07-11-2016, 03:27 AM | #1 |
That was a hell of a thing...
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BMW North America buy back
So after 69 days of being down and out for various reasons, I decided to initiate a Lemon Law buy back of my car.
I sent BMW NA a letter with all the details and CC'd my attorney's general office. I also provided them will all the work orders and the various other items they required to arbitrate. I was contacted by BMW NA the day after I sent the letter saying they were going to look into the matter and get back to me. A day after that I got a call from my AG office. They were going to take up the case and work with BMW NA. They told me they had to give them 40 days to respond with an offer. So while on vacation, I got a very nice email from someone at BMW NA telling me that they were authorizing a full buy back of my car. Down payment, all payments made minus mileage from the first major issue. No hassle, no muss, no fuss. Totally professional and very fast. I have to say I was surprised. I figured that it would be a bit of a fight, but go figure! My car is still making the whining transfer case (or whatever it is) noise, but otherwise doing OK. I fax the paperwork tomorrow and surrender the car at my dealer a few days later. Now it is time to find another car. I am happy to be rid of this exact car, but not the model. I still think the 35i X1 is one of the best performing and useful cars I could have bought. I still love that car, but I wasn't going to be stuck with big dollar repairs every 2 months. Total repair costs to date are over 15k all told. I will keep everyone posted on the process just in case you have to go through it as well. |
07-11-2016, 09:15 AM | #2 |
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Way to go
I'm surprised they (BMW NA) would respond so soon specially with good news in your favor...I think your way and patience it was paramount. Hooray for the little guy!
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07-11-2016, 12:36 PM | #5 |
That was a hell of a thing...
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Thanks guys! Yes I am in USA here in Olympia, WA.
I think I had a few things going for me. BMW Northwest is my dealer and my service advisor is top notch. I have spent quite a bit of time with the technicians who work on my car. As an engineer, they take me pretty seriously and listen to what I have to say which means a lot to me. I was starting to feel like I was finding things wrong that weren't really wrong! But each time they confirmed my suspicions and found problems. I feel that the dealer probably played a part in the resolution. I have always been in there all cheerful and nice to everyone and never a dick about it. I brought a box of doughnuts once to the techs and service advisors once. I can't blame them for the issues so why not treat them well I figure. Anyways, I have a call in to my ATG about the paperwork BMW NA sent. I want them to confirm that it is a standard thing and not missing anything. I think it looks good to me, but I am not a lawyer and they can be sneeeeeky bastages! I do have to say I found another 2013 at another BMW dealers. Even more loaded with M Sport, Nav etc etc and it is Lemans Blue, my other favorite color! Not sure if I want to dive back into the same pool.... |
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07-11-2016, 01:50 PM | #6 |
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Maybe they just don't like rain? In the dry corner of the state, no such whining is heard. Good luck with your decision. I know I wouldn't get the same car again. But I have different issues.
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07-11-2016, 09:58 PM | #9 |
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[QUOTE= I think I had a few things going for me. BMW Northwest is my dealer and my service advisor is top notch. I have spent quite a bit of time with the technicians who work on my car.[/QUOTE]
You are right about the BMW Northwest dealer in Fife. I use to live and work in Everett, but always took my Bimmers to them, I had bad experience with the Seattle BMW dealership work and attitude. |
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07-13-2016, 10:01 PM | #10 |
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What were the conditions when your t case would whine? Can you elaborate?
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'15 E84 X1 35i M Sport MPI DME Flash - K&N drop in - MPI Chargepipe - Oil T-stat valve - ETS 5" I/C - N54tuning 3.5" downpipe - catless mid section - Dinan 135i rear exhaust - Apex ARC8 18x9/10(255/295 tires) - H&R Sports - Bilstein B6's - F3x M Performance brakes '02 E39 530i 624whp/558ft-lbs @23psi |
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07-14-2016, 12:09 AM | #11 |
That was a hell of a thing...
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Sure! My car had about 22k miles on it when it started. It only made noise when fully warmed up.
It started a medium pitched whine at about 32mph. Any gear. It continued up to about 40mph then it either quiets down or is drowned out by road noise. To give you an idea, it sounds like a 1963 Chevy pickup with a 3 on the tree. Straight cut gears. When dropping off the gas you get that kind of shuddering whine like cutting the gas on that truck in 1st gear. They confirmed my complaint and followed the listed process. Replaced the mount, clocked the driveshaft 180 degrees, then changed the fluid. No changes. Finally they replaced the transfer case which eliminated the noise. When I picked it up, it was quiet as a mouse. After driving home about 40 miles, it was back, sort of. It was much higher pitched and was present from 0mph up to 40mph. I did take the X1 on our vacation and after about 2200 miles of driving, it is back to it's exact same sound. I got 24.4 MPG average on the whole trip. 20.9 mpg worst tank, 29.8 the best tank. I took it straight back and they had a field engineer come out and tell me that it is normal. Now as an engineer, I can tell you that is not a normal noise for a gearless transfer case. Our T case from what I can tell has viscous couplings with 2 wet discs. Bearings yes. I have driving 10 X Drive cars now as loaners and none of them make that noise. I also polled a few people on the board here and they also report that this is not a noise theirs makes. I conclude that it was not the transfer case, but maybe a tail shaft misalignment? The T case connects to the transmission directly and is not divorced. Who knows? I am guessing BMW NA decided to stop throwing money at it. Also to report on the process, I sent the contract to my AG's office and they seem to think it is fair. It is not itemized like they would have asked for. But they did run the numbers through their process and told me that the amount is more than what they would have asked for via arbitration. |
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