Thoughts and Advice please.

[Sy4.8is]

I recently purchased a 2005 X5 from a BMW main dealer 300 miles away from where I live. (2 days ago)
The price agreed was inclusive of 12 months road tax and a rear boot liner with email correspondence to verify. On arrival that evening at the main dealer after 6 hours on public transport (there had been storms the previous day so a longer than expected commute). I was informed face to face that for logistical reasons, the car had 10 months tax but that they had supagarded the car instead. This was at 6pm in the evening. There was no prior discussion with me regarding this. Could I really walk away having travelled 300 miles to buy a car for my wife? I felt that the attitude of the dealership was that they could do this for this reason.

The person I was dealing with was fairly junior, I did not feel I could escalate things at the time given that it was already evening and getting late. I am familar with laws around distance selling so I elected to take the car home and write to the sales manager the following day. (yesterday).
I've also posted the supagard package- detailing products etc. to the Dealer Principal advising him to keep it or donate it to charity. (In christmas wrapping paper as that's all we had!)

What makes this interesting was that supagard previously was also discussed over the phone, and quotes for a protection package were obtained via email. I had explicitly said that I did not rate supagard and in the quotes for the protection package which I did not end up taking, the quotes were for everything else bar the supagard which was valued at £150 as part of a package deal if I did choose to take it. On the paperwork given to me it was valued at £460.

Within the context of supagarding a car as a substitute for 2 months road tax, I don't think it's unreasonable to offer this, however there should been a prior discussion before travelling there. This did not occur, for me, the agreed contact of sale is binding, and any deviation from that agreement must be discussed with the customer. To mention this to me within the context above surely is consistent with forcing a sale under duress. - I have written to the sales manager yesterday and await a response.

I should have been given the choice of what should be substituted for the missing 2 months road tax rather than a decision made on my behalf. It sounds small, but the underlying principle is important to me.

There were some other minor issues I noted:-

1. The car had a non standard (non BMW) sat nav dvd which caused the head unit to malfunction which resolved when I subsituted a spare bmw nav DVD i had. - this should have been noted on the auc check and rectified.

2. one trim piece was not fitted correctly.

3. no retractable cargo cover - i'm not sure if this is standard and should be present on an 4.8is?

I've raised these points as well.

As part of the AUC check the car did end up having 2 new rear tires, a new rear parking sensor, an oil change and a brake fluid change. But then again you do pay a premium for an AUC car and expect a certain level of service. (the bill for this was £1400)

What do people think?

[Imy]

Thats a big ball ache...

Supagard are shit and not worth the premium. Your right in saying that the dealer should have discussed with you an alternative for the 2 months tax. Logic would concur with this and perhaps a more reasonable offer as a nice gesture would have been to knock off the difference? Especially since you had travelled 6hrs to get the car.

Your other qualms are nothing new from AUC experiences. A quick search on the forum and you will find people who have gone to view AUC vehicles which are clearly not worthy of having the premium price expected for AUC. It seems as though their standards are slipping.
When my dad was looking to buy a new car, he left the whole process to me. I went to go view a few AUC cars and they were plain shit. Trim damaged or missing, stitching coming off steering wheel etc.

I would have thought with the vehicle being AUC that everything should be factory fitted? (I may be wrong) so having an after market DVD player is unacceptable.

The load cover came as standard and should have been included, these are not cheap to purchase and even second hand ones on eBay exchange for around £120-£150 notes.

TBH for the price you price you paid, and lets be honest it was top whack, I would have expected nothing but the very highest standard.

Hope your Mrs is enjoying the monster otherwise...

[X5Sport]

Hmm, not good.

I would also suggest a word with BMW GB as there is no way an AUC car should have been provided with a dodgy nav disc.  I would at least insist that the Dealer provided a new (and legal) one.....unless they provided the dodgy one......

The load cover is very definitely standard......and unless identified as missing they need to provide.

I agree with the Supagard comments as we had it on one car and it needs redoing every few weeks!  That's the same as cleaning a car anyway!!

I think you have to give them a chance to correct the issues but after that you could reject the car as not being 'as described' and insist that all monies are refunded (including your costs) and that they come and get it.

Richard

[Sy4.8is]

I agree, I am waiting for them to get back to me about this. Hopefully everything will be rectified. They've called me at work a few times. I had asked them to write or email which for some reason they seem to be avoiding. The car is lovely. Once these issues are sorted I'll be very happy. I still can't get over how well it pulls for a vehicle that size. The wife loves it.

[Sy4.8is]

Well I've heard back from them, they want to source a used load cover and have an 08/09 nav disc they can post to me advising that it's a used car and that it is reasonable therefore to do this. Is it? If a car is being prepped to BMW AUC standards, shouldn't missing standard items be replaced with new items? Do BMW really source things from ?breakers yards/gumtree/eBay etc.?
They have still failed to acknowledge deviating from an agreement without prior consent. I was somewhat surprised by their response.

[Denis O]

And another 1 learns that paying a premium, to a BMW  stealer, is the same as burning ten pound notes.

Sorry about your woes but it's par for the course with the majority of dealers and the sooner people learn this the better. I always try to buy privately because I know exactly where I stand; no protection at all. I also pay £2k - £4k less for the car. The problem is finding the cars. The dealer network has them all because people are too shit scared to sell privately for fear of being scammed, buying a load of crap, etc, etc.

WTF is a main dealer doing selling a 2005 car FFS. It's 8 years old and a couple of years ago they wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole. Too much risk to put a years warranty on it. They struggle to get decent stock so will buy/sell pretty much anything which means the private market is non existent.

There have been many stories on here of late of piss poor trade offers on owners cars. My own 2004 3.0D went to the trade for £7k. He immediately put it up for £9995 and it was gone from his website within 2 weeks. I'd had it up for sale for £8k for a month before without 1 enquiry.

The trade has all the stock because we let them. Bah humbug.

[CondorX5]

Denis O, I don't think thats an entirely fair assessment of all BMW AUC - unfortunately, people are far more likely to pop up when there are negative experiences though, they generally don't rush to post their positive experiences with car dealers (although it would be good if they did!).  My own AUC experience has actually been a good one overall.  My 4.8 is a Hexagon- sourced one with expensive additional spec and I would have been extremely uncomfortable buying it from a private seller.  The AUC prep wasn't perfect, they missed one or two important (in my opinion) things, and to be fair to Hexagon, they ensured the omissions were rectified by a dealership close to me, at their cost.  Plus the AUC warranty, which I have maintained since purchase, has been worth its weight, thats for sure, as even relatively minor items are expensive on the 4.8.

Sy, I agree that the 10 months instead of 12 is not on - I know its only around £50 in the big scheme of things, as tax for these is about £240 per annum, but it should have been discussed.  The paint protection thing is rubbish and I agree I wouldn't bother with it and send it back to them, though. I would rather have the £50!

The load cover is a definite must though.  As said, they are expensive and as it is a standard item in the car, it should have been mentioned if it was not present. They are entitled to provide one in good working order, it does not have to be new, as you purchased the car used, the load cover would have been used too. The same applies to the sat nav disk, a non-oem disk should never have passed their inspection, it is not BMW equipment and not what you expected, but again, it does not have to be the latest 2013 version, in fact, it could even be a 2005 version as it is appropriate to the age of the car.  So a 2008/9 one would be quite acceptable, really, although you might want to press them to provide the newest one given their obvious failure to do the Auc check correctly. 

The 4.8is is a fantastic car, whatever the naysayers have to say. I absolutely love mine, it pulls like a train and the power is wonderful, I have no intention of changing for a few years yet if I can help it.

BMW do tend to keep older cars in their main dealer network, as well, so don't be put off by posters remarks about what such an ancient vehicle was doing at a main dealers, these cars were around £70K new and there is absolutely no reason why they should not be supported by the main dealer network even if they are 8 years old, its not a crappy Renault or Vauxhall throwaway number, after all.

Hope you get it all sorted amicably, it does sour an expensive purchase though, especially when you paid absolutely top whack for the car, as I did for mine, which was a shade under £25k from Hexagon in 2010.

[Sy4.8is]

Thanks for all the comments and Condor's objectivity. I will be pushing for new items given that:-

they were not identified on the AUC check and should have been.
and the context - changing a deal without discussing it and no acknowledgement of this and no apology.

The simple things count. It boils down to respect and customer service.

[Denis O]

Condor, I do believe we've had this conversation before. You like paying through the nose to have your AUC car, warranty and dealer servicing rates. I'm not.

Nobody is wrong or right. Just different.

[jaynana]

it is personal - appetite for risk i'm afraid  :-[

[AW8]

Fwiw I didn't see Condors post as indicative of author claim that if buying used the auc  is only way to go, however, the experience shared to date by condor is peace of mind, good customer service and lack of need to do legwork or pay as much for repairs had the same car been purchased outside of auc scheme... Nobody disagrees there is often a price premium for auc and nobody is defending all dealers or suggesting dealers always get it right &/or provide best buyer value.

Back to the op......I would accept used disc and used shelf but only if provision timescales agreed. You don't had leg to stand on asking for new IMO and unless  contract terms say otherwise.

So imo the remaining  issue however principled is down  to £50.....that figure would has been less if offset by op selling  the supaguard kit on eBay. A little of me wonders if the sales team threw in supaguard  for their own comedy value and on back of prior comments by purchaser before collection.

If me And intent on pushing this then i would ask for a payment for the balance of road fund disc and if no response forward it to DP initially and BMW uk if really wanting to kick backside out of it.

Principle is one thing but do consider the bigger picture......consider winning war not an individual battle. Regardless of the mondial warranty the actual duty to comply with sale of goods act clams or issues rests with the supplying dealer. By all means pi55 them off but perhaps don't look forward to future goodwill outside of what's legally required.

[Sy4.8is]

I have a very good longstanding relationship with my local dealer and enough main dealer contacts. I'm happy to push to win this individual battle. I'm not bothered about gaining £50 on eBay or losing it by sending the Supagard back to the DP - it should be with him today gift wrapped and rest assured, the message written to him (by my wife) should raise a chuckle from him.
This is about the principle, a deal is a deal, if you're going to change the deal you talk to the customer, it is that simple. They only had to say,"Sorry in retrospect we shouldn't have done that and spoken to you first...." , at no point has any one even remotely been close to saying that. Had they done, I would have accepted the used nav DVD and used roller blind offered. As it is I feel genuinely aggrieved by their attitude and will push for new items. It's a little too late for them to apologise now if they've read this thread and decided to do so.
BMW customer care have their usual phone call post sale for my score out of 10, I gave them a 1....they were v. surprised , given that previous scores from me to other dealers have been 10, 9&9. (BMW cooper thames ditton and BMW Sytner Sheffield)
BMW Sytner Sheffield were especially good, as there were some issues post-sale and the first thing their sales manager did was to apologise
And he then went on to discuss how to rectify things. A world of difference in attitude. To contrast this with this dealer- I've been "told" that x, y & z are happening with no discussion or negotiation. I do not like the attitude of the particular main dealer I bought this car from.

[AW8]

Your reasoning understood albeit I stand by my comments re what you are entitled to.

I hope they see the funny side & that you never need to ask for a goodwill contribution outside of warranty.

Good Luck 

[Sy4.8is]

Thank you.
I'm not concerned about that. 

[AW8]

Oh & fwiw the unwanted return packaging made me chuckle....Allegedly the kits & margins on these are a bit of a standing joke in the trade so I am sure your collective efforts will be appreciated