Need intel on my new 135i

[NoSilentRunning]

Hello guys,

my name is Nico and I live in Germany. Some weeks ago I bought my dream car, a 135i Coupe from 2012, which originally was sold at lifequalitybmw in Brooklyn.

Now the problem is, I bought this car as "without damage" but when I ran a carfax report just this friday I realized i might have been cheated on this.

There is a damage report from 29 / 10 / 2012 in New York (just 11 days after it was first sold!), stating

"TOTAL LOSS VEHICLE
Vehicle declared a total loss
by an insurance company
Non-collision damage reported"

Now obvisouly I am kind of... ... and trying to find out what "non-collision damage" could be and If i have to/should hand back the (beautiful) 135i to the seller

The bodywok etc etc looks all good, no mechanical damage recognizable or such. Only thing is - I have a suspicion that the car might have caught fire (see the pics)?
But then, total loss must be quite some money on a 11 day old car without any recognizable damage

Anyway, as NY is quite far away, is there any source (newspaper?) one can look up (besides carfax) what might have happend to the car? Or even, somebody remembers something? Was this a special date, collateral damage or was is just stolen?

ANY help I can get is much appreciated , I would love to keep the car but without knowing what exactly happened this is

[631twentyeighteye]

It was probably involved in hurricane sandy as a flood car. I'd personally get my money back immediately and use that as proof.

[MightyMouseTech]

I would be thinking flood damage as well. Look under the carpets and see if there is signs of water damage.

Hurricane Sandy, Oct 29, 2012. Hit NY and NJ.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy

In the United States, Hurricane Sandy affected 24 states, including the entire eastern seaboard from Florida to Maine and west across the Appalachian Mountains to Michigan and Wisconsin, with particularly severe damage in New Jersey and New York. Its storm surge hit New York City on October 29, flooding streets, tunnels and subway lines and cutting power in and around the city.[10][11] Damage in the United States amounted to $65 billion (2013 USD).[12]

If this is truly what happened to it, I would RUN, not walk away from it.

[NoSilentRunning]

Ah, see that was totally not on my list - of course we had it in the news but it's not that present when you're not affected personally - well, until now at least...

[suspenceful]

One of the worst things for a car; flood damage. Get your money back!

[edisapimp]

Salt wattteerrrrr

[NoSilentRunning]

Hello everyone,

okay I need some more help on this. How do I find out more about the damage, is there a way to find out where carfax got that info from? Because so far the information might not be enough to be "court-proven" i'm afraid.

Is there a BMW warranty helpline in the US that might be able to help?

Is there a way to find out where the car was insured?

[Zombie1]

100% a flood car sorry to hear this happened to you good luck get your mobey back

[NoSilentRunning]

Hey guys, what is the correct way to get the title history on my car from NYDMV?
I consider myself english-capable, but the NYDMV website is really confusing...

[FIRST1]

Who sold u the car?

[NoSilentRunning]

The guy who imported it to germany

[Zombie1]

Originally Posted by Mineralgrey

Hey guys, what is the correct way to get the title history on my car from NYDMV?
I consider myself english-capable, but the NYDMV website is really confusing...

http://www.autocheck.com/consumers/g...ceid=CJ3115289

This company is directly connected to the DMV just type you cars VIN

[Chunner]

Nico, if your VIN # is WBAUC9C59DVM13576, then you bought my Mineral Grey 135i that was 11 days old. It drowned in my garage when Hurricane Sandy struck. No fire, just flood water damage.

Private message me and I will give you all the details.

[edisapimp]

^^ That would be lucky and sucky all at once.

[Overpar56]

So someone bought a salvage vehicle and exported it? That's low.

I don't trust Carfax all that much but in this case it came in handy, except a bit too late.

Good luck getting your money back.

[tuco44]

Hope you get your money back, OP, sounds like a possible horror story.

[wildacex187]

im confused. why would somebody import a car to the country of origin? why cant you get a 135i or better in germany? sorry dont mean to be unsympathetic just curious.

[NoSilentRunning]

First of all I need to say thanks for all the great help from you guys!

Why would I buy a Reimport? Well, I really do like the orange head lights Second, the car had the perfect interior that you don't get here in Germany. However, I would never actually import a car myself. It was all done already... besides, there's like 8 135i's on sale here in Germany atm that match my criteria, since you can't buy a new one anymore...

And Chunner... well guess what, you have a PM!

[NoSilentRunning]

BTW guys,

this is how it looks today... you can image why I fell in love with this car first time I saw it

[jester17]

Hats off to the message board in general; without "us," imagine the bitch of a time the OP might have had trying to hunt down details and info... and found the orig. owner here on the board -- huzzah!

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by wildacex187

im confused. why would somebody import a car to the country of origin? why cant you get a 135i or better in germany? sorry don't mean to be unsympathetic just curious.

The 135i's were not very common over here in Germany. Most sold for 45K to 51K euros!(~65K USd) And they did not have half the stuff the US cars had as standard. You pay for every little option. And pay dearly you did. So even when you import a car back into Germany(that was made here) you can still make out good.

There are even companies in Germany that reimport cars that were made in Germany, that were made for other countries, but never were exported to that country. They do all the paper work for you - and you can save big time on the price of the car. You see this mostly for Golfs and Passats and some low end entry level cars like Opel Corsa. The export cars have less equipment than the German models, but most people are only concerned on the bottom line price.

Pretty cool that @Mineralgrey and @Chunner were able to connect thru our site. I hope it all works out and has a happy ending.

Btw... back in the day I had a friend who works for State Farm insurance company. He would tell me about these low life's that would do this crap. So as a company when ever they had flood damaged car... they would not make a pay out until the flood damaged car were cut in HALF. No joke. That was the only way to deter these low lives from trying to resell the cars as pristine undamaged low mile car. The cars were always cut across the B-pillars.

Dack

[Chunner]

Originally Posted by Mineralgrey

First of all I need to say thanks for all the great help from you guys!

Why would I buy a Reimport? Well, I really do like the orange head lights Second, the car had the perfect interior that you don't get here in Germany. However, I would never actually import a car myself. It was all done already... besides, there's like 8 135i's on sale here in Germany atm that match my criteria, since you can't buy a new one anymore...

And Chunner... well guess what, you have a PM!

NICO, I never thought I see it again. Nasty little beast ehhh? She was 11 days old and about 250 miles young when I lost her. I will send you all you need on information about your beast and tell you specifics on the flood damage. It is not as bad as one would think.