WARNING: Do not crash your i3... Eternity to repair

Hi everyone,

On Saturday April 18th I got into a car crash with my i3 and the front fender came off. It was not a big crash, it was at about 10 mph. So I had my car towed to the nearest BMW service center.

It is now nearing June and my i3 is STILL at the bodyshop and all I'm getting from them is "waiting on parts to arrive". They tell me they don't know when it'll be repaired and ready to drive again.

So I wanted to verify on here if this seems like a normal amount of time? It's not only a brand new car, but a brand new line of cars. I think its reasonable for it to take longer, but should it take this long? Let me warn you all right now, be EXTRA careful not to get into any sort of collision or park in a spot where hit and runs may occur, because you will wait half a year to get it fixed.

It's only been a month so far!

fferro09 said:

Hi everyone,

On Saturday April 18th I got into a car crash with my i3 and the front fender came off. It was not a big crash, it was at about 10 mph. So I had my car towed to the nearest BMW service center.

It is now nearing June and my i3 is STILL at the bodyshop and all I'm getting from them is "waiting on parts to arrive". They tell me they don't know when it'll be repaired and ready to drive again.

So I wanted to verify on here if this seems like a normal amount of time? It's not only a brand new car, but a brand new line of cars. I think its reasonable for it to take longer, but should it take this long? Let me warn you all right now, be EXTRA careful not to get into any sort of collision or park in a spot where hit and runs may occur, because you will wait half a year to get it fixed.

Click to expand...

I know its frustrating... I had to wait 2 months for parts last year... As they were on back-order, my local dealer didn't know when to expect them, although as soon as they arrived I had my car back in just a few days...

Call the i-concierge number and see if they can light a fire under someone.

I am considering the purchase of an i3. The post got me to wondering where I could get mine repaired in the event of an accident. I live in the Chicago metro area. My local dealer can't do i3 body repairs, so I called BMW USA. They told me that Patrick BMW in Schaumburg can do body repairs so I called them. The woman I spoke with was friendly and forthright. She said that they were the only dealer in the state of Illinois that can do i3 body repairs. Fortunately, that's less than an hour from me, but it's pretty scary that there's only the one. She said they'd fixed maybe a half dozen so far. One was a $20k front end repair and it did take quite some time. She didn't recall for certain, but she thought it might have been 2-3 weeks. For a significant repair, that's a little longer than normal, but not alarming by any means. She added that i3 repairs have tended to have taken a little extra time. My take was that it is because it's different and they are being more deliberate and careful as they become more familiar with the processes and the vehicle itself. Again, that's entirely expected.

I thought that one of the big advantages of the i3 was easy replacement of non structural exterior panels. If the replacements are available then repairs are supposed to be just a matter of snapping one panel/fender off and putting the new one on. Unless inspecting and then repairing any damage to the alloy platform and suspension or to the the CFRP iLife structure is more difficult than BMW planned. I know from my Flight Test days that composites are very difficult to inspect and even harder to repair: on paper it all sounds so easy, but everything has to be done exactly correctly to ensure a good repair. Sure the standards between Aviation and Automotive are different, but the difficulties of composites are the same. It's a very steep learning curve.

The i3 chassis was designed with accident repair in mind...there are crush zones that are designed to be replaced. Doing it takes special skill and tools, though, and not all dealers have bought into the tools and training required to become certified.

Five weeks. That sounds about right.

My i3 got rear ended, when I stopped at a pedestrian crossing. The bumper's damage is just a scratch. When the body shop took the bumper out to repaint, they found there is a piece inside was damaged. Although insurance approved a new replacement, the part is not available in Canada and has to be order from Germany. Estimated time to deliver was four week. At the end, the body shop just repair the damaged part for me. As it is not visible, it is better than drive a service loaner for four weeks.

For the sake of comparison, I had a Nissan Leaf prior to my i3 and managed to scrape and dent both rear doors a little. It took over 9 weeks to repair the damage and cost nearly £3,500 due to the fact the doors were aluminium (apparently).

I got rear ended too and it took a month to have Germany call the BMW Certified repair shop. Apparently after a PUMA case is opened, the i engineers have to determine if the CFRP was compromised enough to suggest the correct course of repair.

You know this is not how things should work... I'm spending a lot of money to have this car and I'm not getting what I'm paying for for months on end... "It took this guy 2 months to get his i3 repaired" is NOT a good excuse. BMW released this car, they should have been prepared to have parts ready. They should have known that this car would get into accidents. A month and a half is enough time for a multi-billion dollar, multi-national company to produce parts. What if the i3 was the only car I had?

I'm going to complain about this directly to BMW, and I think I, and everyone else who waited this long, deserve to have some sort of rebate/compensation for this. Does anyone else not have a brain and understand that these huge companies are taking advantage of their size with brainless people who just accept that they take as long as they want??? I'm taking action on this, I don't care if you people don't. But I'm trying to get people on here to do the same.

FWIW, not all dealers sent people to the required training to allow them to fix an i3. That doesn't make it right, or not, but it was offered to them all. In some ways, you can blame the dealer, since the training was available before launch and still is. Not all dealers have a collision repair facility that meets BMW's guidelines, either. It somewhat depends on the scope of the damage, but call around and check how many dealers are BMW certified collision repair facilities.

The i3 is too new for the typical non-dealer to want to learn the techniques and invest the money required. BMW did design the chassis to be repaired, but if it is not done correctly, the car may look great, but not be safe structurally. It may be that if you had the car at a dealership that does have the certification and proper tools, it would be done by now. In the interim, they don't want to touch it, try to repair it, fail, and have you have another accident as a result. Not a great situation, but not all dealerships are BMW certified to repair the 'normal' cars, either. Painting and minor dents are one thing, structural damage, especially on a car like the i3 is another thing altogether.

You guys have been lucky. There were two minor defects on my BEV when I took delivery in November last year. The dealer acknowledged the problems and said that the relevant parts had to be replaced. Well, six months have passed and I am STILL waiting for the parts to arrive from Germany. Fortunately, the defects do not affect normal driving but I do wonder how long I'd need to ground the little bugger should something more serious happens.

FWIW, things that are safety related or prevent the vehicle from being driven tend to get much higher priorities, verses cosmetic items, especially if the are in short supply. Sorry to hear about the delays. It may be that corporate in your country never got the request, or forwarded it to Germany.

I'm lucky? FYI I'm STILL waiting as of now, 06/16/2015, so it's been nearly 9 weeks and the last update I got was an ESTIMATED (3rd time they've told me it would be done for sure) completion date of June 26th. That'll be 10 weeks just to replace a bumper and front axle. Im sorry you had to wait 6 months, and I hope you took the initiative to complain about it to the FTC and BMW.. But if you haven't, I hope you're not telling me to wait 6 months or more to have that right, cuz 10 weeks, even 4 weeks, is completely unacceptable. So please, no one start with the "I waited longer than you" shit, cuz all you're saying is "I don't care about my rights and what I deserve", that's not what you should be telling people.