Car shopping in Belgrade Ep. 1
Tales of an Italian petrolhead in Belgrade
I was having a beerless beer, which is probably considered a crime in Serbia, when Serbian Girl called to say she wanted to buy a car. “You know a lot about cars,” she said. “Come with me.”
I tried to explain that *knowing* about cars and writing stuff about cars aren’t necessarily the same thing but you know how it goes, so I went anyway.
“I got in touch with the owner,” she said. “It’s a 2011 BMW 320d with 99,000 km on the clock.”
*awkward silence*
“But I think it’s been clocked,” she added. “And every sixty seconds a minute passes,” I said. But let's be frank here, even though my name's not Frank, clocking cars is a lot more common than we care to admit but at the end of the day I don't think it's (just) a matter of principle. I mean, if it says 99k, does that mean it's done 120k or 520k? And has it been looked after? And does it come with papers and full service history? 'Cause there's a difference.
I told her we should just check it out and see what's what and the car was actually in excellent condition. The interior is unblemished, the paint is unscratched, the headlamps have been polished and the diesel engine sounds, well, like a diesel. And the odometer actually reads 104-thousand-something kilometres, not 99k.
"What do you think?" Serbian Girl asked.
"Well, this guy clearly loves his car."
"And..."
"It's a good sign. But we gotta take it for a spin."
And then she said something in Serbian I didn't understand except for "dva", which means "two", and "zelena", which means "green". And I'm assuming they were talking about the paintwork because the car is painted green (with beige leather interior).
Pros: the car is in mint condition, comes with an extra set of wheels and tyres, and the owner is without a doubt a car guy.
Cons: 104k km on an 10-year-old diesel sedan will always sound a bit sketchy and we gotta drive it anyway, which is why I'm guessing Episode 2, "The Test Drive", might be coming soon. And hopefully that'll give me the chance to take some pictures of the exterior because the car was parked in a minuscule garage and I really couldn't.
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Comments (37)
A 10yo diesel (german) sedan under 300k km in the Balkan simply doesn't exist.
that's exactly my concern. it sounds a bit too good to be true
Oh yes it does! ...but they sell it in part without the vin nr 🤫
Welcome to the Balkans, where 90% of the second hand cars shows 3 to 4 times lower than the actual mileage. I've recently interviewed an owner of a second hand dealership for the Bulgarian site "Vesti" and he told me something really curious. He did an experiment and stopped flipping down the mileage of the new imports for three full months. For that time, he couldn't sell a single one of those. This practice has been going for so long in the Balkans that people would consider the real mileage unrealistic and the lower price - a sign of a hidden major problem with the car. Just to paint the picture for you, we as customers have been lied for so long that the lie of the dealer has become the truth for the customer.
I heard. This is a well-known fact. Having said that, SG said "the car is still close to the ground, I don't like it", so I'm not sure what's gonna happen. I'll keep you posted with episode II of the series lol
Oh, that's a proper point from the girl. Some of the holes on the roads are pretty deep and people here usually park on the sidewalks so you need some ground clearance to get on and off. Also winter snows can be tricky in a low-riding car, because...
Read moreThe E90 is a great generation of 3 series as it blends being fun to drive and practicality. This is the facelifted version which is an added bonus. 104,000km doesn't sound too bad. Over 200,000km is where issues start coming in but if well maintained, as with every car, issues will never come. The 320d has amount of performance if needed. I'd value it at no more than £4,000 if a manual and £3,500 if auto (do the currency conversion yourself). The only thing I'd worry about is the "death of diesel" and road tax will likely be quite high because of that. Other than that, sounds great!
well, the car would be purchased by a Serbian national who'd keep it here in Serbia, which I can guarantee is not going to ban ICEs and/or raise road taxes on diesel in the foreseeable future, so that's not a problem. 104k sounds a bit sketchy...
Read moreDont worry, Serbian infrastructure is like 15-20 years from fully electrification. They cannot afford to ban ICE like that. Especially when more than 95% of the registered cars are having ICE.
Car shopping in Belgrade Ep. 1 @tribe
The good thing about the clocked cars is that they devalue all other cars too. Good for buyers atleast.
I bought my 407 Coupe in Bulgaria two years ago. Pristine condition, 98k km, full service history. Everything checks out at the official Peugeot service.
Yes it was the most expensive one I could find, but the price didn't deviate much from the obviously clocked ones. It was the real deal and the guy valued it based on the market prices.
In my country this car in such condition goes for three times of what I paid for.
the 407 is awesome, one of the cars I secretly love
I know, I remember your post about it :)