Just a tale to let you know about the BMW parts warranty system that we have had to deal with this week..We spend probably £5000ish a year at BMW so have had a lot of parts over the 15 years of trading..
7 months ago we fitted Thermostat housing,water pump,viscous coupling,Radiator shroud and fan to a BMW E39 520i..All parts where purchased from BMW dealers.
We also fitted a new radiator,but this was purchased from a local radiator company..
Forward 7 months a 1900 miles and the E39 is outside the garage with no fan blades,a hole in the radiator and a damaged shroud.
We inspected the car ourselves to see if we could pinpoint what had caused this dramatic failure.. We checked water pump,tensioners,pulleys,belts......Even checked engine mountings to see of there was any movement in the engine under acceleration to cause the blades to touch the shroud....
We couldnt find anything conclusive.
We contacted our local BMW dealers parts department and explained the situation and the series of events,they pulled all the receipts and confirmed when we bought them. As is standard the vehicle has to go into the BMW workshop to access any parts warranty claim,we had the car recovered to the dealer workshop.
So forward to today and we get the call.........."Hi there,we have had a look at the car and although we cannot determine what has caused the fault,we cannot warrant any of the parts because non have actually failed"... My reply "I shall be there in 25 mins"..
I went into the workshop to chat with the tech.....He couldnt determine why the fan had exploded,after 20 mins of talking he just walked away and said that he had to MOT an Mini...
Then the Foreman arrived....Another 20 minute chat.... He put forward the suggestions that maybe a bird or mouse had built a nest in the fan shrould and maybe on start up the fan blades had hit the nest and broken...?
Honestly im not making this up....and at this point i was literally laughing at his suggestions..
He said "at the end of the day we dont know how this has happened,and neither do you... But as non of the parts have failed then there is nothing we can do"...
Of course still not too happy that we are having to foot the bill even though we have tried our hardest to safeguard ourselves with buying OEM parts,i continue to try and press for at least a resolution that we could both be happy with..
The decision was left to the service manager,and i would get a call later in the day..
You can guess what the call said.....Not prepared to do anything,please come and collect car..
So.....Please dont think that BMW parts warranty is cast iron...
We are down £580 pounds for replacement parts and recovery/delivery fee's.
Like i said,a cautionary tale..
7 months ago we fitted Thermostat housing,water pump,viscous coupling,Radiator shroud and fan to a BMW E39 520i..All parts where purchased from BMW dealers.
We also fitted a new radiator,but this was purchased from a local radiator company..
Forward 7 months a 1900 miles and the E39 is outside the garage with no fan blades,a hole in the radiator and a damaged shroud.
We inspected the car ourselves to see if we could pinpoint what had caused this dramatic failure.. We checked water pump,tensioners,pulleys,belts......Even checked engine mountings to see of there was any movement in the engine under acceleration to cause the blades to touch the shroud....
We couldnt find anything conclusive.
We contacted our local BMW dealers parts department and explained the situation and the series of events,they pulled all the receipts and confirmed when we bought them. As is standard the vehicle has to go into the BMW workshop to access any parts warranty claim,we had the car recovered to the dealer workshop.
So forward to today and we get the call.........."Hi there,we have had a look at the car and although we cannot determine what has caused the fault,we cannot warrant any of the parts because non have actually failed"... My reply "I shall be there in 25 mins"..
I went into the workshop to chat with the tech.....He couldnt determine why the fan had exploded,after 20 mins of talking he just walked away and said that he had to MOT an Mini...
Then the Foreman arrived....Another 20 minute chat.... He put forward the suggestions that maybe a bird or mouse had built a nest in the fan shrould and maybe on start up the fan blades had hit the nest and broken...?
Honestly im not making this up....and at this point i was literally laughing at his suggestions..
He said "at the end of the day we dont know how this has happened,and neither do you... But as non of the parts have failed then there is nothing we can do"...
Of course still not too happy that we are having to foot the bill even though we have tried our hardest to safeguard ourselves with buying OEM parts,i continue to try and press for at least a resolution that we could both be happy with..
The decision was left to the service manager,and i would get a call later in the day..
You can guess what the call said.....Not prepared to do anything,please come and collect car..
So.....Please dont think that BMW parts warranty is cast iron...
We are down £580 pounds for replacement parts and recovery/delivery fee's.
Like i said,a cautionary tale..
Liverpool