My New Car

Soldato
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Very nice.

I looked at the coupe when looking for my 330D. In the end I settled on the saloon as they tended to be considerably cheaper and better spec'd than the coupe equivalent at that price. The extra , and shorter doors, are also more practical.

Can't deny the coupe looks fantastic though :cool:
 
Soldato
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Hmm i'm following this issue with the 225s with interest. Is the car still under AUC warranty, or is it the monthly/yearly BMW warranty, or neither? Obviously it's a known issue and I'm waiting for it to be flagged on my car, whether its next month or 2 years down the line! Would be interested to see how it's handled.

Cheers

Tom.
Any update?

Yep! Good news.

As the dealership had rung me later on the thursday to tell me BMW had agreed to pay 80% towards the wheel, they rang back on the Friday to sort out card details for the refund, etc. Whilst on the phone we discussed options about rejecting this offer in favour of a full refund. The dealership said accepting the partial refund wouldn’t affect my rights to further refund, so it was best I accept the 80% back now (all they were authorised to do) and then contact BMW customer service myself, as I would get a quicker response. I range BMW CS straight away, quickly explained the situation and with no argument (just had to wait a couple of minutes for a manager to approve the refund) they said they would cover the full cost of the wheel.

Worth bearing in mind that this is all “good will”, at no point did they admit to a fault, etc, despite the wheel passing their own run-out test. The car is under BMW extended warranty (monthly), however I don't think any of the warranties cover wheels and tyres.

Also, I'm still actually waiting for the refunds to go through, they said they had to refund the full amount I paid at the time and then recharge the servicing fee and the 20%. So they'll probably have to do the same trick again to refund to 100%. Obviously its only been a few days, so you wouldnt expect it to be done yet.
 
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Soldato
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There was a BMW warranty thread earlier where someone was worried about wear and tear being excluded. I think this highlights BMW's overall willingness to play fair when they have replaced an item specifically excluded from your warranty despite the car being 4.5 years old. I think if you have been a 'good customer' such as AUC, BMW servicing, extended warranty etc. they are very much inclined to do the best they can.
 
Soldato
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There was a BMW warranty thread earlier where someone was worried about wear and tear being excluded. I think this highlights BMW's overall willingness to play fair when they have replaced an item specifically excluded from your warranty despite the car being 4.5 years old. I think if you have been a 'good customer' such as AUC, BMW servicing, extended warranty etc. they are very much inclined to do the best they can.

Agree to some extent and hope I continue to have the same experience in the future. However, it does appear there is a larger issue with these particular wheels, which has probably forced their hand with the good will. Its just a shame they haven't done something pro-actively about the issue, rather than seemingly sitting back and for the most part ignoring/covering it.
 
Soldato
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Another wheel/tyre related update... car has just turned over 80k miles and was about to have two new rear tyres fitted until the wheel guy discovered a crack on the inner edge of one of the rear wheels (opposite side to previous cracked wheel).

Cue me then running back and forth between BMW and the tyre place and (hopefully temporarily) forking out £550 for a new wheel to get me back on the road.

Interestingly, as I was picking up the new wheel myself, I noticed the new wheel has a completely different internal lip design and banding around the wheel, which the old wheel does not have, so looks like they have definitely revised the design. Hopefully my previous replacement is of this same new design.

The dealership now want £75 to remove the tyre and conduct a run out test, however I have stalled them until tomorrow, whilst I could gather a bit of information, mainly this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/bmw_latest.shtml

which includes quotes from BMW:

BMW's Corporate Communications Manager Wieland Bruch said: “In easy terms, if cracked wheels do not show excessive damage from for example kerbside contact, they will be refunded without further testing."

So hopefully with this they should be able to get in touch with the relevant people and refund me without conducting further testing.
 
Associate
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22 Jan 2005
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West London
Mine goes in for a MOT tomorrow, dreading a call to say it's failed on a cracked alloy.

That's a pivotal quote from their Corporate Manager, I've just saved the bookmark incase of any future disputes.
 
Soldato
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Good luck getting that money back. With your car being on 80k i think theyre going to make it very difficult for you.

Run out test should only be £36. Theyre charging you a lot for it.
 
Soldato
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Good luck getting that money back. With your car being on 80k i think theyre going to make it very difficult for you.

Run out test should only be £36. Theyre charging you a lot for it.

I've had one replaced before only a year ago, when it was on 60k and the wheel is clearly not damaged, so fingers crossed. £75 is 30 mins labour apparently.
 
Soldato
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Went into BMW today to give them my "key read" and turns out there was crossed wires over the phone, there will be no up front charge for the run out testing, I will only be charged £75 if it fails the run out test. If it passes, there will be no charge and the cost of the wheel will be refunded.
 
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