Sh*t happened to me on Friday 13!! Advice Please!
 

I dropped off my 2001 X5 at Chapman BMW in Scottdale AZ, for windshield replacement this past Wednesday. I picked it up this morning only to find out that my car's interior was SOAKING WET because some idiots left my moonroof wide open and we had a storm here last night in Scottdale, AZ. I have premium package and the interior smells so bad now :mad: .

My service advisor was off today so it was a different advisor dealing with me. I did not want to pick up the car with that condition but I had no choice since I couldn't find a way to get a ride home nor the dealer could provide me a vehicle because everybody in service already went home. I live 30 miles away from the dealer and did not want to walk home so I was forced to take the car home. The service advisor told me that he would report the incident and my service advisor will contact me on Monday.

So what should I do now? Now think about it, I should not take the car home but I already did so that was stupid me. I already contacted my insurance to report the incident. The worst scenerio is the dealer won't even admit it because I don't even know how they will compensate this problem. Any advise???

I would not have picked up the car. But now that you have picked up, have the dealer fix the issue. Try to some how document the fact that your car was wet inside. The dealer may totally deny next week. Call BMW if they give you hard time.

At the very least, have them pay for a full interior detailing to include steam cleaning all the carpeting and conditioning all the seats and dash. Let them know that if there are any electrical issues, the dealer will be liable. Not sure what else you could really do...

Really sorry to hear this!! If the X5 got it real bad inside with the rain/storm you mentioned there could be electrical issues not to mention if the damp is not correctly removed and dried out you could get rusting below the carpets and over a period of time some wrotting of wires, floor pan etc. A bad move was to take the vehicle from the fore court but as you said your pretty stuck at that point. Something else you could have done was to photograph the vehicle while at the dealer by either using your phone if equiped or with a normal camera if you had it handy.

Hey justin, where in the area do you live? Are you going to WestFestIV? I was just at Chapman about a week ago. Who was your service advisor? I would demand that they pay to have the entire interior professionally detailed. That was a lot of rain that we got last night. That can't be good.

The smell is most likely from the damp carpet. Once water get under the carpet it starts to stink within a day or so.
You will probably have to replace the carpet and have the interior detailed AFTER the new carpet is installed.

My friends mom drove her suburban into a ditch:rolleyes: filled with water(she was reaching for something in the back seat (no injuries))and the truck was in 4 feet of water.
She had the car detailed 4 or 5 times but the smell wasnt gone till she replaced the carpet.

I can tell you right now that the BMW dealer is not going to want to pay for and install a new carpet.
Keep hounding them.

And go smash 1 windshield on there lot for every day you have to drive around with the smell:angryfire
(kidding kind of)

DO KHON NANG! im sure they will take care of the repairs though, they dont want bad publicity from a x5 owner....

SuperGreg,
I live in Queen Creek (Power Ranch Community). My service advisor was Mark, who is a nice guy but not sure he is anymore if he learns about this incident. I have a feeling that they will deny everything.
Yup, that was RARE heavy rain that we got last night. I was driving home from Flagstaff last night and was thinking to myself "man, I hope they leave my car in the shop because I just glazed and waxed my car this past weekend". But not only they left it outside, they also had the sunroof opened :(.
I won't make it to the WestFestIV. My school has some dentistry in community event with the American Dental Association on the same date and I cannot find any excuse to convince the dean that I can skip it.

Update
 

I contacted Chapman BMW today. They say that "they are sorry for what happened and agreed to do an interior details package at no charge" and explained that "there should not be any harms to the electronic components under the carpet since all of them are wrapped. The other things are the motors that move the seat. The vacuum suction should take care of the wet leather seats and the wet carpet".

Do you think it's fair for what they offer? Should I take it or there are other options? I have no idea what an interior details package include and it actually takes care of what happened. I just want to make sure that if there are not any permanent damages that I will end up living with later.

Justin.

Well at least thats a bit of good news!! I know that electrics are wrapped under the carpet but, it is only wrapped in electrical tape as I have worked on a few of these before. There are certin items through out the vehicle that are not protected, like all the plugs. I would try and get something in writing from the dealer. If they say that everything will be fine after a detailing job then and can suck out the damp and the X5 will be fine, then they should be able to stand by that.