When buying a used BMW (Wheel and Tire protection plan)

[DenisZ]

Recently purchased a pre-owned 2011 BMW F10 (my 4th BMW),which i bought of an auction (most likely the car just came of lease). I Came to BMW of Freehold New Jersey for a checkup. The car checked up fine, no problems no issues. I was told that my warranty expires within few weeks and that I have wheel and tire protection (from previous owner) for another year until January of 2016.
Few weeks later I got a few bubbles on my tire due to potholes. Called in and made an appointment and double-checked with the service advisor if the tire is covered. When I was told that I am covered and I do not need to pay a penny.
Came for my appointment (9:30am), the dealership was closed due to weather conditions. (The Ultimate Driving Machine? Really) I was never contacted by anyone to tell me that the dealership was closed. (I tried calling them before going there, but no one picked up, and i did not expect them too, because it was too early)
The following morning I purposely waited all day before calling the dealership myself, to see if they would call. NO ONE Did!!!!
Called the dealership before they closed and asked why no one contacted me? They told me that the dealership was closed and even if they wanted to call, they couldn't - because it was closed. (Not even sure if it makes sense. It definitely looked like they made the decision to be closed the night before, all of the New cars were moved to the back yard so that plows could easily clear the front are )
As far as rescheduling they told me that I dont need an appointment, they will take me in any time, because it should not take them too long.
Came in on Saturday at 10 am. Sat for an hour and a half when a service advisor called me over to tell me that I need to pay over $500 for the tire. And that the tire and wheel protection plan is under previous owner, not me.
I asked why wasn't I told about this earlier, because I found out about this plan from this dealership, and at least 3 people told me that I'm covered. Where I've been told that it was a mistake and that I'm not covered. I was frustrated and mad beyond believe at that point. Asked to talk to the manager where i explain the situation, and he actually replaced the tire for free. To be honest, i did not expect anything else. or should i say i would not stop until the tire wasn't replaced for free. I think he saw that in me and gave in pretty easy.

The point i'm trying to make is that When buying a preowned vehicle its always good to check with the dealer what kind of warranty or protections does the car have. Even if its under previous owners name you have 30 days to transfer it under yours. (If I'm not mistaking there is a $40 charge for that) Plus The previous owner actually has to do the transfer. THIS IS BIZARE! because the owner cannot transfer any of the protection plans or warranties on any other vehicle! Basically it can only stay on the car it was purchased on.

When i talked to the manager and he was explaining me why i can't use the coverage, he mentioned that the regular BMW warranty 5 years or 50,000 miles will also face this problem, because BMW just changed their rules and regulations. So if the car comes of lease and it has 30k on it and is not purchased from BMW dealership - you are at risk to loose the warranty...


Hopefully this info will help some future owners of pre-owned BMW.

P.S. when i purchased the vehicle it came only with one key. From an old title i found previous owners name and address and i send him a Thank you card for taking a good care of the car, and asked him if he had any extra keys. Included and return envelope with some post stamps and my business card. To my surprise he replied via email saying that he has an extra key and he would be happy to give it to me. He dropped it of at his local BMW, which is hour and a half from me, and i picked it up at my convenience. Should i have known about the fact that i need to transfer the protection plan, i would have asked him to make a phone call to BMW and made the transfer. I don't think he would mind, because he can't really use it on any other vehicle...

[BwoodBMW]

It seems to me that your dealer actually treated you pretty well. Sorry it was a bit of a hassle but they went above and beyond to cover you when they legally didn't have to. Shutting down for weather is normal and they don't have your phone number saved on their cell phone to call you. While I'd hope they would have a way to cancel appointments this isn't any huge screw up on their part.

[DenisZ]

The manager really did take care of me, no complains there at all. although Service advisors were horrible at their jobs, starting from the ones that had no clue about the fact that protection plan needs to be transferred under my name so that i could use it (even thought they knew i just bought the vehicle) and then the lady that i dealt with on Saturday literally wanted me to flip on her, by acting very unprofessionally...
I also thought they would have some sort of system to notify me about them being closed, especially for an early appointments, but they didn't. In fact they sent me an automated email a day before to confirm the appointment. One would think that they would use the same email system to notify about cancelled appointments.
And honestly i made this post not to tell how bad they treated me, even if it came out that way (i guess i'm letting the rest of my steam out :] ) i made this thread so that future owners had an idea what to do when buying a used BMW

[bronch]

I see things differently than the above post. I don't think you were treated well. Assuming they weren't trying to directly mislead you about your warranties, that means whoever told you what they did doesn't have a clue. I think the moral of this story is to ask the question and get the response in writing and signed by the sales manager before you buy. As far as, the dealer being closed. Somehow, heroically I guess, you made it to the dealer unharmed for your service, lol. You would think, someone could get there in their X5 to call people with appointments and cancel. That is, if they don't have the tech to get into the system via VPN or web. I think the dealer is crappy, they have uninformed employees or they're outright scammers. Yes, they did the right thing when pushed and you got the tire for free, but so what. What if you caught a nail leaving the parking lot? If possible, I'd find a new dealer. Although, no promises there. Just my opinion.

[DenisZ]

Bronch! Thank you! we are on the same page! when i wrote up this thread and posted it, i was a little skeptical about the feedback that i'm going to get.
I don't think i was treated well at all, that is why i will try to avoid this dealership as much as possible (i will use it to get parts; oil, oil filter etc) As far as service - NO
I also made a similar post (not as lengthy) on Yelp. Actually, i did that while being at the dealership. BMW of Freehold has only 2 star rating and lots of unsatisfied customers (service wise)
As far as my appointment being closed...My all wheel drive F10 drove perfectly... Not sure about their ULTIMATE DRIVING MACHINE...