Dealer Blows my 4.8is engine!

[Ricky Bobby]

I didn't think of this, but maybe the "ghost engine" that was sent from Germany was not a USA spec motor as far as emissions requirements and that is why it got stuck at customs? As far as I knew some engines are made differently for the rest of the world so maybe the N62 from Germany wasn't equipped to be put in a US car?


Long shot I'm sure, either way you're getting yanked by your balls for months now...

[deepblonde]

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

I didn't think of this, but maybe the "ghost engine" that was sent from Germany was not a USA spec motor as far as emissions requirements and that is why it got stuck at customs? As far as I knew some engines are made differently for the rest of the world so maybe the N62 from Germany wasn't equipped to be put in a US car?


Long shot I'm sure, either way you're getting yanked by your balls for months now...

I don't think so. Vehicles need to meet emissions requirements in the US, but an engine on its own may be used for anything , including for example off road or race track where emissions requirements may not need to be adhered to. Or an engine may be imported by a manufacture solely for the purpose of testing , etc.

[SlickGT1]

No, I have a feeling they are stalling hard core, to make his case weaker. They got owned. And they are getting owned harder every single day that car is their lot. I would not wait any longer at all.

[srmmmm]

Quit second guessing reasons on where your motor is or why you don't have it.

Why do you not have an attorney involved?

[bcredliner]

Waiting for the press to try to help you, if they ever do, is not going to get you the results you want. Too much in their face, recipients almost always have to respond with legal counterpoints explaining their lack of action before addressing fixing it--too public.

Many months ago you when most of this terrible situation had not yet unfolded you posted you were considering taking this to an attorney. Until you push this up the chain of authority on both sides, don't expect to get anywhere soon and certainly not to your satisfaction---you are not talking you to,or, don't know if you are talking to an individual with the authority to expedite a solution. Specifically, unless any further actions are endorsed by your legal representative and your contact at BMW has the authority to make all decisions necessary for resolution, expect to post more disappointing updates.

Even if your BMW contact responds today with definitive actions and dates to either get your BMW back in a condition acceptable to you, or, a date an alternative solution will be implemented, also acceptable to you, I would strong suggest you turn this over to an attorney.

It is important to maximize your legal position, including revising your writeup and determining the best distribution. Let the attorney decide the form and content of the writing and how you should document the commitment of your BMW contact. FYI-if I got a letter from an attorney it would go to our attorneys and who knows how long that would take before anything happened (billed hours). I don't recommend the attorney take over, just endorse, actions at this point.

When I received letters that were as long and detailed as yours, my action was delayed as I would turn them over to a qualified individual in customer service to sort it out with the dealer, they would mutually decide response and the dealer would be instructed to handle it. I would follow up allowing more than enough time for resolution.

If the letter was short bullet points that I could quickly get through, I reacted immediately by going to office of the appropriate staff person to discuss and 'mutually agree' on a course of action that staff member would take in a very aggressive timeframe. I followed up with the customer, apologized and thanked them for bringing this to my attention and explained one of our ongoing key objectives is superior customer service and their input is very important. And, that I would invite them to contact me directly if you have any further issues. I used the situation to let my folks know I was serious about superior customer service.

[Sweep_the_Leg]

Contact your attorney and tell him or her that you want to sue. Have them draft up a petition/complaint and get it on file as soon as possible. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Businesses simply DO NOT respond to letters, even very sternly-worded ones on important-looking letterhead. They do respond to lawsuits because they have court-imposed and enforced deadlines. They also will have to pay for a local attorney in the appropriate jurisdiction to read themselves into the file and prepare an answer (among other things).

Fees may be an issue, but there should be a consumer protection statute in your state that would allow for the attorney to claim fees (and hopefully recover them). You may even be able to find a lawyer to take this on a contingent fee basis. Chances are there is a plaintiff's firm/lawyer in your area that specializes in suing car dealers and/or manufacturers. Your lawyer will also want to check whatever service contract, invoice, documentation, etc. you signed at the time of the original oil change. It's possible that the dealer has some sort of arbitration provision snuck into their boilerplate form. That could prove problematic, but wouldn't stop me from moving forward with filing in state court.

If it wasn't clear before, it should be abundantly so by now--you WILL NOT see any tangible satisfaction from this dealership unless and until they are required to answer for their abhorrent, incompetent, and potentially fraudulent behavior in court (or arbitration). You seem to have an incredibly forgiving personality, which has no doubt contributed to and emboldened this dealer to act in the manner that is has. The time for contrition and collaboration needs to be over. Your car is gone forever. You need to become comfortable with the idea of receiving a check and not the vehicle you drove on the lot that day. And you need to try to make that check as big as possible.

[bcredliner]

If you try to eat a 4lb burger because it will be free if you do, be sure you have the stomach for the side effects even if you are successful.

Last resort should be filing suit. Once you sue, all contact with you stops, the suit is stuck in the mud while the recipient(s) go through their process, the issue goes into priority la la land. Once things get set up they will request a friendly get together to settle things without a fight. They will come with nuclear weapons. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being their priority, least cost to corporation is 10 and your satisfaction is 0. From that point the negotiations begin--they will drag that out. Remember it is all about billable hours and wearing you down, it never happens fast once it gets to suit and attorneys.

A decent sized corporation can drastically outspend you and, IF, you ever recover your attorney fees it will not be until all is long over. I don't see this as something an attorney will take on contingency, not enough potential, and if they do that means they take a significant share of any settlement, less expenses (which will initiate an OMG, OMG this can't be) from you. And, the corporate attorneys will cut their losses long before contingency is worthwhile.

And if you think this is bad just poke the corporate bear too hard. The bears share of corporate leaders or climbers have no or discarded empathy early on.

Certainly there is a time to file suit. I disagree you are there. I do think unless your BMW contact resolves this quickly you need to have advice from an attorney you trust as to what to do before you go deeper into the current black hole.

[TerminatorX5]

remove the removable options you installed, get their initial offer of $23K (was it $23K), find yourself another 4.8iS (or move to a newer one), upgrade the new one to your specs... even with the new engine you stand a chance that they will screw something else up during installation... besides, your car sat undriven for 4 months - this is almost an equivalent of 12 months of hard driving (or so i say!!!)...


i hope this is not too late into the ordeal to take the cash and run...

[AquilaBMW]

Hate to be the one to say this, but this is a situation of action long over due. OP - you seem to be handling this dealer with white gloves - don't know if there is something I am missing here.

The dealer committed a grave mistake and for them to have you on the hook for this and for this long is absurd to me. You shouldn't even be discussing giving them additional work considering what they did. You should have been raising hell a long time ago. Maybe it is not in your personality to do so, but you should have sought legal action against them sooner in this ordeal or stand firmer and demand results.

From I understand, the engine in question is actually built by Alpina for BMW - so this might explain why it was difficult to obtain and had to come from Germany. With that said, an engine for any X5 should be US spec as the cars are built here and it would be silly to make a bunch of different engines. Even if they did, I would assume it would be a case of simply switching over Emissions equipment - which these days is stricter in Europe than the US.

Please stop allowing them to drag this on. They have taken advantage of your patience way too much. It's time for them to fully face the cost of their mistake.

[Doru]

I think your dealer is playing you big time. They have time, and it passes in their favor. I think they stall it until YOU will get tired and will accept the buyout for a totaled car, which will be even less, because another 1/2 year has passed. Also, when doing the "buyout", probably some pics of the car will be involved (so the paper pushers have "evidence" for an estimate), and it won't look well with a flat and after sitting in the elements for how many months? You know, paint dulls, dashboard too, sometimes it cracks. I wouldn't be surprised if the interior wood didn't develop some nasty cracks by now, and maybe even the glazing around the windshield starting to crack. The rubber hoses which are plenty in the engine bay, will get to that "rotten" point, battery is probably dead. So the future buyout "estimate" will be based on that. Even if you call a lawyer, he will have to accept the actual state of the vehicle. NOBODY will remember how the vehicle looked like when it was pulled in for the oil change, unless you have some pics, maybe, and even that could be questionable.
Sorry to say, but they played you hard, and they will do so, until the value of the car will dwindle to nil, and you'll be happy to cash maybe 15 grand. They have to recover the cost of that engine they swallowed as well, no? Who do you think will pay for that? Not me, not them...

Just sayin', and I REALLY hope I'm dead wrong.