BMW "free check" resulting in "forced work"?
Discussion
My father-in-law's 1999 BMW 5 series 528i battery spontaneously kicked the bucket.
The car is running perfectly, is a great drive, pristine paintwork, garaged, the lot - the ultimate keeper at 93k on the clock.
He takes it in to BMW to get a new battery and they confirm that there is no alternator fault - battery just gave up the ghost. Simple fix new battery... that's what BMW suggested.
"Sir, would you like a free vehicle health check?" - "go on then, it's free - thank you - whilst you are fitting the new battery, why not"...
Free health check report:
Alternator belt worn - replace
DSG valve gone - £1k+ job
+ other bits to be done
The CPU is reset by the battery change (I presume) and hey presto ... forget about the health check, the car comes back with dashboard warning lights aglow and unmissable.... THERE IS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH THIS CAR!!!
The stomach drops and the car is now unsaleable (they don't want to get rid of it, it's a true keeper) but it raises the questions:
1) was the free health check purely a mechanism to get new work for BMW service?
2) can the CPU error flags be reset, perhaps by a non-independent non-BMW service?
The car is an MOT pass (next MOT due 9 months away) and continues to drive just beautifully, despite the many warning illuminations freshly on the dash...
The car is running perfectly, is a great drive, pristine paintwork, garaged, the lot - the ultimate keeper at 93k on the clock.
He takes it in to BMW to get a new battery and they confirm that there is no alternator fault - battery just gave up the ghost. Simple fix new battery... that's what BMW suggested.
"Sir, would you like a free vehicle health check?" - "go on then, it's free - thank you - whilst you are fitting the new battery, why not"...
Free health check report:
Alternator belt worn - replace
DSG valve gone - £1k+ job
+ other bits to be done
The CPU is reset by the battery change (I presume) and hey presto ... forget about the health check, the car comes back with dashboard warning lights aglow and unmissable.... THERE IS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH THIS CAR!!!
The stomach drops and the car is now unsaleable (they don't want to get rid of it, it's a true keeper) but it raises the questions:
1) was the free health check purely a mechanism to get new work for BMW service?
2) can the CPU error flags be reset, perhaps by a non-independent non-BMW service?
The car is an MOT pass (next MOT due 9 months away) and continues to drive just beautifully, despite the many warning illuminations freshly on the dash...
I'd suggest taking it to a good independant, explaining the background & getting the faults read: tbh dealers don't like playing with 10yr old cars, in my experience, as the techies are all trained up on the new stuff, & 10 yrs worth of rust & cack (however well looked after) bust the service times to hell.
Main dealers are very good at finding "Out of warranty" faults, but not good at all at holding their hands up when there is a warranty fault.
Some main dealers that is!
I doubt that it is all of them but be careful. I know of one main dealer who charged their usual main dealer price for an oil service and did nothing, not even attempting to make out they had done the work.
Some main dealers that is!
I doubt that it is all of them but be careful. I know of one main dealer who charged their usual main dealer price for an oil service and did nothing, not even attempting to make out they had done the work.
unsurprisingly i've found that in last 6 months our 528iSE at service needed £1980 of suspension work done and our slk likewise needed best part of two grands worth of work...astonishing I reckon they just try it on like Nigerian scam emails - only takes a tw@at a day to be hooked and quids in.
likewise at big main bmw dealer I've had three trivial (O2 sensor etc) warranty jobs on z4mr that on each occasion required a second visit to sort (part not in stock)...but then bmw hq is picking up that tab.
sign of times I'm afraid.
likewise at big main bmw dealer I've had three trivial (O2 sensor etc) warranty jobs on z4mr that on each occasion required a second visit to sort (part not in stock)...but then bmw hq is picking up that tab.
sign of times I'm afraid.
Surely if you suspect work required on your car is not really required you simply take it somewhere else for a second opinion,especially if its @ 2grands worth of work?.
I would suggest the nearest council MOT testing station as they have no vested interest in recommending work thats not required as they do not do repairs.
At the end of the day it only takes a **** who thinks he knows better than a trained mechanic to have a serious suspension failure which results in serious consequences for all around him.
I would suggest the nearest council MOT testing station as they have no vested interest in recommending work thats not required as they do not do repairs.
At the end of the day it only takes a **** who thinks he knows better than a trained mechanic to have a serious suspension failure which results in serious consequences for all around him.
philmots said:
The_Doc said:
I can recommend a great Independant in Leeds for you.
Would you use BMW care in Pudsey? I find them great.Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff