CPO Claim Denied

[3Series]

Normally I hate these posts but anyway:

What kind of advice do you have for being repaid a service fee on a CPO claim that was denied as a result of a misdiagnosis where it should have been covered?

1.) Car is under CPO with 45k miles on it.
2.) I developed a small coolant leak that would leave a small puddle on the garage floor
3.) I thought there was a small crack on the expansion tank becuase that's where the fluid was originating.
4.) I brought the car to the dealer since it was under CPO.
5.) Tech ran a pressure test and said it was the lower radiator hose which is not covered.
6.) I paid for 1 hour of labor $150 and took the car to my independent. He said it was the O-ring in the temp sensor which is connected to a hose and the expansion tank. He replaced the temp sensor and all is well. This is also well documented that the O-ring fails.

So, the temp sensor should have been covered under CPO and I shouldn't have paid the $150 labor to the dealer.

[ard]

I hate these kinds of posts too. Its how incompetent dealer/techs abuse customers. Most simply bend over.

You have two issues:

The first is a misdiagnosis and charge for the wrong reason

The second is you did repairs that should have been paid by the CPO.

What did the service manager say? Not the SA (adviser), but his boss. When you went back and said 'what are you going to do about this?'...Not real confrontational, but low key- just say I know stuff can be hard to diagnose, but lets all be adults and be honest here....The problem is that this is really hard to prove and to convince them...and then, how will they get the money to you? Transactionally it is almost impossible, and they are so busy and stretched it will be easier to deny you.

Under a CPO the work order will come in and once the tech said "hose" the clerk in the back didn't bother submitting to BMWNA- they said you pay.

Now they'd need to explain all this to BMW outside of the work order/paperwork/automated submission process. And they'd need to accept at face value the fact that their tech was wrong and yours was right....and that nobody fixed the hose, tightened the clamp, etc, etc.

But I do think that you have a claim for the first part- if you paid with a credit card, you could charge it back and battle the dealer for the $150.

Now, what about the 'real' repair? I seem to recall the CPO requires the repair be done by BMW (under the warranty they cannot require this, but a CPO they can- read your CPO plan). Since you didnt let them do it, they may deny it and win. Even if they misdiagnosed it.

[JCL]

I would have a calm and reasonable conversation with the service manager, as ard suggests. I think they should reimburse you the 150 they charged you. Whereas they should have found the leak, since you had it repaired elsewhere you will not likely get it covered under the CPO terms, assuming it is a covered component but that it had to be done at a dealer.

This is where changing horses midstream hurts consumers. If you had paid the dealer to fix it, and it still leaked, you would have had solid grounds for a refund when they fixed the real leak on the second visit. You can point that out to the service manager.

[ard]

Originally Posted by JCL

I would have a calm and reasonable conversation with the service manager, as ard suggests. I think they should reimburse you the 150 they charged you. Whereas they should have found the leak, since you had it repaired elsewhere you will not likely get it covered under the CPO terms, assuming it is a covered component but that it had to be done at a dealer.

This is where changing horses midstream hurts consumers. If you had paid the dealer to fix it, and it still leaked, you would have had solid grounds for a refund when they fixed the real leak on the second visit. You can point that out to the service manager.

The classic response from virtually ALL dealers would be "oh, there was ANOTHER part that was bad"...knowing that now, you cannot prove the hose they tossed was in fact OK

[nom3rcy]

Originally Posted by ard

The classic response from virtually ALL dealers would be "oh, there was ANOTHER part that was bad"...knowing that now, you cannot prove the hose they tossed was in fact OK

This. Not to mention, the hose and the o-ring could both have been in need of replacement.

[3Series]

Thanks for the responses. I've just been contemplating if it's worth it to go back to the dealer for $150 without a solid argument.

1.) I'm just looking for the $150 back
2.) The original lower radiator hose is still on the car (it was not replaced)

I spent $230 to fix the problem (including the 1hr dealer labor, indy only charged me $80) instead of the $550 the dealer wanted to charge me to fix whatever they thought was wrong.

Bottom line, the leak is gone and the original lower radiator hose is still on the car. I just have a new temp sensor.