Sytner Harold Wood Being Funny With Warranty
Discussion
I have a BMW comprehensive warranty on my car which has been used before and its paid out (with some haggling).
Now I think I have a blown chargepipe on my 335i which is why I took it in to BMW.
Upon inspection they have found an oil leak at the back of the engine (they fixed the rocker cover gasket and oil filter housing less than 1 year ago under warranty), gearbox oil leak and diff oil leak.
They don't think my chargepipe has blown but its the AC pump (makes no sense as I dont have AC on but the whooshing noise is always there) so they want to tear it down and investigate.
They told me not everything is covered under warranty which going by the policy book is just not true.
They want me to pay for investigations into the issues and if it is something covered by warranty they will refund me, my argument is - everything bar a few bits like handles, brakes etc are covered so why should I pay? I haven't before.
Furthermore they asked to see my policy booklet which I sent along with a screenshot of what isnt covered and clearly it denotes all highlighted issues are covered.
They just emailed me a quote of £99 for investigation and £1780 for repair.
It has full BMWSH so I don't get why they are being funny/cryptic.
Whats my best course of action?
Now I think I have a blown chargepipe on my 335i which is why I took it in to BMW.
Upon inspection they have found an oil leak at the back of the engine (they fixed the rocker cover gasket and oil filter housing less than 1 year ago under warranty), gearbox oil leak and diff oil leak.
They don't think my chargepipe has blown but its the AC pump (makes no sense as I dont have AC on but the whooshing noise is always there) so they want to tear it down and investigate.
They told me not everything is covered under warranty which going by the policy book is just not true.
They want me to pay for investigations into the issues and if it is something covered by warranty they will refund me, my argument is - everything bar a few bits like handles, brakes etc are covered so why should I pay? I haven't before.
Furthermore they asked to see my policy booklet which I sent along with a screenshot of what isnt covered and clearly it denotes all highlighted issues are covered.
They just emailed me a quote of £99 for investigation and £1780 for repair.
It has full BMWSH so I don't get why they are being funny/cryptic.
Whats my best course of action?
Edited by Sohaib-ijiiv on Tuesday 10th September 14:59
Is the £1700-odd the cost they’re saying you have to pickup? How’s that broken down?
I just had mine in for a bad vibration on start and also a worse vibration at low revs/high load when on the move. They said I’d have to pay an investigation fee for that.
The day before it went in I got EML and it needed all new injectors (again) and they have to change sparks at the same time. I had to pickup the cost of the sparks despite them only being 5k miles old. I tried arguing that the sparks only needed doing again due to the injectors but they wouldn’t budge.
On return, total cost I had to pay was my excess (£100) and about £80 for spark plugs.
The vibration issues remain unfixed as does an oil leak (which they haven’t fixed in over 5 years) and I’ve been told I’ll have to pay an investigation fee when it goes back in, despite being a continuation of the same problem.
This is Snows rather than Sytner but sharing to say the investigation fee seems normal as does them charging for parts they claim are not directly related to the specific fault and are more incidental. This is despite the warranty saying otherwise, I think.
Be good to see that breakdown of costs..
I just had mine in for a bad vibration on start and also a worse vibration at low revs/high load when on the move. They said I’d have to pay an investigation fee for that.
The day before it went in I got EML and it needed all new injectors (again) and they have to change sparks at the same time. I had to pickup the cost of the sparks despite them only being 5k miles old. I tried arguing that the sparks only needed doing again due to the injectors but they wouldn’t budge.
On return, total cost I had to pay was my excess (£100) and about £80 for spark plugs.
The vibration issues remain unfixed as does an oil leak (which they haven’t fixed in over 5 years) and I’ve been told I’ll have to pay an investigation fee when it goes back in, despite being a continuation of the same problem.
This is Snows rather than Sytner but sharing to say the investigation fee seems normal as does them charging for parts they claim are not directly related to the specific fault and are more incidental. This is despite the warranty saying otherwise, I think.
Be good to see that breakdown of costs..
cgauk said:
Is the £1700-odd the cost they’re saying you have to pickup? How’s that broken down?
I just had mine in for a bad vibration on start and also a worse vibration at low revs/high load when on the move. They said I’d have to pay an investigation fee for that.
The day before it went in I got EML and it needed all new injectors (again) and they have to change sparks at the same time. I had to pickup the cost of the sparks despite them only being 5k miles old. I tried arguing that the sparks only needed doing again due to the injectors but they wouldn’t budge.
On return, total cost I had to pay was my excess (£100) and about £80 for spark plugs.
The vibration issues remain unfixed as does an oil leak (which they haven’t fixed in over 5 years) and I’ve been told I’ll have to pay an investigation fee when it goes back in, despite being a continuation of the same problem.
This is Snows rather than Sytner but sharing to say the investigation fee seems normal as does them charging for parts they claim are not directly related to the specific fault and are more incidental. This is despite the warranty saying otherwise, I think.
Be good to see that breakdown of costs..
I see you've got a N53. What are the approximate dates of your last 3 injector swaps? Wondering if you've had to replace latest index 11 injectors. Seems surprising that you've had 5 sets (other thread) which bring my post back round on topic, I wonder how much value the warranty is if the dealer is unwilling / incompetent or a bit of both..I just had mine in for a bad vibration on start and also a worse vibration at low revs/high load when on the move. They said I’d have to pay an investigation fee for that.
The day before it went in I got EML and it needed all new injectors (again) and they have to change sparks at the same time. I had to pickup the cost of the sparks despite them only being 5k miles old. I tried arguing that the sparks only needed doing again due to the injectors but they wouldn’t budge.
On return, total cost I had to pay was my excess (£100) and about £80 for spark plugs.
The vibration issues remain unfixed as does an oil leak (which they haven’t fixed in over 5 years) and I’ve been told I’ll have to pay an investigation fee when it goes back in, despite being a continuation of the same problem.
This is Snows rather than Sytner but sharing to say the investigation fee seems normal as does them charging for parts they claim are not directly related to the specific fault and are more incidental. This is despite the warranty saying otherwise, I think.
Be good to see that breakdown of costs..
eybic said:
With regards to having to pay for the diagnostics, this is perfectly normal. How do they know at this stage that it's not down to you causing the problem rather than it failing and being covered by warranty??
It really isn't. It really is super simple. There is a fault with the car, there is a warranty on the car - the car goes in and diagnostics are done under warranty.
Chamon_Lee said:
eybic said:
With regards to having to pay for the diagnostics, this is perfectly normal. How do they know at this stage that it's not down to you causing the problem rather than it failing and being covered by warranty??
It really isn't. It really is super simple. There is a fault with the car, there is a warranty on the car - the car goes in and diagnostics are done under warranty.
Hypothetically speaking you take the car in with a noise coming from the engine bay, car is covered under warranty so no investigation charge is passed on.
On investigation, it's found to be caused by a screen wash cap not being done up correctly and falling into the engine bay. Is the manufacturer going to pay for the technician's time because it's covered by warranty? No of course not, is the owner of the car going to pay £95 after being told not to worry as it's covered under warranty? No.
A car is taken into a dealership with a noise coming from the rear, it's under warranty so the customer doesn't get told that they need to pay for diagnosis. On investigation it's found to have been caused by a stone stuck behind the dust shield, is the manufacturer going to pay for the technician's time to find it? No of course not, is the customer? No because they were told it's covered under warranty.
This is why the customer pays for diagnosis and then is refunded if the issue is covered by warranty.
Contact the warranty people direct if there’s any issue with a dealer. They are well adversed in adjudicating and reminding dealers what is covered or so they tell me.
But they will say as others here agree that you would stump up for diagnostics if it didn’t turn out to be a warranty issue.
But as said a whole lot is covered , so I hope it can be sorted quickly.
But they will say as others here agree that you would stump up for diagnostics if it didn’t turn out to be a warranty issue.
But as said a whole lot is covered , so I hope it can be sorted quickly.
Smuler said:
Contact the warranty people direct if there’s any issue with a dealer. They are well adversed in adjudicating and reminding dealers what is covered or so they tell me.
But they will say as others here agree that you would stump up for diagnostics if it didn’t turn out to be a warranty issue.
But as said a whole lot is covered , so I hope it can be sorted quickly.
Agree about the diagnostic fee but as the dealer had provided a quote I'd assumed they have diagnosed the fault!But they will say as others here agree that you would stump up for diagnostics if it didn’t turn out to be a warranty issue.
But as said a whole lot is covered , so I hope it can be sorted quickly.
Allianz are very helpful
bmwmike said:
I see you've got a N53. What are the approximate dates of your last 3 injector swaps? Wondering if you've had to replace latest index 11 injectors.
Good question! I’ll google how to check (seem to remember seeing something about removing engine cover and looking at the bits poking out the end!) and post on the other thread for future reference.I had a similar argument with another dealer when my Z4M engine started misfiring at about 25000 miles, under an AUC warranty.
They kept telling me that the issue would be covered by warranty, but they'd not found the cause yet and asked my permission to carry on diagnosing the fault. Of course I said yes, as they'd told me the diagnostic charges would be claimed from BMW.
A week later they told me they hadn't been able to find the fault, but BMW had agreed to replace the full engine instead.
So I was a bit surprised to be asked for a £3000 contribution to the diagnostics they'd carried out when BMW had told them their over 40 hours of diagnostics, and part swapping to identify the cause was excessive...no s
t Sherlock!
However, BMW GB wasn't the slightest bit interested in the dispute (or the fact that the BMW Assist technician who came to check the car over when it first started misfiring simply sat there for 45 minutes, bouncing it off the rev limiter trying to clear the fault) - and told me to sort it out directly with the dealer.
Didn't pay it in the end, but was threatened with the police when I told them I'd simply turn up one day with the spare key in hand and drive the car off.
They kept telling me that the issue would be covered by warranty, but they'd not found the cause yet and asked my permission to carry on diagnosing the fault. Of course I said yes, as they'd told me the diagnostic charges would be claimed from BMW.
A week later they told me they hadn't been able to find the fault, but BMW had agreed to replace the full engine instead.
So I was a bit surprised to be asked for a £3000 contribution to the diagnostics they'd carried out when BMW had told them their over 40 hours of diagnostics, and part swapping to identify the cause was excessive...no s
t Sherlock!However, BMW GB wasn't the slightest bit interested in the dispute (or the fact that the BMW Assist technician who came to check the car over when it first started misfiring simply sat there for 45 minutes, bouncing it off the rev limiter trying to clear the fault) - and told me to sort it out directly with the dealer.
Didn't pay it in the end, but was threatened with the police when I told them I'd simply turn up one day with the spare key in hand and drive the car off.
OP - the problem you have is that you've taken an e9* with an N54 engine to a BMW franchised dealer. Likelyhood is that, unless they've got a master tech thats been there over 10 years, the numpties working on your car havent been trained on them, seen one, or know about the common faults.
If you think its the charge pipe, just replace it with the parts listed on my other post, itll cost you £175. Then just cancel your warranty, whereby you HAVE to use the muppets at BMW, buy a tool kit/read some guides for the easy bits and find a decent local specialist for the harder ones.
FWIW, every single BMW that has been near a dealership in the past 30 years has had a "leaking rear diff" ... its a nice little money spinner for them im sure
If you think its the charge pipe, just replace it with the parts listed on my other post, itll cost you £175. Then just cancel your warranty, whereby you HAVE to use the muppets at BMW, buy a tool kit/read some guides for the easy bits and find a decent local specialist for the harder ones.
FWIW, every single BMW that has been near a dealership in the past 30 years has had a "leaking rear diff" ... its a nice little money spinner for them im sure
Sir_Dave said:
OP - the problem you have is that you've taken an e9* with an N54 engine to a BMW franchised dealer. Likelyhood is that, unless they've got a master tech thats been there over 10 years, the numpties working on your car havent been trained on them, seen one, or know about the common faults.
If you think its the charge pipe, just replace it with the parts listed on my other post, itll cost you £175. Then just cancel your warranty, whereby you HAVE to use the muppets at BMW, buy a tool kit/read some guides for the easy bits and find a decent local specialist for the harder ones.
FWIW, every single BMW that has been near a dealership in the past 30 years has had a "leaking rear diff" ... its a nice little money spinner for them im sure
You have a very valid point, however since owning the car I have had 2 water pumps, oil filter housing, rocker cover gasket and boost solenoids replaced under warranty.If you think its the charge pipe, just replace it with the parts listed on my other post, itll cost you £175. Then just cancel your warranty, whereby you HAVE to use the muppets at BMW, buy a tool kit/read some guides for the easy bits and find a decent local specialist for the harder ones.
FWIW, every single BMW that has been near a dealership in the past 30 years has had a "leaking rear diff" ... its a nice little money spinner for them im sure
Its saved me a lot of £££ having the warranty vs the trade off of having to jump through hoops every time something does go wrong.
£66 a month isn't bad in the grand scheme of things, its just the dealership is being so ambiguous I have no idea whats going on.
In laymans terms the warranty is comprehensive so everything mechanical & electrical is covered unless its due to user error/mods (there are none).
They are saying it might not be covered by warranty to which my point is, it should be if its the AC pump or charge pipe.
Instead of saying yes or no they just sent through a price for the work asking me to OK it.
I have called 9 times since and haven't been able to speak to a single person.
Called this morning at 8.30am and the service rep was on the other line and I was told I would be called back in 5.
Its now nearly 10.30, no call.
Think I will be changing dealerships.
Update time.
After much running around they have agreed to fix 2 out of 5 issues they spotted under warranty.
Kicker is the parts they need to fix 2 of the issues are out of stock in the UK and on back order in Germany, parts will be made by tomorrow and shipped to them at some point this week.
The other 3 they said I have to bring it back another time which I'm flabbergasted at to be honest as the cars with them and opened up so currently embroiled in sorting that out. They will have the car sitting there for over another week and rather than being proactive and saving time opening it up at another date they would rather do all that work again.
Is it common for dealers to be so funny with warranty claims?
Some say they get paid more for doing warranty work whereas others say they get less?
After much running around they have agreed to fix 2 out of 5 issues they spotted under warranty.
Kicker is the parts they need to fix 2 of the issues are out of stock in the UK and on back order in Germany, parts will be made by tomorrow and shipped to them at some point this week.
The other 3 they said I have to bring it back another time which I'm flabbergasted at to be honest as the cars with them and opened up so currently embroiled in sorting that out. They will have the car sitting there for over another week and rather than being proactive and saving time opening it up at another date they would rather do all that work again.
Is it common for dealers to be so funny with warranty claims?
Some say they get paid more for doing warranty work whereas others say they get less?
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