New 2015 Rex CPO Owner with a sad story - still developing.

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armozo

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
14
Hi all,

Like many of you, I fell in love with the i3. On 12/29/18 I took the plunge and purchased the 2015 Rex with 18k miles CPO for $18k.
I felt like the price was fair giving the CPO. Now that is the good part of the story, please stick around to hear the predicament I find myself in.

When I took the car for the test drive I loved everything about it. It was getting dark so things looked good for the most part. I noticed the steering wheel to be what appeared to be a bit dirty at the 12 o'clock position. Ron, the sales guy assured me they would clean it up before I took possession.

There were a few scratches on the hood but I was ok with them, though while outside I noticed the tires to be quite worn. I asked what the limit was for them to pass the CPO process, I was informed 3mm. I insisted that the tires seem to have less than that and asked to double-check them. One of the employees went out to check with me and three out of the four wheels failed the legal limit and the employer informed the salesman and the sales manager. Both proceeded to say that the car had been in test drives and at the point of certification it indeed passed.

I did not want to waste time and asked them to make it right. The offered $200 off the price of the car. While I was thinking, something good came out of it because the sales manager offered to sell me his old Winter Package Wheel and tires for $400. That made tire condition issue better, so I agreed.

In my way home, I left at 7:30 pm with only 40% range and empty tank, I had to fill up and run on the Rex for the rest of my trip. Yes, they did not charge the car or offer to top off the tank. My trip back home was relatively short 90 miles, in a very cold climate and snow on the ground. The car at some point reported low tire pressure that I assumed was due to the temperature drop. Later I found out otherwise.

Overall I was impressed with the car. I traded in a full size 2011 Range Rover and it felt like I did not skip at all in ride quality and luxury.

The next day in daylight I decided to inspect the car a bit in my garage. I found several things wrong that were not disclosed during the sale process:

1. Driver's seat bottom cover has what looks to be a defect or failure/tare of sorts.
2. The steering wheel was not dirty, the leather is worn away by some object, it does not appear to be normal wear.
3. Two right side rims are bent in the inside, causing the slow air leak.

As you can imagine I was livid. I send out an email to the sales manager and also to Lithia Group Costumer service, politely describing the issues I found and how they were not disclosed during the sales process. I would have noticed them myself but it was too dark to do so.
The salesman for some reason went silent on my text to him with the pics. I also contacted the service department.

Today I got a call back from the sales guy asking that they inspect the rims, as to make sure I did not cause the issue. I told him that he was suggesting I bent them in my one hour of ownership and if that made sense?!
Lastly, the service department called to say the same thing but also add that the seat and the steering wheel were just fine, worn by the previous owner. I asked the advisor if they practice selling CPO vehicles that have torn seats and hide the issues.

During this whole ordeal, the only reasonable person I have talked to was the Parts Manager. I ran into him when I was inquiring about the winter wheels package. He was shaking his head overhearing Ron the salesman convince me that the tire with less than 3mm of tread were fine.

I am sure you all wonder what dealership I am dealing with. I would like to tell you but I will give them a couple of more days to make things right. I was hoping to drive back tomorrow but we have a winter weather advisory in effect that might make it hard for me to do so.

Thank you for reading through this long post. I would love any advice you might have in the matter and will post back soon.
 
Not surprising to me at all! Believe me most people have been scammed like this, more than once!

Bottom line is, this is how dealership makes living but unfortunately in commission driven business model, good faith is quite rare.

ps. Try getting in touch with BMW directly.
 
Hi i3Houston, I followed your advice and got ahold of BMW. The customer service gentleman, Ryan, insisted to escalate this case immediately. I will see what will happen. We are awaiting a snow storm here and I am afraid I won't be able to drive 90 plus miles to the dealership. Maybe Friday. Thank you.
 
Also, check the fine print in your sales contract. Some States mandate a "cold-feet" clause in the contracts that allow you to back-out within a set time period with little or no financial loss.
 
We bought our 2015 Rex from a Honda dealership who had imported from California. It was not a CPO but we did all of our research to go over the car.

One thing we did notice with ours was the tires (20" option) were that they looked bald at 12,500 miles?? The dealership had apparently swapped the wheels/tires onto a different i3. I got them to replace them all with brand new as part of the deal.

Giving you an empty tank and a low charge is pretty sad. Especially if you told them that you had a 90 mile drive ahead of you.

It is unfortunate that your interior is messed up as that seemed to be the best part of ours.

Keep us posted on the outcome of this.
 
Sorry to hear about your ordeal. Hope they take care of you but I believe in buying pre-owned, we owners have to be very diligent.

I bought my car, a 2015 I3 Rex CPO with 28K miles for $17.6K and it had almost no wear and tear. The dealership said since this was a CPO, they had the car undergo a million point inspection and it showed. Also, the dealer said they had put brand new tires per their policy and it made me a happy customer.

I guess some dealerships are above others for that reason!
 
nickp said:
The dealership said since this was a CPO, they had the car undergo a million point inspection and it showed.
Hmm, why am I skeptical about a "million point inspection"? How would that even be done in a reasonable amount of time? Which "million points" would need to be inspected?
 
why am I skeptical about a "million point inspection"? How would that even be done in a reasonable amount of time?

Color me skeptical too. If a mechanic inspected one "point" a minute, working 12 hour days, 5 days a week, it would take him just over four months to complete the "million point inspection". And the Dealersip would have paid the mechanic $24,000 for his time. :roll:

What is actually supposed to happen:
https://cpo.bmwusa.com/certification/

Likely a checklist of 15 - 20 items that takes an hour or less to complete, plus whatever “fix deficiencies “ time.
Sounds like “sad owner’s” i3 should not have passed CPO standards and not been advertised and sold as Certfied at all.
 
alohart said:
nickp said:
The dealership said since this was a CPO, they had the car undergo a million point inspection and it showed.
Hmm, why am I skeptical about a "million point inspection"? How would that even be done in a reasonable amount of time? Which "million points" would need to be inspected?

LOL! A CPO goes through a multi point inspection. Obviously I was putting emphasis on how much this car was inspected by the dealer by exaggerating the dealer's claim. Obviously there aren't million points in a car to inspect. :)
Point is the car was inspected in and out and was completely detailed and had brand new tires when I took delivery. That's the point. My wife couldn't believe this was a pre-owned car.
 
Hi all, thanks for your replies. Here is an update.
At this point, I drove to the dealership. They offered to repair the rims and get an interior guy to work on the upholstery issues.
Needless to say, I do not like that resolution. I asked them if BMW would stand behind the rim fix, they did not respond with a clear yes.
I left the rims with them and asked that they schedule the upholstery guy. I think I will drive there next Thursday and see how things go.

On another note, I received a call from BMW of America case manager. I told him in detail what had transpired during the sale and after. He said that unfortunately, they have to attempt repairs on the items of concern. If they fail they will have to find another solution.
Regardless he said that he would present my case to the regional management and stress a different solution.

To be fair to BMW of America they have been very sympathetic to me and keep airing on the side of doing the right thing.
BMW of Spokane on the other side, yes I had to name them now, has chosen to not go the extra mile and remedy this situation.

That is all for now. Learn from my experience and I hope this is solved soon.
 
I am so glad that there is positive movement.

Like I said before, people have been scammed more than once. No learning is enough. Just pack extra patience and be prepared to spend $!

Car buying is just exhausting.

Ps. Leave them a review on fb, Google, cars. Com, if you have time. It may give your case some more traction.
 
Updated:

BMW of America called and told me that what the dealer is offering is sufficient.
To recap they are saying that they will no react to the fact that the dealer did not disclose at the time of the sale the damage on the steering wheel, rims or driver seat.

I told them that their decision is very much telling t of the BMW of America values, and that I would into consideration all this going forward.

I am utterly disappointed that they did not try to make a good will decision and make my car right. Maybe I was expecting too much for my loyalty to this brand.
 
From BMW's point of view, the Dealer said they will repair the deficiencies, which is what they are supposed to do to prep a car to be sold as CPO.

Will that Dealer do a good job is another question. I'd ask they replace the steering wheel - an easy job, as the leather rim comes off as one piece, without disturbing the center airbag stuff - cost is about $470. (and the Dealer gets the parts for maybe half that.)
https://parts.bmwofstratham.com/a/BMW__i3-60Ah/50947373__6215063/Steering-wheel--leather/32_2263.html#04

Same with the seat bottom cushion - the "cover" is available as a part, and easily replaced.
https://parts.bmwofstratham.com/p/BMW_2015_i3-94Ah-Automatic/61132360/52107365694.html

I would not accept an upholster guy mixing a little plastic filler, smearing it on the seat, "embossing it" to match, then trying to spray-match a little dye over it. Never lasts, and will look like shite in a few months.

Rims can be repaired, done all the time, but should be done by a rim shop with the proper equipment.

I'd tell them to repair it properly, or be prepared to go to court. If they don't, file a small-claims suit, for what it will cost you to make it right.
 
Hi MKH, what you suggest is exactly what I requested to BMW of America and the dealer. They refuse to replace the items.
I am fine with the rim repair.
At this junction, I am not sure how to compel them to replace these parts with new ones. It is a cheap fix.

Any ideas?
 
Seems like you will not get anywhere with BMW America - they apparently are passing the buck back to the Dealer.

If it were me, I'd ask them, instead of them doing the upholstery repairs, that they give you the replacement steering wheel and seat cover parts, for you to take care of yourself, and see if they will bite - which takes their labor costs out of the equation. If not, you could ask for the parts at their cost from them, or maybe BMW America. Failing that, your only choice would be to eat the costs yourself, and/or file a claim for the repairs in small-claims court.

You also may be able to find both the steering wheel and the seat cover at a salvage yard at good prices, with some searching.

... and I'd find an independent BMW service garage with good reviews in your area to work with for these, or other repairs.

I had to do that in Dallas, as both BMW Dealers near me have horrible service dept reputations,
 
armozo said:
Hi MKH, what you suggest is exactly what I requested to BMW of America and the dealer. They refuse to replace the items.
I am fine with the rim repair.
At this junction, I am not sure how to compel them to replace these parts with new ones. It is a cheap fix.

Any ideas?

You could get some low cost used rims. There is a set of 429's 19" with snows on Craigslist just across the border that they are asking $1,500 CDN. Sounds like a good opportunity for a road trip :).

https://vancouver.craigslist.org/van/wto/d/vancouver-bmw-i3-snow-tire-winter/6779414001.html
 
Hi all, I decided to email the executives and tell them all that transpired. If this does not take care of it I think I will eat the cost of the parts.
I am more than capable to do the repair myself. I have done it before in other cars.

I guess I'd be paying $850 to get out of my life people that choose to make dishonorable choices. That is worthwhile paying I'd say!!!
I will start to hunt for parts from a salvage yard or eBay. If you guys see anything posted anywhere please let me know.

Thank you all.
 
I’ve reached the end of what I’m willing to do. I went to the dealer to pick up my supposed to be fixed rims just to find them damaged. The straitened them but in the process removed the paint clear off the areas they worked on.

The service manager at BMW of Spokane suggested that the would be just fine being that the were on the inside of the rims. I answered that unpainted rims would corrode. If the were just fine they’d be unpainted from the factory. He replied saying: well they wouldn’t bother me.

They tried to fix by painting the steering wheel and made it worse, the same went with the seat. Terrible terrible solution.

If you live in Spokane I’d highly recommend staying away from this dealer. Drive to Seattle.

I called my case manager at BMW of America, Josh. I told him that their attempts to fix the issues that were not disclosed in the CPO and sales process failed. I told him they made the rims worse and were trying to tell me that they were fine.

His response was a caned one. He kept saying that he noted my complaints but BMW of American would not provide any other solutions as this issue was with a dealer. I told him that I was talking with him because they had abused the CPO process and sold me a car with leaking bent rims and tires worne below legal limits.

I noted that I was disappointed with the reaction I was getting from BMW and would highly recommended they reconsider and take note as I find BMW and myself having been taken advantage of. Well that did not stick as he went back to his caned answers.

I hope you all learn where the loyalties of BMW if America lye, definitely not with the costumer. Over the years I’ve owned three new BMWs and I can’t believe the disregard demonstrated by them for my safety.

Cheers all.
 
You might point out to your advisor at BMWNA & the Dealership, that the BMW CPO inspection guide specifically states that damaged rims are to be replaced (not repaired). From page 12 of the BMW CPO Inspection Guide: Replace bent, gouged and/or warped rims.

Wasn't able to post a link to it, but do a search for "BMW CPO Inspection guidelines.pdf"

The guide also shows tire wear/replacement standards.

With the guide, and them clearly not following it you might point out to both BMW and the Dealer as well, that by selling a car they state is a BMW CPO vehicle, when by their own inspection guide criteria clearly is not, it could well be considered consumer fraud, which you should report to the appropriate State and Federal agencies (State Attorney General for sure https://www.atg.wa.gov/consumer-protection) )- and if they don't at least give you new rims and tires - do so in writing (Certified), with copies sent registered mail to both BMW NA and the Dealership Manager. As well, I'd definitely file a complaint with the local Better Business Bureau, you'd be surprised how much clout they have in some cities.
 
By way of contrast I just want to note that we bought a 2017 REx in 2019 CPO from Valley BMW in Modesto CA. We found it online with the options that we wanted even though it was much farther, even driving right past our "usual" dealer. The car was well prepared, even for the test drive but they would not release it with tired tires. They quoted me replacement tire prices that were competitive with online sellers so it went very well. Battery and gas tank were full and they were very responsive perhaps because of dealer-to-dealer competition.
I suggest you also get in contact with the local chapter of the car club, BMWCCA.org and see if they have any useful contacts with that dealer. The CPO and bent rims issue needs to be resolved, perhaps in small claims court.
 
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