When looking for a deal there are many German luxury cars that can be had for a fraction of their price when new. We find many customers tend to buy cars locally for the sake of convenience. Most of us work 9-5 jobs and have limited time to look for cars when shopping so looking local tends to be the most convenient option. Unfortunately, due to city driving conditions used BMW models with higher miles from New York aren’t recommended for the following reasons.

1. Suspension Wear- City driven cars see much more abuse to the vehicle’s suspension system. The car might drive fine during the test drive, but might be one pot hole away from breaking a component or having a component develop noticeable play. Out of state cars from rural parts of the country don’t experience suspension wear at the same rate as city cars.
2. Body Damage- Cars that have spent time in New York City quickly get bumpers covered in dings and scrapes by people who are have no respect or people who can’t drive and parallel park by braille. Or people who double park and swing their doors open with reckless regard for any car that might be there. Outside of cities parking lots are plentiful and parking spots are much wider and cars don’t get dinged up nearly as much as they could possibly get in the City.
3. Engine Wear- Stop and go traffic causes a lot of engine wear. Accelerating out of red lights and constant idling of an engine causes temperature spikes and seals will leak and engines will wear out faster. On the contrary an engine and transmission that has mostly experienced highway driving at constant speeds with constant temperatures will last longer than an engine that has spent its life in stop and go traffic. Also a car with more highway miles will be cheaper to buy than a car with low miles but was driven in the city.
4. Rust- In New York we go get some brutal winters and the City uses salt on the roads any time there is even a possibility of snow. When this salt combines with moisture causes rust to develop and on older cars it can even completely rot the frames to the point of being unsafe. Rust repair requires expensive body work and if the car you are looking to buy is at least 10 years old there might be serious rust issues that are not immediately noticeable when you are test driving or looking at a car.
5. Transmission Wear- Similar to engine wear, transmissions like to sit in one gear at a constant speed. Every time the car is at a red light the transmission has to go through gears to get the car to speed and then start the process again every time the car hit another red light. This causes more wear and tear on transmission components leading to a transmission replacement sooner rather than later.

When looking to purchase a used BMW, we always recommend you look at a car that hasn’t seen much city driving. Regardless of where you find the car you are looking to purchase we always recommend a pre-purchase inspection by us at Bimmer-motors to avoid large repairs soon after buying the car.