What are my rights with a BMW bought from main dealer

jonathan1980

Hi

I have been doing a lot of reading tonight trying to find out what my rights are in regards to a 2009 BMW i bought in December 2012.

It is a 2009 M3 which had covered 11500 miles when i bought it for £33K. Its now covered 29000 miles. I have had numerous problems with the car which it was going back to the BMW dealer i bought it from initially for repair.

When the warranty ended I started taking the car to the local BMW main dealer and there have been more problems.

Firstly in June the roof would not go down properly and BMW were good enough to cover the cost of repair and the damage it caused even though it was out of warranty.

Then later in June it developed a fault when it just wont start. It will be fine for a few days and then leave you stranded somewhere overnight. Back to the dealer it went and it has been there on & off since. In fact for the past 2 months i have not had it for more than 24 hours!

BMW GB have again been good enough to cover the costs of about £2000 of repairs trying to resolve the starting fault however whilst i am grateful for this gesture, i am still without my car.

Do i have any rights here?

I have been speaking to one person who tells me that i could pursue BMW for a refund as the car is not fit for purpose within 6 years of purchase. Is this right? Seeing as it wont start i guess that would cover 'not fit for purpose'!

Whilst they are seeming willing to get the fault resolved how long should i reasonably allow them to get it fixed? Seeing as they have had it for 2 months is this long enough?

I actually feel quite sorry for the Dealer that is working on the car as they are taking advise from BMW GB and DE - neither of which are getting close to a fix.

I dont know what to do really. The reason i bought an M3 is because i wanted an M3 - not a mini hire car!

Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Jonathan

wealdroam

jonathan1980 wrote: »

I have been speaking to one person who tells me that i could pursue BMW for a refund as the car is not fit for purpose within 6 years of purchase. Is this right?

No, that is not correct.

I imagine the 'six years' comes from the Sale of Goods Act (and Limitations Act), which effectively says that you have the right to pursue the seller for up to six years from the date of the sale.

Note that it is the seller, not BMW, who is responsible under SoGA.

As you have not asked the seller, i.e. the selling BMW dealer, for help in resolving the ongoing problems, you may have difficulty in getting the seller involved now.
When did you stop involving the selling dealership?

Just to add that even if you could get the seller to agree to provide a remedy, that remedy could be either further repairs, a replacement, or refund which can be reduced to take account of the use you have had of the vehicle.
As you cannot insist on a remedy that is disproportionately costly, I would expect the only remedy offered would be further repairs.
In my opinion, you stand no chance whatsoever in getting a full refund.

Ozzuk

If the car had that many issues then you should have extended the warranty. It sounds like BMW are being more than fair but if you aren't getting what you want then do you have a good BMW specialist in the area? I've owned many BMs and only ever took them to a specialist as they seemed a lot more knowledgeable (and much cheaper).

jonathan1980

Hi

Thanks for the replies.

I always used to renew the warranty however over the last three years i had not had a single need to use the warranty and therefore let it expire - big mistake. At least BMW are covering all the costs currently under goodwill.

i have not spoke to the supplying dealer as they were nothing but trouble, each time it went to them it came back with another issue.

As of yesterday the dealer had a techie from BMW head office there and he as spent the past two days trying to find the problem as the dealer has only been replacing parts as advised by head office.

The dealer has told me that if come monday there is no further progress he will fully support me in rejecting the car back to BMW GB as not fit for purpose... In his opinion there is no need to involve the supplying dealer.

Fingers crossed BMW GB are continue to be as helpful as they have been to date...

I will update this post on the eventual outcome.

Cheers

Jonathan

philatio

My advice..
Get rid of it.

agrinnall

I can't believe that BMW are going to accept a 4 year old car back as not fit for purpose, especially as it has successfully covered 29,000 miles. If you are very lucky they may offer to buy the car from you at the trade in value of a good M3 of the same vintage and mileage even though it's probably worth a great deal less given it's chequered history.

jonathan1980

Well i have the car back at last.

The £8,500 bill has been sent to BMW GB for them to pay the dealer directly so all in all i have had a good result.

I will wait until after Christmas and then sell it.