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rip off!

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Jayx5
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rip off!

Post by Jayx5 » Sun May 19, 2013 9:33 pm

Just been looking on the BMW auc web site and they,ve got a 03, 50k, 3.0 petrol x5 with no toys for £11,850 :'(what a rip off! What  mugs gonna buy that! :o
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Shez1878
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Re: rip off!

Post by Shez1878 » Sun May 19, 2013 9:52 pm

Lol. On another note, BMW emailed me asking to buy my car!

Asked them to make an offer. Reckon they'll offer £18k then stick it on sale for £25k!!

Denis O
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Re: rip off!

Post by Denis O » Mon May 20, 2013 5:33 am

[quote="jayx5"]
Just been looking on the BMW auc web site and they,ve got a 03, 50k, 3.0 petrol x5 with no toys for £11,850 :'(what a rip off! What  mugs gonna buy that! :o
[/quote]

The same mugs that won't go near a private sale, for £5k less, because it doesn't have the benifit of a BMW warranty and all the back-up that buying from BMW gives you  ::) Oh, sorry, I must have missed all the moans on various BMW forums about how poorly treated people are by dealers.
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Greydog
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Re: rip off!

Post by Greydog » Mon May 20, 2013 7:31 am

Sadly it's not just BMW Main Dealers, try Mercedes, or Volvo or Jaguar been there suffered that. I think they must have a training course on arrogance and indifference towards their customers.
Their technicians are trained to change parts not repair anything, more profit I suspect.

In my experience the really good main Dealer staff seem to end up as successful Independents, strange that happens?
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Re: rip off!

Post by shadrack » Mon May 20, 2013 7:37 am

Imagine how many repairs you could carry out in the first year for the 5k, although judging what some very nice looking 4.6is have sold for on here recently I suspect you might even have 6-7k change!  Also the 50k miles realy means nothing at 10yrs old as everything that's not worn out will have perished through lack of use
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CondorX5
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Re: rip off!

Post by CondorX5 » Mon May 20, 2013 9:48 am

I don't agree I was a "mug", Denis O, for choosing to buy a BMW AUC and spend a bit more initially - each to their own, but I think that its foolhardy to buy a complex, expensive vehicle like a 4.8is from a private seller unless you have very deep pockets OR are technically able to deal with the expensive problems inexpensively yourself.  Many forum members arrive here having had a most unpleasant catalogue of "surprises" after buying their cheap privately owned,"maintained regardless of cost, honest guv" X from a private seller.........

Actually, the warranty covered several issues in its first year and I still have an extended warranty which has covered 1000s in dealer costs so far.

I will be happy to buy an AUC again, but do agree that a 53 plate 3.0i is unlikely to get £11K, so the dealer will sit with it till a more realistic price is set.
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Re: rip off!

Post by CondorX5 » Mon May 20, 2013 9:51 am

Forgot to mention - poor dealer service at times is unfortunately met by the same poor service from independent or national chain garages, too - seems lousy customer service is rife in the industry and not limited to main dealers - its the motor industry in general.
There are some genuine indys and dealers out there, just hard to find and not always consistent!
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X5 2012 Alpine White 40d MSport 21" style 215 black alloys, rear entertainment, media package, comfort seats and a load of other options.

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marlin758
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Re: rip off!

Post by marlin758 » Mon May 20, 2013 10:40 am

Dealer service ? Not BMW in this case but I don't trust any of them !

A few years ago my wife had a Fiat and it was recalled for a check as the brake pipes above the fuel tank were prone to rusting. Sure enough it needed them replacing and we dropped the car off to have the work done.
I dropped my wife off to pick it up and when she got home she said the exhaust is blowing .

I rang the dealer and i got a long spiel about how they had to remove the exhaust to get at the pipes and if it was weak then it might fail as it was thin and corroded. He said they would replace it 'at a good price'.

We took the car in and dropped the keys off at the reception desk and I said ' they would remove the exhaust and not just unhook the rubbers and pull it to one side wouldn't they?'

'Oh no sir, they wouldn't do that '

I placed a stack of 10"x8" prints on the desk and said 'ok, show me which joint they undid ?'

He said 'Oh they are good , are they digital ?' I said 'yes?'
He asked if he could borrow them and  I told him he could have them as I could print lots more if necessary.
  He disappeared into the workshop and then came back and said to leave the car and they would fit a complete exhaust free of charge.

When we went to pick the car up he wouldn't come out of the office but sent a young girl with the keys and a bouquet of flowers for my wife. She kept digging me in the ribs saying 'Stop smirking '!
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Re: rip off!

Post by X5Sport » Mon May 20, 2013 10:53 am

The Government has been talking about 'Good Garage' schemes for years, and they come and go.  All seem to be voluntary and have little if any comeback against the bad ones.  Of course the really bad ones never join the schemes and disappear at the first sign of trouble - I've been caught by that one many years ago - which just means that the buying public has less and less trust in Dealers (Main or Indy).

I used to use an indy much trumpeted in the BMW GB Car Club Magazine - but never again.  They were OK with BMW models from the 80s & 90's, but the later models, including the X5 had them totally stumped.  It took them more than 2 days to find the fuel pump relay issue and cost me over £200 to fix a £10 part because 'diagnosis' wasn't covered by the warranty company, and it turned out they didn't actually have diagnostics tools up to date enough to find the problem - a problem which according to BMW was logged on the car.

I expect that I will probably by the BMW extended warranty from November simply because my faith in the after-market alternatives is also low.  I know it's going to be expensive but there is little choice given how much coding etc is now in cars like my X6.

Dealer offered warranties are on the whole run by insurance companies, and as we know there are many of those who will now do everything they possibly can to minimise costs whilst maximising profits and giving the level of service that the UK consumer expects - poor.  I got caught in the 1980's when buying a Manta GT/E which was warranted and low mileage and in really good condition.  Within a short time it was apparent that the cam chain tensioner was broken and the warranty only covered  1 £50 claim in 12 months!!  The repairs cost over £500.  It later transpired it had been clocked too!!  The Dealer had long since vanished!!  Having been caught by that I bought a used Calibra from a main dealer with Network Q warranty.  The car was nothing but trouble and needed a new ECU.  Vauxhall told me I would have to pay the £800 for a new one whilst Network Q investigated what was wrong with the faulty one!!  I gave them the keys and told them to replace the car with something better off their forecourt - a Cavalier Mk4 SRi 130 which was perfect right up until I traded it 6 years later.

I would never buy a used car of this type from a private seller or independent dealer, and if I was in the market for a replacement for the X6 and buying used (most likely now with a little one siphoning off the budgets) I would be all over it like a rash checking everything - and that is the main lesson I've learned from this forum. Car Service & Salespersons are liars, Believe nothing, Trust No one and Check Everything
and I mean EVERYTHING.  If I could I'd have the car up on a lift and all the covers off just to make sure there was nothing lurking out of sight, and then go through the fault printout, get is printed, cleared and run again.

Between them, all the car Dealers but one (Skoda) have made me deeply mistrustful.  Skoda NEVER ever let me down.  Service was superb, Sales the same, after sales support likewise.

Richard
Last edited by X5Sport on Mon May 20, 2013 11:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Denis O
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Re: rip off!

Post by Denis O » Mon May 20, 2013 11:01 am

I think you know I'm not calling you a mug Condor.

Horses for courses really. I've had a number of bad dealer experiences so don't believe the warranty story.

I'd rather have my car looked after by an experienced indy who I've known for many years than some spotty apprentice in a main dealer. My 7 year old grandaughter could do a better job.

And isn't it interesting that people buy through AUC because the cars have been through rigorous inspections by BMW's finest mechanics, 100% BMW servicing throughout their life, probably only driven by a vicars wife for it's minimal mileage. Once bought things start to go wrong and they have to invoke the warranty, even after all those checks.

If you really want to have a car checked properly then let your indy get it on his ramps. If not practical then get a local indy to do the same. £300 will tell you exactly what you're buying. Nobody buys a 911 without an expert crawling all over it and that includes dealer sales. Why not do the same with an X5.

I've had 3 X5's. 2003 4.6, 2004 3.0D and the current 2006 3.0D. All have been bought from indy dealers. The 4.6 needed a new starter motor which the dealer contributed the (bodge) repair cost. That covered 24000 miles, The 2004 needed nothing in 14000 miles. The 2006 has so far covered about 6000 miles and has had all the metal brake lines replaced. So 3 cars, which if bought through AUC, would have cost me a £15k to £20k premium and I would have not had to payan incremental £75 for the starter motor. I doubt the brake pipes would have been covered by even an AUC warranty although I await to be proved wrong on that 1.

So as I say, horses for courses. I'm happy I bought mine outside of the network because I feel I saved significant cash. A new autobox in each car would have been a different story though.

Some pepole are happy to buy through the network and that's good too. Just not for me.
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Re: rip off!

Post by shadrack » Mon May 20, 2013 11:35 am

I don't think anyones calling anyone a mug, I would happily buy an auc car for a premium of say 20% but in this case its around 50% which really isn't worth doing imo, and when you read of the revieves and service experiences bmw must be one of the worst dealer networks around!!

My local dealer cooper teesside I'd just full of arogant t#*sers who realy are not intested in anyone unless you want to sign up to monthly payments, my last experience of the left me sat waiting around 3hrs extra as I was waiting for a brake recall to be fixed, when I eventually asked I was greated with "sorry I didn't think the x5 would be yours sir". I'm sorrt since when has there been an age\ looks profile assosiated with a car model!! Never been back!
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Re: rip off!

Post by garethdeb » Mon May 20, 2013 1:50 pm

Not much better at Scothall BMW in Southampton.
We had a 1998 Z3 and needed a new electric wing mirror due to corrosion inside (a design flaw but we never argued that point.) We forked out for the mirror from the main dealer as they are like rocking horse sh&@e on the second hand market.
After 4 months the mirror failed so I removed it from the car and took it back. We then spent 2 months having an argument with them as they refused to accept the mirror was faulty but blamed us saying it had impact damage but there wasn't a mark on it. The service manager was THE most rude and arrogant bastard I've ever known refusing to speak to us and even threatened to have us removed from the building at one point.
The end result was we got a replacement mirror after BMW UK became involved, a full written apology from BMW UK (not the dealership) and the service manager got sacked (apparently we weren't the first to complain about him.)
All of this was because we were looked down on because we had a 14 year old car in a plush BMW main dealership.
I love Beemers and Audis but I will never deal with a main dealership again due to the arrogance and snobbery we have experienced.
Gareth

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