I understand the feeling, but Really You "will never buy another BMW for this reason alone"? Perhaps a little quick on the draw i would say.
Killcrap gave you the answer straight out the gate. Replacing the tail light assembly was the answer.

Buy the part, remove the few nuts holding it in. Put in the new assembly, install everything in reverse and your done. It's an
easy install. But if your not a DIY'er you may need to look into an indy for these small projects. But rest assured this will not be the last time an issue
that cost money will come up and trust me the same can happen to a Chevrolet. :D…. Keep the faith Bru.:cool:

I will put it in myself but it just frosts me that BMW has the nerve to charge these confiscatory rates for their parts and repairs. This boils down to a $600 repair for a single bulb. This is my second X5 and I do love the vehicle, but keeping it repaired after warranty is getting ridiculous. I replaced the battery and it costs $500.00 from BMW because they had to "reprogram the car for the new battery". I forgot what they wanted for a new Idrive module and luckily I was able to buy one on line and install it myself. End of rant.

follow up
 

Took it to the dealer today for an oil change and they replaced the bulb that I thought was not replaceable. So now I have a tail light assembly sitting here unused. Why was the advice on this forum to replace the whole assembly?

Who said a bulb was not replaceable? :dunno: The fix for tail light issues has been covered many times and depends on the situation. If it's clear that the tail light assembly itself is burnt than that issue is resolved one way. If a bulb assembly is burnt that's another answer for that. So the advice to replace the whole assembly or not may have depended on the information you gave.
Here's a few points on the issue. http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...ation-fix.html

That thread relates to the E53 series I believe. E70 taillights are different. As I said in my first post to this thread, mine looks exactly like the OP' s picture.

Did you get this resolved? Did this part 63 21 7 258 417, Light socket assembly, set $31.30 NEW fix your issue or was it a software issue?

Thanks!

Like I said, the dealer replaced just the bulb and it's worked ever since. Still a burned spot on the assembly though....

I was actually trying to ask the OP.

Yours was just a bulb issue, which should've been the first thing for you to check/replace.

I have an issue with the tail light, the light pipes (see my signature) are dim on driver side outer left. I am going to buy an assembly but am concerned if I buy a new one it will stand out, other option is to buy a used one, but before I take those extreme steps of replacing the assembly, is there a way to fix the pipes? I took the assembly out but there is no bulb I could reach and replace, seems they are LEDs. Appreciate any ideas.

Thanks

On our 2013 E70 - the lifetime of the bulbs in the tail light tree seemed to fall together - got the brake light out warning on Friday, right bulb was out - we have the LED's on the running lights on our LCI -



Went to Autozone and got a set of Sylvania 7506LL bulbs, replaced the pair, and upon startup, the brake lamps worked again, however i had faults for both reverse lights (921 bulbs) and the turn signals in the rear (7506)


2 more pairs of bulbs changed and we are good to go - just over 6 years lifespan the original bulbs.