Massachusetts man successfully proved dealer wrong after buying a dead $50,000 electric BMW for just $500

Popular YouTuber Rich Rebuilds has left a dealer red-faced as he brought a dead $50,000 electric BMW back to life after buying it for just a cent on the dollar.

Even at a scrapyard, you’d be lucky to find a BMW worth just $500.

Never mind an electric BMW i3, worth $50,000 brand-new.

But after being told that the car ‘isn’t worth fixing’ by a dealer, one man sold it to Rich Rebuilds for incredibly cheap, and the popular online mechanic quickly tried to turn it into a goldmine.

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This ‘dead’ electric BMW i3 was deemed ‘not worth fixing’

The electric BMW i3 isn’t your typical BMW. It’s a pivot towards a nippy hatchback, rather than the aggressive sedans like your 3-Series.

But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad car, and many people are finding savvy ways to make these EVs a ‘forever car’ with a huge mileage range.

However, they can be temperamental.

One person found a random $1 part blew its $4,000 motor, and was left frustrated at its mechanics.

Now, Rich Rebuilds has found an electric BMW i3 with a similar problem, and took a gamble to get it fixed.

With everything ‘dead’ from the motors to the heaters, the source of the problem appeared elusive, as no obvious flaws could be found.

But with some deeper diagnostics, the car finally kicked into gear with a maximum of six percent battery.

That was enough for the car to be rolled into the shop and placed on the ramp, giving him a chance to identify the fix.

Rich Rebuilds bet on his own success

Wagering $1,500 with the cameraman that he could get the car back up and running, Rich Rebuilds found a long list of high-voltage and interlock-related faults.

More diagnostics showed that the car was really dead and buried, and even when the car fired up to its six percent battery, the driving condition was dire.

Engine warnings lit up the dash like a Christmas tree, and the job went from big to colossal.

Still, he probed on and found that the common electric BMW i3 fault was the high-voltage heater, which had seemingly triggered everything in its radius.

However, he was left even further out of pocket as he revealed that the car had beaten him.

At least for this episode.

The mechanic doubled down on his bet for an upcoming YouTube upload, after he had given the solution a bit more time and thought.

The BMW i3 is quickly becoming a welcome catfish for mechanics, as one man found out with this cheap fix and quick profit.

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