BMW North America - Horrible Service -Dont buy an X5
So heres the deal I purchased a brand new X5 in 2008 for $86,000.00 in cash. We used the truck over the last couple years and put about 58,000 miles on it. Its now out of warranty and all hell started breaking loose with it. Halo rings keep burning out, theres oil all over the engine bay due to a faulty oil pump, and to top it off there is an airbag malfunction on the passenger seat.
They want $1,600.00 to fix the seat
$600 to replace the pump
and another $200 to change a lightbulb (Im doing this myself)

Im only 8000 miles out of warranty! So I called BMW North america to complain. Turns out there is a recall on all BMW up to 06' for the exact same airbag problem I have. I figure theres no way they wont do something for me. I was wrong. My truck sat at BMW for 2 weeks for a simple reply of "NO". I was told that they wont do anything,, I am stuck with a $86,000 pile of crap. I was offered an extended warranty when I bought the truck but they wanted $6000 for it!

Anyhow this pisses me off they didn't step up and fix a major safety issue with my truck. this is my second new BMW and they have lost a customer for life over this.
I bought this truck because I thought it was built to last, I had planned to keep it for a long time. A KIA probably would have been a better vehicle!
I cant wait to send them some pictures of the sticker package I have planned for my back window. They picked a bad enemy to have. Off to call my attorney now

 

Possible programming update for the light module for the Corona rings burning out. They swapped these over to H8 AR long life bulbs. E60s get the programming with replacement of the bulb(s) if under warranty. I've never seen an E70 X5 eat to many of the bulbs.

The seat occupancy mat is a PITA and expensive. Takes a couple hours to do it right and make it look nice.

Not sure what the oil issue is. An N62 has a vacuum pump at front of bank 1 driven off the cam. But that shouldnt be related. Timing case covers, valve cover gaskets, etc. are all maintenance prone items on that engine (which I have nothing good to say about).

If you dont mind, PM me the last 7 of the VIN

 

That's unfortunate, sorry. I had a lot of issues with my G550 and M-B bent over backwards to try and make me happy.

 

The unfortunate reality is, is that their obligation to make repairs under warranty dies with the warranty ( unless ordered by ntsb ).

Some manufacturers will on a case by case basis make goodwill adjustments, but in today's economy those are becoming less commonplace.

 

Thanks, I'll keep fighting till they at least do something...

 

Sorry man, I never like BMW anyway. They are nice looking, fun to drive and all, but they got many problems. My wife just lease one when I kept telling her not to. I think it is ok to lease but I would never own one, speically without a warranty.

Fix it and sell it quick, good luck.

 

your car is out of warranty, something breaks and you expect it to be repaired free of charge, not trying to be a dick but i doubt you'll get a different response from any other car manufacturer, they are in business to make money, they offer warranites and sell warranites for a reason, things break, if you decide to own a car with no warranty you run the risk of having to pay for repairs

good luck

 

sorry to hear about the issues and good luck with the fight.
Who was the dealer BTW?

 

The seat mat issue was a pretty common problem on X3's.

We got the warning light on ours back in April 2006. Dealership said the part was backordered but go ahead and use the car anyway as everything is fine. Six weeks later, part is finally in stock. Later, when a SIB is issued, there's a warning that the car should not be operated with a passenger as the airbag will not deploy.

 

I understand your frustration but your car is out of warranty. If BMW helps you out, then they will have to defend why they don't help out others in the same situation. Accept this as a lesson learned, if you don't want to pay service bills then keep your car in warranty or don't buy german.

 

BMW is crap, that's why. You would not have problems like that with a Honda, Toyota, Lexus...etc.

 

basically either your dealer sucks or you're being an obnoxious baby because BMW is pretty well known for making good faith repairs outside of warranty. hell, they replaced an entire transmission for free in my dad's 2002 540i when he was about 5 months out of warranty. i've never had anything but fantastic experiences with BMW.

 

Same here...I wouldn't own any other high end luxury outside of warranty because you are still servicing a 90, 100K car no matter how old it is. My personal experience with BMW has been nothing short of spectacular for 10 years and counting, They strive to have a 5* rating, no request ever goes un attended to.

Seeing you are just outside of warranty, talk to BMW NA directly and explain your situation, maybe you dealer is just being stubborn because they feel they have already lost you as a customer, give BMW NA a chance.

Good luck!

 

I think what he may be saying, is how the vehicles can be fine during warranty and once just out hell breaks loose. Happened with my E55, few issues in the beginning then just as the warranty was about to expire all hell started breaking loose on that car. I let them fix what was wrong and sold it fast before anything else happened. That honestly was always our experience with foreign cars (especially Benz/BMW), I swear they design the cars to be fine then start having problem after problem pop up once out of warranty lol (thats honestly been our experience with those foreign makes). As a comparison, all our American trucks have been fine even after warranty, heck my daily beater (Mountaineer) has almost 130k now and no trouble ever and I'm hard on that truck.

 

And thats why I never let anything get out of warranty. Sorry man!