BMW are cars that with proper maintenance can easily see 200,000 miles + and still be in amazing shape even when parked outdoors in harsh weather conditions due to BMW’s high quality factory paint. We have a handful customers with 10 to 20 year old cars that regularly come in for service. Every once in a while one of our customer’s older cars develop an issue that requires a costly repair such as a blown head gasket. Then comes the difficult decision, “Do I spend the money to get this fixed or do I move on to a newer ride?”.

This is a difficult decision that comes up from time to time with our customers at the shop. This is a complex dilemma with a couple of things to consider. What other repairs does the car need? Are there other major maintenance items that tend to come up at that particular BMW’s current mileage? Are there any serious rust issues? Finally, what is the emotional attachment to the car?

On the other hand with the new car there are other things to consider as well. How comfortable would you feel having to make a new monthly car payment? If you get your new car with a loan you’ll have to put full coverage on it, which in New York City could easily increase your insurance cost to over $300 a month. Then there is the extra time investment. Time is money and you have to consider the time you’d put into researching the model and options you want. If you decide to avoid the initial depreciation hit you might go certified preowned. You have to find the right one with the options you want. Now you found it, but is it in another state? All this requires a massive time investment that most people don’t consider.

If you decide to consider a used vehicle that is out of warranty then we definitely recommend a pre-purchase inspection from us at Bimmer Motors or a trusted shop. Used cars can be great if they were properly maintained and the seller isn’t hiding any major issues. These can be easily discovered and diagnosed with a pre-purchase inspection and emphasis on before you buy! If the seller is honest they will have no issue with you getting the vehicle inspected. If they make excuses or make themselves unavailable for inspection then they are obviously hiding some major problem. As the last thing you want to deal with is a large repair or maintenance bill on a used car you just bought.

These are the things that we tell our customers to consider when major repairs come along on an older BMW and they think about the pros and cons of getting a newer automobile. We leave it up to our customers, but are always happy to answer questions or lend guidance.