This f*cking car is f*cked (AGAIN!!!)

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It seems like the only time I ever start threads is when my car has totally gone ape st and is determined to kill me it seems.

Now that I've calmed down, I can write calmly.

Here goes.

I was coming back from a day out with my daughter and my friend and the car was absolutely fine - drove well, cruised fine and did everything that a car should do.

Then, as we got back into Huddersfield, we popped into the BMW dealership as he wanted to look at a new car. It was nearly closing time so we only had a 10 minutes or so. After a brief look, we set off home.

Immediately I noticed something not right with the steering, it was SERIOUSLY heavy as though it had completely broken. I barely turned right onto the main road and then I had to turn left - again SAME problem - steering very difficult to steer. My daughter picks up on this and starts to panic (as do I, mainly for her), I try and park up but the f*cking thing does not steer apart form a straight line. I cross the road and literally narrowly avoid hitting another car. We are all sh*tting it now, (are we going to have a massive accident because the car cannot steer????). I get some lock on it and have parked it up in a small industrial estate and called a taxi home. I've also called BMW assist to tow the f*cker back to a garage.

I think I am now at my wits end with this car. My daughter is with me and we're all thinking we're going to die because the car has lost its steering.

I won't know until Monday what the diagnosis is (I have little faith in BMW Sandal anymore too) and even though I won't really care. Surely I have a case to reject this car now considering how serious this latest incident was?

I'm actually surprised I have managed to keep my composure and write this post without smashing the laptop to pieces as underneath I am seething with rage - mainly because my daughter was with me and if anything ever happened to her I would have a psychotic episode.

As always - any help or advice is greatly welcome.

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SAS Tom said:

Tip for next time, try stopping if you can't steer.

Couldnt stop, I tried but nowhere to stop. Straight ahead was only 'safe' place to stop by layby.

When you panic and your 5 year old is crying it is hard to think straight.

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helix402 said:

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e63-bmw-m6-forum-...

Cheers for the link Helix.

I did a lot of reading last night; the problem could be anything. Before they towed it away, I opened the bonnet and the belt was still intact; the air con, alternator and other pulleys were all spinning fine as well as the belt being in good shape.

It could be a pump issue, knock sensor, steering angle sensor or something else completely.

Epic car when it works; totally ******** when it does not.

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Wills2 said:

Get rid of the car it's a lemon, as far the steering is concerned are you saying it wouldn't turn at all? Loss of the hydraulic assistance would still mean you could turn the wheel especially whilst moving?

It would turn but I had to wrestle it to get it to turn into a safe place. It was as though the pump had failed......potentially fatal if I was doing high speed cruising or on windy country roads (of which there are plenty of around Huddersfield).

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jonah35 said:

Eta someone has to have some guts to buy this off you lol.

It's practically unsellable.

Well, it still has its warranty so all the problems will by fixed by the dealer under warranty.

It could turn into a museum show piece I suppose if they cannot sell it on. The engine still works

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JMBMWM5 said:

Schermerhorn said:

Well, it still has its warranty so all the problems will by fixed by the dealer under warranty.

It could turn into a museum show piece I suppose if they cannot sell it on. The engine still works

I bought a new X3 a few years back, and on the way home the steering failed, it nearly killed use. It was the rack that failed.

Totally unacceptable. We can both empathise with each others' situation.

I've written the supplying dealer an email and spoken to my sales man. They will get back to me. I just hope - for their sake - they do not try and sneak out of this one as I am willing to take this much much further than it ought to go, purely for principle sake.

Update - Had a call back from them and they are taking the absolute piss "a steering rack can fail on any car, lucky you have a warranty...could have been expensive....ouch" sort of bks.

They are totally against me rejecting the car and getting my money back and were more interested in PXing the car (after giving me a stupid low figure valuation for mine) and giving me insulting figures or trying to sell me another car.

Looks like this may just have to go legal if they want to be dicks about it.

Edited by Schermerhorn on Monday 17th November 17:41

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longintheleg said:

Scherm, why haven't you rejected this car yet?

I understand your frustrations but this is becoming a joke.

I have been trying.

All I keep getting is "you cant reject it. You have to give them a chance to fix it. We can PX it and discuss figures etc but we wont let you reject it"

Now I suspect they will be hearing from my brief. I may even sue them. Utter w*nkers.

Game on now.

PS - If I were you I would think long and hard about getting that V10 E61 M5 Touring. Mine was a full AUC car, full serice history etc and still went wrong....big time....repeatedly. Worth thinking about.

Edited by Schermerhorn on Tuesday 18th November 07:37

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Rejection could be a long and drawn out process even with lawyers etc involved. I may just have to agree to a different car but with favourable terms

- such as transferring GAP insurance over on their dime (which shouldn't cost anything)
- Better offer than 50p per mile knocked off (standing to lose another £1500 on that)
- Large contribution from BMW/Sytner themselves (£1500 so far on that)
- 2 year AUC warranty on a car if I get one rather than the standard 1 year they usually offer

I'll keep pushing

I've seen these two so far that I like

535D F10, (120,000+ miles though!)

http://usedcars.sytnerleicesterbmw.co.uk/showroom/...

and this

BMW Z4 M Coupe

http://usedcars.sytnerleicesterbmw.co.uk/showroom/...

The latter could turn out to be an investment, whereas the 535D is probably as quick as the Z (or even the M6) in real world conditions.

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Bebee said:

Get your mate Alastair Campbell to write to BMW, he will put a spin on it.

Haha. Alistair is an even bigger w*nker than some of these salesman I've come across

shawn 968cs said:

You have consumeer rights https://www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rights, if its not safe to drive and you had it for less than a certain time period (Not sure what it is 28 days?)
You are entilled to your money back.
They will do everything to persude you not too.
If they keep dragging their heels, just mention you are in contact with BBC watchdog.
It worked for me, got full refund on my F80 M3 with hand brake assist that stuck on whilst on M6 in stop go traffic.
Rgds
Shawn

Mine has been nearly a year now but it has been a year full of problems; all of them well documented on here.

To add insult to injury, the sales guy tried to accuse me of trying to run an M6 for a year for free. I said "yeah....that would be true if the thing didn't try to f*cking kill me when the steering completely failed".

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AMDB9 said:

Google BMW UK CEO and email him directly. You will be surprised that he personally replies and will most likely sort it out...good luck...

PS Im talking from experience here ;-)

Glad you are both safe.

There is an idea! Cheers for that.

I am getting two names, Tim Abbott and Graham Grieve.

Which one did you communicate with?

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AMDB9 said:

Schermerhorn said:

AMDB9 said:

Google BMW UK CEO and email him directly. You will be surprised that he personally replies and will most likely sort it out...good luck...

PS Im talking from experience here ;-)

Glad you are both safe.

There is an idea! Cheers for that.

I am getting two names, Tim Abbott and Graham Grieve.

Which one did you communicate with?

I emailed Tim Abbot and CC'd Jane Noble (his right hand lady)

Tim Abbott [e-mail]
CC [e-mail],
CC [e-mail]

It works - be stern but not rude.

Thanks. Will try that tomorrow. Wish me luck!

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shawn 968cs said:

Schermerhorn said:

Thanks. Will try that tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Good luck
I hope BMW get grip on customer service soon, from my experience they are losing their way somewhat, and not facing facts there are issues with certain models that need attention and not to stick their heads in the sand, otherwise they will lose the loyal customers and market share.

Looks like other people have had issues with M6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c7FzXygCG0

Cheers Shawn.

I remember that video - I remember thinking "what an idiot!!!" and here I am in a similar position myself 18 months later

I've emailed 5 people so hopefully will get at least one response.

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burwoodman said:

shawn 968cs said:

Schermerhorn said:

Thanks. Will try that tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Good luck
I hope BMW get grip on customer service soon, from my experience they are losing their way somewhat, and not facing facts there are issues with certain models that need attention and not to stick their heads in the sand, otherwise they will lose the loyal customers and market share.

Looks like other people have had issues with M6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c7FzXygCG0

I purchased an 18 month old 7 series years ago (745). It broke down constantly-BMW wanted to keep fixing. I rejected the car. they refused to take it back until I had an idea. I collected the FULL warranty work print out from BMW (a ph'r who worked at a dealers printed it out) and wow, 20 pages of work since new. The car was a fkn lemon. I rang the previous(first owner) and he refused to say a word so i smelt a rat. Eventually he agreed to answer questions so i said 'did you reject the car' 'yes'. 'did bmw give you a brand new replacement 'yes' armed with that i told bmw i caught them out. they immediately refunded the full purchase. i actually purchased a new E46 M3 at the time.

The hard part is trying to get all the warranty history on this car. Supplying dealer will be seriously reluctant or un-cooperative in this matter I feel.

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Not from either Jane Noble or Tim Abbot as of yet. Hoping for a speedy resolution to it all!

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AMDB9 said:

All sorted?

Grieve seems to be as useful as a chocolate fire extinguisher. No response from him and been 4 days.

Jane Noble seems to be on holiday and left her colleagues in charge of all correspondence.

I got an email back on the 21st saying they'll be supporting the retailers decision - ie not to reject it.

Today is my birthday so I can't be bothered getting worked up over this. I'll just let them know I've contacted a solicitor and Watchdog and we'll take it from there. If they want dig their heels in, I'm more than willing to give both barrels.

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shibby! said:

I suppose I almost want this car.

By the time it's been fixed again, it's probably had more new parts than a new car!

What a pisser.

Put it this way, it has cost me ZERO in parts and labour.

All I've paid for is fuel, tax and insurance. The car still has EXACTLY 372 days left of an AUC warranty (expires Nov 30th 2015). They can't NOT fix it.

It won't need another major service for at least 18-24 months going by my annual mileage. The only smaller service item required is an oil change which is still 2000 miles away (or 6 months).

I reckon I've saved £5000 in parts and labour over the last year. Sure, it has depreciated, but which high performance car does not?

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To and fro at the moment. I will let smarter people than me handle it

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Nat_H said:

Had enough of the car and put it up for sale?

What are you looking to replace it with? When ever I think of selling its only a C63 or R8 that I fancy.

Was advised by my go-to guy to put it up for sale incase the rejection plan doesnt work out.

I have had the C63 before and found it abit.....meh.....aside from the thunderous sound track.

The R8 to me looks like a TT.....awesome car but I hate the looks for some reason.

F10 M5 or GT-R for me next. Or I may just go the opposite way and buy an old diesel VAG and just enjoy trouble free motoring until I get bored again