I know exactly what car I’m after a BMW 1 series, petrol or diesel,

Oh dear!

We were all young once and wanted what we persieved as a great 'cool' car. I got an XR3i as a first car much against my dads advise who had an M reg proton 1.3 that lasted him forever and over 200,000 on the clock from new. My XR3i broke down every week.

A properly maintained serviced car shouldn't have to many issues. High miles and thrashed is where the issues will flooding in ££££. I was told when ~I bought my 2013 Pug 3008 1.6 Diesel that eveything would break on it, avoid etc etc. Bought a low miles fully serviced one, 110,000 on the clock a few years later, still running perfectly, no issues. You can get unlucky, but good servicing and not driving like ***k you should be fairly trouble free unless theres masive build faults in the car. Good luck with your BMW, just try and get a decent one.

Yes, they "could" source a car if they wanted to or had good customer service and / or the time.

But why rely on them - just tailor your autotrader and ebay searches to dealers only if you don't want to buy private and then go and have a look.