Claiming money for car repairs from dealer - car under 3 months old

ukwonderwoman

Hi there,

I'm new to this forum and wanted to get people's advice on a problem I am experiencing.

Ill try to keep this short however there has been lots of problems. I purchased a BMW 1 series, 2.0 litre, 09 plate 50,000 miles for £8,150 from a dealer. I was supplied with a 24 month warranty. I paid cash for the car.

All seemed well until about a month after purchase when I made a visit to a shopping centre and left the car park via spiral ramp the brake pedal went hard and I had to slam the brakes on. I went through warranty and got the problem covered for a total of £486 vacuum pump had failed.

Next problem I'm driving on a 80 mile journey and the engine management light comes on and the car is driving horrendously, I visit a bmw specialist who tells me I have a timing chain issue and special tools will be needed to complete the job. I then called the dealer to inform him and he told me to tow the car to the garage that fixed my brake pedal and go through the warranty as before. He didn't want to help me with problem at all.

I did this and diagnosed with timing chain slack and has jumped - total cost £990 warranty company will cover £660. After further inspection the timing chain has caused more damage making the total cost £1800 with the warranty company only offering £600. Leaving me with a bill of £1200

The dealer offered me £90 towards the initial repair bill when the original bill was £990 so I haven't even bothered asking him for a contribution to the new repair amount. The dealer said he wudnt offer anything else because I should have gone to a 'normal' garage. Which is ridiculous I feel as the problem can only be fixed with special tools this a timing chain engine issue. There's no way a standard garage at £40 labour would be able to do this. Plus I want the job done correctly.

Where do I stand with this problem? I have the original advertisment where the dealer is stating that no money will have to be spent on this vehicle and that it is a top example of this model of car. The car is 5 years old and hasn't done extensive mileage this type of issue should not be happening. It has had two major problems and I've only owned the car since August 2014.

Sorry for the long post!!

Thanks

sheramber

seems this is a known problem

ther are several hits on Google for 'BMW timing chain fault'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/23p5j5wzPtYflS7kFvmKVZf/bmw-deny-engine-failures-are-due-to-manufacturing-fault

http://prestige-german-engines.co.uk/engine-issues/bmw-timing-chain-failure/

bris

You should have mitigated you loss by getting the best possible price.


To say no other garages can do the job right is just silly, the tools aren't exclusive to BMW nor is their expertise.


The judge will want proof you mitigated the loss and as the dealer is aware of this he will use it in court.


The other thing you needed to do was give him a chance to put it right in writing so you have a paper trail for the judge, by just getting the dearest place on earth to sort it, it hasn't helped your case.

ukwonderwoman

bris wrote: »

You should have mitigated you loss by getting the best possible price.


To say no other garages can do the job right is just silly, the tools aren't exclusive to BMW nor is their expertise.


The judge will want proof you mitigated the loss and as the dealer is aware of this he will use it in court.


The other thing you needed to do was give him a chance to put it right in writing so you have a paper trail for the judge, by just getting the dearest place on earth to sort it, it hasn't helped your case.

Firstly the car is not repaired so the problem is not 'sorted' I simply have had the problem diagnosed and have a quote to fix.

Secondly the dealer did not want to help me at all when I first told him about the problem....he told me to take it to where I had my brake pedal fixed. He did not offer to repair the problem. I was infact 80 miles from his garage - not one suggestion of helping me out.

And lastly a normal garage will not have the tools to fix this problem.
I first took the car to a bmw specialist near to where I was at the time and he did not have the correct tools to do such a big job He said that this needed to be taken to the main dealer. I got the car towed 80 miles and tried the second bmw garage which was the garage that fixed the brake pedal problem and he said that he has the tools to complete this job. The dealer who sold me the car did not offer to repair the car for me he was happy to ignore the problem.

visidigi

ukwonderwoman wrote: »

Firstly the car is not repaired so the problem is not 'sorted' I simply have had the problem diagnosed and have a quote to fix.

Secondly the dealer did not want to help me at all when I first told him about the problem....he told me to take it to where I had my brake pedal fixed. He did not offer to repair the problem. I was infact 80 miles from his garage - not one suggestion of helping me out.

And lastly a normal garage will not have the tools to fix this problem.
I first took the car to a bmw specialist near to where I was at the time and he did not have the correct tools to do such a big job He said that this needed to be taken to the main dealer. I got the car towed 80 miles and tried the second bmw garage which was the garage that fixed the brake pedal problem and he said that he has the tools to complete this job. The dealer who sold me the car did not offer to repair the car for me he was happy to ignore the problem.

Get in touch with BMW, if it has a full service history.

If its the N47 the Timing Chain failure is a known issue, due to poor materials used in the sprockets, but BMW are doing their usual and not doing a recall.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/23p5j5wzPtYflS7kFvmKVZf/bmw-deny-engine-failures-are-due-to-manufacturing-fault

If you've got service history you should get goodwill on getting it resolved, maybe even the difference between garage and warranty cost.