The car experts at Royalty Auto Service are here to tell you: Don’t ever buy a car that’s making a mystery noise.
Sadly, that advice didn’t come soon enough for one customer who thought they were purchasing a high-end European sports car. Instead, it looks like they just spent a lot of money on scrap metal. And they may be stuck with all the costs.
Royalty Auto Service has been handing out free auto advice on TikTok for a while now but their latest video, entitled “Why would he buy this?!?” is more of a post-mortem for the car owner—but hopefully you can learn from their hard lesson.
The video, posted one day ago, currently has 308,200 views as of Monday.
A car purchase they may regret
The screen text reads, “He only had this BMW for two weeks & it has problems. Here’s what we found.” In the video, mechanic Mike tells the cameraman, “Unfortunately, it’s a 2014 BMW M5 with a four-liter twin-turbine engine.”
He continues, “The client just bought the car, still has the tags on it, and he bought it with, uh, engine noise.”
“He bought it from a car lot knowing …” the cameraman asks Mike incredulously.
“Yeah, used car lot,” he responds.
“It sounds real bad,” Mike goes on. “The damage is already done guys,” he says before starting the car. Sure enough, a painful-sounding knocking can be heard coming from the engine.
“I pulled the filter out,” Mike claims, showing a dirty filter with a distressing metallic sheen on it. “That’s all bearing material,” he says, wiping up some of the shiny substance onto his finger.
“We won’t be repairing this vehicle,” he declares.
“Long block from BMW is $35,000,” he states, indicating it’s likely that the vehicle is totaled. “They’re going to need the engine and both turbos [repaired], anything that oil passes through.”
“Lesson is, don’t buy vehicles with engine noises,” the cameraman advises.
“Bad move,” agrees Mike.
@royaltyautoservice Why would he buy this?!? #bmw #mechaniclife #mechanicsoftiktok #buyingacar #cartok #automotive #autorepair #engine #crazy #viral #fyp #foryou #stitch ♬ Pop beat BGM / long version(1283324) – nightbird_bgm
Georgia, where Royalty Auto is located, does have a so-called “Lemon Law” which states that if “after a reasonable number of [repair] attempts” a vehicle “is found to be a ‘lemon’ the manufacturer must replace or buy back your vehicle.”
Unfortunately, the law only applies to new vehicles and would not cover a used BMW from 2014. As the car is 10 years old it is unlikely to be covered by any warranty meaning that it would not qualify for protections under the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act for used vehicles.
The customer’s blunder didn’t gain much sympathy in the video’s comments section.
“Who in their right mind buys a BM with engine noise?” wrote Tall Order (@mashihalik).
James Cavalleri (@jamescavalleri) wrote, “Can’t buy a car like that with an engine noise and expect to get away without it being big-time repair.”
Another user added, “You can simulate the experience [of owning a BMW] by buying a different car and throwing money out the window as you drive.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Royalty Auto via their website for further comment.
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