Hello All, This is my first thread on 6speed, but I'm sorry to say it's for sad reason. See story below, I'd love to get some opinions.

Part 1:
Ok Guys, this could be a long thread as the journey just begins...sorry for being so long.

I took my '03 M3 in to a local BMW dealership for an oil change and modest warranty service a few days ago and they completed the work, called me back and said to come and pick it up. The car had been worked on, taken for a 2 mile test drive, and signed off by the first technician. I missed the call, so I called my SA around 4:00 and was told my car had just been in an accident. Obviously shocked, I went down to the dealership with a work colleague.

Once my SA greeted me with the un-calming, "are you the M3 guy?", I was met by the Shop Foreman who told me that they have a "random testing procedure" that my car had been "randomly selected for a pre-determined route" for customer satisfaction purposes.

I enquired who was driving and how old they were, but wasn't shocked when I was told a 21 year old had been driving.

After seven miles of driving, apparently a car pulled out in front of him and he couldn't avoid it, causing him to lose control and spin out, 180'ing the car into the curb at close to 50 mph (estimated by the police who measured skid marks, etc). It was in a 30 mph zone, BTW. He was about 3 miles from the dealership at that point, so we can assume a 10 mile "loop"

Now the dealership is saying they will fix the car to it's original specs, but they haven't even put it on an alignment rack to measure the sub-frame/unibody. Their parts cost, without labor, paint, or the Schnitzer nose and HID fogs comes to over $6000.

The GM came out and said he was absolutely adamant that there will be no deduction against the resale value of the car as it will be back to factory specs, but you need to know it was in mint condition, never even dinged, and had a clean carfax when I brought it in.

I told them to not perform any work until I could evaluate my options (this was on Wednesday, crash on Tuesday), but by Friday (yesterday!) I received a letter from their attorney stating I had to let them do the work or remove the car from the lot within 5 days, unless I be charged a daily "storage fee".

I hired an attorney, but what would you guys do? I really don't want the car back with a crash on it as I wouldn't have bought it that way in the first place. Plus, I know the value will be affected, not to mention and boogymen that might come out due to hit down the road, when teh car's out of warranty. It hit rear driver side rim first, completely buckled the suspension and wheel, then bounced to the front blowing the side bags and taking the front wheel/suspension out, then blew the front bumper cover off.

That's it for now, bummed out.

 

Ouch, sorry to hear that. This really isn't a surprise to me though. At the local restaurant I work for, we have greasy techs coming in all the time driving customers cars that are in for service. One time 5 of them piled out of a customers brand new 760. Another reason why I won't buy a bmw.

 

Sorry to hear this. Get your lawyer on the case now! Screw them and their 'storage fee'. It's obvious the value of the car is now severely damaged. They should cover the cost of a comparably used/CPO'd M3.

DO NOT ACCEPT THEIR OFFER! Good luck.

 

A BMW dealership did the same thing to a friend's M3. It was minor fender damage on a new M3 with less than 1,000 miles on it. They gave him a new car. End of story. Great customer service.

 

not to be a *****, but it will reduce the value--even if it is not on carfax....the paint seams or fitting of pieces will not be exact --it never is and when you go for a trade someone will pick up on it. I had the same problem 6 years ago I was going to trade my 96 328i in for a 330i and a friends wife backed into the rear door. i had it fixed to specs and they picked up on a tiny little seam of paint in the door jam. BMW dealer said they would have given me 3k more for it without the damage. Make sure you get what you think is fair. remember you are the customer. good luck

 

what an awful story.. Any attorneys out there with advice? on diminished value?


Maybe start with one of these links



http://www.ican2000.com/dvfaqs.html


http://www.ican2000.com/help/dvpros/index.html

 

If it has never been in a wreck and had any prior paintwork I would not drive off that lot without anything but a new one. Period.

Stick to your guns because the dealership will play hardball, but you'll get your way if they have done it before.

 

what they told u is not true. if they think that's the case have them fix the car but agree to buy it back for the market value on a perfect car later. u didn't ask them to drive the car nor the car needed to be driven. it was a total BS. no matter what the car will not be the same after fix. also u'll be out of a car for awhile which also u didn't ask for.

good luck.

 

Were some posts in this thread deleted?

 

That accident is clearly a result of throttle on oversteer. Let me guess, no witnesses, single car accident? Even if it was an accident, the dealer is liable for the damages and I think a decent lawyer could get some diminished value but unlikely to even offset his costs. I think you would have to prove there was gross negligence, meaning you could prove that he was mistreating the car (probably impossible) to get any real compensation. I would try to negotiate a the repaired costs plus a rental plus say 10% of the value of the car in damages. Depending on the circumstances they could buy the car from you and resell it, fix it and give you some cash or take it on trade at an agreed value and sell you a new one at invoice or ?????

Good luck. Doesn't sound like they are being very helpful but I would try to keep a cool head and just keeping saying over and over, "if this were your car, would that be acceptable to you?"

 

DO NOT ACCEPT THERE OFFER!

Like most people here said, I would drive off of that lot with anything but a brand new M3. The dealership is totally at fault. Go get em man.

 

Wow....sorry to hear about this. I would tell them to buy the car back at market value and deal with this mess and repairs. In exchange, you'll "buy" another car from them. It's their fault and responsibility. Who would pay market price for a damaged car?

The value will drop....stick to your guns and talk to a few lawyers!

 

you have a case. obviously, the driver switched off DSC, otherwise, the car would not have spun out. so now, you know he was 7 miles away, was driving 50 in a 30 zone, had turned off traction control and was a 21 year old kid. it doesn't look good for the dealership. with a good lawyer, you should be able to convince a judge that the kid was messing around for fun and crashed your car. that is negligence. also add mental anguish to the case stating you can never trust going to any shop or garage again because of this experience.

 

As has been repeated over and over, you are 100% in the right here. Absolutely accept NOTHING from them at this point. Have your lawyer deal with EVERYTHING - I mean, EVERYTHING. Make no statements, promises, etc. Even posting here - wait until everything is settled and come back. If your attorney is worth the paper his/her JD is printed on, they'll get you a new car or equal compensation, reimbursement for lost work, reimbursement for a rental, etc. No brainer...

 

Co-signed. Perfectly Said.