I'm feeling quite irked right now!
I bought my one-previous-owner BMW 3 series (plug-in hybrid) in January this year from the main dealer in Manchester with a BMW approved used 12 months warranty. I am basically really pleased and satisfied with the car, both driving solo and as a towcar.
However. Since the summer, I've quite regularly had a dash message when entering the car in the morning saying that the electronics didn't shut down correctly and I should start the engine. It's always been fine, no flat battery yet, but it's made me a bit nervous if unused for a few days. So I took it in to my local BMW dealer (in Shropshire) to get it fixed. They tried a couple of things (covered under warranty) but initial hopes were dashed in a few days and over the last month I've been getting the message every day.
So, back to the dealer, to have a more in depth investigation. They did a lot of trim removal and wiring tracing and phoned me after 4 hours of effort to say that they'd found a very well hidden tracking and monitoring device. Not BMW original equipment, and possibly faulty in that it was continuing to draw significant current preventing proper electrical shutdown. Presumably, the car was originally on a business fleet and this was all about driver monitoring. I asked them to remove it, accepting the news that because this was not BMW equipment the work would not be covered by the warranty, and there would be another couple of hours work. Horrendously expensive at main dealer rates, and still very painful after they'd given me some goodwill reduction.
I can conceivably go after the tracker company (who have covered the box in 'property of ...' and 'do not disconnect...' warnings), the first owner of the vehicle (who should have removed the device before selling the car), the selling dealer in Manchester (who would no doubt say that they were unaware of the modification) and maybe another go at the BMW warranty.
I've started, and will let you know how I get on. But also a cautionary tale for other used car buyers since I guess that these fleet management devices, insurance black boxes and so on, are getting more and more common.
I bought my one-previous-owner BMW 3 series (plug-in hybrid) in January this year from the main dealer in Manchester with a BMW approved used 12 months warranty. I am basically really pleased and satisfied with the car, both driving solo and as a towcar.
However. Since the summer, I've quite regularly had a dash message when entering the car in the morning saying that the electronics didn't shut down correctly and I should start the engine. It's always been fine, no flat battery yet, but it's made me a bit nervous if unused for a few days. So I took it in to my local BMW dealer (in Shropshire) to get it fixed. They tried a couple of things (covered under warranty) but initial hopes were dashed in a few days and over the last month I've been getting the message every day.
So, back to the dealer, to have a more in depth investigation. They did a lot of trim removal and wiring tracing and phoned me after 4 hours of effort to say that they'd found a very well hidden tracking and monitoring device. Not BMW original equipment, and possibly faulty in that it was continuing to draw significant current preventing proper electrical shutdown. Presumably, the car was originally on a business fleet and this was all about driver monitoring. I asked them to remove it, accepting the news that because this was not BMW equipment the work would not be covered by the warranty, and there would be another couple of hours work. Horrendously expensive at main dealer rates, and still very painful after they'd given me some goodwill reduction.
I can conceivably go after the tracker company (who have covered the box in 'property of ...' and 'do not disconnect...' warnings), the first owner of the vehicle (who should have removed the device before selling the car), the selling dealer in Manchester (who would no doubt say that they were unaware of the modification) and maybe another go at the BMW warranty.
I've started, and will let you know how I get on. But also a cautionary tale for other used car buyers since I guess that these fleet management devices, insurance black boxes and so on, are getting more and more common.
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