BMWSA voided my powertrain warranty, and now won't cover my brake pads because of it

visi107 · 03-10-2019, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G4BR13L

Quote:

Originally Posted by visi107

Question is how are you 'the customer' going to prove whether the tech worked 10 vs 14 hours on a car? The dealership can pretty much charge whatever they want. With BMW they can't because the company knows better.

No under warranty BMW pays the tech for 12 hours of labour whether they need 20 hours or not, you don't pay for stuff under warranty. The same is true for parts, the tech pays for the parts but at a big discount. But if they look for bs reasons to have the customer pay it is obvioudly more profitable for the tech.

I get that, that bmw pays warranty work so bmw has set guidelines - ex they only pay 3 hours worth of labor for a battery change (I'm just making it up).
What I am talking about is when work is done not under warranty. You the customer have no idea how long it takes and aren't powerful enough to set your own rules and you can't really prove anything.

G4BR13L · 03-10-2019, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by visi107

I get that, that bmw pays warranty work so bmw has set guidelines - ex they only pay 3 hours worth of labor for a battery change (I'm just making it up).
What I am talking about is when work is done not under warranty. You the customer have no idea how long it takes and aren't powerful enough to set your own rules and you can't really prove anything.

In Belgium there are some rules to follow for maintenance work such as small maintenance (oil + filter + check-up), big maintenance (all filters + oil + check-up), for replacing brake pads. ... so the customers know how much it will cost. For all other things a quote is given to the customer that you have to sign before they work on your car. Sometimes a quote cannot be given for exotic problems that require diagnostic and analysis, example is oil leaks, issues with motor management, and so on.

55parallelM3 · 03-10-2019, 12:31 PM

Seems like some dealers are the same no matter what brand. I had a similar issue on my old Dodge diesel, took it in for a leaky rad and the service manager came out, looked under the hood, saw that I had deleted the egr etc and flagged my entire warranty without so much a word until they phoned me an hour later! They claimed that my coolant gauge was gone?? Oh you mean the one in the instrument cluster? lol and I also had coolant gauge on chip that pulled from the ecu. Long story short, when I went "down the road" to another dealer, the service advisor there said he would not have done the same, but did say if it caused the issue then his hands were tied which I could accept. Needless to say I did not step foot in there again except to talk with the owner who couldn't care less what I had to say.

JayF80 · 03-11-2019, 01:36 PM

So exactly 2 weeks down the line and I got my car car back. I received a screenshot from a different dealer confirming the Motorplan is suspended. I have attempted to contact BMWSA 3 times regarding the suspended motorplan and at least try make a plea to take Downpipe off and go for a Quality Control Check. (nothing to lose) I haven't received any kind of response. HIGHLY doubt I will achieve anything if I do get through but what's done is done, not going to let this make me lose love for my M3.

The Aftersales Manager also has an M3 that is fully modded. He got his plan cancelled (he despises the motorplan... Ironic?), and said that BMWSA have advised all the dealerships to conduct checks on common hardware modification areas such as downpipe, chargepipe, etc. before doing any work. 'Apparently' if the dealers get caught out claiming for vehicles that have modifications, they get fined $20 000 per vehicle, no matter the modification. Now I don't know how much truth there is to this statement, and I don't know how it differs to BMWNA and the rest, but I do not see why the Aftersales Manager would lie after my plan had already been suspended. What he did say is they don't do thorough checks on ECU and software, so if you are running BootMod3 or JB4 and go back to stock before service, you should be fine - provided the car isn't in for an ECU claim.

In other news, my brakes feel absolutely perfect.
Thanks for all of the replies! Great to learn how BMW handle themselves completely differently across the world.

03-10-2019, 12:31 PM	#47
55parallelM3 Enlisted Member 35 Rep 41 Posts Drives: 2018 M3 Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Grande Prairie iTrader: (0)	Seems like some dealers are the same no matter what brand. I had a similar issue on my old Dodge diesel, took it in for a leaky rad and the service manager came out, looked under the hood, saw that I had deleted the egr etc and flagged my entire warranty without so much a word until they phoned me an hour later! They claimed that my coolant gauge was gone?? Oh you mean the one in the instrument cluster? lol and I also had coolant gauge on chip that pulled from the ecu. Long story short, when I went "down the road" to another dealer, the service advisor there said he would not have done the same, but did say if it caused the issue then his hands were tied which I could accept. Needless to say I did not step foot in there again except to talk with the owner who couldn't care less what I had to say.
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03-11-2019, 01:36 PM	#48
JayF80 New Member 7 Rep 11 Posts Drives: BMW M3 F80 ZCP Join Date: Dec 2018 Location: Johannesburg, ZA iTrader: (0)	So exactly 2 weeks down the line and I got my car car back. I received a screenshot from a different dealer confirming the Motorplan is suspended. I have attempted to contact BMWSA 3 times regarding the suspended motorplan and at least try make a plea to take Downpipe off and go for a Quality Control Check. (nothing to lose) I haven't received any kind of response. HIGHLY doubt I will achieve anything if I do get through but what's done is done, not going to let this make me lose love for my M3. The Aftersales Manager also has an M3 that is fully modded. He got his plan cancelled (he despises the motorplan... Ironic?), and said that BMWSA have advised all the dealerships to conduct checks on common hardware modification areas such as downpipe, chargepipe, etc. before doing any work. 'Apparently' if the dealers get caught out claiming for vehicles that have modifications, they get fined $20 000 per vehicle, no matter the modification. Now I don't know how much truth there is to this statement, and I don't know how it differs to BMWNA and the rest, but I do not see why the Aftersales Manager would lie after my plan had already been suspended. What he did say is they don't do thorough checks on ECU and software, so if you are running BootMod3 or JB4 and go back to stock before service, you should be fine - provided the car isn't in for an ECU claim. In other news, my brakes feel absolutely perfect. Thanks for all of the replies! Great to learn how BMW handle themselves completely differently across the world.
	Appreciate 0 Quote