I am planning to sell or trade in my BMW x1 to a dealer or a private customer. I notice that there is a small scratch and bend on the trunk door. My question is: will the dealer or customer care about the bend or scratch? If yes, how much money they will ask for deduct? Do I need to repair them before drive the car to a dealer?
Please see the pic below:
Of course they will care. It is damage. But, cars naturally accumulate dings, scratches, windshield nicks, rock chips on the front... Yes, the crease in the trunk will probably affect the resale value slightly. It would probably cost you much more to repair the damage than to take the deduction.
You just need a right buyer who will see BMNW logo in the front, sit in the driver seat, listen to wrroooommm and love the car. Most buyers don't really do thorough walkthrough nitpicking on every little ding. Don't point it out either. Minor cosmetics.
My local Valvoline did a transmission flush, and said they were only putting 5 quarts back in because that's what they took out (company policy they said). I asked another Valvoline to top it off while I as there getting my tires rotated a different day. They said the first Valvoline should have done that. And to take it back to them.
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I have a 2007 Mazda 6. I bought it in 2016. It had one key, with a fob like a switchblade. The key was fine until December of 2022.. It suddenly failed to work in the ignition. It would go in, and turn all the way, and the instruments would light up, but the starter would not crank. I had it towed to a dealer. They made two new transponder keys. One of them worked fine in the ignition, door and trunk. The other one had trouble in the door. I went back and they took the problem key and did something with it. They gave it back, and I tried it again. it worked better in the door, but it would still catch sometimes. I told them about that, and they quoted me a price for a new door lock. I figured they might be trying to rip me off. I left.
When I got home, I put the lower quality key in a box and put the good one on my key ring. It worked just fine in the ignition, door, and trunk until May 13th.
On May 13th, I tried to unlock the trunk and the key did not work. I really fiddled with it, but it did not help. It still worked fine in the ignition and door. I tried squirting PB Blaster into the lock, and that did not help. On May 15th, I went to a shop that sells locks and safes. A man came out and tried the key in the trunk. He could not open it. Then he squirted some kind of lubricant into it from a can. He fiddled some more, and got it to work. He said I needed to push down to get it to work.
The man said someone might have damaged the trunk lock, but the best way to start dealing with the problem would be for them to make a factory spec key, and then I could see how it would work. They said they could make it without the key code, and they could take the transponder out of my current key and put it in the new one. They said it would cost me $45 per key.
I can make do with what I have now, but I would like to understand this situation better in case the key stops working in the truck lock, or in one of the other locks. What's really going on here? Did the people at the shop speak the truth?
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