from what I can tell. He said "no one buys these cars to baby, so I was expecting to see some wear and tear when I got the vehicle in the air. But I cant find much; it's in really good condition." He put a scope on the pulleys and said he could hear a little bearing noise, but I assume that'll be covered under warranty if I have a problem later on down the road. So I feel better now. Just waiting on the dealer to receive the title from their bank, since they recently paid it off. Even though I can't drive it yet, the countdown to putting the Beast in my garage has begun! Thank you to all of the guys who took the time to suggest a place or offer to look at the car for me. I saw the Bavarian Machine Specialties' list of inspection items after I had my car inspected already. Man, that's detailed list of items! I wonder how much they charge?

P.S. I guess I'm in the wrong line of work, because $250 for 2 hours of work seems pretty profitable to me!