Z4-forum.com

Steely wrote: ↑Wed Nov 29, 2017 1:16 am They should still honour the 12 year anti-corrosion warranty though.

Yes, but the bulk of Z4Ms are coming up on 12 years of age

BMW have agreed to repair my boot lid under warranty, at 11 years old, result

How the **** did you manage that?
(But congrats!!)

I've got some issues with rust on the slam panel where the bonnet latches down. Took it to BMW yesterday and have been given the fob off, "not serviced by BMW". I said that I was unsure how that would have made a difference as the panel would still have rusted. Apparently its because BMW didn't have the opportunity to fix it earlier?! WTF.

Has anyone had success with a BMW dealership in the London area? I'd rather take a drive somewhere that's going to be sensible about this issue than waste my time.

A couple of points that I'm sure your all aware of. EU rules state that there is no requirement to have your car serviced by a franchised dealer, to adhere to manufacturers warranties. As long as the correct methods and OEM parts have been used, and, you have used a recognised garage. Think Ltd company and/or VAT registered. English common law is based on 'reasonableness'. If a reasonable man would think that a warranty that is stated to las tfor 12 years doesn't then the person who gave that warranty is liable. The sale of goods act does not state a time limit on claims btw. BMW are trying to wriggle out of anything they can....and are kicking the ball down to the dealers at the moment. An example of this, not on my Z4... is that the wheel centres on my wife's car started to oxidise under the lacquer, so I returned it to the dealer for warranty repair. They told me that as they had refurbished the wheels before delivery ( the car was a year old) there was no BMW warranty. Seeing as the dealer told me that at least 75% of the cars they sell have refurbished wheels..this is worrying. In the end I told the dealer I would reject the car if the issue was not sorted...and they paid to have all the wheels refurbished to OEM specs themselves. Personally I would persue this further with another dealer.

The problem with warranties, is that the older the car gets the more likely it is to have push back from BMW on doing repairs.

They get away with it a lot of the time because at 5+ years old you’re going to have to satisfy them that the damage was caused by a failure and not by wear/use.

So corrosion that is caused by a poorly repaired panel (e.g. after little ding/scuff or from stone chips), would tend to be refused as it can’t be proved to have been done to a good standard (and the fact that it’s showing corrosion would support that).

In my case, I had the underside of the hatch repaired under warranty some years back, and it’s come back. The car is almost 12 years old, so at the end of the BMW corrosion warranty term, and I’m still waiting for the dealer to return my call from last week. For now I’ve sprayed some rust converter onto the small patch of corrosion, and if BMW don’t play ball then I’ll rub it down and paint it myself.

Ultimately, if the dealer/BMW doesn’t play ball, you’ll have to take them to court to get them to pay up - but BMW know most people will not do that and will give up after complaining a few times.