Diaz,

(this is a long post - skip to the end for the answer)

I has a similar problem with Foreign Motors West about 2 years ago. The hood on my 1999 328IS had started to rust, so I brought it in to have it repaired under. Before the repair could be authorized they said that BMWNA had to look at the car but they only come out once a month. After 4 months of being blown off (I think they were waiting for the warranty to expired) I finally demanded they have them look at it.

BMWNA said the rust was due to a prior accident and that it wouldn't be covered under warranty. Having purchased the car at FMW with only 8K miles and never having been in an accident, I felt FMW should have disclosed this as part of the purchase of a CPO vehicle. After going back and forth with Lance Mitchel and the BMWNA rep. I went to the FMW body shop in Ashland. They confirmed that the drivers fender had been painted, but it appeared to have been done by the factory prior to the original owner taking delivery.

He communicated this to Lance and the BMW rep. and they agreed to cover 1/2 the cost of repairs, stating that Titanium Silver was a hard color to match and they needed to repaint both fenders and the hood. Having done body work for a number of years, I knew this was the case. I explained that to Lance and he basically told me to take it or leave it.

Reluctantly I agreed, FMW body shop had the car for over a month - the 1st paint job had runs, the second was the wrong color and the third had tape marks. After 4 attempts they finally got it right.

I tried BMWNA customer service, the service advisor for FMW (Lance Mitchell) and several BMW magazines, which were too afraid to print my story for fear of losing business from the deals - hey Roundel you suck!!

I ended up getting FMW to cover the full cost after writing the owner and explaining nicely that he can screw me now but in he long run my family which owns 7 BMW's would have the last laugh.

Hope this helps