BMW X5 2008 (58) - 3.0sd M Sport 5dr Auto

Buyer Beware – My Experience with Affordable Car Centre, Bedford I strongly caution anyone considering a purchase from this dealership. My experience buying a BMW 3 Series from Affordable Car Centre has been filled with poor communication, zero transparency, endless excuses, and disappearing customer service once payment was made. ⸻ 1. Poor Communication from the Start After purchase, the vehicle remained with the dealer for an Air Conditioner repair. • No updates provided – I had to call them for information. • The repair took two weeks as they “waited for parts,” but I was never informed until I reached out. • On the scheduled pickup day, the vehicle and paperwork were not ready, and I was placed in a queue despite prior arrangements. ⸻ 2. Registration Issues • Vehicle registration was still in the previous owner’s name, not the dealership or its manager. • More than a month after purchase, I still have not received the V5 registration, despite their legal responsibility to process it. • They made no effort to investigate or follow up on the delay. ⸻ 3. Vehicle Condition & Immediate Problems • The car had less than a 1/4 tank of petrol upon pickup. • The next morning, the engine light came on. • Diagnostic scan revealed multiple error codes, including serious cylinder misfire issues. • The car quickly became unstable to drive. ⸻ 4. Handling of Repairs When I contacted them about the faults: • I was told to “bring it back” but received no offer for assistance when I explained it was unsafe to drive. • My request for a tow truck was ignored, forcing me to pay \xa3150 out-of-pocket for recovery to their lot on 12 July. • After they confirmed receipt, I heard nothing until I reached out days later. • The repair timeline was dragged out, which I believe was intentional to surpass the 30-day return/refund period. ⸻ 5. After Repairs • Picked the car up on 2 Aug. It ran better, but the valet key was missing from the remote – they claimed “that’s how they received it.” • My request for the maintenance invoice was met with “we’ll text it to you.” It never arrived. • On 8 Aug – less than a week and only 134 miles later – the engine light came back on. ⸻ 6. Overall Impression This was my second used car purchase in the UK. My first, with Carline Motors in Hemel Hempstead, was professional, transparent, and a pleasure. Affordable Car Centre, by contrast, has shown: • Lack of professionalism • Avoidance of responsibility • No customer care after the sale ⸻ Final Words I believe Affordable Car Centre in Bedford prioritises getting the sale over maintaining honest, responsible, and supportive after-sales service. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend them and urge other buyers to approach with extreme caution.

In the end, what we're after was an inexpensive car that runs. We got that. The listing v what we got... Well, opinions may vary. This company may be under the impression that a folding key is named ironically. They see a Bluetooth sound system, add that in. If they'd gone to check it, they'd have realised the controller as well as the mics have been removed. It turns out that the flywheel's gone (they absolutely would have known that), the gearbox was on the way out (just after warranty expired) and the counterbalance snapped within 16 months of owning it. FYI, I'm a double-clutcher because I like to prologue the life of my gears. There's absolutely no way they didn't know any of this at the time. I mean, heck, there's no way they didn't know that a folding key does not mean BENT. So now I've got to spend almost as much as I paid for it to have it repaired, because SOMEHOW they're approved to sell on finance. I wouldn't trust these guys again if my life depended on it, and it really has depended on it!

Bought a car from here earlier this year which broke down within 2 hours of taking it away from the dealership. AA took me back to the dealership where I received a full refund. However, I was then left stranded at the dealership needing to get back to London with \xa350 of petrol in a car I could no longer use. Their ‘solution’ to the petrol was that the AA could siphon it from the car for me to take home. I’m not sure they fully understood what 45 litres of petrol looks like and that taking 9 Jerry cans on a train to London would likely amount to terrorism as well as when I get to London, what am I going to do with 45 litres of petrol when I don’t have a car thanks to Affordable Car Centre. The costs incurred for this trip are a taxi journey from the dealership to the train station, a train ticket back to London, a refund on the petrol I bought for a car that no longer works and I can no longer access the petrol, the tax I paid for the car and the insurance change I had to make. All in all, affordable car centre owe me \xa3150 and I haven’t heard a peep from them. Affordable Car Centre aren’t wrong that their cars are affordable but that’s because in this instance, they don’t work. Avoid.