Found out that my CPO X1 had been in an accident, costing me trade-in value

[bucketfoot]

I bought my X1 (2014 28i xDrive) as a CPO back in 2015. It had a clean CarFax report and the dealer did their required extensive inspection. But when I went to trade in the vehicle yesterday, the CarFax report the dealer pulled showed a significant accident including the deployment of multiple airbags and damage to the undercarriage.

Now in defense of the BMW dealer I bought the car from, while the accident occurred before I bought the car, it did not show up on the CarFax report until two years after the accident/repair is reported to have taken place. At the same time, the accident/repair date is after the dealer had titled the car in their name.

Basically this cost me around $2K in trade-in value. While I will not get my hopes up on actually getting anything, does anyone have good contact info for BMW NA where I can report this issue?

[Tuxedo]

if you signed the carfax from the orig dealer they'd be able to pull that up. Carfax would be whom you'd take up the issue with... BMW NA doesn't restrict a damage car from being CPO. email customerrelations@bmwusa.com for best results

[bucketfoot]

Actually I've been told by another BMW dealership that anything other than a minor incident does keep the car from being offered as a CPO.

But who knows what the actual truth is...

[bucketfoot]

I found contact info for the CEO of BMW NA and have sent an email.

To be clear, I am not asking them for anything. I simply wanted to make them aware of the issue and that it will absolutely impact my decision to ever purchase another BMW; along with how I will positively or negatively promote the brand.

[BMWCCA1]

Originally Posted by Tuxedo

BMW NA doesn't restrict a damage car from being CPO.

This is correct. They even allow certain areas of frame-damage (unibody) as long as it has been "repaired to BMW standards". I did an article on both Carfax and CPO for Roundel magazine decades ago.

My first question would be did you verify that the Carfax report was accurate? Did you have the car inspected by someone who could actually tell if the damage reported was actually for your car? Carfax is only as accurate as the office employee typing the report into his/her body-shop computer.

If you bypass the Customer Relations people at BMW and head directly for the CEO, you really don't know how corporations work, and it can actually be counterproductive. Dealers are independent businesses. Threatening BMW with your future buying decisions because a dealership sold you a car with a clean Carfax only to find 2-years later that Carfax updated the information is a silly discussion. BMW had nothing to do with it.

[bucketfoot]

Well I guess all I can say is that the office of the CEO people have opened a case on this and have confirmed that the reported information would clearly mean the vehicle should not have qualified as a CPO.

Now the question most certainly remains as to whether the dealership was aware of the damage or not.

Again, I have asked them for nothing more than for them to investigate the issue. This is despite the fact that between trade-in loss, paying more for a CPO that should not have been a CPO and buying a car with unreported damage potentially impacted me to the tune of $4-6K.

Frankly there is no counterproductivity for me, as I will likely never own another BMW. At this point I am basically just interested in them trying to find out what happened (if this is even possible).

In doing this I am giving BMW the opportunity to impact my status as a net promoter. Being in a customer service based industry myself, even as an engineer I understand the extremely high value companies put on their Net Promoter Score (NPS).

The simple fact that they are taking this seriously could be enough for me not becoming someone that would potentially spread a negative product image. If I had not reported this and had not given them the opportunity to find out what happened, quite frankly I would taken the information I have and would be screaming to everyone I know about what a complete sham the BMW CPO process is.

I prefer to give them the opportunity to look into the situation rather than going off halfcocked.

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by bucketfoot

Well I guess all I can say is that the office of the CEO people have opened a case on this and have confirmed that the reported information would clearly mean the vehicle should not have qualified as a CPO.

Now the question most certainly remains as to whether the dealership was aware of the damage or not.

Again, I have asked them for nothing more than for them to investigate the issue. This is despite the fact that between trade-in loss, paying more for a CPO that should not have been a CPO and buying a car with unreported damage potentially impacted me to the tune of $4-6K.

Frankly there is no counterproductivity for me, as I will likely never own another BMW. At this point I am basically just interested in them trying to find out what happened (if this is even possible).

In doing this I am giving BMW the opportunity to impact my status as a net promoter. Being in a customer service based industry myself, even as an engineer I understand the extremely high value companies put on their Net Promoter Score (NPS).

The simple fact that they are taking this seriously could be enough for me not becoming someone that would potentially spread a negative product image. If I had not reported this and had not given them the opportunity to find out what happened, quite frankly I would taken the information I have and would be screaming to everyone I know about what a complete sham the BMW CPO process is.

I prefer to give them the opportunity to look into the situation rather than going off halfcocked.

Interesting. BMW is not responsible for when shops elect to report to Carfax. So although you're not expecting compensation are you really expecting compensation because of your status of as a "net promoter"?

After all you rather did annouce this issue on a BMW forum rather than take it up privately via the selling dealer and BMWNA.

[LOW4LYF]

Originally Posted by bucketfoot

Well I guess all I can say is that the office of the CEO people have opened a case on this and have confirmed that the reported information would clearly mean the vehicle should not have qualified as a CPO.

Now the question most certainly remains as to whether the dealership was aware of the damage or not.

Again, I have asked them for nothing more than for them to investigate the issue. This is despite the fact that between trade-in loss, paying more for a CPO that should not have been a CPO and buying a car with unreported damage potentially impacted me to the tune of $4-6K.

Frankly there is no counterproductivity for me, as I will likely never own another BMW. At this point I am basically just interested in them trying to find out what happened (if this is even possible).

In doing this I am giving BMW the opportunity to impact my status as a net promoter. Being in a customer service based industry myself, even as an engineer I understand the extremely high value companies put on their Net Promoter Score (NPS).

The simple fact that they are taking this seriously could be enough for me not becoming someone that would potentially spread a negative product image. If I had not reported this and had not given them the opportunity to find out what happened, quite frankly I would taken the information I have and would be screaming to everyone I know about what a complete sham the BMW CPO process is.

I prefer to give them the opportunity to look into the situation rather than going off halfcocked.

Take a chill pill... Are you addressing things always from the top down?

[LogicalApex]

Sounds like a pretty big accident if multiple airbags and etc.

Did the title get changed?

I'd take it up with CarFax under some circumstances they'd be responsible for buying the car back, but I'm sure the limits on that are pretty well leaned in their favor.

https://www.carfax.com/manifest/bbg/termsConditions.cfx

BMW may or may not allow CPO on a car with damage, but if the damage was repaired to BMW specs and it wasn't on the CarFax it could be hard for anyone, including a dealer, to pick up how extensive the damage was.

[Gamb1t]

Sounds like the BMW dealership either wasn't following CPO protocol standards (sloppy) or they are crooks.
As a franchise owner, BMWNA can only launch an investigation and impose some standards reminder. Not sure if they will go as far as providing some consolation compensation. I bet these sort of situation occurs with other brands too.

The 2-year lag for any accidents/updates to show up on Carfax is concerning in today's electronic data interchange systems.

Did you find the car drove sloppily? Any frame damages would normally lead to abnormal squeaks or odd handing characteristics.

[SharpAndCunning]

Originally Posted by LogicalApex

Sounds like a pretty big accident if multiple airbags and etc.

Did the title get changed?

I'd take it up with CarFax under some circumstances they'd be responsible for buying the car back, but I'm sure the limits on that are pretty well leaned in their favor.

https://www.carfax.com/manifest/bbg/termsConditions.cfx

BMW may or may not allow CPO on a car with damage, but if the damage was repaired to BMW specs and it wasn't on the CarFax it could be hard for anyone, including a dealer, to pick up how extensive the damage was.

The issue with carfax is they are only responsible if the accident was reported to them and they failed to add it.

I had a 2010 Genesis coupe that I personally was in an accident with, it was approx 3,000 for the repair, I paid points on my license for it, and it was never reported. That car was just sold in Texas and the carfax was available, and it showed no accident.

[05X3lover]

Carfax is of really limited use IME, I don't count on it when buying a car. They've managed to convince the public that they offer this infallible info for safely buying a vehicle, but the reality is they miss a lot of stuff. I always recommend using a pre-purchase inspection over buying a Carfax report.

[healeydays]

So what came of this? Did you get anywhere with Carfax or BMW?

[bucketfoot]

Originally Posted by healeydays

So what came of this? Did you get anywhere with Carfax or BMW?

No, but honestly I did not expect anything to come of it. Now will it impact my decision to buy another BMW in the future... Absolutely