Major repair on 01 X5

[ogx5]

Hi,

Last weekend I heard a thump while driving the X5 and thought nothing about it. Later at a junction when the traffic light turned green I stepped on the pedal lightly, all of a sudden I heard a loud bang and thought someone rear-end the X. The X lost momentum and I was lucky to cross the junction and stopped at the shoulder without anyone hitting me.

Long story short, the X wouldn't move forward or reverse even if I stepped on the pedal. Had it towed to dealership and was told the transfer case and front axle need replacement, and its about $4K.

The X has less than 70K miles on it, has anyone experienced the same? Can I put on a argument that this is a defect given relatively low mileage? I don't drive it aggressively nor do I do off-road...

Thanks for your input,
Ken

[Zulu95]

Costs nothing to try but I would not hold my breath waiting for anything.

[fatboyoz]

Ken,
BMW Australia has what they call, a Goodwill Warranty. However, I doubt if they would honour it on a car that is 6 years old. You should ask the question though, as they may do it if it is a really unusual defect. Have you had the car serviced recently?
Regards Colin.

[ogx5]

Colin,

Thanks for the tip.

I called BMW Customer Relation and spoke to them about this. My main gripe is this is not bells and whistles but the basic mechanical components to get the X to go forward and reverse, so it's a defect to have it gone bad so quickly. We'll see how it works but I am glad that at least my service advisor is trying to help me bring down the cost and willing to talk to this CSR person.

I have done my Inspection 2 early too at the dealership, at around 55K miles.

-Ken

Originally Posted by fatboyoz

Ken,
BMW Australia has what they call, a Goodwill Warranty. However, I doubt if they would honour it on a car that is 6 years old. You should ask the question though, as they may do it if it is a really unusual defect. Have you had the car serviced recently?
Regards Colin.

[X5 in AK]

BMW does have a goodwill warranty in place for the instrument cluster that covers all X5s, so they will do it for out-of warranty cars. However, they are doing that one based upon 'safety', the argument being that because the pixel display is failed on the cluster, the 'fasten seat belt' warning is illegible, and that is a safety issue.

So, as far as your problem goes, you can point out to the dealer and to BMWNA that a goodwill warranty program does exist, but just don't bring up the specifics. Might not get you any where, but will help your argument.

Your failure sounds very odd, it is not normal. Push hard on this one and see what you can get out of them.

[ogx5]

Thanks for the head's up, I left a vm for service advisor on goodwill warranty and I'll update everyone on what happens next. It did pose a safety issue for us because the whole family was in the SAV and the breakdown happened at a busy junction.

In my case, the worst they can do to me is say "no", so I am gonna push hard for this one. Wish me luck!

Originally Posted by X5 in AK

BMW does have a goodwill warranty in place for the instrument cluster that covers all X5s, so they will do it for out-of warranty cars. However, they are doing that one based upon 'safety', the argument being that because the pixel display is failed on the cluster, the 'fasten seat belt' warning is illegible, and that is a safety issue.

So, as far as your problem goes, you can point out to the dealer and to BMWNA that a goodwill warranty program does exist, but just don't bring up the specifics. Might not get you any where, but will help your argument.

Your failure sounds very odd, it is not normal. Push hard on this one and see what you can get out of them.

[ogx5]

Well, after more than a week in the shop (got a 07 530 as loaner, sweet driving machine), the total damage came out to be almost $2300. Dealership covered 25% of the cost and labor. Service advisor was helpful in trying to get the price down because he has not seen this happening in his career for a low mileage X5 like mine. Hats off to Mario of BMW Dallas. Mario is one of the best SA I have met in this dealership.

Also, I contacted BMW NA about this, and they tried to help but was not able to get goodwill warranty for this. Naturally I was disappointed at their response.

[X5 in AK]

What broke and what did they replace?

Not too suprising about BMWNA's response. Typical. Good on the dealer for stepping up and helping.

[ogx5]

The transfer case and front axle both got replaced. BMW Dallas took a big chunk out of labor and that helped.

I like Mario as SA for the fact that he's attentive and listened to my argument. He even asked my X to be inspected by the visiting BMW NA technician (who comes once a month from NJ).

Originally Posted by X5 in AK

What broke and what did they replace?

Not too suprising about BMWNA's response. Typical. Good on the dealer for stepping up and helping.

[noncom23]

Thx for the heads up on Mario. I go there too.
Well, you got some help on an 2001, not too bad.

Originally Posted by ogx5

Well, after more than a week in the shop (got a 07 530 as loaner, sweet driving machine), the total damage came out to be almost $2300. Dealership covered 25% of the cost and labor. Service advisor was helpful in trying to get the price down because he has not seen this happening in his career for a low mileage X5 like mine. Hats off to Mario of BMW Dallas. Mario is one of the best SA I have met in this dealership.

Also, I contacted BMW NA about this, and they tried to help but was not able to get goodwill warranty for this. Naturally I was disappointed at their response.