BMW M5 PAS Failure and Dealership Nightmare

[R35 Boxer]

Hi all,

I’ve been a long-time Pistonheads lurker and BMW enthusiast, but I wanted to share my experience with a dealership repair gone horribly wrong on my 2008 M5 to warn other owners. This has been a multi-year ordeal involving negligence, undisclosed repairs, and what I believe are fraudulent job cards. I’ll keep it anonymous but factual—happy to provide more details privately if anyone has similar issues.

Background and Initial Issues Bought the car used in November 2020 with an extended warranty. In January 2021, the engine failed (wouldn’t start). The warranty provider rejected the claim, but after escalating to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), they upheld it in January 2022, ordering the claim paid up to limits. The dealership replaced the engine in April 2022. You can find my other post on here for more details.

Immediately after driving it home in April, I noticed steering instability. I emailed BMW UK about this (along with other faults like sagging rear suspension, seized rear calliper, damaged clutch/flywheel, and bodywork damage that developed while the car was at the dealership for over a year). They checked and said no faults found, but the engine was faulty again, so it went back for a second replacement in August 2022.

The PAS Failure Two days after getting it back in August 2022, the power steering completely failed. The dealership blamed non-approved wheel spacers, saying they caused the failure (new steering rack, pump, lines needed). I provided evidence from the spacer manufacturer (500,000+ units sold with no reported issues) and specialists (String Theory, Ultimate Velocity) stating spacers can’t cause PAS failure—swarf in the reservoir indicated the pump ran dry from improper bleeding during engine startup. The BMW ISTA manual warns of “RISK OF DAMAGE TO STEERING GEAR” if not done correctly.

Undisclosed Repairs and Fraudulent Job Cards During the TMO process, I discovered a July 2022 job card for a clutch/flywheel replacement I wasn’t told about—with forged signatures for me. Another August 2022 job card for brakes noted “investigate steering failure” two days before I reported it, with a false “RECOVERY” signature (I drove it there myself). A March 2022 fuel pump job card was backdated, contradicting an email from the dealership head asking for authorization a week later.

I requested job cards under SAR (GDPR), but they denied under false “legal privilege,” breaching my rights (ICO complaint filed). They provided incomplete docs to TMO but not me.

TMO Outcome and Escalations TMO dismissed my complaint, ignoring the fraud as “lack of best practice” and weighting the dealership’s spacer claim over my evidence. I rejected it and lodged a service complaint, but TMO upheld their process.

I will be filing with Action Fraud (forgery under Fraud Act 2006), ICO (GDPR breaches), and Trading Standards. Escalated to BMW UK (dismissive, deferring to dealership) and BMW AG CEO Oliver Zipse (forwarded to BMW UK, still inaction). Planning small claims court for negligence, fraud, and GDPR breaches, seeking repair/hire car costs.

Warning to Owners If you’ve had similar issues with unauthorized repairs, forged docs, or denied SARs at a BMW dealer, check job cards and escalate. It’s affected me mentally and financially—don’t let it happen to you.

Thoughts or advice welcome—has anyone dealt with similar?

[sunnyb13]

I wouldn't use gpt to write this

[smashy]

You see that response above. That is why this forum a once really thriving decent place is now Tumbleweed compared to the old days.Why ,just why.

[R35 Boxer]

smashy said:

You see that response above. That is why this forum a once really thriving decent place is now Tumbleweed compared to the old days.Why ,just why.

So it’s more important the way it’s written than the content itself? Interesting.

[danb79]

sunnyb13 said:

I wouldn't use gpt to write this

Well done; you've just won knobber of the day award; you're certificate isn't in the post...

The feck do you get from replying with that smart-arsed comment?!

[danb79]

R35 Boxer said:

Hi all,

I ve been a long-time Pistonheads lurker and BMW enthusiast, but I wanted to share my experience with a dealership repair gone horribly wrong on my 2008 M5 to warn other owners. This has been a multi-year ordeal involving negligence, undisclosed repairs, and what I believe are fraudulent job cards. I ll keep it anonymous but factual happy to provide more details privately if anyone has similar issues.

Background and Initial Issues Bought the car used in November 2020 with an extended warranty. In January 2021, the engine failed (wouldn t start). The warranty provider rejected the claim, but after escalating to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), they upheld it in January 2022, ordering the claim paid up to limits. The dealership replaced the engine in April 2022. You can find my other post on here for more details.

Immediately after driving it home in April, I noticed steering instability. I emailed BMW UK about this (along with other faults like sagging rear suspension, seized rear calliper, damaged clutch/flywheel, and bodywork damage that developed while the car was at the dealership for over a year). They checked and said no faults found, but the engine was faulty again, so it went back for a second replacement in August 2022.

The PAS Failure Two days after getting it back in August 2022, the power steering completely failed. The dealership blamed non-approved wheel spacers, saying they caused the failure (new steering rack, pump, lines needed). I provided evidence from the spacer manufacturer (500,000+ units sold with no reported issues) and specialists (String Theory, Ultimate Velocity) stating spacers can t cause PAS failure swarf in the reservoir indicated the pump ran dry from improper bleeding during engine startup. The BMW ISTA manual warns of RISK OF DAMAGE TO STEERING GEAR if not done correctly.

Undisclosed Repairs and Fraudulent Job Cards During the TMO process, I discovered a July 2022 job card for a clutch/flywheel replacement I wasn t told about with forged signatures for me. Another August 2022 job card for brakes noted investigate steering failure two days before I reported it, with a false RECOVERY signature (I drove it there myself). A March 2022 fuel pump job card was backdated, contradicting an email from the dealership head asking for authorization a week later.

I requested job cards under SAR (GDPR), but they denied under false legal privilege, breaching my rights (ICO complaint filed). They provided incomplete docs to TMO but not me.

TMO Outcome and Escalations TMO dismissed my complaint, ignoring the fraud as lack of best practice and weighting the dealership s spacer claim over my evidence. I rejected it and lodged a service complaint, but TMO upheld their process.

I will be filing with Action Fraud (forgery under Fraud Act 2006), ICO (GDPR breaches), and Trading Standards. Escalated to BMW UK (dismissive, deferring to dealership) and BMW AG CEO Oliver Zipse (forwarded to BMW UK, still inaction). Planning small claims court for negligence, fraud, and GDPR breaches, seeking repair/hire car costs.

Warning to Owners If you ve had similar issues with unauthorized repairs, forged docs, or denied SARs at a BMW dealer, check job cards and escalate. It s affected me mentally and financially don t let it happen to you.

Thoughts or advice welcome has anyone dealt with similar?

Never heard of or seen issues like that; it sounds hellish!

I cannot help; but good luck to you, hope you manage to get it sorted!

[normalbloke]

sunnyb13 said:

I wouldn't use gpt to write this

Saying you know feck all about ai, without saying you know feck all about ai.

[mmm-five]

What does "TMO" mean in the original post?

[R35 Boxer]

mmm-five said:

What does "TMO" mean in the original post?

The Motor Ombudsman

[mmm-five]

R35 Boxer said:

The Motor Ombudsman

Doh!

That's so obvious now

[smashy]

R35 Boxer said:

So it s more important the way it s written than the content itself? Interesting.

I said see the response above , not your opener

[R35 Boxer]

smashy said:

I said see the response above , not your opener

My apologies. Couldn't agree more with you, it’s such a unique situation which I thought maybe others could relate or potentially avoid, but instead you get people like that. Shame.