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Our "new" car is a used Japanese import, so we wanted to be sure of the vehicle's history before going to the expense of a pre-purchase inspection. After purchase we noted that the fitted BMW Business radio could not tune into local radio stations and nor was there an instruction manual for it in the glove compartment. The Internet came through, addressing all three concerns.

Before arranging a pre-purchase AA inspection (a physical exam arranged in conjunction with the seller), we were able to check online whether the car in question was a lemon—via AA LemonCheck. Requiring the licence plate number, this vehicle history check resulted in a comprehensive report detailing the known facts about the vehicle, registration details, ownership trail, odometer readings (taken at each Warrant of Fitness), and security interest details. This gave us the VIN, providing additional details via the BMW VIN decoder.

After our purchase we realised that although it had been driven in New Zealand for the past 18 months the radio was set to Japanese frequencies (70–90FM), meaning it couldn't receive Wellington's More FM (100FM). The Internet came through for us again, as via Google I found an article describing how to re-program the world tuner to NZ frequencies without needing to buy an FM band expander. For my future reference, the steps were:

1. Turn the radio on (no. 1 below);
2. Within 10 seconds press and hold down the 'm' button (no. 9) until the serial number appears in the display (no. 13);
3. Use the + or - buttons (no. 14) to cycle through the menu settings until you see AREA JAPAN;
4. Use the 1...6 buttons (no. 12) to select OCEANIA;
5. Switch the radio off to store the change.

Then via Google I found an English instruction manual for the radio here (PDF download). I'm chuffed: I feel like singing—and it doesn't matter that I can't because my car is now quite vocal!

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