Yes they saying that the vehicle has been damaged in my ownership, even though I’ve never had an accident or driven over a pothole. I had the wheel alignment done at Wheels in Motion 35 days after purchasing the car and driven about 1000 miles. I sent the dealer a copy of the alignment report 2 days later. The noise is very subtle and wasn’t picked up by the four different BMW technicians that have test driven the vehicle. At first I put the noise down to the noisy runflats (bridgestones) which is why I didn’t report at first.
Did you get anything on the history? My point is that if a new wheel was purchased following the impact then it may be logged against your VIN, and then you can prove almost for certain that the damage wasn’t in your ownership. Ed @Cotswold BMW may be able to look on the system for you?
I phoned the number you provided but didn’t really get anywhere as they could only provide service history information, which there isn’t any in this vehicle due to the low mileage. The dealer have today confirmed that they’ve owned it from new and has been their demo. Unfortunately any rectification work (e.g. new wheel) would only show up in the dealers system rather than the central BMW warranty system. BMW UK are now reviewing the case in more detail. I’ll PM Ed to see if there is anything listed on his system.
Whenever I have ordered parts from Ed he logs those parts against the VIN, the VIN is even quoted on the invoice. As far as I’m aware any dealer within the BMW network can see what has been ordered for any BMW as long as the VIN was quoted when ordering, which it probably would be for a wheel as there are so many different sizes and styles. I even have invoices from Ed for windscreen wipers that quote the VIN.
The dealers can only see warranty claims history and service pack claims. They have no access to anything else done at other dealers.
I think you are going to have to turn Detective here. Have you asked the supplying dealer for a record of all work done on the car, it should be logged on their systems if a cost in parts or time has been incurred. I've done it previously, although it can be more difficult now with GPDR, however as the car was owned by a business and not an individual it might be possible ? Dealership may be on their guard now however so maybe a personal visit and speaking to a service advisor rather than an email. Possibly a wheel and or tyre was damaged when the suspension damage occurred. I'm not sure if their are casting details stamped on the inside of the wheels, and if it's possible to ascertain when the wheels were produced. If so are the details the same for all 4 wheels. If one is different it suggests it might have been changed. Same with the tyres, are they age markings all the same ? If the salesperson told you the car was undamaged and had needed no repair work and you can prove that whilst in there ownership it did have damage repaired you might have a case that the car was mis sold or misrepresented Otherwise I fear the result will be the dealer sayingwe checked the car prior to sale all was ok, it was returned a month later having travelled 1000 miles and now has suspension damage that wasnt there when we checked it. Must have happened after we sold it, however we have been reasonable offering goodwill in reducing the cost and providing a loan car for what is in our opinion accident damage.
Yes following their confirmation yesterday that they have owned the vehicle from new, I’ve asked them to confirm all work and parts replaced on the vehicle. It’ll be interesting what they come back with. I know that it had two central hub caps replaced, so if their not listed it may highlight they’ve something to hide. Although the dealer is now actually being more helpful(since their dealer principle assigned a more senior member of his management team). I can almost hear the discussion that we’ve done everything we can to try to support you sir and get a resolution but there is nothing further we can do. I probably then need to decide if I’m going down the route of claiming via Section 75 of the consumer credit act. Looking at some other forums that can take months to resolve before actually getting money back, although in some cases you can sell the car and the credit card company will give the difference of what you paid to the dealer. Anyone with any experience of claiming under section 75?
I know that it may not be something you would be prepared to do, but if you want a quick resolution, maybe you could suggest a compromise? Say, split the cost of parts with them as long as they accept the Labour costs. It could save a lengthy legal dispute?
I'm no expert on Section 75, but if the dealer stands on insists that the vehicle was not damaged st the point of sale and the damage must have happened post sale I dont see what the finance company can do. Dealer says not damaged and produces inspection reports to support that. After 4 weeks and 1000 miles vehicle is returned with damage consistent with hitting a pot hole etc On balance of probabilities I think finance co will side with the dealer. As Mieke suggests I think the best resolution will be a compromise ..weighted in your favour
I hear what your saying, however the dealership have made it clear that they won’t entertain a contribution towards the cost of the repairs. I’m awaiting to hear back from BMW UK who may offer something towards the repairs. One of the reasons that I don’t want to contribute towards the cost of the repairs is that dealership advised that the list of components listed “should” resolve the issue. If their dismantling of components identified further issues e.g subframe then I’d be liable for those costs as well. I think this is one of the reasons that dealership is reluctant to support me.
Have you checked the dates on the tyre sidewalls as suggested earlier or is the car still at the dealer and inaccessible? the problem you have is their AUC check sheet in theory proves that the defect wasn’t present at sale, in reality it’s just a check sheet, the majority of which is covered in a 2 minute sweep over the car. your best bet is if the fault is something that wouldn’t have been highlighted by the AUC checks so if it requires driving a certain way or the suspected damage isn’t visible. Wheel alignment doesn’t get checked on AUC unless an issue is detected requiring it. Also I’ve just noticed that on your first visit to the dealer they couldn’t fault the steering performance, suggesting that this could as easily have been missed on AUC.
If you go down the Section 75 route...what happens to the car whilst a decision OS made ? You are presumably saying it was missold / misdescribed/ faulty at time of purchase and you are rejecting it...if you continue to drive it does that weaken your case ? The dealership will be demanding the courtesy car be returned if the work on your car is completed. I've never known a dealer say anything other than the work they have done "should" have resolved an issue, rather than saying cast iron 100% we have resolved the issue
Unfortunately the car has been with the dealer now for three weeks so I’ve no way of checking the tyres. I completely agree with your view, however the dealer disagrees at this point.
Ok an interesting development today. An old friend of mine works in the trade (not BMW) and we met up for a few drinks today. I shared with him my story about this car. I happen to mention to him that at the point of sale that the Salesman advised me that the only thing done on the AUC checks were the centre caps replaced on two near side alloys. He suggested that this could be a key piece of information as brand new alloys don’t come with the centre caps and have to be ordered separately. Possibly indicating that the dealer orders two new alloys. At the point of sale, I actually got a printout of the invoice that shows two near side replacement centre caps being replaced, the same side of the vehicle with the suspension issue. Maybe this is a coincidence but it’s potentially proof that something happened on that side of the vehicle. So if the dealership come back and advise that there was nothing done on the vehicle, then I’ve got proof that they are lying to me and have something to hide. I can’t think of any other reason on a car that is less than 12 months old and only done 2200 miles that the centre caps would need to be replaced.
I'd hold back on the knowledge of centre cap replacement at the moment, as replacement could simply be cosmetic, some of them do corrode very quickly. Getting to read the DOT code on the tyres would help, see if the tyres are all original, at such a low mileage. Stepping back a bit, in your first post you mention you noticed what was the sound of a tyre and the steering wheel being off-centre, after just a few hundred miles. I know you went to W-in-M, but did you report it to the dealer at the time, or just went ahead to a company you respect, to get a good alignment? Peter
True, these will be stored locally at the dealer and not accessible from other dealers. Only if BMW have paid (warranty/service pack) is available to us all
Unfortunately as the vehicle is still at the dealership i can’t easily obtain the DOT code. Yes the steering wheel was off centre when i picked the vehicle up from the dealer, (in hindsight i should have reported that at the tome). The noise, I didn’t really notice until i’d driven the car several hundred miles as it was only noticeable at certain speeds and on certain sections of the motorway eg the M1 driving at 50mph. The first time i reported the issue to the dealer was after the WIM alignment and sent them a copy of their report.
Ok following the advice of edthefed i’m trying to turn detective. I attach two photos of the vehicle on the day i purchased the vehicle and arrived home. Not great quality but potentially may help. Have a look at the NS front tyre and how it looks as though it setback slightly further into the wheel arch than the rear and slightly lower. What are people’s thoughts? I know i’m clutching at straws here.
Not really possible to arrive at a conclusion from those photos, except to say that, in the second photo (nearside) the front wheel looks to be towards the rear of the wheel arch, rather than central. But photos are notorious for distorting the image, especially on wide angle. The only accurate method is to take measurements.