[Jrfly9]

Hi Everyone - strange post here but I am really looking to crowdsource some help!

I am finally in a position to buy my dream car, an M2! Have owned 7-8 BMW's in my life ranging from e36's, 128i, and even a nifty '87 L6. I am interested in a car from VA/MD but the Carfax shows a prior accident in the front end.

I am hoping someone would be able to recognize this car since it is wrapped in a unique color. Any info helps!


Thank you all!


https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...-effd5a1410e0/

[///MPhatic]

If you can get a salesperson to go into the iDrive system it'll usually tell the first owner information, and you might be able to find out from them what happened. The system saves all that information, and I'm still unable to remove it. I know her address (she had it as home), and all the places she drove to when she owned the car as well. I took pictures of it all in case I'm able to reset it at some point.

[Jrfly9]

That is quite an ingenious idea, I am unsure if the dealership would do that for me but that would be awfully nice of them. I'm going to ask.

Can you tell me the navigation pattern to get to this information through iDrive?

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

If you can get a salesperson to go into the iDrive system it'll usually tell the first owner information, and you might be able to find out from them what happened. The system saves all that information, and I'm still unable to remove it. I know her address (she had it as home), and all the places she drove to when she owned the car as well. I took pictures of it all in case I'm able to reset it at some point.

[Cadillac]

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

If you can get a salesperson to go into the iDrive system it'll usually tell the first owner information, and you might be able to find out from them what happened. The system saves all that information, and I'm still unable to remove it. I know her address (she had it as home), and all the places she drove to when she owned the car as well. I took pictures of it all in case I'm able to reset it at some point.

All that information can be deleted I do that to all my BMW cars before selling them.
I would never leave that info on iDrive.

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by Jrfly9

That is quite an ingenious idea, I am unsure if the dealership would do that for me but that would be awfully nice of them. I'm going to ask.

Can you tell me the navigation pattern to get to this information through iDrive?

I'm not with my car at the moment, but the names show in driver profiles, and all the previous destinations are shown in the GPS history, including one that will say (home) beside it.

Originally Posted by Cadillac

All that information can be deleted I do that to all my BMW cars before selling them.
I would never leave that info on iDrive.

I agree that it should be this way, I was only saying that it wasn't with my car. All the info is still there.

[F87source]

I believe if you use esys you can reset the module to default State (not by using code default that'll "brick" it) by using the code button. That should wipe the module clean in the event you cannot remove previous information for whatever reason. Then if that doesn't work there are hu engineering tools that will allow you to wipe individual modules, but iirc those tools cost ALOT, so it would be more cost effect to hire someone to do it for you. Generally the people who can generate FSC codes can do that for you. But you really should be able to remove it just by messing with the head unit settings alone.

[IcewaterPete]

Prior accident and now the car has a full wrap...what could possibly be wrong...��

I would definitely hold off until and if you can talk to the prior owner.

[KevinC]

Have you tried just Googling the VIN? Sometimes that will point you in the right direction.

[jefe2000]

I was in a similar position at the beginning of the month: ready to buy my dream 2018 M2, but wanting to find the original owner to be able to ascertain the history of the car. In my case, I was going to be purchasing the car from CarMax, so I didn't have the original owner's info right in hand.

I was able to take the car's VIN over to my local BMW dealer and learn about its service history and where it was purchased. From there, I called the dealership where it was purchased and serviced for the majority of its life up 'til this point. I talked with that dealership's service manager for awhile — after going through a few lower level employees — and pleaded my case. He wasn't willing to give me the first owner's contact (completely understandable!) but he did call the original owner on my behalf.

This might be an avenue for you as well.

That wrap sure looks intriguing!

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

If you can get a salesperson to go into the iDrive system it'll usually tell the first owner information, and you might be able to find out from them what happened. The system saves all that information, and I'm still unable to remove it. I know her address (she had it as home), and all the places she drove to when she owned the car as well. I took pictures of it all in case I'm able to reset it at some point.

The very reason I use a near by hotel instead of my actual home address

[Caduceus]

Originally Posted by ///M TOWN

The very reason I use a near by hotel instead of my actual home address

Yes. Leaving a garage door opener in your car with your “home” address in the GPS is asking for a re-visit if you car gets stolen.

[jkoral]

I found the previous owner of my M2 on bimmerpost, he actually PM'd me 6 months after I purchased it (I had posted in the regional section of the forum).

Coincidentally, I already had his full name/address. The dealer printed out the service history and blacked out his name and address on Page 1 but didn't notice it was re-printed on the second page. Obviously didn't use that information and posted dealer where he traded it in and the general area where owner lived. It was a CPO, so I was just curious why he got rid of it with under 10K miles.

[David1]

Originally Posted by ///M TOWN

The very reason I use a near by hotel instead of my actual home address

I use the local police station as my home address..

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by ///M TOWN

The very reason I use a near by hotel instead of my actual home address

I left the home address as her home in New Jersey, not mine in Missouri. lol

[Jrfly9]

Thank you all for your answers, very appreciated!

I was reviewing the pictures closely and found some concern. Considering the CarFax shows "light" damage on the front right this has me very concerned.

The body lines don't even look close to matching up, almost like they used the incorrect bumper?

Thoughts from the gang? Thanks again guys

[Jrfly9]

here is the pic

[///MPhatic]

This is the problem with wrapped cars; you can hide anything.

That looks terrible IMO, and not something I'd be interested in buying at all. All of that will have to come off to correctly assess the damage.

The bumper line is fine, other than the sunk in reflector. It's the fender that has the problem, and from the looks of it, a big one.

Run away, don't walk. Not so much because of the damage, but because if they will accept that kind of fix, and then wrap it to hide it, what else have they accepted?

[Jrfly9]

Thanks for the response!

I ended up talking to the shop that wrapped it and they did not see any other damage on the paint other than a scratch on the bumper. The damage to the bumper did not occur until after the wrap so it's reasonable to believe nothing else is being hidden.

Really tough decision...

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by Jrfly9

Thanks for the response!

I ended up talking to the shop that wrapped it and they did not see any other damage on the paint other than a scratch on the bumper. The damage to the bumper did not occur until after the wrap so it's reasonable to believe nothing else is being hidden.

Really tough decision...

It looks like the Fender is the problem not the Bumper

Look at the fucking body work they did

I'd run from that car stat

Don't buy it ‼️

[RideM]

Originally Posted by Jrfly9

Thanks for the response!

I ended up talking to the shop that wrapped it and they did not see any other damage on the paint other than a scratch on the bumper. The damage to the bumper did not occur until after the wrap so it's reasonable to believe nothing else is being hidden.

Really tough decision...

Not a hard decision, run away!

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by RideM

Not a hard decision, run away!

😳

Seriously ‼️

[BigKutta]

Geez look at the whole fender over here. It's not straight or flat!! It was definitely damaged before the wrap. Run away dude, don't even think about it for another minute. I'm assuming you are getting a great deal compared to other M2s on the market?