Quamera
Member
Well done Scratch, sometimes buying sight unseen can be a worry but since you had a friend involved that took out most of the risk and for that price as others had pointed out you really couldn't go wrong. I am looking to buy a used M3 SR+ in Australia. They only went on sale here in limited volumes in 2019 although now the MICs are arriving in larger numbers.To close this out - ended up buying the car.
WRT the finances, we signed an agreement this morning. I'm sending him payment for the balance of his loan, he will send me the title and the release of lien once he receives them. We both spoke to his bank, it's not possible for them to send these documents to me directly. So I will have to wait a bit before registering it.
We were not able to line up an inspection before purchase. He doesn't want to put more effort into the sale and says it was never driven off-road (the chips are from driving over gravel.) The car will be transported from NC and I will have it inspected by a local body shop. If they find anything wrong, it will go to a Tesla service center.
For those who asked about the motivations of the seller, we did discuss what moved him to make this deal. His motivations are not financial, the car was a gift for someone he's no longer with and he doesn't drive it. While I'm not a mind reader, my sense is his generosity is a way of moving on.
This car is intended as a surprise for my wife. She'll either be delighted to receive it or furious should it turn out to be a bad deal. Hoping for the former.
New the SR RWD retails here for mid $60K (US mid $40K) and I want to pay less than $50K (US $35K) for a 20/21 with around 30K km (20K miles) on it. There are a few around as people swap to the MY but there was a major shortage of all new and used vehicles during COVID and that is still affecting values. Sellers are still looking for mid to even high $50K and at that price I may as well buy new and wait a few more months.
Can anyone advise me on the best way to do a battery health check on an M3. I understand the LFP batteries are more tolerant of charging abuse than the original types but it would still be good for my peace of mind if I could check the health of the battery of a prospective purchase.