Recently bought on AUC, Xenon "bulb" issue - Your thoughts?

[benlumley]

Hello

You may have seen the previous thread re an issue with a xenon headlight.

Had the car a few days over a month now, issue is intermittent, but first saw it a couple of days after collection.

Its in today with a local dealer, i thought to have it repaired under warranty. They have diagnosed it as a "bulb" gone - do xenon's even have these? Say its not covered by warranty, cost £240 to sort it.

I'm a bit annoyed by all this, I think given that they are expected to last, xenon bulbs should be included on warranty, coupled with the problem being so close to getting the car. Have contacted the dealer I bought from to see what their view is and whether they are prepared to cover the cost of repair - not heard back yet.

What are people's thoughts? Am i being reasonable? Or is it something I should take on the chin and put down to bad luck?

 

[cj10jeeper]

Of course a xenon is a bulb, just a different type, more like a fluorescent tube using high voltage to excite a gas, rather than a filament as in a halogen.

They should really last the lifetime of the car, (10 years) however BMW may be able to class it as a consumable and of course sometimes they do fail.

I'd press for them to replace it as the car is so new and it was faulty on collection. Failing that I'd not pay them £240 (which is no doubt bulb and diagnosis) and I'd buy a bulb off ebay. I may even have some OEM in a box at home for a reasonable price if you need one.

 

[benlumley]

Thanks for the info, and for the diy suggestion - will remember that for future. The price is including diagnosis, fitting, labour etc as you say.

The dealer i bought from have agreed to reimburse me (without me needing to do any more than explain the situation, which was nice) if I pay for it - so gonna do that. Have an email confirming this. Fingers crossed that'll all go ok - these things always seem to have a habit of getting complicated and taking ages or having a catch I find....!

For reference, bought from Barons, in Farnborough - so far they are doing well on the customer service, after sales etc, would recommend - hopefully that'll continue with this.

 

[BluZiff]

Xenons are included in the AUC warranty.

You should have any issues really, just point them at the BMW AUC website.

 

[benlumley]

@BlueZiff - thank you very much! I may take a print out of that with me later and see where it gets me .. may be able to avoid pay/reimburse.

For completeness, page is here: http://www.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/bmwauc/benefits/0,,___,00.html

 

[cj10jeeper]

Sounds like a result and good to see a xenon is warranted. Something that has a lifetime expectancy really should be covered.

 

[BluZiff]

No worries mate, it's something I looked into once realising I wanted a car with xenons as I know the cost of replacing them is pretty steep.

 

[benlumley]

Dealer doing the work has agreed its covered now I pointed the wording out to them.

So thanks again for sharing with me, really appreciate it

 

[cj10jeeper]

Great result. That aside it's crazy that a xenon bulb is around £157 from the dealer, but to charge £83 to fit it is having a laugh.

Guess they work on a minimum of an hour labour. 30 mins to diagnose it's not working, then another 30 mins to fit it on a separate visit....

 

[peddy]

Great result. That aside it's crazy that a xenon bulb is around £157 from the dealer, but to charge £83 to fit it is having a laugh.

Guess they work on a minimum of an hour labour. 30 mins to diagnose it's not working, then another 30 mins to fit it on a separate visit....

What's more crazy is the fact that there are some people who go in blind and just pay for it!

 

[mmm-five]

Great result. That aside it's crazy that a xenon bulb is around £157 from the dealer, but to charge £83 to fit it is having a laugh.

Guess they work on a minimum of an hour labour. 30 mins to diagnose it's not working, then another 30 mins to fit it on a separate visit....

That probably is for half an hour's labour.

Last time I paid for anything at my local place it was £120 plus VAT per hour - or £144/hour.

 

[benlumley]

Great result. That aside it's crazy that a xenon bulb is around £157 from the dealer, but to charge £83 to fit it is having a laugh.

Guess they work on a minimum of an hour labour. 30 mins to diagnose it's not working, then another 30 mins to fit it on a separate visit....

What's more crazy is the fact that there are some people who go in blind and just pay for it!

yes, that was what I thought - I wonder how many they've charged for and no-one's thought to check

 

[jamiez]

Hi

Did the bulb replacement sort your issue?

 

[benlumley]

Hello - only just seen this (yes, lazy!). But for the record/reference - yes it did!

 

[slick]

Its great that the dealer is going to do it under the terms of the warranty......but disgusting that you the customer had to show the dealer that its covered under the warranty ..

 

[benlumley]

Just to point out - it was 18 months ago.

But yes - agree with you. This place was awesome in arming me with the info to get it sorted though!

 

[wiseguy]

I've had a xenon bulb and ballast replaced under the factory warranty, about 3 years apart. In my expereience, xenons do burn out, in about the same amount of time as halogens.

It amazes me how little BMW dealerships know about the cars they sell: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30974&start=15#p418558

 

[cj10jeeper]

Wiseguy - I fhimk that your experience is unusual. Xenons are very reliable generally cite to last as long as the car when fitted OEM. Halogen on the other hand by their very design wear out as the filament vaporises and fails to reform fully.

I've been running several cars in parallel for the last 12 years and not one bulb issue between the lot. Adds up to decades of car years use

 

[bcworkz]

I agree that xenon bulbs normally have a long life, however there seems to be some faulty ones floating around that fail prematurely. Mine were replaced under original warranty on a car 3.5 years old and 27k miles. And I really doubt the previous owner used their headlights much (Southern US, decent daylight hours year 'round), though they may have been on all the time for all I really know.