My BMW woes

lordrobs said:
1) They sold him a car which had been in a hefty smack without telling him. They could get away with this, I guess, if he didn't directly ask the question "has it had a bang?". The other garage spotted it straight away, so should the dealer.

2) They sold a car with an important piece of safety equipment missing.

You pay a premium at a dealer for piece of mind, something I wouldn't get from buying another car from them. I'd kick up a right one and at least try for my money back.
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When I did put down a deposit, and then was advised by someone on OKuk when I posted pictures that the rear bumper was an SE not a sport, I asked them then "Had it been in a accident" answer was "no". I did not smell anything iffy at the time because I know someone rearended me at the lights in my Fiesta and alls it needed was a new bumper. I suspected the same, but some pikie did not fit a sport saving cost.

I had a call today from the used car manager who waffled on like hell without me even asking/complaining about how sorry they were etc etc. They know they are in the wrong, a pre inspection should have included plugging in the car to the diagnostic machine which immediately would have thrown up an airbag issues without even getting there hands dirty. They blatently did not do a preinspection, just cleaned it. When I compare the price I paid to whats on offer now it was a bargain price for a dealers it was reduced from 14900 down to 13800 for 42k miles leather, xenons etc, struggling to find anything on used BMW site to match this 4 months down the line. I have mentioned about having my next car with complementary sat nav, but we shall see.
 
Well whatever happens I hope your happy with the outcome. I'd be getting myself ready with info such as who you should get in contact with if you want to complain at a higher level. There must be somewhere overall in charge of main dealer used car sales. That way if your not happy with what their saying you can drop in just who you'll be getting in touch with. That may well be enough to give them an extra squeeze.
 
a threat of a letter to the sunday times motoring or honest john in the telegraph or autocar etc could well be useful backup if they begin to welsh on the deal. Massive amount of potential BMW customers will read all of these publications.

Fair play to them so far tho....
 
thepharcyde said:
When I did put down a deposit, and then was advised by someone on OKuk when I posted pictures that the rear bumper was an SE not a sport, I asked them then "Had it been in a accident" answer was "no". I did not smell anything iffy at the time because I know someone rearended me at the lights in my Fiesta and alls it needed was a new bumper. I suspected the same, but some pikie did not fit a sport saving cost.
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It's entirely possible they were telling the truth, they can only answer with the information they have. Wouldn't surprise me if they're looking up the previous owner though if they have more information now...

I had a call today from the used car manager who waffled on like hell without me even asking/complaining about how sorry they were etc etc. They know they are in the wrong, a pre inspection should have included plugging in the car to the diagnostic machine which immediately would have thrown up an airbag issues without even getting there hands dirty. They blatently did not do a preinspection, just cleaned it. When I compare the price I paid to whats on offer now it was a bargain price for a dealers it was reduced from 14900 down to 13800 for 42k miles leather, xenons etc, struggling to find anything on used BMW site to match this 4 months down the line. I have mentioned about having my next car with complementary sat nav, but we shall see.
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As someone has previously mentioned, if the airbag was simply cut out but all the sensors left in place, there's no way that would have shown the airbag issue.

Seems to me the dealer is being very good about the whole thing, as I'd expect from a 'premium' marque.
 
Dolph said:
As someone has previously mentioned, if the airbag was simply cut out but all the sensors left in place, there's no way that would have shown the airbag issue.
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It was picked up by my local dealers just by plugging it in and looking for any fault codes part of the inspection II service. Something which should have been picked up on pre-inspection surely?

But no I am very grateful how co-orperative they have been. They have contacted the previous owner who acknowledged that he/she it had not been in an accident during his ownership. The used cars manager said it had happened some time ago
 
thepharcyde said:
It was picked up by my local dealers just by plugging it in and looking for any fault codes part of the inspection II service. Something which should have been picked up on pre-inspection surely?
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In that case, I stand corrected and agree with the earlier post.

But no I am very grateful how co-orperative they have been. They have contacted the previous owner who acknowledged that he/she it had not been in an accident during his ownership. The used cars manager said it had happened some time ago
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That's good, although I would have said from what you've added, they should have picked it up first time around.
 
thepharcyde said:
The problem being is that the drivers head airbag had been cut out.
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The above makes no sense ~ only the airbag firing circuit is monitered, once it has fired, bag will have been deployed, fault codes would be recorded and show crash status / firing circuit malfunction and the airbag warning light would be on.

So, you have no warning light, but the bag itself has been cut away!! Only a visual check would show this, therefore you either have a device installed to simulate the firing circuit, hence no light, or the info you have been given is far from the truth............. :confused:
 
Is 4 weeks an acceptable wait so far? I phoned the garrage yesterday and left a voice mail message for the guy to call me back, but still no word. Last time I spoke to the used car manager was Thursday the 14th June.

Does anyone know if I can put my car insurance on hold (with direct line) and if I should phone BMW finance and cancel by repayments on a car I no longer despite being the registered owner drive. Overall I think the communication pretty poor or am I being unreasonable?
 
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I would consider 4 weeks wait to be totally unacceptable unless they have promised in writing to source you a replacement vehicle of suitable specification and are having a bit of a struggle to find one.

If they haven't agreed anything in writing then I'd be straight on to them to ask what's going on.

It may be beneficial to get a refund and start searching yourself. BMW AUC's are generally owned by the individual dealers so it's unlikely they would want to dispose of a desirable model cheap through the trade. The dealer is likely to source you something from auction unless they get lucky and source one via a px or through the trade.
 
thepharcyde said:
Is 4 weeks an acceptable wait so far? I phoned the garrage yesterday and left a voice mail message for the guy to call me back, but still no word. Last time I spoke to the used car manager was Thursday the 14th June.

Does anyone know if I can put my car insurance on hold (with direct line) and if I should phone BMW finance and cancel by repayments on a car I no longer despite being the registered owner drive. Overall I think the communication pretty poor or am I being unreasonable?
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Ring BMW Finance, its their car not yours till its paid for. Relay the information to a supervisor or head of cusromer services there with what has gone on so far.

Your will most likely get a definative answer as to what is happening within 24 working hours of telling them.
 
thepharcyde said:
Is 4 weeks an acceptable wait so far?
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Nope, not in the slightest. Keep on to them, daily ideally but every other day at most, until its resolved.

Phone them up, tell them your stopping your payments and why.
 
lordrobs said:
Phone them up, tell them your stopping your payments and why.
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The dealer won't really be bothered about such a threat - they will have had their money within a few days of the finance agreement being signed.

The finance company may be interested and could put a bit of pressure on the dealer, but stopping payments will only screw up your credit rating.
 
blueboy2001 said:
The dealer won't really be bothered about such a threat - they will have had their money within a few days of the finance agreement being signed.

The finance company may be interested and could put a bit of pressure on the dealer, but stopping payments will only screw up your credit rating.
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They will be more than interested as the dealer has made a false representation of the vehicle to them to secure the deal, as they will be told in no uncertain terms by the soliciters representing BMW finance.
 
The dealer hasn't misrepresented anything - finance companies will only ask if the vehicle has been subject to a total loss claim, not if it has been in any accidents.

If the customer asked, and the dealer replied to the best of their knowledge then misrepresentation will be very hard to prove.
 
Does anyone know when Estoril blue came available on the E46, was it from launch (M3 excluded?)

Dealer called today and said they have one which is newer than my 51 plate in this colour, but the details were locked in a sales reps drawer who was not in today. Going to look at it saturday hopefully. Only Estoril blue ones I can find are either Clubsports (which it is not) or M3's. I am kinda hoping that it is a face lift 330 Sport.
 
thepharcyde said:
Does anyone know when Estoril blue came available on the E46, was it from launch (M3 excluded?)

Dealer called today and said they have one which is newer than my 51 plate in this colour, but the details were locked in a sales reps drawer who was not in today. Going to look at it saturday hopefully. Only Estoril blue ones I can find are either Clubsports (which it is not) or M3's. I am kinda hoping that it is a face lift 330 Sport.
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It will be BMW Individual :D
 
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