Advice : BMW warranty claim

[General Fluff]

I can't believe this is as simple as Dealer bad, BMW good. The dealer must be incentivised by BMW to resist claims or else why would they have done so? Making the customer work to get the claim approved seems to be standard practice.

[fourspoons]

e21Mark said:

Good news fella! Really pleased for you.

Maybe a dedicated track car would be a good idea?

Ironically I've had dedicated track cars for years and just recently downsized my fleet and bought the 235 as a car that would be good on the road and track....

[Deerfoot]

I take it you've retained the courtesy car?

[fourspoons]

General Fluff said:

I can't believe this is as simple as Dealer bad, BMW good. The dealer must be incentivised by BMW to resist claims or else why would they have done so? Making the customer work to get the claim approved seems to be standard practice.

You're right it isn't that simple and the dealer don't reject the claims themselves, they present the claim to BMW UK, who make the decision. But of course how they present the claim has a huge effect. But in the end, it was BMW UK that sorted me out, not the dealer, nor did they make any attempt.

[fourspoons]

Deerfoot said:

I take it you've retained the courtesy car?

I have. Its a 320d from Enterprise, it comes from BMW Emergency Services, not the dealer.

[hornetrider]

Roughly, say, where in the country are you op. Without trying to violate any name and shame rules, of course.

Edit: Just seen from your profile, no worries. Surprising though.

[User33678888]

Have they sorted this out because they accept that it should be under their warranty? Or because they want to look good on this thread? Call me a sceptic, but I'm sure I'm not the only M enthusiast to have a distinct lack of trust for official dealer servicing.

[Durzel]

We'll likely never know whether or not this thread and wherever else it was being talked about was the catalyst for the response, or whether they would ultimately have responded this way anyway (bearing in mind GetCarter's precedent).

What I do think is clear though is that the OP's dealer essentially left him high and dry with him having to try and get the details of and then speak to someone at BMW UK himself. Had he not been able to do this, or hadn't got to the right person, I suspect he would've been in a similar boat to GetCarter - staring down the barrel of potentially having to issue legal proceedings with associated costs & hassle to get anywhere with the matter.

For what it's worth I tend to believe that BMW UK probably did get wind of this thread, and probably others, and decided it was prudent to nip it in the bud sooner rather than later. I guess in that respect the OP got what he wanted by posting it, but I feel for anyone else in a similar boat who doesn't have the leverage, as I honestly don't believe BMW UK is as forgiving as this outcome would lead one to believe.

Either way though the OP got a good result with minimal fuss, and BMW UK in this particular instance responded quickly.

[e21Mark]

I, like many here I'm sure, made a point of tweeting comments to BMW UK with a link. Whether it helped or not I couldn't say, but certainly restored my faith in BMW as a manufacturer. This particular dealer however, should be instructed in customer service.

I'd still like to know the reason for the failure though? I doubt it'll ever be known but you wouldn't expect any new car to fail in such a spectacular fashion.

[fourspoons]

User33678888 said:

Have they sorted this out because they accept that it should be under their warranty? Or because they want to look good on this thread? Call me a sceptic, but I'm sure I'm not the only M enthusiast to have a distinct lack of trust for official dealer servicing.

They simply stated that since the event was not competitive the damage was covered under the warranty and they should not have rejected the claim.

They didn't mention if any of the publicity had influenced their decision. In all honesty I doubt if the people involved in making the decision had time to be browsing forums but you never know. I do expect they consulted their legal team for advice on the wording though.

[M6L11]

fourspoons said:

They simply stated that since the event was not competitive the damage was covered under the warranty and they should not have rejected the claim.

They didn't mention if any of the publicity had influenced their decision. In all honesty I doubt if the people involved in making the decision had time to be browsing forums but you never know. I do expect they consulted their legal team for advice on the wording though.

So are they actually going to update/clarify the wording this time, as was promised to getcarter? At least it'd stop this kind of main dealer tomfoolery recurring.

ETA: On reflection, it's in their interests not to. For every getcarter and fourspoons, another hundred people probably take it on the chin and don't bother to fight. Overall the PR damage v cost savings is probably worth it to them. Who knows? If they were really bothered I think they'd have changed it last time they promised to.

[fourspoons]

M6L11 said:

So are they actually going to update/clarify the wording this time, as was promised to getcarter? At least it'd stop this kind of main dealer tomfoolery recurring.

ETA: On reflection, it's in their interests not to. For every getcarter and fourspoons, another hundred people probably take it on the chin and don't bother to fight. Overall the PR damage v cost savings is probably worth it to them. Who knows? If they were really bothered I think they'd have changed it last time they promised to.

I really hope they don't make any changes. I would say the wording is perfectly clear. There is no exclusion for trackdays at all and by not changing the wording after GetCarter's case many years ago, they have made a conscious decision to cover trackdays under the warranty. This may be influenced by the number of cars they sell to track experience companies and their own fleet they use on BMW organised trackdays and press events....

Edited by fourspoons on Thursday 5th February 12:18

[Durzel]

fourspoons said:

I really hope they don't make any changes. I would say the wording is perfectly clear. There is no exclusion for trackdays at all and by not changing the wording after GetCarter's case many years ago, they have made a conscious decision to cover trackdays under the warranty. This may be influenced by the number of cars they sell to track experience companies and their own fleet they use on BMW organised trackdays and press events....

Edited by fourspoons on Thursday 5th February 12:18

I'm more cynical, and agree with M6L11. It's in their interests to leave the wording open to interpretation, because for every one challenging it as you and GetCarter have, there will be others who will be told what the dealer told you - and suck it up and pay for the repairs. They could be more explicit, if they wanted to. I suspect the wording chosen has been done so with deliberate (and legally minded) care.

"Competitive" is a word that is open to interpretation. I'd presume that you were keen to see how your car compared to others that were there on the day, even if you weren't racing them or even overtaking. Is that not competitive track-specific behaviour?

Being a cynic I'd say that they aren't excluding trackdays from cover, but they aren't interested (or likely keen) to explicitly tell their customers that they have full coverage, so as to give themselves the option to reject claims out of hand, as in this case.

Had you accepted the rejection from the dealer you'd be looking at a big repair bill to pay, BMW would not have volunteered to repair the car.

Edited by Durzel on Thursday 5th February 12:33

[fourspoons]

Durzel said:

I'm more cynical, and agree with M6L11. It's in their interests to leave the wording open to interpretation, because for every one challenging it as you and GetCarter have, there will be others who will be told what the dealer told you - and suck it up and pay for the repairs. They could be more explicit, if they wanted to. I suspect the wording chosen has been done so with deliberate (and legally minded) care.

"Competitive" is a word that is open to interpretation. I'd presume that you were keen to see how your car compared to others that were there on the day, even if you weren't racing them or even overtaking. Is that not competitive track-specific behaviour?

Being a cynic I'd say that they aren't excluding trackdays from cover, but they aren't interested (or likely keen) to explicitly tell their customers that they have full coverage, so as to give themselves the option to reject claims out of hand, as in this case.

Had you accepted the rejection from the dealer you'd be looking at a big repair bill to pay, BMW would not have volunteered to repair the car.

Edited by Durzel on Thursday 5th February 12:33

Perhaps, but I can't believe there is anyone that would suck up £13k without at least a little bit of a fight, especially since the wording is so clearly in favour.

[fourspoons]

Also, I don't think 'competitive' is open for interpretation at all. It is very clearly defined by the trackday organiser, the circuit, trackday insurance policies that are available and so on. Any competitive activity on a trackday is strictly prohibited.

You can't compare your car to others on the track on a trackday. I was overtaking 911 GT3s driven by novices and Lewis Hamilton in a mini would have gone past me...

Edited by fourspoons on Thursday 5th February 12:51

Edited by fourspoons on Thursday 5th February 12:52

[Jon_Bmw]

So the big question:

Will you track it again?

You are within your rights to of course, but will you?

[fourspoons]

Jon_Bmw said:

So the big question:

Will you track it again?

You are within your rights to of course, but will you?

Yes absolutely.

[Jon_Bmw]

Good

[Driver101]

Although track days aren't technically racing, people are still trying to go as fast as they can, setting the best times and getting ahead of the other cars.

Even if you aren't racing door to door with the other cars, you are racing yourself to be as quick as you can.

You're also putting far more strain on the car for periods of time you just couldn't do on public roads.

Reading some of the comments about track days it sounds like everyone turns up for a peaceful Sunday afternoon drive.

The dividing line between track days and racing is very slim. I'd say it doesn't exist on many occasions.

[Zod]

The most ridiculous thing about all of this is that BMW has actually organised track days for M car owners to attend in their own cars. This is back-office staff trying to make themselves good by thinking they've found a warranty get-out.