Advice needed on picking up a new car
 

A friend of mine ordered a new BMW (335i) and evidently it arrived at the dealer 4-5 days ago however he is being told for the 3rd or 4th time now that the car still "isn't ready." Since he did not request ANY dealer installed options what could possibly be going on? What exactly constitutes "dealer prep" anyway? And what do you guys think is the likelihood that the car might have been damaged in shipping and they are trying to repair it? Should he demand to see the car or get it in writing that there is nothing wrong with it? ANY advice would be helpful. Thanks!

Just get a paint measuring device. BMW's are 0.3 - 0.6 mm of paint I believe. Regardless, it should be pretty uniform over the entire car.

A repainted or re-polished section will vary quite a bit. The reading will be much higher (as the repainted section is thicker and thus not uniform with the car.

I will caution, that the BMW's VPC does repair damage to BMW spec. And if it can be repaired to BMW spec the dealer isn't any wiser...

Sounds to me like it was damaged in transit from the VPC to the dealer. Or it was an accident on the dealer lot.

ask to see the VPC "port check" sheet and transportation sheet. Any repairs or damages will show on the sheet.

+1. There were a number of cars damaged about a month ago on a ship - seems like this is too far afterwards but worth checking.

All great advice. Thanks guys. I too read that article and this car definitely wasn't on it. I don't know if the car once it arrived at the port was held at the port or went straight to the dealer and has been sitting at the dealer. He was only told that the car still isn't ready. Weird.

drive-by?

Why not just go to the dealer and demand to see it?

:iagree: it's his money and his car he should be able to see it!!!

Easiest way to find out if there was anything done to the car at the VPC is to have the key read in the Service Advisors terminal. Make sure he shows you the read out screen. Any repairs done at the VPC will be listed. One of my wife's cars had the front bumper replaced at the VPC when it came through there two years ago and the dealer and I just found out about the replacement when we read the key a couple of days ago.