Consumer rights - Dead BMW within 6 years

sdpoo

Dear fellow money-savers,

I am seeking some opinions on my rights with regards to my car.

A few weeks back my car (a 2003 BMW 320d) suffered turbo failure. This is very common on this model, apparently largely due to the design of a 'breather' filter on the engine that is clogged easily but not included on the service schedule.

Whilst I was displeased at having to pay out over £1,000 to have my turbo replaced I did so. Since fitting the turbo the car still won't start. I have now paid a BMW dealer £200 for a full diagnosis and have found there is no compression on the engine - i.e. the engine is knackered. This had been caused by the turbo failure. The engine is going to cost £6-8k if BMW do the work, or a further £2,000 for a used engine from a generic garage.

BMW designed a new style of 'breather' filter a couple of years back that is more reliable, yet they don't admit liability.

I am hoping that under English law I am entitled to a free repair as the car has been fully serviced (mostly at BMW), the fault is a very common one and BMW have changed the design of a couple of components since 2003 to improve the reliability. Surely a £25k car should be built to last more than 6 years/108,000 miles?

I bought the car for just under £10,000 18 months or so ago. The car was just under 6 years old when it happened and had done 108,000 miles with 6 service stamps (first 5 BMW dealers).

Any advice? Has anyone ever dealt with BMW "goodwill"?

vikingaero

I've personally found BMW goodwill to be poor. You need to ask your dealer to pursue a goodwill claim. It's going to be tough because it sounds like the last service wasn't at a main dealer.

The car will have been provided with a 3 year warranty from new which has expired. Realistically I think your chances are slim. The car is 6 years old and on it's way to banger status.

sdpoo

Thanks for sharing your experiences with BMW goodwill . Hopefully the law still falls in my favour?

I also resent the 'banger status' comment :P

Ionkontrol

Have a look on http://www.bmwland.co.uk/talker/viewtopic.php?t=5345.

You are not alone.

dacouch

Have a peak on honest johns website as this is the sort of thing they will already have covered or will be good at answering

moonrakerz

sdpoo wrote: »

A few weeks back my car (a 2003 BMW 320d) suffered turbo failure.

There are many causes of turbo failure - most of them driver induced. I think your chances of "goodwill" range from pretty slim to zero.

goldspanners

how did the turbo failing cause the engine too loose compression?
is there any chance the fault was mis diagnosed in the first place?

tomstickland

Maybe bits went into the engine?

gilbert_and_sullivan

Did the inlet manifold split open and allow the swirl flaps to enter the engine, or did the turbo disintegrate and allow the same result?

It sounds like a possibility, i can't understand why the turbo was changed without full diagnosis, was this by a BMW dealer, or someone else guessing whats wrong?

BMW will offer goodwill up to 100K if the vehicle has full BMW service history, but usually above that mileage you're scuppered, and it seems the car in question had a service out of BM dealer net.

Sounds like you'd best be trying to locate an engine from a crashed vehicle.

Bad luck really, it seems the cars produced 04 onwards had a modified inlet manifold, if you read the BMWland forums you'll find many owners invest the £500 or so in new inlet manifolds for peace of mind.

As an aside i wouldn't dream of allowing my cars to cover 100K with only 5 or 6 services, absolute neglect IMO, not blaming the OP here he's an innocent victim, it seems quite normal to have such long service intervals, little wonder things go wrong so drastically.
My own cars have NEVER covered over 5000 miles without an oil and filter change, and they never will.

harveybobbles

Very common problem, but the breathers, as pointed out aint a "service item". Which is annoying. As a precaution we replace them around 60,000 miles. We did one turbo, then it blew again. Then we learnt about the breathers.

The same story can be said about Audi UK and their !!!!!! CVT boxes that they stopped making a few years ago cos they too were a crap design and had to have work done on them regulary that wasn't part of the service schedule and didn't get done unless you asked...

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

As an aside i wouldn't dream of allowing my cars to cover 100K with only 5 or 6 services, absolute neglect IMO, not blaming the OP here he's an innocent victim, it seems quite normal to have such long service intervals, little wonder things go wrong so drastically.
My own cars have NEVER covered over 5000 miles without an oil and filter change, and they never will.

There's little difference between a good fully synthetic oil at 6,000 miles and at 15,000 miles. 6,000 miles is a mineral oil interval, and unnecessary in this day and age. Oil filters are good for well in excess of 20,000 miles.

You really are wasting your money if you're doing a 6,000 service interval on anything but a classic car.