Both my last purchases (Honda and VW) were approved. Each had issues that weren’t obvious when I gave them a quick once over at collection. In both cases it took several visits back to the selling dealer. They were fixed in 2-3 weeks at no expense to me and most of the issues would have been covered by the manufacturer warranty anyway. However any previously damaged items or poor previous repairs for example would be down to the selling dealer to rectify.

Equally I know people who have had cars delivered from a distance and they’ve been 100% fine.

You could consider an independent inspection which might be cheaper than flights and personal time.

It is in Aberdeen and has had two winters in Scotland so far.

Is the salt a big problem for used cars from Scotland?

A son bought a 5 series from a Franchise dealer near Chester - 2,000mls/3 months old.

Car was driven up to Aberdeen , so dirty he could not verify it's condition. Inside were tatty mats, damaged boot mat -never the mats from an almost new car. He agreed with the driver & salesman to get a mobile valet to come and clean the car whilst he fed & watered the driver.

2 weeks later NO new mats and NO refund of the £75 he paid for the car valet, Salesman never returned his calls.

He wrote to the Group MD- 2 days later, a phone call and the promise the money & mats would be with him ASAP.

Car was good one but Why did the salesman try to get away with car mats, boot mat and not pay the valet invoice? It affected his commission on the £300 retail costs - but a lot less on dealer prices of mats etc etc !

I expect that if you were spending big money they might let you look underneath but I doubt it. They would probably tell you to get lost and not waste their time!. Who looks under a modern car these days, the important bits are hidden by the undertray. In this case you have the balance of a 3 year warranty and other benefits of owning a BMW even if you are paying Any dodgy cars would be traded somewhere else almost certainly. On this particular car my only concern might be the Tyre wear probably need a new set at 20K and runflats are not cheap

"""I've always looked under used cars and nobody has batted an eye lid. You can see the suspension, driveshafts, exhaust, check the sills, sump etc for corrosion, look for leaks and so on. Assuming it's going to be OK because it's got a BMW badge would be completely mad."""

Well you have probably got one of those bomb disposal mirrors because on most cars you can see very little unless you jack it up. We are talking here about an approved BMW car and they have already done all the checks. The motor industry has moved on a bit from the dodgy back street merchants although they do exist if you are buying at the bottom end of the market. They might even be using the dreaded sawdust to disguise a noisy diff.

It's presumably the dark blue one at John Clark, which is the thick end of 50 grand. It's had 3 owners (which is probably 4) - that alone would be enough to make me walk, and I certainly wouldn't buy it without seeing it!!

I buy approved used for comeback and a bit of peace of mind. However I’ve already said both my last two cars came with faults. I should also have said they both came with tick sheets which are hardly reassuring as they look as if they are just routinely ticked. A very minor example, the Golf had a tick for the warning triangle when there wasn’t one and the spare wheel was ticked off. They missed the fact that there were about three inches (no exaggeration) of water in the spare wheel well. I don’t therefore share the view that they are thoroughly checked in all cases. I hazard that any checker who rejected too many cars wouldn’t last long.

As for not looking underneath, that is definitely a risk. Once you have driven the car off the premises then some dealers will swear blind that the creased sill, dented subframe or rippled floor was fine when it left them. These are not warranty items, you are on your own. It’s not easy to check but I always have at least gone in old jeans so I can have a bit of a look.

I still think that most approved cars are OK and you can overthink it. However a healthy scepticism is also wise.