In early June I trade in my E46 coupe on a CPO E90 in order to accomodate the growing needs of my family. It's a 328xi with Sport, Premium, Cold Weather and everything else but NAV. I had the car for 3 days by the time a servcice light came on. I brought the car to the dealer and they installed new rear Brakes. I was amazed that this car had made it trhough CPO inspection and needed new brakes. 2 weeks later to the day I was preparing to take my family to the Zoo. Suddenly the Radiator fan was blowing like crazy, the car went into defense mode and shut down. Bad water pump. Again I was amazed at how this car had passed CPO with these problems. Last week during a rainy day I approcahed my car in my parking lot at work and notice that my hood was covered in foam. I could not for the life of me figure out why. While opening the door I noticed that the high pressure washers for my headlights kept popping up and misting the car with wiper fluid. This continued to happen for hours. WITH THE CAR TURNED OFF! Finally the motor burned out. I called the dealer and my service rep got back to me, told me that they had no techs in for the evening and that I could bring the car back tomorrow. I unfortunately did not have an opportunity to do so. Since the initial call to the dealer I have called back 3 times in an attempt to get an appointment to have this fixed. I received no call back from them and am getting extremely angry. This is the 4th car (including our mini) that we have purchased from the dealership in only 5 years. Z4, E46 coupe, Clubman, E90. And suddenly I don't feel any love. What's the best way to get this noticed? Not only by their management by buy NA as well?
I would talk to the General Manager. Obviously, the CPO process was flawed. You would have thought that the car would have limited issues if any especially like you stated the brakes.
A competent inspection should certainly have spotted the thin rear pads. The other two are not predictable failures; especially the washer failure (which, in coming years, you'll remember as really pretty comical). I agree on seeing the GM or even the dealership owner about the way you're being treated. Don't be confrontational about it yet. Just report the facts and see what their reaction is.
You should also find out whether this dealership is the one that inspected & certified the car, or they acquired it a swap with another dealership. It would be unfair to blame them for someone else's mistakes, should that prove to be the case..
I had the car repaired since the last message. I received it yesterday. I was stranded in the service area for 40 minutes because they couldn't locate the car. Finally the kid told me it was in line to be washed. I told him I no longer had the time and needed to pick up my daughter at pre school before they closed. I was given the car, and when I got in I realized it had a big yellow W on the passenger side of the windshield because it needed to be washed. Annoying but no big deal as I prefer to wash it myself anyway. Cased closed....Almost Tonight when I went to pack the trunk for a weekend long trip to the beach with my wife and daughter the remote wouldn't open the trunk. I was furious. So I went to the cockpit to use the release button. Nothing. I locked the car again from the inside and attempt to unlock and reopen. Again Nothing. I used the key from within the fob to attempt and open the lock manually. Nothing. Finally I wnet to the back seat, opened the arm rest, removed the ski bag, reached my arm into the trunk to manually fold down the rear seat. Once opened I manually release the emergency trunk latch. Great. Now my trunk is open and I can pack it right? Wrong! If I pack the trunk with all of the things required to take a 2 year old to the beach I will never be able to take these steps to open my trunk again. So....vacation cancelled, room deposit non refundable, wife furious, daughter angry. Me, planning to do whatever is in my power to spread the word that Prestige BMW in Ramsey NJ is a bunch of incompetent idiots. This is the 4th and final car I will buy from them. And if you are considering it I would strongly suggest you look elsewhere.
I'm telling you, your car sounds like a lemon. I would do everything in my power to make the dealer claim it to be so, so I could get a new car. After all these problems you had with it, I wouldn't risk continued usage of the car because you never know what other problems might surface next time, possibly leaving you stranded away from home!
Take your vacation. Tie a wire to the trunk release and run it up into the interior. Your wife should be impressed with your ingenuity - and I won't tell her it was my idea.
Wow. Hopefully you got a loaner car from your dealer Saturday morning for the weekend and your car is being replaced promptly. Sorry to hear about all this.
Well... that trunk story does suck, what an inconvenience. Too late at this point I'm sure, but I'd suggest taking a deep breath to release some of the frustration and anger, and always keep in mind that you have many choices and options; in this case, if there was no other vehicle available, I would have suggested renting a car as quickly as possible and go hit the beach as planned, or going through the hassle of loading/unloading the trunk via the backseat - which assumes either you could access the seat release from the ski-bag pass-thru with the trunk loaded (possibly with a means similar to CR's suggestion), or that 1/2 the rear seat folds down, AND you could have the child seat properly installed with 1/2 the seat down, AND that what you needed to take would fit & pack into the trunk via the backseat (none of which may have been possible). And even at that, not sure I'd have the confidence to head out with with the fam in that vehicle for the trip. If you feel your dealership isn't communicating with you, don't wait for their call - go there yourself and talk to the highest level person you can (assuming the dealership isn't so far away as to be hopelessly inconvenient), relay the story and how you feel, and see what they can do. If you get the brush-off at that point, then it's clear by their actions how much they value your business. In the meantime, check the fuses - perhaps the fuse for the trunk-lock's blown, or there's some short or over-voltage, causing the fuse to blow consistently; odd that you couldn't get it to open manually, however - at least, so it would seem. Might be worthwile to ask if the club ombudsman has seen similar scenarios for CPO vehicles and if they have any recommendations, plus give a call to BMW NA customer service. With those several incidents, it makes you wonder how thoroughly the CPO checklist was done, or if it was done at all. Seems like it would be hard to miss borderline brake pads, particularly if "certified pre-owned" is supposed to mean anything. Sorry to hear of such travails - best of luck!
