Avenged.SSE

FBT is for employee-related benefits, meaning you need to be registered as an employer and filing EMSes 12 times per year. Also doesn't detract from the fact that it needs to have prominent company advertising and depreciation recovery applies on asset disposal The US has much better laws associated with claiming things like cars as company expenses!

afaik, they just put it on the name of the person the car is registered to and if it was someone else driving, they need to fill in a form to transfer the fine. A friend got demerits from one of those bus lane cameras, which is jut ridiculous...

Depreciation recovery and GST recovery on sale of asset, not to mention if the car is being sold into the company without being primarily used for business purposes = defrauding the tax department, also not to mention that it must have prominent company logos/advertising on it in order to claim depreciation on it. That's just a few quick points, there are more. In terms of severity, I think a few demerit points is better than defrauding the tax department

I'm not sure 100% sure what's going on with the battery, but based on everything I read, I figured it must be the battery needing replacement... here's the story; First time battery related problems happened... I guess I am at fault, I didn't do much driving, used all the toys, battery recharge icon appeared... AA came and jump started it. Second time... After the first incident, I drove the car for a bit, then the car sat in the driveway with no usage for 2 weeks (had some issues which I was sorting out with the seller). Took the battery to an auto electrician that recharged it (no battery low warning icon appearing on idrive). Third time... after the second time, car went to the the mechanic, sat with the mechanic for 2 weeks (he told me the battery was on charge while the car was being worked on) everything was running fine. Then... yesterday, I started up the car in the morning, it went fine.. as I was driving on the motorway, parking brake error, then everything followed. I stopped the car. Battery was dead. I also remembered that the night before the third battery incident, I flicked on the car locator feature as I got out of the car for pathway lighting (the car locator feature on my remote activates both interior lights and exterior lights). I donno whether this has something to do with it because afaik the car locator features is only supposed to switch on interior lights, maybe the headlights were rewired?

Any idea on price estimate? Cheers

Hi! Been having some trouble with my E66's battery... have had to jump start it twice now, got the alternators checked out... everything appears to be good there. Battery is factory original - car was first registered in December 2004. I'm thinking of getting the battery replaced. Any ideas for a price estimate? I'm also not too sure on the BMW OEM battery vs Aftermarket.

Purchased as post-2004 facelifted E66, rough transmission shifts going from 1st to 2nd, apparently common issue with the 7 series up to 2006. Cost to fix is over $3000, dealer was kind enough to take care of the issue, other than that it's a really nice car to drive, easily better than my 2004 S class merc.

AMI's refusing to insure me given my age. Even though my history is impeccable and haven't claimed once! I also have a feeling if they did insure me it would be at least $1300 whereas State are doing it for $1100ish. Kinda happy I didn't go for the 745, would have only made things worse!

Thinking about switching AMI to state, new car 2004 facelift 735Li, any experience in dealing with state? claims etc? cheers.

Sadly, I don't know how much more competitive they can get. I feel sorry for NZ retailers, if you want to provide goods/services on a local level, the population you're catering for is quite small, if you want to provide products/services on an international level, you've got the distance barrier, and, China's always going to do it cheaper.

Am with Autosure, they cover S class mercs. Looks like 7 series are more of a problem to get cover for. I haven't come across anyone that covers them yet, I've just purchased one and I'm still unsure on whether I want to get it insured.

Purchased one for my S class as everyone told me how high maintenance it is, I've owned it for 2 years so far - haven't claimed once on it. Excess is $350, so haven't really had anything costing more than $350 in one go. Maximum claim is $5000 (from memory). I guess it depends on the car you buy, I'm thinking I won't get it again.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-297649045.htm this is fully optioned, although GPS wouldn't work here.

Main probs in the 2002/2003 years are that they're early production models, hence they bore the majority of mechanical problems/idrive related issues. Apparently from 2004 onwards, most of these were fixed. I wouldn't recommend a 730i for 2 reasons, firstly, I wouldn't go for a non-long-wheel base version because this is one of the defining features of the 7 series, aside from keyless go, eletric boot and soft close doors, I can't see any significance over the 5 series. Sure it's bigger, but imo the 5 series is spacious enough. Secondly, the 730i would be minimally equipped, I know this because I made the mistake of buying a 2004 S280L which has very, very few options compared to its larger engine counterparts. Also 3L v6 is underpowered for a car of that size. I'm currently in the process of getting a 2005 745Li. From when I last looked at trademe, all of the 2004 745Lis were HEAVILY overpriced, so don't think that's the market price just because it's advertised on trademe, imo the real difference in market price between a 2003 and 2004 745Li isnt that large, so waiting till one pops up for a good price might be an option. You also need to be aware of Jap vs Singapore vs NZ New models. In terms of equipment lists between a 735 and 745, I'm not sure how large a difference it would be, BMW are very good with options, the majority of Singapore cars come standard with everything, only differences I can think of are alarm, heated/cooled seats, sunroof, tv, dvd changer, rear console in the back. All other features will be the same. 745 is more powerful than a 735 as you can probably imagine, so that's something else to consider (268 vs 328BHP). The 745 is really a jewel of its time, it can compete (and maybe even out-compete) a 5L V8 S500 of the same year.

I also noticed that the 745Li are much better proportioned than the 745i, the extra length suits the width of the car