Carfax report, red flag?

[tmpE86]

I recently got rid of a 2005 4.4i, and I'm kind of scared to buy another X5. I have read about cars that say "Manufactures Vehicle", but has anyone ever seen "exported from New York, imported to Germany".... does this seem strange to anyone? The Carfax report doesn't even list the number of owners.

It's an 2004 X5 4.8is, drives great, perfect condition.

[taosx5]

Just me .05 worth. I suspect the car was purchased by someone who was going to be working in Germany, maybe a military position. The company or government entity most likely paid for the shipping. The guy had it shipped back after his duty was up. He probably traded it in and then it went thru the auto auctions several times.

The dealer who took it on trade most likely had it on their lot for a while then sold it at the auto auction. You have to have a dealer license to buy at these auctions. When a dealer buys a car at auction they are buying because they feel it is a vehicle they can sell on their lot. Often it will sit on their lot for several weeks. If it doesn't sell then they offer it for sale again at auction in hopes to get their money out of it. Then another dealer will do the same thing. This is common, and basically was similar to the first X5 I bought. Mine was traded between the original dealer and another dealer. It only had 1100 miles on it but had been registered with two dealers, but was never titled and licensed. So my warranty started when I purchased it. These dealers might be driving these cars as their own personal cars and the publice will be "test" driving them as well.

I would insist on getting a vehicle maintenance history from the dealer. They should be able to find everything that has been done to it. Insist on a CPO that would cover any big ticket items for the first couple years of ownership.

[jspdr]

You should get a AutoCheck report and compare. Autocheck gives more details and information to consumers than Carfax. I had situation myself between the two reports, and it was a major one.

[tmpE86]

Thanks for the reply, I'm going down to the dealership to drive it again tomorrow, I'll definitely have them pull the service history up. Can't be Certified, it's 2004 and has 70k miles on it. (Sorry, I only included a portion of the Carfax report)

I have read that the the term "Manufactures Vehicle" mean it could have been an employee/management car or a test vehicle (Could mean it was driven hard). That's the part that would worry me. I guess its impossible to know for sure, it's just in such perfect condition inside and out, hard to pass up.

And good point about the Autocheck report, they should be able to provide that for me.

[jspdr]

I purchased 05 4.4i not too long ago, Carfax shown no problem. 8 months later i got a Autocheck report and it's shown it has a major issue with the truck. i fought with the dealer for 3 months, and finally they agreed to refunded my money before i sued them. Now i have e70 instead, big different. Keep in mind that any vehicle has been to auction, the value is significantly less than ones has no auction report when it comes to trade-in or selling. I know all of that myself in the past year unfortunately.