BMW Dealer Finance Good or Bad ?

[doodlebug]

Bennnno

Sorry to hijack the thread. I had an extended warranty with BMW. I recently found out that the car had a known problem, which BMW would not fix even though it was a known problem and I had a full AUC (BMW Approved Used Car) warranty at the time.

I have subsequently found that since trying to sell the car it requires over £680 to repair the fault which should have been repaired under warranty. Needless to say, it hasn't sold.

One could be uncharitable and suggest that BMW did not know that there was a problem, even though the first instances were reported in 2002. I couldn't possily suggest that any car dealer was underhand.

I had an extended warranty with BMW which cost me over £550 every year that they had my custom. I have documented evidence from BMW that suggested there was no fault with my gearbox, and I was charged for every inspection of the 'fault' which they suggested "did not exist" It patently does exist.

Large sums of money have been quoted to fix it. I have subsequentlly bought an Italian car, much to my friends mirth. In all honesty though, my very 'unreliable' Italian is proving far superior to the Beemer in every respect. Any German loving Fokker that slags off a High Tiddly in future is likely to feel my tongue's sharp edge.

I won't let this lie...

edited to remove possible name and shame violation

Edited by doodlebug on Friday 16th November 09:40

[pgilc1]

doodlebug said:

Bennnno

Sorry to hijack the thread. I had an extended warranty with BMW. I recently found out that the car had a known problem, which BMW would not fix even though it was a known problem and I had a full AUC (BMW Approved Used Car) warranty at the time.

I have subsequently found that since trying to sell the car it requires over £680 to repair the fault which should have been repaired under warranty. Needless to say, it hasn't sold.

One could be uncharitable and suggest that BMW did not know that there was a problem, even though the first instances were reported in 2002. I couldn't possily suggest that any car dealer was underhand.

I had an extended warranty with Scrotals BMW which cost me over £550 every year that I had their custom. I have documented evidence that BMW Scrottall's suggested there was no fault with my gearbox, and I was charged for every inspection of the 'fault' which they suggested "did not exist" It patently does exist.

Large sums of money have been quoted to fix everything. I have subsequentlly bought an Italian car, much to my friends chagrin and mirth. In all honesty though, my very unreliable Italian is proving far superior to the Beemer, in every respect. Any German loving Fokker that slags off a High Tiddly in future is likely to feel my tongue's sharp edge.

I won't let this lie...

Sorry to hear about your problems. i'd be curious to know exactly what it was thats wrong?

Be wary of italian cars. i ran two alfas a few years ago - the first an approved used Alfa 156 v6, then a 147 ti. The service department were hopeless, the approved used warranty dire.

It needed an electric window switch at £24 and they said they would 'fight my corner with the warranty company to get them to pay it', it needed £600 of suspension bushings for its first mot 4 months after i bought it. They left oily screwdrivers in the car, broke bits of trim, lost bits of trim, physically damaged the car by putting it through an old brush wash when i specifically told them not to, they lent me a fiat uno when mine was in after telling me 'we will lend you something in keeping with what you're used to', they took four attempts to get the paint match / quality right when the bumper needed painted - this is an alfa dealer spraying a an alfa romeo bumper alfa red!!! I bought it with 54K miles being told by the salesman it didnt need the timing belt done to 72K, went in for its 60K to be told by service that whilst it didnt need done to 72K, alfa recommended 60K and wouldnt stand over a claim above that, hence another £600 bill. I spent £1200 in maintenance on it in just six months - none of which was covered by the warranty.

No car manufacturer is perfect, but i hope in your case you havent jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. :-(

Good luck

Edited by pgilc1 on Friday 16th November 07:38

[fade2grey]

I've just looked at this for a number of cars & decided that PCP wasn't for me personally. The benefit is that it allows you access to higher value\cost cars at a more affordable monthly payment. The downside is that you are paying interest on the total sum including the GFV (guaranteed future value). There's no problem taking it over a shorter term - say 2 years, but for each car there will be a point where the slip in it's residual value kind of dictates the monthly cost.. for example I was looking at a new jag XKR - a term of 30 months was much better than 36 months simply because it was worth substantially more at that point via the GFV.

When talking to BMW about a second hand M6, they started at 7.5% flat (14-15% APR) & within about 2 minutes had come down to 4% (~8% approx) just because I said that stratstone are doing some fab deals at the moment. Of course each 'quote' is variable to the car & your personal circumstances.

PCP is great if you want to control your monthly costs, decide your budget & stick to it.. they are remarkably flexible. Don't forget it's not just the rate thats negotiable. the cost of the car initially & any trade in, AND the GFV all have a dramatic effect - haggle on those too.

a normal car loan will reduce your total costs over the term but will end up more to pay monthly.

Cash is great, if you have it (obviously).

One thing I would say is getting PCP & planning to cut & run in the middle is pretty much going to lose you money. Think of it as an emergency get out rather than "I can change it when ever I want" - they'll probably get you one way or another.

Ahhh well that's my 2 cents.. hopefully it's of use. I'm happy to be corrected on any of the above

A

[mickys]

my main reason for finance is that I don't want £25K sat on my drive..

so after all this, what is a descent APR rate ?

10%... 12% ??

it is now been done over 2 years instead of 4

thanks

mickys

[ian in lancs]

BMW seem to have flexibility in their interest rates - as do most places; negotiate! All I did was searched on the internet for the cheapest finance, took the figures into the dealer and they matched it. In the end my own bank, Lloyds TSB, matched the cheapest finance although their advertised rates were more, so I went with them as they were able to deposit money within 30mins of application! Scarey!

[Deva Link]

Terry Tibbs said:

the only way, that i know of, to have a four year deal then swap after two is through traditional hp
which always seem cheaper than pcp

its the way i've purchased the last four cars, hp over five years reach the magic figure in the contact about 50% or so - return the goods in reasonable condition - no mileage stipulations just return them in good condition

Does it not impact your credit rating if you do this?

Terry Tibbs said:

i have also been told that you can do that with leasing, hand i back after 30 months or so but i've no idea if this is correct

Not sure about personal leasing but you certainly can't just hand back a car leased by a business - they normally expect payment to the end of the lease.

[Deva Link]

mickys said:

my main reason for finance is that I don't want £25K sat on my drive..

so after all this, what is a descent APR rate ?

10%... 12% ??

it is now been done over 2 years instead of 4

thanks

mickys

It's hard to tell if you're looking at PCP as the deposit and final value figures affect the APR. Also bear in mind that over £25K is an unregulated deal, so you don't have the same level of consumer protection as sub-£25K deals.

[bennno]

mickys said:

my main reason for finance is that I don't want £25K sat on my drive..

so after all this, what is a descent APR rate ?

10%... 12% ??

it is now been done over 2 years instead of 4

thanks

mickys

if you had the politeness to read the many responses you have had below it would be clear you need to borrow less than 25k and should be able to obtain a rate of less than 10%. I put how to achieve this in my post below for you.

Bennno

[MitchT]

mickys said:

Hi guys - just trying to get an feel of what a good to reasonable deal would be on PCP for a £25K car - so far the dealer has offered me a deal over 4 years at what seems to be an apr of 13.8% which I think is high ?

Is this negotiable or a fixed rate at any BMW dealer ?

I'd say it's negotiable. When I bought mine over eight years ago I got the finance down from 15.1% to 9.2%. With hindsight I may have done better at the bank but I was young and naive. These days I wouldn't touch a loan with a bargepole when buying a car. If I don't have enough of the folding stuff I'll wait until I do.

[Donut]

with the market the way it is, to buy a car with your savings and not on chucky with a GFV is, well daft but hey I've only been doing it for 12 years and I'm half way through the 2nd bottle of red!

[Terry Tibbs]

Donut said:

I'm half way through the 2nd bottle of red!

lucky you
some of us were sat for hours on the highways and byways of this sceptered isle trying to get back , still one was able to extol the full virtues of performance and continue the good name of BMW drivers throughout the land

[Donut]

Terry Tibbs said:

Donut said:

I'm half way through the 2nd bottle of red!

lucky you
some of us were sat for hours on the highways and byways of this sceptered isle trying to get back , still one was able to extol the full virtues of performance and continue the good name of BMW drivers throughout the land