2018 M3 ZCP Arrived! The Good & the Worst

[Wichard20]

Usually the towing company is liable if they do not make note of the damage prior to pickup. If the dealership waived or did not get a carrier that was insured, that is on them to make right.

[doug_999]

soulcrft - this whole thing makes me sick. I'm sorry you have to go through this.

I am however curious why the dealer is not stepping up and just taking care of this. They offered to deliver the car (assuming they wanted it sold by the end of the month and that helped them not you) and it came damaged. To me, it is 100% on them to make right - if they have an issue with the truck driver, that's their issue, not yours.

Have you considered a quick email to the BBB? That tends to go a long long way. Also I saw that someone was offering some legal help here as well - I would take them up on that.

This should not be on you and no new car delivery should go like this. Yea, its just a car -a really expensive one and you don't deserve this crap.

[sjuhawks19]

I had to get my car repaired after I hit a deer (or the deer hit me more accurately). New bumper, grill, fender, and hood. The collision center matched the color exactly (black sapphire metallic). If you find a reputable shop you should have no issues at all with the paint job.

Secondly, I've had really nothing but great service from my BMW dealer. They scratched one of my wheels when swapping tires once, called me and said we're replacing your wheel with a brand new wheel, and apologized. They told me before I even came to pick the care up. That's service. I came from Audi and had the exact opposite experience. Awful experience when my transmission needed to be replaced.

Lastly, damn that sahkir orange is gorgeous. I went back and forth on that color before I got my M3. Absolutely stunning, enjoy it!

[kyrix1st]

Did your car get shafted?

[04cobra]

Have you taken it to a detailer to get looked at? From what I can see, i would be able to get most of those scratches out. Also, I am not talking about a $200 full detail shop...but a legit one.

I recommend posting on Obsessed Garage facebook site, they are the OCD of OCD of OCD clean car group and should easily be able to assist you.

[M3GymNut]

[/QUOTE]

Are those pics in F.I.U.?

[soulcrft]

Originally Posted by M3GymNut

Are those pics in F.I.U.?[/QUOTE]

Naw, up in Broward.

[Ibiza]

Originally Posted by cionide

As for if it's the dealership or the delivery company responsible, if the dealership chose and hired that delivery company it's their responsibilty. The customer is not a side in the contract for that company to deliver the car to that location.

Dealership would be a named party if this required litigation under the premise of viscous liability. Would be best to resolve without lawyering up, as that would costs thousands in attorney fees. Unless there is a claim under FL law which allows the customer to recover legal fees, each party is responsible for their costs.

[cionide]

Write reviews on their fb, their google maps entry, yelp, etc. They'll quickly decide the $100 it will cost THEM to paint the panel is worth it.

[soulcrft]

Originally Posted by Ibiza

Dealership would be a named party if this required litigation under the premise of viscous liability. Would be best to resolve without lawyering up, as that would costs thousands in attorney fees. Unless there is a claim under FL law which allows the customer to recover legal fees, each party is responsible for their costs.

Yes, my attorney advised me on the matter and you are correct.

The dealer will indeed take care of the damage on the vehicle. They will most likely repaint which I'm not crazy about. I don't trust they will do it right and then play the back and forth game or worse, damage something else in the process. You know how it goes. I'm sooo over this already. I'll know better next time.

Besides that I've been enjoying the car.

[moomeacow]

so what dealer was it? i live here in south florida I couldn't find 1 dealership to give me a good price on an m3 when I bought mine. everyone wanted to charge me a 800 dollar doc fee. I called the whole state, ended up ordering out of state and shipping it to SC to do the delivery thing. I would definitely have refused that, until they made it right.

[soulcrft]

Originally Posted by moomeacow

so what dealer was it? i live here in south florida I couldn't find 1 dealership to give me a good price on an m3 when I bought mine. everyone wanted to charge me a 800 dollar doc fee. I called the whole state, ended up ordering out of state and shipping it to SC to do the delivery thing. I would definitely have refused that, until they made it right.

Starts with a B.
I'm not doing the Florida thing again thats for sure and will think long and hard before having a car delivered. Live and learn.

[moomeacow]

Originally Posted by soulcrft

Starts with a B.
I'm not doing the Florida thing again thats for sure and will think long and hard before having a car delivered. Live and learn.

lol Braman, I just had my rotors and brakes replaced there. Service has been great though but I always buy my sa and mechanic lunch when I bring my car in. I always go to the same dealer. its better to treat people who fix your car nicer, also people who touch your food.

[soulcrft]

So after going over this situation with my lawyer, he advised me it was not worth going through the hassle and the dealer did agree to have a look and fix it. What “fixing” means is up for grabs. They did mention spot painting? Not sure if this is a good thing.

Anyways, I'm basically over it. I decided not to have the panels resprayed and risk making things worse. I just don't trust them. Plus, I already got another scratch on the bumper and a chip on the edge of the door ( My fault, kind of)

So I'm just going to enjoy the car. In the meantime I used Dr. ColorChip to try to relieve my obsession with the scratch on the door since this is the most noticeable one. Not bad. I can see why it works best on rock chips.

For those who are interested, here is the whole story:

Dealer offered to deliver the car free of charge. They offered it. I never asked. The reason was because I couldn't take the car that day. Overall the service was good although the Sales Manager was a bit of an A-hole but whatever. Deal was not great but got to where I wanted and it was the best I was going to get here in Florida. Partly dealers here and partly me being bad at this stuff.

The day of delivery as the car is being unloaded from a third party towing truck, I notice the scratch and tell them I refuse the delivery. I call and of course the SA and CA are too busy. I proceed to call BMW Client Relations. Just to see what could be done. At this point I'm calm. Listen, sh!t happens. I get it.

After about 15 minutes the A-Hole Sales manager calls me back. I tell him the situation and tell him I can't take the car like this, what can we do. This is what he tells me:

“Well, sorry but you signed for the car it's yours. I can't help you.”

I would have been fine if he would have said, ok send it back or bring it back later. I tell him I'm going to call BMW and he says:

“You can call whoever you want”

So I go inside my house livid to call my lawyer. I think, sh!t let me offer the tow truck guy some water. It was hot out and he is sitting there. As I come outside, the tow truck guy had parked the car in the middle of the parking lot and was leaving. I flag him down and says I was told to park it and leave.

At this point, you can image... Anyways, the SA calls me and is apologizing for his sales manager and tells me to bring it back at the 1200 mi service and they would look at it. He then tells me he had to pay out of his own pocket to have the car delivered by the towing company because the company truck broke down.

I call BMW to file a complaint and apparently they call the General Manager.
A few minutes later, another sales manager calls me and tells me to bring in the car. At this point I'm furious. I wasn't even mad at the scratch on the car. It was the attitude and the way the A-hole sales manager treated the situation. I just signed for a $85K car. I'm not expecting the red carpet treatment but wow. I guess I was more disappointed in the way they washed their hands after the sale. I really didn't expect that from a BMW dealership but I now know better.

I later spoke with my lawyer and he said he could go after them but it really wasn't worth it for an $800 repair. He was right. I realized it wasn't about the scratch anymore but about being wronged. How dare they do this to me after buying an $85k car from them . I'm also mad that I should have known better. I'm a total pessimist. Something told me not to have the car delivered. But I was wowed by the service. Oh man, I've never had a car delivered to me. Anyways, I blame myself for a lot of this and at the end of the day it's a dumb scratch that was going to happen sooner or later living in the city. Especially living in Miami.

I emailed the sales manager about three weeks ago asking about taking the car in and a few other questions. I still haven't heard back...

Anyways, I'm sure there are people who have had a great experience with them and I'm sure there are some good, honest people working there. Unfortunately, I did not deal with them. Therefore, I'm done with Braman Motorcars of West Palm Beach. Funny enough as I wrote this, I got and email from them offering a 10% discount on installed parts.

[LukeM15]

Ouch that sucks.
Congrats on the car either way!

[MFNATIK]

Damn, why are Florida BMW dealers so bad?! Is it the weather? The water?

[carbon916]

Just read the whole thread and I could only imagine how furious you were as I would have been the same (craziness) .... I can say I just bought my GF a used 430i sight unseen from Ferman BMW (Palm Harbor) - had it delivered to GA about a week or so ago and couldn't be happier with the experience and how they treated us (having never met in person) and the car was even better then they described and in the pix ... can't speak to service, etc. but that dealership really made the entire sales experience painless.

[2011zx10R]

Originally Posted by moomeacow

lol Braman, I just had my rotors and brakes replaced there. Service has been great though but I always buy my sa and mechanic lunch when I bring my car in. I always go to the same dealer. its better to treat people who fix your car nicer, also people who touch your food.

Originally Posted by moomeacow

lol Braman, I just had my rotors and brakes replaced there. Service has been great though but I always buy my sa and mechanic lunch when I bring my car in. I always go to the same dealer. its better to treat people who fix your car nicer, also people who touch your food.

OP hope all works out; amazing car!

Yes!

Definitely connect with the techs that will work on your car. When I go to VW for my GTI I occasionally buy breakfast, lunch. Low and behold I had a clutch go bad prematurely. Would of cost me $1500+ they covered no problem.

I have not had any service with BMW so we will see.

All the best with M3 OP👍🏾

[shiv.nandak]

Originally Posted by SushiM3

Dealing with BMW dealerships is an absolute nightmare compared to other luxury car dealers. Recently switched from audi. I was treated vastly better at Audi dealers with my 30k audi than I am at BMW dealers with my 90k m3. I’ve heard the same stories from many others as well.

I think it depends on the dealer. My friend has the exact opposite experience. He finds the local Audi dealer very stingy and difficult to deal with. The BMW dealer on the other hand has gone above and beyond for him. For example, they replaced all 4 wheels because they scratched one wheel. They also replaced tail lights for a small crack (which was most likely caused by something hitting it).

[NightHawk_55]

Yelp, Google Review and anything else you can bash them on. Mistakes happen all the time but to treat a customer like that is unacceptable.

[MN2///M]

OP,
So sorry for your bad experience.

For what it is worth, the paint can be matched very well by a competent body shop. My car took a rock on the left front fender during European Delivery, repaired by VPC and I defy anyone to tell the difference.

Later, rear bumper got hit in a parking lot by another car and had to be replaced...perfect match by a shop specializing in BMW that I have used over the years.

BMW NA will do what they can to help you if the dealer is not responding; stay on them. Like everything there are good and bad dealers.

My X5 had the Xpel on the hood damaged by a less than careful car-wash tech using a hot water pressure washer. My wife picked the SUV up and drove it home...I'm like what happend to the hood? She knew nothing about it as she did not look the car over when she picked it up. Immediately took a picture, emailed it to my SA and called him. He was like so sorry, I should have noticed it, let us know how you want to take care of it.

I've been doing business with this dealership for over 10 years and they just understand the value of happy customers.

Small claims court is also an option that probably will only cost you $100.

Best of luck.

[khanyam4]

thanks for the synopsis of the ur unfortnate situation. U seem like me when it comes to being anal of about the car as well as you should be it's an expensive car. Just like most business it's profit over people. As long as they can make a sale F the principles. I hope those clowns at the bmw dealership take the opportnity to make it right for you.