BMW under AUC refused claim advice please
Discussion
Sorry for the long post but need advice on how best to proceed.
I purchased a 3 series car from BMW dealer X in March 2017 under the AUC scheme. It was due a service and was booked into BMW dealer Y closer to home in October 2017. I was informed it needed a transmission fluid change but the sump had seized and so this could not be done without a new sump at a cost of £545. I was told they would put in a claim under the AUC warranty scheme. To my horror the claim was denied because apparently the service history was not totally complete. I contacted the selling dealer who managed to track down the missing service history done at BMW dealer Z (are you following me??) it had been incorrectly loaded on the BMW system. This should have reinstated the warranty yet apparently this is not the case. I was told by the service adviser at Dealer Y that it may be due to the previous service being incorrectly performed and overtightening of the bolt.
BMW dealer X have so far not agreed to cover the cost. Their view ( and I have some sympathy with this) is that the transmission sump check is not part of an AUC check and they did not perform the transmission fluid change in 2015.The dealer that performed the service in 2015 have no link with me and I would be surprised if they would want to accept any liability 2 years later.
I am now in the middle of a conversation between 3 dealers none of whom are willing to accept responsibility. As a customer I bought a car from a BMW dealer with a warranty yet it appears that I may be out of pocket through no fault of my own.
I have asked BMW UK to step in and resolve this issue on my behalf as I am not sure on what the next steps should be.
I would be grateful for any advice on how to handle this situation. At the end of the day I have the money but it does seem shoddy treatment??
I purchased a 3 series car from BMW dealer X in March 2017 under the AUC scheme. It was due a service and was booked into BMW dealer Y closer to home in October 2017. I was informed it needed a transmission fluid change but the sump had seized and so this could not be done without a new sump at a cost of £545. I was told they would put in a claim under the AUC warranty scheme. To my horror the claim was denied because apparently the service history was not totally complete. I contacted the selling dealer who managed to track down the missing service history done at BMW dealer Z (are you following me??) it had been incorrectly loaded on the BMW system. This should have reinstated the warranty yet apparently this is not the case. I was told by the service adviser at Dealer Y that it may be due to the previous service being incorrectly performed and overtightening of the bolt.
BMW dealer X have so far not agreed to cover the cost. Their view ( and I have some sympathy with this) is that the transmission sump check is not part of an AUC check and they did not perform the transmission fluid change in 2015.The dealer that performed the service in 2015 have no link with me and I would be surprised if they would want to accept any liability 2 years later.
I am now in the middle of a conversation between 3 dealers none of whom are willing to accept responsibility. As a customer I bought a car from a BMW dealer with a warranty yet it appears that I may be out of pocket through no fault of my own.
I have asked BMW UK to step in and resolve this issue on my behalf as I am not sure on what the next steps should be.
I would be grateful for any advice on how to handle this situation. At the end of the day I have the money but it does seem shoddy treatment??
Pretty sure BMW AUC is BMW UK underwritten?
So a given garage claims off BMW UK, and they say yay/nay... I think?
It's a weird one but by definition they're saying they don't cover fixings under warranty?
Not too logical as to do anything under warranty requires accessing fixings that only their mechanics have touched.
Essentially they might not cover the entire engine if they can't undo a single fixing on it?
So a given garage claims off BMW UK, and they say yay/nay... I think?
It's a weird one but by definition they're saying they don't cover fixings under warranty?
Not too logical as to do anything under warranty requires accessing fixings that only their mechanics have touched.
Essentially they might not cover the entire engine if they can't undo a single fixing on it?
I second going to Customer Services , they kicked the ass of dealer B when they wouldn’t compensate me for a wasted journey to view a M3 that did not have complete Service History 
Forget how much , I got but it covered fuel costs and lunch
Selling dealer massively at fault for shortcomings in service history . They should stump up I reckon.
Forget how much , I got but it covered fuel costs and lunch
Selling dealer massively at fault for shortcomings in service history . They should stump up I reckon.
Odd that it needed a transmission fluid change I thought BMW claim they are sealed for life.
As for the problem at hand the liability is 100% with the supplying dealer. They sold you the car as an AUC car. It either is an AUC car or it I'd not. If it's not, they misrepresented it. If it is an AUC car then it should be covered.
If all this is within six months of you owning the car it is a pre-existing fault and the supplying dealer is responsible AUC or not.
Goes to show BMW dealers are just used car salesman at the end of the day and as close to the Arthur Daley end of the spectrum as anyone else.
As for the problem at hand the liability is 100% with the supplying dealer. They sold you the car as an AUC car. It either is an AUC car or it I'd not. If it's not, they misrepresented it. If it is an AUC car then it should be covered.
If all this is within six months of you owning the car it is a pre-existing fault and the supplying dealer is responsible AUC or not.
Goes to show BMW dealers are just used car salesman at the end of the day and as close to the Arthur Daley end of the spectrum as anyone else.
bmwmike said:
Odd that it needed a transmission fluid change I thought BMW claim they are sealed for life.
As for the problem at hand the liability is 100% with the supplying dealer. They sold you the car as an AUC car. It either is an AUC car or it I'd not. If it's not, they misrepresented it. If it is an AUC car then it should be covered.
If all this is within six months of you owning the car it is a pre-existing fault and the supplying dealer is responsible AUC or not.
Goes to show BMW dealers are just used car salesman at the end of the day and as close to the Arthur Daley end of the spectrum as anyone else.
I agree. I've never understood why some people insist on paying a premium to buy via AUC. No added value that a bit of common sense and know-how can't replace.As for the problem at hand the liability is 100% with the supplying dealer. They sold you the car as an AUC car. It either is an AUC car or it I'd not. If it's not, they misrepresented it. If it is an AUC car then it should be covered.
If all this is within six months of you owning the car it is a pre-existing fault and the supplying dealer is responsible AUC or not.
Goes to show BMW dealers are just used car salesman at the end of the day and as close to the Arthur Daley end of the spectrum as anyone else.
That is a bizarre situation. When you buy new or used from a BMW franchise it is precisely to avoid this sort of charade about responsibility. The supplying dealer, who after all have profited from selling the car, have to sort this out.
As suggested call BMW customer services, even though you really shouldn't need to. I think BMW UK will be pretty annoyed at the dealer's actions.
As suggested call BMW customer services, even though you really shouldn't need to. I think BMW UK will be pretty annoyed at the dealer's actions.
Pioneer said:
I agree. I've never understood why some people insist on paying a premium to buy via AUC. No added value that a bit of common sense and know-how can't replace.
Generally though the benefit of AUC is that the warranty is absolutely excellent and usually justifies the premium on a car that is out of its original manufacturers warranty. It is less beneficial on much newer cars but then these are almost entirely within the dealer network anyway so you have little choice.bmwmike said:
Odd that it needed a transmission fluid change I thought BMW claim they are sealed for life.
As for the problem at hand the liability is 100% with the supplying dealer. They sold you the car as an AUC car. It either is an AUC car or it I'd not. If it's not, they misrepresented it. If it is an AUC car then it should be covered.
If all this is within six months of you owning the car it is a pre-existing fault and the supplying dealer is responsible AUC or not.
Goes to show BMW dealers are just used car salesman at the end of the day and as close to the Arthur Daley end of the spectrum as anyone else.
Sealed for life should be challenged. Everything the dealership does is spread apart and designed to carry you out of the warranty period where you find information saying service now includes additional items... ZF themselves in the case of automatic boxes recommend fluid change on their boxes at least every 60k miles/3 years iirc. ZF also recommend new fluid or topping up rather than using spent fluid. Yet some shady dealers are putting the same fluid back in. Despite their extraction machines being full of God knows what. As for the problem at hand the liability is 100% with the supplying dealer. They sold you the car as an AUC car. It either is an AUC car or it I'd not. If it's not, they misrepresented it. If it is an AUC car then it should be covered.
If all this is within six months of you owning the car it is a pre-existing fault and the supplying dealer is responsible AUC or not.
Goes to show BMW dealers are just used car salesman at the end of the day and as close to the Arthur Daley end of the spectrum as anyone else.
I’d demand new fluid while you are at it.
Thanks everyone. Update
Spoke to supplying dealer yesterday. The salesman sympathetic but unable to help. The used car sales manager did not speak to me. The service manager was very unhelpful. So no progress there.
The sump was on back order so the servicing dealer gave a courtesy car until it was available which came in this week. Car repaired and returned but I am £550 out of pocket.
I have emailed BMW customer services yesterday and awaiting a response.
I do hope this is not a reflection of what has happened to BMW as I was a serial buyer of BMW until 6 years ago. Having left to other Marques the purchase earlier this year was a return to BMW and I was also looking at an M5 to replace my current Mercedes.
Spoke to supplying dealer yesterday. The salesman sympathetic but unable to help. The used car sales manager did not speak to me. The service manager was very unhelpful. So no progress there.
The sump was on back order so the servicing dealer gave a courtesy car until it was available which came in this week. Car repaired and returned but I am £550 out of pocket.
I have emailed BMW customer services yesterday and awaiting a response.
I do hope this is not a reflection of what has happened to BMW as I was a serial buyer of BMW until 6 years ago. Having left to other Marques the purchase earlier this year was a return to BMW and I was also looking at an M5 to replace my current Mercedes.
"the claim was denied because apparently the service history was not totally complete"
Presumably, this means that, the details of the claim were irrelevant, the warranty is totally void.
So you either have no warranty moving forward or, the warranty has been reinstated upon the correction of the service history error.
In which case this claim is now valid.
If you have no warranty then clearly you have been mis-sold the car.
If you have a warranty you shouldn't be paying for the repairs.
Open a can of whoop ass on the selling dealer.
Presumably, this means that, the details of the claim were irrelevant, the warranty is totally void.
So you either have no warranty moving forward or, the warranty has been reinstated upon the correction of the service history error.
In which case this claim is now valid.
If you have no warranty then clearly you have been mis-sold the car.
If you have a warranty you shouldn't be paying for the repairs.
Open a can of whoop ass on the selling dealer.
The sump plug looks like it has been sheared off and the servicing dealer suspects someone over tightened it last time. This becomes a dealer error not a manufacturing defect so AUC will not cover. My AUC cover has apparently been reinstated now they have found the missing SH but due to the above this claim is denied.
I am struggling to understand the logic myself but what they seem to be saying is If the dealer has screwed up then it is for them to put right not the AUC but the dealer concerned in dealer Z who performed this several years ago. They will almost certainly say it was not us!!
I am struggling to understand the logic myself but what they seem to be saying is If the dealer has screwed up then it is for them to put right not the AUC but the dealer concerned in dealer Z who performed this several years ago. They will almost certainly say it was not us!!
Tricky one.
I can understand the stance of the warranty company, clearly an overtightened/cross threaded sump bung, is not a manufacturing defect/premature failure.
Had all the various elements of this saga been carried out by one dealer then you may have had a chance of getting somewhere.
As it is with 3 dealers all involved, and with you having no contract with the 1 who possibly caused the problem, you're going to struggle.
IMO all you can do is arrange a meeting with the selling dealers DP, lay it on the line that none of this is your problem and try and get some sort of contribution out of him. Be prepared for him to ask why you didn't use him for the service though, that will be a sticking point.
If this fails and BMW themselves won't help then I'm not sure there`s much else you can do. Kicking off on the usual social media platforms might work, might be a case of sucking it up and moving on.
I can understand the stance of the warranty company, clearly an overtightened/cross threaded sump bung, is not a manufacturing defect/premature failure.
Had all the various elements of this saga been carried out by one dealer then you may have had a chance of getting somewhere.
As it is with 3 dealers all involved, and with you having no contract with the 1 who possibly caused the problem, you're going to struggle.
IMO all you can do is arrange a meeting with the selling dealers DP, lay it on the line that none of this is your problem and try and get some sort of contribution out of him. Be prepared for him to ask why you didn't use him for the service though, that will be a sticking point.
If this fails and BMW themselves won't help then I'm not sure there`s much else you can do. Kicking off on the usual social media platforms might work, might be a case of sucking it up and moving on.
Yes I suspect I will not get very far. Had an email back from BMW which may be their standard response about BMW dealers being independent etc so not very optimistic. Major learning point for others how you can get caught out. The selling dealer is over 120 miles away and when I bought the car knew I would get it serviced locally. Was part of the peace of mind selling point!!
Dr mojo said:
BMW dealer X have so far not agreed to cover the cost. Their view ( and I have some sympathy with this) is that the transmission sump check is not part of an AUC check..
It's pretty poor that they didn't spot the sump plug was sheared off.I'd press BMW on the AUC "peace-of-mind" thing. It's an AUC scheme issue, rather than the warranty.
Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff