my M5 used as courtesy shuttle by dealer

[mikeriley]

I took my brand new M5 (loaded, CP, CCB, etc) in for service two weeks ago. When I dropped it off I noted the milage and told the SA I was doing so. He called the next day and told me that they need to keep the car for another day to drive it to make sure the software update worked and that no faults are recorded.

I pick the car up the two days later and notice that there are a lot of miles put on the car, the tank is low, and that the passenger side floor mats are dirty. Nobody has ever sat there before as it was a brand new car basically. I pointed out how dirty the car was on pickup and they said to bring it back and they will vacuum/ wash etc. I decided to let the milage and gas go, did not want to make that big of a deal out of it.

Fast forward to last week, I go to put my visor down and a piece of paper drops down with a customers name, address, directions, phone number and instructions. I was mad. I felt that they used my car to transport customers but could not believe it. I called my SA who said no way. It is strictly against AutoNation policy to use customer cars like that etc. He told me he would look into it but did not, and told me I was being paranoid.

So today I thought I would look into it. I called the persons who's contact info was left in my car. They got back to me and I asked what kind of car picked you up for your service shuttle. She said M5! I could not believe it. I was so mad. How unprofessional and wrong. I went right to the dealer to speak to the GM. He was not available. I was then directed to the service manager who appalled. He was very sincere in his disgust and apologized. The more I think about it the more upset I get. I did not ask for anything because frankly I did not even think of that. He offered to detail my car. I think at this point there needs to be more done, but I just don't know what. What are you thoughts?

[MyF15+F85]

Sorry to hear that, really

I'm feeling your pain, I think I'm the same way, for as long as the car sets at the dealership and it is not mine I don't mind any one in it, but..... AS SOON as I get the full ownership of it, I do not let any one in it, I know it sounds crazy but that's the way I am. I DO mind you sitting in it even though you are my mechanic and you are doing service to MY car. I DO mind if you are too close to my car and are almost leaning against my fender or quarter panel.
I DO mind if you are looking under my cars hood and then you slam it, instead of closing it softly, yeah I'm that guy.....

I'm totally anal about what goes on with my car, especially when I'm not around.

If I was you I would go totally ballistic, no bull there. I do definitely feel like YOU have been taken for a ride ( free one ) without any remorse.
That is totally unprofessional, from my stand point of view and there is NO way that there is any good excuse that could come from that dealers mouth.
I would not let them touch my car again, and would like a verbal apology from the owner of the dealership, not just the SA ( but that is just me )...

Sorry to what happened to you and your car.

[sdf10m5]

Wow, I am sorry to hear this. I have had horrible luck with the dealerships in my area, so I don't doubt this happening to you and feel your frustration. My car was scratched at two different dealer service dept.'s and I was absolutely livid. Encinitas BMW fixed the scratch immediately and apologized, BMW of San Diego apologized but never contacted me back to fix it- asked if it was there before and ultimately left me having to find a place to have the scratch removed out of my own pocket. Also after two weeks in their service dept.- yet another dealership (BMW escondido) was unable to identify that I had a bent wheel causing a vibration. The vibration has been intermittent for a while and the dealers have blamed it on the brakes and replaced them numerous times, ending in the same result. I recently just found out from a local shop while getting my new tires road-force balanced, of the actual culprit. I am getting it fixed by a local place I found by recommendation from this forum and have completely lost faith in dealership service.

My fair share of 328i loaners were given the brunt of my frustration.

[drewmisha]

What a bunch of c***suckers. Tired of these incompetent *ucks... They think your 100k+ car is a piece of toiletpaper.

Where's the stealer/liarship?

[POBA]

Sorry to hear about your horrible experience. I know how you feel. I will be upset too

I will put everything in writing for documentation. I will send an email to the GM with cc to service manager and SA. I will also send email to BMWNA and cc all of these guys on the email. Then, I will wait and see what they would say. It is a big deal.

This is beside the point, I would definitely have them detail the car if you trust them to do so or take it to a detail shop of your choice and have them pay for it. Personally, I will do the latter so they spend some money. I will also have them make at least one month payment towards the lease for putting mileage on the car and for driving it as a shuttle. Stay calm and professional, they are in big trouble if you play your cards well. Good luck..

[speedracerlo]

the dealer should fire the guy whos responsible for letting this happen

[apsuard]

This type of behavior irritates me so much. How could someone think this is an acceptable use of a customers car? Sorry OP and I hope you get retribution.

[M6-Coupe]

Sorry to hear this. If I were you, I would definitely

1. Mention the name of dealer here.
2. Call BMWNA to let them know.
3. Send email to GM and cc service manager and all service SA of dealership to let them know how frustrated you are.

This way you can at least prevent the similar thing happen to you and other people. This forum has enough power to be reviewed by BMWNA. Unfortunately you cannot go back to two weeks ago, but you can try to make sure it will not happen again. It's really sad. You leave your car for service and they cheated.

[RPiM5]

Damn, that is unbelievable. If it was me, I wouldn't even give them a chance. I'd call my lawyer. Regardless if the Service Manager knew about it or not, there is no way that should have happened. That's almost as bad as someone vandalizing your car or having the tech hoon it during a test drive.

[sdshah]

You should put that dealership on blast as well. I would be black out angry if someone did that to my 100k+ car.

Call BMW NA and report the dealership. That is insane.

[AlphaM]

Mutherfuckers. i would kick the fucker's a$$ whoever that was. Trust me i would of found who did this and got his a$$ fired. TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. Do some digging, you would probably be surprised who was behind this. embarrass the crap out of them!!!

[elitex]

Horrible. Post their name please.

[mikeriley]

They are getting back to me tomorrow. Its so incredibly wrong and stupid thing to do. They were using my property for their own gain. I do not want a detail done by them there. They owe me a detail done elsewhere, new mats, and obviously gas. That is just to make up what they stole and damaged using my property without permission. This should also go up the AutoNation chain of command. I doubt BMWNA would care or do anything. They always say the dealers are independent, blah blah blah. Did they ever intervene before?

[Igor_M5]

Damn son.

I wouldn't post the name of the dealership if I was you, as much as we want to know which dealership this was. Wait till you're reimbursed, and reap off some more benefits from this situation. After that, it's up to you to put them on blast or not.

Is your car leased? If it is... let BMWNA know and let them refund you for at least 1 or two payments.

Or... make the dealership get you a set of winter wheels & tires, or M-Performance parts.

Edit: BMWNA WILL care, they will tare that dealership a new asshole. One of my friends who drives an F12 M6, he took his car in for a seat replacement because the leather was getting worn out, when it shouldn't, especially on a car like this. Instead of replacing the entire seat, they reupholstered it by some shmuck who did a shitty job. He came back again and this time around they replaced the entire seat, but then caused some other minor issues here and there, his car ended up being in service for a month. He called and complained to BMWNA, they sent him a $10K check... go figure.

BMWNA does care about what their dealership do, and how they treat their customers (even if you didnt buy the car from them). You just have to know how to break through them.

[mikeriley]

Originally Posted by Igor@ONEighty

Damn son.

I wouldn't post the name of the dealership if I was you, as much as we want to know which dealership this was. Wait till you're reimbursed, and reap off some more benefits from this situation. After that, it's up to you to put them on blast or not.

Is your car leased? If it is... let BMWNA know and let them refund you for at least 1 or two payments.

Or... make the dealership get you a set of winter wheels & tires, or M-Performance parts.

Edit: BMWNA WILL care, they will tare that dealership a new asshole. One of my friends who drives an F12 M6, he took his car in for a seat replacement because the leather was getting worn out, when it shouldn't, especially on a car like this. Instead of replacing the entire seat, they reupholstered it by some shmuck who did a shitty job. He came back again and this time around they replaced the entire seat, but then caused some other minor issues here and there, his car ended up being in service for a month. He called and complained to BMWNA, they sent him a $10K check... go figure.

BMWNA does care about what their dealership do, and how they treat their customers (even if you didnt buy the car from them). You just have to know how to break through them.

Excellent advice. i filled out the survey with all information. asked for bmwna to contact me. i will also call customer service tomorrow.

[cassidysdad]

maybe you can ask the owner to use their home for a weekend
even trade!

[M6-Coupe]

Originally Posted by Igor@ONEighty

Damn son.

I wouldn't post the name of the dealership if I was you, as much as we want to know which dealership this was. Wait till you're reimbursed, and reap off some more benefits from this situation. After that, it's up to you to put them on blast or not.

Is your car leased? If it is... let BMWNA know and let them refund you for at least 1 or two payments.

Or... make the dealership get you a set of winter wheels & tires, or M-Performance parts.

Edit: BMWNA WILL care, they will tare that dealership a new asshole. One of my friends who drives an F12 M6, he took his car in for a seat replacement because the leather was getting worn out, when it shouldn't, especially on a car like this. Instead of replacing the entire seat, they reupholstered it by some shmuck who did a shitty job. He came back again and this time around they replaced the entire seat, but then caused some other minor issues here and there, his car ended up being in service for a month. He called and complained to BMWNA, they sent him a $10K check... go figure.

BMWNA does care about what their dealership do, and how they treat their customers (even if you didnt buy the car from them). You just have to know how to break through them.

10K check???
Last year my car was in service for around 1 month waiting for part coming from Germany... They (dealer) sent me one month payment after complaining to BMWNA.

[nv6425]

Originally Posted by M6-Coupe

10K check???
Last year my car was in service for around 1 month waiting for part coming from Germany... They (dealer) sent me one month payment after complaining to BMWNA.

Yeah, my first M5 was part of the oil pump recall and it sat at the dealership for a month, they paid one of my payments...nothing like $10K.

[omegaSMP300]

Wow this is unacceptable. I am very sorry. I can't even begin to imagine how upset I would be. I do hope you get a lot out of this for you trust in them was truly taken advantage of.

[M5Rlz]

I'm really interested to hear how this plays out two things you shouldn't let go of beyond the fact that they did this

1. The lie about not doing it, if a dealer would lie about this imagine what else they could be lying about with how the car was treated, or might be treated on future visits.

2. Calling BMWNA, whatever the dealer does BMWNA needs to know and you should try to get as much as possible out of this embarrassment as possible.


This to me is a far bigger deal than the milage/ letting someone in (if my dealer called and asked for my permission as long as it was their insurance on the hook I'd probably say ok lol). But this speaks to a massive lack of oversight by the dealer and BMWNA needs to know, because I doubt word didn't get around about that M5 being used that way, which would lead some techs to believe might as well use these cars how I see fit, which usually ends up with an M/335i/50i in a wall somewhere.

Don't back off this because its far bigger than the milage.

[PEHM5]

I can't believe that dealership would risk using a M5 as a shuttle. You definitely need to follow up with both the dealer and BMWNA senior managers. This is totally unacceptable!

[darkz]

that is one dick move from the dealer, I bet you some sort of management was involved in that decision. never stop fighting until you get a reasonable reimbursement out of this!