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Comments
firstbmw
Something i tried which also works great is microfiber towels--great for removing excess water and wax that gets missed/left with the regular towels!
dave
John
Also, I have probably asked this before, but where can I find Lexol? Thanks for any info on either of these questions.
2000 miles and the car is in service for wheel alingment.
I love the car but this is very annoying for a $44,000 car to have these problems already.
BMW Xenon headlights adjust to oncoming traffic.
They are worth it.
John
I have the SP and love the seats. It is covered under warranty.
They don't tend to blind other drivers. They have an auto-leveling system which levels the lights each time the car is started then again every 30 seconds (?) as you drive. The lights that are offensive are the fake xenon bulbs that people put in their cars with standard headlights and some of the Japanese HID lights which don't auto-level.
They might be expensive to replace but chances are you'll never have to replace them. There is no filiment to "burn out", just a tube of gas and two electrodes. It works the same way as a neon sign. If it fails, it's probably a power supply or connection problem, not a bad "bulb".
We've had our xenons for a year now and everytime I get into a car without them I think the a headlight has burned out.
Get them. You won't regret it.
Is a Lojack adequate compensation? That's a personal thing. You might want to inquire about the circumstances surrounding the car being in RI. If it got unloaded off the truck mistakenly and has an extra 3 miles on it, then you might look past it. If it has 100-miles when a salesman took it home for the weekend, this might be different.
- Markr
I don't think it's fair that I have to reorder. I had a contract with BMW of Manhattan to buy a new car and they are in breach of contract. I am very disappointed with BMW. I feel like cancelling and buying another brand. This would never happen at a Mercedes dealer.
While you can expect BMW of NA to have some influence over the dealer and to intervene to mediate some sort of satisfaction, your agreement was with the dealer, not with the mfg or importer. Furthermore, if BMW NA was to intervene and pressure the dealer, they could be breaking the law by using their power to influence a private relationship between you and the dealer.
You're getting in a twist about your "contract" with BMW of Manhattan. I doubt you had a legal contract. You probably had a refundable deposit down as most car orders are these days. You could have walked away on the day of delivery. It cuts both ways - you were not bound to buy the car and they were not bound to deliver it.
If you do have a legally binding contract with delivery dates and penalties written in, then you may have a case to bring against them.
You can get all upset about this and make yourself miserable, or you can walk away and get busy getting yourself another car. I'd suggest you move on.
- Mark
I think this is why dealer can not receive non-refundable deposit.
"If my credit is approved and/or I fail to take delivery of the vehicle within five (5) days after I have been notified that it is ready, I understand the cash deposit I have given to you or $500.00, whichever is greater, may be retained to offset your damages."
Second, the dealer is only excused for delays beyond its control:
"I understand that you shall not be liable for delays caused by the manufacturer, accidents, sureties, fires or other causes beyond your control. Provided you promptly place my order with the manufacturer and the manufacturer refuses to accept the order or fails to deliver the vehicle after accepting the order, upon your prompt notification and refund of my deposit, I will not hold you liable and this agreement shall be cancelled."
This does not exclude cases like the dealer sending my car to Rhode Island and having someone drive it for more than 300 miles so that they do not longer have a new car to deliver.
A couple of weeks ago I called BMW of Manhattan and they spent several days saying they could not find my order. They only admitted that I had ordered a car after I faxed them the contract. Then it still took them a couple of days to tell me that the car was arriving. The salesman (Frank Cantavi) then left a message in my answering machine that they "would have a car for me" (notice he said "a" car, not "your" car, the message is still in the machine) in the next few days. Only the next day when I was making arrangements for delivery he casually remarked they would not charge me for the lojack I wanted to install, because the car had been driven more than 300 miles. He also said the car had been "swapped" (!!) and was in Rhode Island. I leave it to your judgment if the exclusions above apply to such bungling by the dealer.
I also wrote to a friend of mine who is a long time BMW owner and who encouraged me to buy a BMW. Here is his answer:
"Unfortunately, I've heard far too many similar stories about BMW dealers (mostly through internet bulletin boards). The answers always seem to come down to the customer being screwed: either take the damaged/wrong goods or wait all over again for what you really want and should have already received. "
Your last message included the word "swapped" which usually means that the dealer did a swap to get the car in RI so that car was never "your car" and was never your dealer's car.
For some reason, your dealer doesn't have YOUR car so they swapped one from their inventory (or allocation) to the other dealer for this car which presumably matches your specs. They didn't let anyone drive your car to RI, they found you a car that was in RI on which someone had already put 300 miles.
The reason why your car didn't come in is anyone's guess. It could have been a mistake made by your dealer in ordering, BMW in Germany, or BMW NA. It could have been damaged in trasit or at the dealership. You need to find out what did happen to YOUR car so that you'll know if it was a mistake made by your dealer, BMW, or if it was an accident. The answer to this question will affect what compensation you can get and from whom.
The language in your contract seems one-sided (towards the dealer) - they have your $500 and can retain it but the only recourse you have is to cancel. I would never should have signed it. In fact, my advice to anyone getting into car deals is that they just ALWAYS make the deposit refundable and hope for the best. In a car purchase, you're dealing with organizations that are generally untrustworthy and the costs of producing and enforcing a legally-binding contract are disproportionate to the significance of the transaction.
But you do have a contract of sorts. Without specific language, it is difficult to determine what "damages" you would claim, but I'm sure a lawyer experienced in these matters might know what is precedent. I suspect that their putting you in the top of their queue for a new car is probably the best you can hope for, but you never know.
As someone else has mentioned, it appears that they never ordered a car for you, or never intended to deliver the car you ordered because they got a better swap with another dealer. This is common. It is unethical, but it happens all the time. I believe you said your salesman left - this is also common and adds another complication. And as already mentioned, you never owned anything other than a promise - they didn't sell "your" car, because they never sold a car to you. The RI car is probably not the car you ordered, it is one they found that is meets your specifications that they hope you'll take.
I'll continue to argue that these sorts of things are dealer issues and have absolutely nothing to do with the brand of car. The luck of the draw is that you'll have a smooth deal on your next car and therefore believe that BMWs deals always go south and Belchfire deals always are fine. It is all anecdotal and it is the dealer that influences how deals go, not the mfg.
Anyway, I STRONGLY suggest you get your money back and walk away. You got screwed, but do you really want to force this dealer into delivering another car for you? The only way I'd consider still doing business with the dealer is to walk onto his lot now, find a car that I liked and that drove perfectly, and see if they'd cut you an invoice or better deal to make up for the problems. Then I'd drive it off the lot and never come back.
Good luck,
- Mark
I have a feeling that the dealership did not order the car and are trying to rectify their mistake by making a swap. I urge you to put the heat on BMW or North America documenting your plight and asking them to get you the car you ordered. Good luck.
I have a feeling that the dealership did not order the car and are trying to rectify their mistake by making a swap. I urge you to put the heat on BMW or North America documenting your plight and asking them to get you the car you ordered. Good luck.
Thanks for any help.
I truly would appreciate any assistence from anyone which would enable me to be driving a New BMW 325xi.
HELP!!
John
1) My deposit was for $1000.00, not $500.00. The contract I signed was the standard for the dealer.
2) I ordered the car on August 19th, the "Estimated Delivery Date" was November 10th.
3) The dealer offered me another new car to replace the one I ordered. He said alternatively I could get one exactly as I ordered, but I would not get it before the end of December.
4) Although the car offered to me had a different color (black) from the one I ordered (silver), I accepted the offer, as i) the car I will receive has more equipment than the one I originally ordered, and will be sold to me for the same price, and ii) I did not want to wait until the end of December to get a car as the one I ordered.
5) At this point I am satisfied with the way BMW of Manhattan dealt with the problem, and I have no complaints. I think they made mistakes, but they corrected them.
6) The pick up date is scheduled for Saturday, November 18th.
Based on my experience I would strongly advise all those who order new cars of any brand from dealers to frequently follow up with the dealer on the status of the car.
Motorwerks up in Barrington were average. Nothing special. Patrick wasn't the best over the phone so I ignored them completely. Don't know much about Perillo and/or Knauz!
I bought my 325i from Dale Dabrowiak of Basney in South Bend, Indiana. Like De Fouw BMW in Lafayette,Indiana, this is a small dealership in a small town with presumably less walk-in traffic than the Chicago stores so they are likely more willing to bend on prices.
My experiences with Basney have been first-rate and the car has been superb.
The only puzzling aspect of my shopping experience was how little follow-up there was from some of the dealerships to try to get my business.
I think because you bought your Bimmer in South Bend, they don't expect you to have your car serviced there. However, you still should have received a followup call from them.
At Fields, I received a $1000 off MSRP on my '99 and this was my first time there at Fields. This car was in big demand last summer and I still received the discount - I waited for over 3 months to pick up my car. Motorwerks said that they would match the $1000 and Jacobs would only give me $500 so I know there was "some" room to bargain with if you call it that. All of the dealers I've worked with said that with such a car in demand they couldn't sell it for wholesale price.
Fields said they would have given me close to wholesale price on a 5-series (my dad was looking for one) but not on the 3-series.
No, we can't tie into the steering wheel controls. You'll need the BMW phone and handsfree kit to do that. What I did use was the BMW's antenna, speaker, and connections for power, ignition, and ground.
The thing with the cheap gas is that when the computer adjusts for the lower octane your mileage drops so much that it's actually cheaper to run the more expensive gasoline!
What is good to clean the wood trim and other interior parts of the car?
What about wax for a black car?
They called it corking instead of bushing. The wheel alingment is an off center steering wheel.
I drove 850 miles in two days. What a great car!
I am still waiting for the shop to call me once they receive the part they ordered for the car to fix the noise problem. Hope I don't have to wait long.
I remembered the BMW dealer (sales manager) that sold me my new 00' 528iA telling me that after I drive the bimmer, I would not want to drive anything else. I did not believe him at first! Now I totally agree with him. BMW makes AWESOME cars - I was considering Lexus GS300 or Audi A6 2.7T when I was carshopping (along with 528i). I am glad I made the right decision. I still get excited every time I step into the "cockpit"!
John
The sound I was hearing at 60 - 80 mph is no longer there all the time. There was never a wheel alingment problem. The driving wheel has to be fixed. Just a bit off to the left.(minor problem) They said a few minutes to be fixed. I never had a test drive with the 320 mercedes.
The car fully loaded would have been a few more thousand than I paid. For that price i would have had the 530.
http://www.wlna.com/vescols.htm
the only driving problem I have encountered is that even with the sports package the ride seems to be to smooth. Every now and than I have to make sure that I am actually on the road.
You will not be sorry if you go ahead and order the 330i
has anyone received a good deal from any of the 4 atlanta dealers (or dealers close in tennesse, south carolina or alabama)? how much over invoice (%) did you pay.
also, are the general readers here seeing better deals by ordering or purchase a vehicle off the dealers lot?
thanks.