It's not a grey market car. What makes you think that?????? Because it came through customs??MEnthusiast said:Also consider that this is a grey market car, it will have the worldwide 2 year manufacturer warranty, but it will not have the 4/50000 BMW NA warranty. Unless price is the major factor, I would try to find a CPO car with a warranty. Consider that parts for the car can be very expensive.
I think that price is way too high for an 03 with multiple owner background especially. The market is in the mid-high 50's on nice 03's I believe.mchin said:any other comments or insights would be greatly appreciated as the dealer is asking over 60K and my impression is that they will not go below 60. I was going to try to negotiate again but in view of the history I do not know if it is worth the risk even with a 5 year warranty.
I agree with CSBM5, before I bought my m5, I looked at about a dozen different cars and all of those carfaxes can back as the cars being exported from Germany and imported into New Jersey. The fact that it was imported into South Carolina along with the 5 month gap, I believe also suggests the car being used for the schools. Be careful and good luck on your searchCSBM5 said:I think that price is way too high for an 03 with multiple owner background especially. The market is in the mid-high 50's on nice 03's I believe.
With regard to that initial gap, my gut feel is that it is highly likely the car was a Performance Center car (i.e. used at the PC for schools). These cars are usually offered in some sort of BMW auction to BMW dealers (or so I was told). They usually have around 5k miles I think when the PC gets rid of them (not sure, but they don't keep them long). They go through them completely and replace lots of stuff, but their engines have had a hard life from day one.
My understanding was that there is some sort of information that is supposed to follow the vehicle related to its history, but I think it is a bit obtuse in that is says something to the effect of a "BMW fleet vehicle".
Get the official BMWNA Vehicle History Report from the dealer (or another dealer), and check it out. In any event, the price is too high.
Chuck