[Legion5]

A lot of people are missing what's going on here.

The guy bought a car show car or a press car, and is the first owner to have registered the car. He also bought it with an extended warranty (ie gold, platinum warranty, not CPO).

It definitly sounds like it was flogged to death by journalists.

[The HACK]

Originally Posted by Slalom

I think that you may have hit the nail on the head. I was once offered a press car. I politely declined ordered a car to spec.

Unfortunately there are dealers who take advantage of our soldiers and sailors. I remember one like that just outside the home base for an airborne regiment. On base the word was out that it was not a good idea to buy a car from that dealer.

In years past, the unspoken rule was to take these "press" fleet cars back and have it disassembled/crushed. They were never suppose to be sold to the public. We will sometimes buy them from their respective manufacturers for $1.00 and use them as either testers or project cars. It was understood that they were not to be re-sold to the public, or if it were that there's an understanding that these were "dollar cars."

Last few years have seen such rules bent or ignored. We haven't been able to get our hands on such cars because they're now being sold to the public for profit instead of disassembled or sold for a dollar to other industry companies.

[B-737]

side story as well... OPs car is 'used' but like a few other posts here this was from a brand new truck....
Fresh off the transport, i took delivery of my 1998 explorer... brandy new, had 3 miles on it. I took the truck home, the tail lights were not connected at the factory, dealer fixed it...
the very next day, 15 miles later- the front control arm FELL OFF. I was making a tight U turn at a slow speed the the front inside tire completely keeled over, truck stopped. towed to dealer. they re-attached everything and said the bolts were not tightened. "sorry!" i went on my way

my 328 is only my second brand new car and it had no such anomalies, i am thankful but it brought back memores

[ceb]

Originally Posted by B-737

side story as well... OPs car is 'used' but like a few other posts here this was from a brand new truck....
Fresh off the transport, i took delivery of my 1998 explorer... brandy new, had 3 miles on it. I took the truck home, the tail lights were not connected at the factory, dealer fixed it...
the very next day, 15 miles later- the front control arm FELL OFF. I was making a tight U turn at a slow speed the the front inside tire completely keeled over, truck stopped. towed to dealer. they re-attached everything and said the bolts were not tightened. "sorry!" i went on my way

my 328 is only my second brand new car and it had no such anomalies, i am thankful but it brought back memores

I was working in a legal office that had oversight of military car sales in Germany.

One day I got a call from a customer who just picked up his new Jeep GC. One mile down the road the front driver's side wheel fell off causing him to clip a curb with the other wheel.

Jeep offered to fix the wheel that fell off but not the other one or any of the additional damage. We convinced Jeep to give him a new GC.

[Quasimodem]

I did not loosen that bolt. No matter what anybody says....

[Sailor737]

Originally Posted by Legion5

A lot of people are missing what's going on here.

The guy bought a car show car or a press car, and is the first owner to have registered the car. He also bought it with an extended warranty (ie gold, platinum warranty, not CPO).

It definitly sounds like it was flogged to death by journalists.

EXACTLY! I'm thankful i bought the extended warranty to take me up to 100k! I bought the car as a MSO or something which is there fancy term for it being an executive/show/journalist car or whatever. The factory warranty started when BMW first started to give it to people to drive so i had the remainder of that. Even though it had never been registered to anyone before me now, it is still a used vehicle. It had about 5500 miles on it when i bought it.

The headlights had to be replaced because they for some reason were stuck facing down and they wouldn't come back up. The gas tank and fuel pump probably had regular gas from some D-bag ran through it so they had to replace those... I can't fathom why the suspension bolt fell out. THE SERVICE guy called me back while it was on the lift a few days ago and told me that ALL FOUR OF MY WHEELS are bent!! He said that he didn't think they sold it to me like that but that they were going to fix all of them!

I went into the dealership yesterday after work and told him that i wanted them to do a complete safety inspection and supply me a list of EVERYTHING that they go over or check with a signature or something on it but he said that he would, "have his mechanic check and tighten all the suspension components just to make sure but he wouldn't have them to a thorough once over on the car... Kinda pisses me off!

[Sailor737]

Since i bought it used, and it had over 5500 miles on it, i don't think i can legally return it under the lemon law

[ceb]

Originally Posted by Sailor737

Since i bought it used, and it had over 5500 miles on it, i don't think i can legally return it under the lemon law

Gee, I found this

http://ag.ca.gov/consumers/general/lemon.php

after spending about 2 seconds Google'ing "california lemon law."

If you haven't done so, write a registered, return receipt requested, letter to BMW (address in the back of the owner's manual" outlining the issues and your requested remedy. The dealership would like to keep this issue in-house but it is in your best interests to elevate this to BMWNA.

The most common reason for headlights to "point down" is a hitting a massive pothole that breaks the tabs on the headlights - probably hard enough to bend wheels.

The car was beat to death and unless you got it for a steal it needs to go back.

Google "california lemon law attorneys" and contact the biggest firm you find. Explain your situation and I'm 99.9999% sure that they will take the case. Remember that if they take your claim it won't cost you a cent. They get paid by BMW once they win and it also costs you nothing should they lose. Accordingly, if they take your case you can be sure that they figure that they have a good chance of succeeding.

[Sailor737]

Originally Posted by ceb

Gee, I found this

http://ag.ca.gov/consumers/general/lemon.php

after spending about 2 seconds Google'ing "california lemon law."

If you haven't done so, write a registered, return receipt requested, letter to BMW (address in the back of the owner's manual" outlining the issues and your requested remedy. The dealership would like to keep this issue in-house but it is in your best interests to elevate this to BMWNA.

The most common reason for headlights to "point down" is a hitting a massive pothole that breaks the tabs on the headlights - probably hard enough to bend wheels.

The car was beat to death and unless you got it for a steal it needs to go back.

Google "california lemon law attorneys" and contact the biggest firm you find. Explain your situation and I'm 99.9999% sure that they will take the case. Remember that if they take your claim it won't cost you a cent. They get paid by BMW once they win and it also costs you nothing should they lose. Accordingly, if they take your case you can be sure that they figure that they have a good chance of succeeding.

Thanks, I'm seriously thinking of pursuing this or at least seeing if it is an option. Worse case scenario they say, "No we won't take it."

I love my 335D though! This is my first BMW and so far it isn't what i expected at all...

[Sailor737]

BUMP

[ceb]

Originally Posted by Sailor737

Thanks, I'm seriously thinking of pursuing this or at least seeing if it is an option. Worse case scenario they say, "No we won't take it."

I love my 335D though! This is my first BMW and so far it isn't what i expected at all...

It isn't the car's fault. It was flogged like a rental at a track event. Those cars need to be scrapped.

[Sailor737]

I went into the dealer today and first spoke with a service advisor who couldn't locate the record of the gas tank and fuel pump being replaced... The other advisor told me that a BMW service center took care of the repair but it's not in my vehicle's record.

Second, i tried to speak with the head sales manager but only the certified pre-owned manager was there and he basically was useless since he couldn't make any decisions. I explained how pissed off i was and how a suspension bolt coming out while i'm driving it is unacceptable and now i don't have faith in the safety of the vehicle any more and that this needed to get resolved. It ends up the head sales manager was out for the day and won't be back in till Monday. I basically told them they need to take care of this and if they won't then i'll take it up a notch...

[Sailor737]

Bump

[kcgman]

Ask the dealer to take the car back. If they don't or they delay in responding or give you the run around, quietly pursue other options. ceb gave you good advice IMO.

[wtfmateim65]

from previous experience and other peoples opinions, contact BMWNA and involve them first of all, that completely changes the dealer's ahem pigs cough perspective on the situation. I purchased an e46 m3 with the infamous subframe issues, received the car n found the subframe had torn itself apart. BMWNA covered the $12k repair after the dealer was trying to charge me out of warranty.

[wildguy101]

Did they end up taking care of it? This actually just happened to me

[Blackhawk36]

I was watching "How super cars are made" on the Discovery Channel. They were putting a Ferrari engine together. When the automated torque wrench was tightening the cylinder head bolts I saw a long vertical crack on the socket tightening the bolt open up. I wonder how many blown head gaskets on $400,000 cars happened due to that cracked socket. Point is...Anything can get screwed up during assembly. That SA was a jerk.

[AceOnShake]

My uncle bought a brand new e36 home back in the those days and the engine broke down on him. They took it back with full refund. He ended up buying like a dozen after and currently has an e63 M6. One bad experience shouldn't let you down.