I have been looking for a 650 coupe but a 2005 645 with 35K miles came up and caught my eye. It is a CPO from a dealer and has the sport package, HD sound, Bluetooth, and HUD. Build date is 6/05. The car came off of a lease and the record shows service entries on 7/06 and 2/07 for oil change with a brake fluid change at 8/07. The work order for the CPO certification shows that 3 tires and the wiper blades were replaced, a 4 wheel alignment was done and nothing else. I have been working on this purchase long distance and we now have come to terms. They are throwing in a software upgrade > ver. 25 and a bit of maintenance.

I am going this week to pick up the car and drive it home. I have not owed a 645 before and my last BMW was an 8 series; is there anything essential that I should look for on a 645? Because this is a long distance purchase I essentially only have one visit to complete the transaction. Or perhaps a better way to state the question: is there anything specific that I should ask about and have them address or validate before I get there?

Thank you in advance for your experience and advice.

1. Bring a reliable tire pressure gauge. (Dealerships notoriously "forget" to check the tire pressure and the cars are imported from the Vaterland with at least 45 ppi in them. I'm not sure why. We have the same air they do.)

2. Bring your mobile phone and you can pair it (or be shown how to pair it). In the event it won't pair, you may have a problem.

3. Make your "acquaintance call" for BMW Assist at the dealership. That way you'll be covered from the moment you leave the dealership. A lot of problems arise when you try to make the call from a poor service area. And you won't know where a poor service area is since it's a new car.

4. Bring your fine tooth comb. Check everything over very carefully before you agree to take the car for the obligatory test drive before you accept it. You are looking for any bruises in paint or interior surfaces and any blemishes of any kind.

5. Many buyers instruct their dealers not to wash their cars before they pick them up. I think it's a bit anal, but it's (going to be) your car. So if you think you can do a better job, go for it.

6. Likewise, many buyers don't want to put on front plates, if they can get away with it. If you can contact your dealer early enough in the process, tell him to leave the front bumper virgin.

7. The only "option" you should consider from your dealer before you drive off is the tire replacement "insurance." It costs the dealer $350, and if you have 1 flat with a runflat, and damage one tire, in 4 years, you will have made money if you negotiate well with the dealer. Since it's pure profit for the dealer over $350, and since you've just dropped a ton of money there, don't agree to pay more than $75 more for the tire replacement "insurance." (It's not really insurance.)

8. Do not buy the extended warranty or extended service before you drive off. The extended service is a sucker's bet. The extended warranty (offered on all models except the Ms) is a good bet but you can buy it during the warranty period. If you get rid of the car, or it gets destroyed, before the extended warranty period begins, you've thrown away a few thou. Send it to me instead.

9. If you have a garage door opener, bring it with you. If it's not a "rolling code" type your dealer's SA (or maybe the salesman) will be able to program it for you with the Homelink device in your car. If it's rolling code he can visually and aurally explain it to you. There's a much better chance you'll "get it" if you see it and hear it at the same time rather than read it. Basically, the concept with the "rolling code" is that after you program your car with your remote control frequency, your car and garage (or other device) have to talk to each other a couple of times before your car is on the same random code sequence as your garage (or other device). So you program car, run out and press the communication button on the garage (device), run back to the car and speak to the garage (device) by pressing the button again, and maybe go back to the garage or device one last time. That should do it. To check you go to the car and ask it one last time if it has been "sequenced" (by pressing the button again).

10. If you're really anal (I was), get a copy of the owner's manual ahead of time and read through it.

Thank you gbelton, good information.

Oh, one more thing. Get version 27.x thrown in as this is the latest update for our cars.