You should never buy CIC Navigation Systems from non-professional s (Ebay, Amazon, amateurs, etc.). Scroll below to read why! This important information will save you time and money, and most importantly, will you give you piece of mind!
1. Software:
When you buy from unknown and untrusted sources, you can never know what’s inside of the system. The software is often outdated and unsupported. A system with outdated software will give you limited functionalities, and it may cause compatibility issues with your vehicle. It will cost you additional money, to do the software upgrade, and most dealers will never do this type of work for you!
When you buy from Bimmer Retrofit, you always get the latest software and we guarantee that the system will be compatible with your vehicle.
2. Hardware:
When you buy from unknown and untrusted sources, you never know whether the equipment has been tested. You may be getting equipment that is not functioning properly or is not functioning at all! The seller does not provide warranty, and you may be stuck with equipment that is not good for anyone, except your nearest electronics recycling shop!
Moreover, the equipment may be damaged (with water for example) and if you install the equipment that has been flooded, into your vehicle, your vehicle may become damaged as well. We have been made aware of situations, when the vehicle’s electrical system was short circuited after one of such installations. As a result, vehicle owner lost his BMW warranty.
At Bimmer Retrofit, we carefully test every single unit before shipping to the customer and we always provide warranty on our products.
3. Remote coding
Never trust amateurs with coding your vehicle! In almost every case, when a vehicle is coded by non-professionals, BMW Dealer will refuse to retain the guarantee of your vehicle, because non-professionals have tempered with the vehicle’s electrical and/or software system. If this happens to you, you will be stuck with a $50,000+ vehicle with NO MANUFACTURER’s WARRANTY. And knowing how expensive repairs and maintenance can be, this is not the situation, in which you would want to find yourself.
In other instances, when a vehicle is coded by amateurs, your vehicle may become stationary, meaning it will be impossible to start the vehicle and drive it away, because the coding has been performed incorrectly. In these situations, the vehicle will need to be towed to dealership, which will be able to identify and eliminate the errors, and …. possibly remove your warranty. Not all dealers will perform this type of job to fix your vehicle after amateur’s coding! Those who will, will charge you a high price for the coding. Alternatively, Bimmer Retrofit can perform remote diagnostic and coding, but this will cost you much more than what you would have paid had you come to us at the beginning. We will need to do additional work to diagnose the error and we will have to charge extra for the emergency service.
4. Shipping and cosmetic condition of the products
More often than not, non-professionals do not properly prepare the products for shipping, and they arrive damaged. In addition, you do not have visibility of the products that you buy - the products can be scratched, rusted, cracked. If you are lucky, the seller will provide a replacement, but because usually the seller provides no guarantee, you will have wasted the money on the product that you cannot use or that is not aesthetically pleasing.
At Bimmer Retrofit, we have an established and trusted supply chain, that selects and supplies only the best after-market systems for our customers and we always take special care when preparing products for shipping to ensure that they arrive safely and are not damaged during shipping.
It is up to decide who you will buy your CIC Navigation System from, but we hope that this information will help you understand the total cost of ownership of your Navigation System and vehicle and will help you make an informed decision, so that you can be in control of your financial situation!