XSeries-forum

Hi All,

After a bit of advice please.

As some of you may know, I recently bought an E70 AUC from a BMW main dealer. (My first BMW AUC). The spec, mileage and price were good, so I did the deal. The dealership is located a number of hours away, and collection of the car involved staying overnight in a hotel, with the return journey in new car the following day.

Collection was delayed a few days because the dealer said the lower tailgate required some paintwork due to a large-ish scratch. I understand cars can and will suffer war wounds etc so agreed to this, providing the job was A1.

Prior to collection I emphasised the distance factor, and asked them to ensure the car was all checked and ready. I specifically asked the questions if the car had any accident damage etc, and was told it hadn't.

Collection day came, and after sorting all paperwork, we went out to view the car. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. The car had been treated to a 'machine polish' (after the TG paint job). There were light scratches on the paint, particularly on the one side. (nothing irreparable, but not right). The painted TG on the other hand was faultless- a very good job indeed.

On closer inspection I noticed lacquer flaking off very slightly on the edge of the rear quarter. Now this WILL only get worse, as the car is washed etc. I showed the dealer this, and the scratches and they took it back into the workshop for more polishing (while I waited). A while later the car returned- looking much better (a lot of the light scratches had disappeared- begs the question what the first 'machine polish' did?). But now it was even clearer to see the flaking top coat (a couple of mm). At this point I was ready to head back home and forget the deal, but the dealer offered to have the car repaired near home, and they would foot the bill (obviously all work to be done to my satisfaction). Now I had been looking for a while for the right car- and this was it. Me and the missus decided we would take the car and have it 'fixed' near home.

Back at home, and got a call from a dealer, asking me to take the car to a body shop a few miles away. I took the car over, and the chap there said the whole side of the car had been painted (including roof rail, rear door and front door). To do it properly would mean painting the whole side again. There was dirt under the clear coat in some places and the roof trim had signs of overspray (I must admit I did not even look at the roof prior to this). He said he would liaise with the dealer, who would then contact me.

Got a call again from the dealer today, saying the body shop did not really want to take the job on! (The body shop manager TBH did not seem overly enthusiastic about doing a perfect job). They have asked me to take it to another body shop, this one being a national well known chain.

However, after looking at the car in the sun today (rare I know), it is blatantly obvious that the colour shade of the painted panels is different to the rest of the car! This really does seem to be going from bad to worse.

Oh, and top of that dealer put a fresh 12 months MOT on, but there is a knocking noise- that sounds suspiciously like a worn ball joint on the front suspension. I did mention this to the dealer, and the response was the workshop manager would be contacted to see if here was anything untoward at MOT time- which I am now told there wasn't.

I am now rather confused- my head says reject the car, and claim costs for travel, hotel etc, but it has taken me a while to find the right car- and this does seem to be it! Apologies for the essay, but I wanted to give as much info as possible.

Thanks in advance.

No expert here, AW8/PVR/X5 Sport and others MUCH better at this than me BUT...

Toss up is between rejecting the car (in the golden what-ever-it-is 7 or 14 or 30 day period - sure you know). If they give you grief, BMW UK should sort that issue.

THEN the problem of keeping it because it's perfect for you. But if you do, can you get them to resolve all the issues to your satisfaction or would it be better to get rid of and start again. And avoid the 'what if' scenario???

Only my thoughts with no expertise whatsoever...

Any doubts and I'd start again, knowing what to look out for second time round. Bigger headache but better (for me) in the long run.

Take it back mate. There is only one reason why the side of the car has had a full re-spray and that is down to accident damage. You will never really know what the car has been through and what repairs have been carried out.

I would return the car and hold on again (frustrating I know) until another one comes along.

The whole reason you go to a dealer and get an AUC car is for peace of mind. They have sold you a car that isn't really what I would call BMW Forecourt Standard but then it seems they will sell anything these days.


Turks.

My only advise is don't let your heart rule your head...would you be thinking the same if you had bought a set of golf clubs and a few were bent....or would they be returned.
Sorry not much help i know it's just i have made a few wrong choices with impulse buys and 'ohh it'l be alright i can sort that out later and usually you think why didn't i take it back and start again.

When i bought my last x i couldn't wait to get in and drive it home i was that exited then i noticed the rear parcel shelf was missing so went back into the garage and he gave me one which i duelly chucked in the boot without checking and drove off it wasn't untill i got home (over 150 miles away)that i realised that the facelift model used a different parcel shelf cover and had to source another one.
Either way good luck with your outcome and if you keep it make sure they accomodate you for the problems

I'd be having serious words with the AUC side of BMW GB. As has been said, I can only think of one reason why a whole side gets sprayed - accident damage.

BMW have a number of their own approved bodyshops (18 I think) and it may be worth insisting that as it is an AUC vehicle which quite obviously has a number of defects, all of these are repaired/replaced under the AUC Warranty or the car is rejected and you will be seeking compensation etc - oh and they can come and get it too!

Of course the big question remains - how did a car with those issues ever pass an AUC Inspection? I wonder what a full history for the vehicle would show up?

I purchased a AUC 4.4 sport at the beging of last year, on collection two dents appeared on the hood (not there 3 days before) they agrreed to fix this, so I agrred to take it. It did 24 miles and the battery went flat, requiring breakdown. The dealer did a battery check and said it was fine! The thing was totally unrelibale with over 50 starting failures and so many breakdown call outs. After two months I refused to drive the car as it was totally unreliable. I had purchased HD jump leads and never went out without them.

The dealer had it back and said it traced the fault to the traffic Master System, it took them 10 days to remove it, they also said it needed over £600 spending on the front suspension (it only covered 578 miles) at this point I went spare! I accused them of not MOT ing the car because this amout of susspension problems would have been picked up on the MOT and the front washers never worked. In the end I had to pay for a new MOT.

By last Chrismas it was back to not starting and it was sold at a loss of 50%, This was a nice car but I would have been better off with almost anything else.

So to put in perspective, if in doubt - dont do it!

I would echo the comments of the others, return the car, it may take some time but another one will come along that may be perfect and then some. If you can resolve this directly with the dealer, in terms of a return, then do so as I found that when I had issues BMW UK were of very little help as they said 'my contract was with the dealer and not BMW'.

A proposition to the dealer may be that you utilise the existing vehicle until they can locate one for you that is to your satisfaction with no financial loss on the existing vehicle due to the inconvenience. If they start to get difficult there is the 'Trading Standards' option.

Sorry for delay in posting here. I had prior created a post but my computer crashed so not added.

All comments read & noted.

I would have rejected the car in absence of knowing further info.

If it's only paint, and you love the car, and they'll fix it to your satisfaction, then I'd consider keeping it personally. But have it checked independantly to see if the doors/roof skin/sills etc... have been touched. I very much doubt any structural repair has been carried out as for a car like that it would have costs £1000's out of someone's own pocket.

There are a number of reasons why a car needs paint that don't involve accident damage, and any serious accident damage on a car of that age and price that was repaired at the cost of the owner (i.e. not going through the insurance, because then it would be on the hit list!) is rather unlikely. Still possible though if the owners son drove it down the side of the driveway wall while his parents were on holiday, and got his mate to paint the side for £200. or as what happened to my dad (see below - I decided to write the story)

I have 3 close friends who are body repairers, 2 run their own business and one works for an Audi main dealer (and I used to repair crash damaged cars). Now the Audi main dealer one (who's called Kev btw, but that's matterless ) has told me numerous stories about brand new, delivery mileage Audi's coming into the bodyshop for work............ that's before you pick up your prized possession! :O

So, no 1 on the list is scratches and dents caused during the transporation of the car on the back of the transporter. The transporter guys often (on a monthly basis so i hear) manage to drop the chains/straps used for holding the cars down, from the upper lever of the truck onto the cars below, or just manage to scratch them with the chains/straps.

No.2 on the list, vandalism on the forecourt by idiots at night times....... like keying the car down the side (usually all the way from the front to the back!! I HATE keyers!!! )

No.3 on the list is customers reversing, or trying to park in the forecourt next to the cars and crashing into them.

No.4 on the list (now these are what i can remember us talking about, they don't have a list ) is one of the staff taking them out on the bait run at lunchtime to pick up a mcDonalds and causing damage! Again, this gets repaired without anyone knowing...... see my story below.

All of the above are done without the car going through general insurance and therefore not being on the hit list (which would significantly de-value the car, and the dealer wouldn't have it on their forecourt).

Now here's a story for you:

my dads brand new Fiesta was in Davidsons Ford having a service, phone call at the end of the day saying it wont be ready until following day, following day - same and this bullsh1t story, being a lease hire (or something, it was 1995) they said he'd driven 200ish miles past the service interval and it may need a new engine (service manager speaking), my dad was a mechanic and garage owner for 35 years and promptly told them this was rubbish, and the car only had 12k from new..... new story the next day was they were waiting for the 'lease people to respond with the action plan' or something. A total of 5 days later we were allowed to collect the car and everything is ok, they apologised. So, i'm with my dad, we get in the car which was all clean and hoovered. i noticed there was no rear view mirror! in we went...... out they came and fitted one. THEN i noticed there was no ariel on the roof! no passenger side inside grab handle, and no plastic trim on the passenger side door handle. Hmmmm....... all replaced there and then, off we drove. That weekend my sisters husband is looking at the car after I told him, he was also a car body repairer and crash repairer (who I learned my basic skills from when i was a teenager), he looked it over and then showed me the 'evidence' that the car had a new roof skin, new passenger door, new wing and various other bits and bobs!! We complained to the Ford dealer...... they said it hadn't! 1 week later the car got stolen........ anyhoo..... I know i'm waffling again but it's a relevant story. being from quite a small area (Newcastle ) we found out 2 years later when telling the story, that my sisters boyfriends, sisters boyfriend ('s mates, dads, dog....... ) was actually the one who crashed it! He was the service mechanic and drove it to the chippy at lunchtime and crashed it. They covered the whole thing up (the whole dealership, not just him and his mates!) he was only about 19 at the time, so maybe he wasn't even covered on the insurance, who knows........ scary stuff