Is it common for demo car buyer?

[Kai3000]

Guys, I am new to this forum and just picked up a demo X1 tonight. However, my experience is not that pleasant with the dealership I dealt with. The main thing is that when I was talking to the sales rep about the car, I was told the mileage of this car is around 5000 last weekend. I got $3700 off and later on got $2000 more. I thnk i got a good deal when it comes to the month end. However, when I picked up the car tonight, after I signed everything, I turned on the car and the mileage shows 6200km. I asked the sales and he said he told me it was 6000 which later on I confirmed with my friend who went with me last weekend that we were told it was 5000km. I drove the car home with a question mark and checked the paperwork, it said the odometer read "4725km"!!!!!!! I am feeling disappointed as a first time buyer and am wondering if this happens all the time to other demo car buyers. Most importantly, what can I do now?

[Ky1M]

I would return to dealer and have mileage changed on the paper work. I would want my warranty to start at proper mileage! Sounds like you got a good deal . Do you like it?

[Trumpy]

Mine was a demo with 3,000kms on it. However in my part of Australia the dealer has to take it off the road once a contract is signed.

[Kai3000]

I called the sales manager today and let him know what happened. Apparently he didn't really solve the situation and would just like me to go back to update the mileage on the contract. (the product is not the same as the contract...isn't this a fraud?) It ended up that I went to the dealership and talked to the general manager. oh, btw, when I was driving the car today (yes, within 24 hours in a nice weather, no snow, no rain) there is a triangle warning sign popped up and I told the staff when I went back to the dealership and it turned out that they didn't even fill the windshield fluid. This is sort of the last straw. I paid for more money for a BMW brand and they didn't even bother topping up the windshield fluid when they gave me the "new" car last night. I am waiting for them to come out with a solution to deal with this.

[Kai3000]

Ky1M, I like the x1 but not enough to endure this kind of experience. (there are more stuff that happened to me and I just didn't bother mentioning)
Trumpy, yes, they should've done that and they said when the deal was made, the car could be still out with other customers. (it was a loaner) They didn't keep track of the mileages well enough. To be honest, this is not my problem and I made my judgement based on the information I got. I trusted them and apparently, this dealership is dragging the BMW's reputation down.

[dinamo]

Originally Posted by Kai3000

Ky1M, I like the x1 but not enough to endure this kind of experience. (there are more stuff that happened to me and I just didn't bother mentioning)
Trumpy, yes, they should've done that and they said when the deal was made, the car could be still out with other customers. (it was a loaner) They didn't keep track of the mileages well enough. To be honest, this is not my problem and I made my judgement based on the information I got. I trusted them and apparently, this dealership is dragging the BMW's reputation down.

Did you buy at Crowfoot BMW or BMW dealer on Heritage ?

[Kai3000]

NW one...where did you get yours, dinamo? what was your experience with the dealer?

[snowmanyee]

By the way, whats the cost price of a new x1 in Canada? $5700 is equivalent to how many percent discount?

[Teutonic]

Originally Posted by Kai3000

NW one...where did you get yours, dinamo? what was your experience with the dealer?

I got mine in NW as well. I know the managers and the people there. Btw, in the papers it was ~80 km less...
If I would be in your place I will go back and discuss about it. It is not ok.

[Kai3000]

Snowmanyee, the base price without ANY options is about 38500 but the demo comes with many options...
Tyracus, I was even talking to the general manager and to be honest, I am quite disappointted with their services and many of their behaviors make me think they would just like to brush the issues off and do not even care. I feel like I should've actually gone to the south dealership.

[Kai3000]

I am going to list all the stuff that I have been mistreated:
1. the mileage, with the sales lied to me and he also said I am still under warranty anyway!!!
2. the license plate, I had some certain numbers on hold with one of the staff. on the delivery date, the guy was off and the sales picked up a number that I really don't want and he claimed there's nothing he can do about it.
3. When I was test driving an x1 before I made my decision, the sales told us that everything will look the same except for navigation, and sports package. (the car I test drove has an i-drive) I didn't know w/o the navigation, the LCD monitor and i-Drive are also not included. (I have an old lexus which has the monitor but just no navigation) The sales didn't tell me that and to be honest, why do I need to do my home work? I am buying a prime brand car and the sales should be responsible telling me everything that I need to know.
4. When I picked up the car, it still has the winter tires on!!! The sales told me that was a little bonus for me! I just need to come back after couple weeks to book an appointment to switch to all season tires which I am supposed to have. I think this is totally bull.. it is very obvious that they didn't go through the car enough to change the tires. (mind you that Calgary hasn't had snow in almost 1 month)
5. within 24 hours, the weather was perfect and one triangle warning sign came up, I went back to the dealership to talk about the mileage issue and had them check what went wrong and it turned out it was the windshield fluid!!! I am so upset that I thought I bought a "new" car and they didn't even bother topping the fluid for me.
6. their attitude toward solving the problem is just frustrating. They didn't even talk about how to solve the mileage problem and asked me to go back to sign a new document with the updated mileages.
7. I was promised by the general manager to contact me on Monday (4/2) and I didn't get a call from her until Tuesday late afternoon after 5 pm. (after I tried to call her many times and sent her couple emails)
Guys, I am upset and if you know what I could do, I am open to suggestions.

[Teutonic]

This is my suggestion:

First, under any circumstances, do not sign a paper that will state the new milleage. If you do it, than you have nothing.

Second, if I will be in your place, I will go back to the sales guy and the manager with both keys, I will hand them nicely and I will tell them that I do not need their car since almost the whole experience was based on missleading. And just walk away.

When they will be ready to make you happy, then you will ask all what you need ( if that will make you happy) , from trunk tray, rubber mats, carpet floor mats, or 3M for free on the hood, bumper,fenders and mirrors plus an attachement to the contract that will state that your warranty will end up at 82.000 km.

And even if that is fixed I will think twice about my review about them...

If they don' t want to come up and fix it, than leave the keys and leave. Next day call Bmw headquarter in Toronto and explain what is going on. They will fix it.

Good luck!

Ps how many km you put on the vehicle since you bought it?
Ps2 Keep all the back and forth emails or letters for further refferences. If you can not find an satisfying answer from them, then there are other few things that will help them change the attitude.

[JoeyO]

Originally Posted by Kai3000

...why do I need to do my home work? I am buying a prime brand car and the sales should be responsible telling me everything that I need to know.

I agree on everything except for this one point. I have a very negative view of car sales people. I wouldn't trust them if they were the last people on earth. Whether I was buying a Kia or a Ferrari, I would always do my homework and always compare what I saw on paper with what I saw online. If it doesn't match, then the red flags should go off. Live and learn, I guess.

[gIzzE]

Maybe I am being unfair, but if I was dropping 10's of thousands of dollars on a car I would do my home work.

The dealer said that it would look the same except idrive and sports package. Well he was right.

The car had 6000km instead of 5000km? So fucking what?! does it really matter? It was a demo car you bought, and you saved $7000.

They missed the washer fluid?? OMG this is turning into a right muddle!!!
Seriously, you don't have a tap/faucet at home?


As said, maybe I am being harsh, but to me you sound ridiculous.


I should just add, when we buy a demo car in the UK we understand that it will be used as a demo still so the mileage will vary.

[Teutonic]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

Maybe I am being unfair, but if I was dropping 10's of thousands of dollars on a car I would do my home work.

The dealer said that it would look the same except idrive and sports package. Well he was right.

The car had 6000km instead of 5000km? So fucking what?! does it really matter? It was a demo car you bought, and you saved $7000.

They missed the washer fluid?? OMG this is turning into a right muddle!!!
Seriously, you don't have a tap/faucet at home?


As said, maybe I am being harsh, but to me you sound ridiculous.


I should just add, when we buy a demo car in the UK we understand that it will be used as a demo still so the mileage will vary.

It matters because when your decision is based on the shape and the mileage of the vehicle. If they will say, we sell it to you but we will still use it as a demo, I will tell them to find the guy who wants that kind of deal but that wouldn't be me.
And I don't know about UK, but when a demo is sold, it should be locked and prepared for delivery. No other km should be added to it.
Would you like to buy it today and one week later to have 3000 km in plus and 2-3 new dings and five scratches that weren't there at the time of decision? I don't think so.

[gIzzE]

A used car will always be prepped, and I would expect it to be right, the only thing that seemed to be missed was some washer fluid.

He asked what the mileage was and the guy said '5000', but at that point was it a definite sale, or was it him saying what he roughly thought?
He could have said 10k, 20k, 30k, 80k etc. etc. Now if said 80k and the exact figure was 81k would it have seemed a big deal? I guess the sales guy was rounding it up?
I just don't see the issue with 5k vs 6k? If he said 5k and it was 10k then fair enough, but I just don't get 1k difference, and 1000km too, which is 600miles.
I just got a price from my X1 and when I was asked mileage I said just over 25k or thereabouts, when he looked at the car yesterday it was actually 27100, the dealer was fine with that.

Maybe if you do 5k a year it would matter to you?

Finding dings and dents is a completely different issue, and I would expect an approved used car to have those sorted before collection.

[Kai3000]

Tracus, I have stopped driving the car ever since the conversation happened last Friday so very minimum mileages. I am waiting for the general manager to give me the reply. She is trying to talk to her manager but couldn't find him as he was in the dealer meetings these couple days. At least she is responding to me instead of leaving me hanging there. I am considering your approach but I am going to give them another chance to see how they are going to solve this.

JoeyO, I am guessing this what I should learn.

gIzze, there is a big difference in mileage and I don't get 7k discount. if I did get 7k discount based on 5k mileage, does that mean they should give me another 1k discount? I made my decision based on the information I received. It's not that I care about this little amount of money considering I am already buying a $40000+ car. Btw, I DID pay the deposit to hold the car for me. would you feel happy if you have already bought the car and the dealer still let the other people drive your car? Also, my point is the honesty of the sales (he lied to me by saying he told me it was 6k), and the attitude toward serving the customers should not be like this especially coming from a luxury car brand. windshield washer is just a sign indicating how thoroughly they went through the car before they deliver. Who knows what they forgot to maintain?...like I said, they didn't even change the tires to all season tires and the sales brushed away by saying it's a bonus for me. I only need to make an appointment couple weeks later to change the tires. Why do I need to waste my time to book another appointment and wait for them to change the tires? Everything should be ready for a customer from the get-go. I do need to work, and have my personal life and now I need to go back to wait for them to change the tires? You can always say it shouldn't take that long but I should NEVER waste any second on this and I am not even mentioning about to drive all the way there. To you, washer fluid is nothing but for me, it has a whole lot different meaning behind it. Btw, we got snow here...the water from the faucet will just cause the freezing so I wouldn't even consider it.

[gIzzE]

I totally agree that things were slack, and new ownership experience should be a 'Joy' to use BMWs catchphrase, but my point was why let a typical sales guy spoil your new car?

I was just saying that in the grand scheme of things 6k miles vs 5k miles makes no real difference, and having to stick a bottle of fluid in the washer shouldn't make you want to give the car back.

The only real issue for me would be missing iDrive if I thought I was getting it. I would be annoyed with myself on that one.

[Kai3000]

gIzzE, you are partially right. I do not want to see other customers to get suffered like me. That is one of the reasons why I am asking you guys here and maybe let other future customers be aware of this dealership's problem. (or BMW Canada?)

[Kai3000]

Here is my email to the general managerS of BMW Gallery.

Good morning Greg and Cathi,

Today is Saturday, April 7th, 2012.

I've already tried to call again this morning and couldn't reach either of you.

I've been trying to reach you and waiting for your approaches for more than one week to deal with my issues here.

If this is how you are dealing with customer's complaints, I will have to ask AMVIC to deal with this for me.

I am going to list my complaints and issues here again:

1. the mileage and contract: when I found out and asked why the car mileage was more than 6000 km when I picked up the car last Thursday (March 29th, 2012) and the sales rep (Ed Otto) lied to me by saying he told us it was 6000 km already and later on I found out your contract even showed it is less than 5000km. How could Ed even tell me it was more than 6000km when your own document is still showing 4000km? Ed also said I am still under warranty anyway. (which I lose more than 1000 km of warranty too) I made my decision of purchase based on the information I received and this is a very huge ethical issue to me.


2. the license plate: I had some certain numbers on hold with one of the staff. (he even put it on the note) on the delivery date, the guy was off and the sales picked up a number that I really don't want and he claimed there's nothing he can do about it without even bother reading the notes and just once again, brushed away my issues.


3. When I was test driving an x1 before I made my decision, the sales told us that everything will look exactly the same except for navigation, and sports package. (the car I test drove has an i-drive) I didn't know w/o the navigation, the LCD monitor and i-Drive are also not included. (I have an old lexus which has the monitor but just no navigation in it) The sales didn't tell me. I am buying a premium brand car and the sales rep should be responsible of telling me everything that I need to know especially the sales rep is your most senior one. Now the car has two empty slots instead of an idrive and a monitor.


4. When I picked up the car, it still has the winter tires on. The sales rep told me that was a little bonus for me. I just need to come back after couple weeks to book an appointment to switch to all season tires which I am supposed to have. It is very obvious that you didn't go through the car enough to change the tires and why do I need to waste my time and money driving all the way back to your dealership to have the tires changed when you are not delivering what you are supposed to deliver?


5. within 24 hours after I picked up the car, one triangle warning sign came up on the dashboard, I went back to your dealership to talk about the mileage issue and had you check what went wrong and it turned out it was the windshield fluid. I thought I bought a "NEW" car and you didn't even bother topping the fluid for me. Once again, this shows you never went through the car before you deliver. If I did not have the chance to go back, I would need to study the manual myself as the first BMW buyer to figure out what went wrong with my NEW car.


6. the attitude towards to solving the problem is not showing your sincerity . You (one of your sales managers) didn't even talk about how to solve the mileage problem after I made my complaints and just asked me to go back to sign a new document with the updated mileages on the phone. The only thing you offered is to fix my license plate which I spent less than $23 to fix it myself. After I took MY TIME and went back last Friday (March 30th, 2012), then you were offering 10 to 15 CENTS/km as your compensation for the over mileage which is from $160 to $300.

7. Once again, I've tried to reach you for most of the time this week (instead of you taking initiatives to deal with my ISSUES/COMPLAINTS) and I did not even get a call back on Monday whole day April 2nd, 2012) or Thursday morning (April 5th, 2012) like I was promised. I could not reach you today like I was told that I could. Apparently, Greg, you are not in today (April 7th, 2012) I have already asked the receptionist twice and confirmed that you are not in today. Even you are in, I've already left you a voice message so you should be able to reach me. As of right now, it is 11:30 am and I still have not got a call from you. Again, this shows me your miscommunication even between you two. If this is not the communication problem, then this means even worse by showing me that you are trying to keep ignoring my issues.

We all have busy work and family issues and unfortunately I do not plan to spend more time on waiting like this.

As a customer, I do not expect to experience these and to be honest, these are your internal issues and I should not be the victim to get suffered. (especially as a BMW customer)

I have not driven the car ever since last Friday when I came back from your dealership so the mileage is still showing less than 6500km. (similar as last time I was in the dealership last Friday)

Please respond this email back to show me your approach on how to deal with my issues before 10 am on Monday, April 9th 2012. (not just to give me a call and let me wait again)

If I do not get to see your email or the fairness of the approach, I will have Alberta Motor Vehicle Industry Council to protect my rights and handle these misleading and misrepresentation ethical issues with you for me. Additionally, I will let BMW Canada know my complaints and my approach.

Regards,

[DDS2015]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

Maybe I am being unfair, but if I was dropping 10's of thousands of dollars on a car I would do my home work.

The dealer said that it would look the same except idrive and sports package. Well he was right.

The car had 6000km instead of 5000km? So fucking what?! does it really matter? It was a demo car you bought, and you saved $7000.

They missed the washer fluid?? OMG this is turning into a right muddle!!!
Seriously, you don't have a tap/faucet at home?


As said, maybe I am being harsh, but to me you sound ridiculous.


I should just add, when we buy a demo car in the UK we understand that it will be used as a demo still so the mileage will vary.

I agree with this. When you buy a demo milage will vary slightly. It could simply be in the time frame where you tested it (or the sales rep told you about this one) that the milage changed.

It also could simply be that he/she didn't have the most up to date information on that specific car. This is very common in the car industry, that's why they say "it has approx. 5000km on it."

In terms of the winter tires, I personally wouldn't complain as it sounds like you got yourself a free set and they have to do the changeover. You should be happy that the dealer actually cares about the customer that they give the vehicle to enough to put on a set of winter rubber. Unless Ab has winter tire laws like Quebec then it's law. Plus, you guys can get greek snowstorms in May so the dealer might not have wanted to take a chance with that.

At the end of the day, keep in mind that the dealer is first going to service cars brought in by customers before they service their own fleet of loaners. Which again isn't unreasonable. I understand why you're pissed about the windshield washer fluid, but the guys that are responsible for cleaning it for you aren't the same ones that do the servicing. Simply put, is isn't part of their responsibilities to check the fluid levels (it's kids that are 16-18 that are responsibly for cleaning it).

At the end of this all, I understand where you're coming from on some levels, but I do think that you're over-reacting about some things. It also sounds like you didn't do your research (with the nav/idrive). A quick build on the BMW configurator will show you that it doesn't have the screen.

[Kai3000]

Originally Posted by DDS2015

I agree with this. When you buy a demo milage will vary slightly. It could simply be in the time frame where you tested it (or the sales rep told you about this one) that the milage changed.

It also could simply be that he/she didn't have the most up to date information on that specific car. This is very common in the car industry, that's why they say "it has approx. 5000km on it."

In terms of the winter tires, I personally wouldn't complain as it sounds like you got yourself a free set and they have to do the changeover. You should be happy that the dealer actually cares about the customer that they give the vehicle to enough to put on a set of winter rubber. Unless Ab has winter tire laws like Quebec then it's law. Plus, you guys can get greek snowstorms in May so the dealer might not have wanted to take a chance with that.

At the end of the day, keep in mind that the dealer is first going to service cars brought in by customers before they service their own fleet of loaners. Which again isn't unreasonable. I understand why you're pissed about the windshield washer fluid, but the guys that are responsible for cleaning it for you aren't the same ones that do the servicing. Simply put, is isn't part of their responsibilities to check the fluid levels (it's kids that are 16-18 that are responsibly for cleaning it).

At the end of this all, I understand where you're coming from on some levels, but I do think that you're over-reacting about some things. It also sounds like you didn't do your research (with the nav/idrive). A quick build on the BMW configurator will show you that it doesn't have the screen.

DDS2015, thanks for your opinion but the sales never said it is APPROX....he said it IS less...and I put deposit down right at that day which they should've grounded the car for me.
I don't get a free set of tires...I still need to drive back, and wait for them to change the tires back to the tires that I am supposed to have.
I understand that I can think more for them but WE are the customers.
The washer fluid is like when you go to a restaurant, order a BLT sandwich with fries as my side dish and missing the fries when the food got delivered.....should I blame the server? No, I shouldn't..it's not the server's fault...should I complain to the cashier? no, I shouldn't...it's not the cashier's fault...the only thing I can point out is...their carelessness of the restaurant or even their procedure and who can I go to? go to the kitchen to give the chef the piece of my mind? or the manager? or I should forget about it even I am paying the price? I believe you and I work hard for our money and I think our money should get its value.
Idrive...yes, you are right about the idea.