Consumer complaint received 2017-10-16
Company: BMW Financial Services NA, LLC
State: GA
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Getting a loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem with additional add-on products or services purchased with the loan

Complaint:
The engine in my BMW failed on XX/XX/XXXX per XXXX XXXX   Dealership 's diagnosis. Due to the number of times I have reported and had the car service for oil issues, I believe the car had an inherent defeat at the time of purchase I was not aware of and should not have been sold as a certified vehicle. Additionally, I believe the engine failure was also a result of the work XXXX XXXX  XXXX did on the engine in XX/XX/XXXX and should be covered under warranty. I took the car back to the dealership 1 week after the repair and 3 additional before the engine failure where they claimed they did n't see an issue. The following details my service related issue and failure of BMW entities to warranty their defective XXXX   engine. 

Service Detail related to engine oil issues 1. Care Purchased as Certified Pre-Owned XXXX XXXX XXXX of XXXX XX/XX/XXXX 2. Initial Customer Care Campaign/Recall on XXXX Engine XXXX XXXX of XXXX XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX ( 31 days ) 3. Serviced for engine issues. Car turned off at stop light and wouldnt restart. 
XXXX XXXX of XXXX XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX ( 9 days ) 4. Serviced for engine issues. Check engine light came on. Cause was determined as failed sensors XXXX XXXX of XXXX XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX ( 1 day ) 5. Change preferred dealer to XXXX XXXX since it was a shorter distance to home XXXX XXXX of XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Notable detail. During this routine service I received a quote to fix the sunroof lining. The quote was around $ 4K. This is notable because this dealership only offered me $ XXXX to trade in valuewhich seems amazingly low considering value of the parts alone. 
6. Major Engine repair : Progressive Oil issues where we were having to top of oil every 2 months. The case said to be from Engine upper and lower pan replacement and turbo coolant lines leaking. XXXX replaced oil pan gasket and coolant hoses XXXX XXXX of XXXX XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX ( 8 days ) Notable details : XXXX stated the repair of the coolant vent pipe wasnt covered under the CPO warrant since the part was plastic. My out of pocket cost was right at {$800.00}. I argued that this wasnt fair since they were charging for labor related to the overall repair of the engine. We negotiate the cost to {$400.00} 7. Vehicle checked due to burning oil smell but BMW. No work was performed as noted on the invoice. I was told everything was okay XXXX XXXX of XXXX XX/XX/XXXX ( 1 day ) Notable Details : At this time, my CPO coverage had just run out. The car mileage on this invoice was reported as XXXX miles over the warranty limit 8. More oil leakage. The car was returned to BMW due to needing to top of oil every 3 weeks. The dealership inspected the engine and found no issues. Told me it was normal for this type of oil consumption XXXX XXXX of XXXX XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX ( 3 days ) Notable Details : it was noted to reset the service light for the service that was performed in XX/XX/XXXX. This was also noted on the previous service visit but evidently not completed by the mechanic. 
9. Undocumented Service Week of XX/XX/XXXX : XXXX XXXX completed an oil change after we took the car in again for oil consumption issues. Unfortunately I did not keep a copy of this visit and XXXX claims not to have a record. However, I vividly remember the vehicle was in the shop during this time because I had a refinance closing onXX/XX/XXXX and I was in their loner vehicle. Ive requested a loner car history from XXXX and records for this service date but according to them they have no record on file. 
10. Engine Failure : On XX/XX/XXXX after driving home from the store, which is less than 5 miles from our home, the car started to act erratically ( i.e. hesitating/stalling, and smoking ) and had an transmission powertrain failure warring. My husband immediately pulled the car over and turned it off. He then called a tow truck to take the car to XXXX XXXX. The car arrived Monday due to the tow truck scheduling delays. After a little over a week, I was informed that I would need to replace the engine and had 3 options ; new engine replacement, rebuild engine replacement or new car. I inquired about how something like this could happen given the fact by the attendants own admission, the vechicle was well maintained. I also asked if it had anything to do with the work they did on the engine in XX/XX/XXXX. since we had been back multiple times and called regarding engine issues after that job. I also asked if it was due to a defeat related to the recall that happen a while back. He then told me he would check with the manager regarding the work they did. He also advised me to reach out to BMW NA on the defeat issue. 

Since then, I have become increasingly frustrated with the lack of response, being treated with disregard and the sales pressure. 

To- date the vehicle is still at the shop BMW NA response : I didnt get a response for 3 weeks initially at which point I told BMW NA I would be seeking legal counsel. They informed me that if I did so, they would not help me with a resolve. 2 days later I was informed they would not be able to do anything for me and my case was being closed. 
XXXX XX/XX/XXXX response : In earlyXX/XX/XXXX, after almost a month without any updates, I went to meet with the service manager and sales team to discuss options. 
Service Manager XXXX? : Asked me what would be the ideal out come in which I told him having my car repaired. He said he would follow-up with BMW NA to see what they could do about a rebuilt engine. He also acknowledge that it could have been from the work in XX/XX/XXXX and he would look into this morehe claims not have known about the service in XX/XX/XXXX. I have not spoken to him since Sales manager, XXXX XXXX told me they would work to see what they could do from a trade assist standpoint and so that I could back to driving. They prepared a proposal on a new XXXX and stated they thought that would be a more reliable option since it was the V6 and not V8 engine that is prone to issues. Unfortonatley the proposal was for $ XXXX and seemed like they were just trying to take advantage of the situation and make a new sale 3 weeks later, XX/XX/XXXX without an update from XXXX, I went to the dealership again for an update. This time I was told XXXX was busy and I could meet with his Assistant Service Manager, XXXX XXXX. He was very unresponsive, didnt know anything about the vehicle and only gained interest when I informed him I still had their loner car, almost 2 months. He proceeded to print out the service records I requested and called XXXX to ask if he had an update. XXXX stated he would follow-up with BMW NA and call me in a few days. 

Since then I have had no updates and my car is still at the dealership. 



Customer Care Details- XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX, BMW released Bulletin " XXXX '' or the " N63 Customer Care Package " affecting any vehicle that saw use of the 4.4-liter V-8 ( XXXX ) within the 5 Series, 6 Series, 7 Series, X5, and X6 model lines manufactured between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. Dealership instructions include checking the timing chain for stretching and replacing it if necessary, replacing the fuel injectors, mass air flow sensors, crankcase vent lines, battery, engine vacuum pump and low pressure fuel sensor. 

The sweeping recall also extended to vehicles that had gone out of warranty, no matter how many miles were accumulated on the vehicle. 

Additionally, the service interval would be shortened to nearly half, with a 12 month/10,000 mile ( 16,000 km ) check-up instead of the long-life treatment the BMW had been maintaining up to that point, requiring a check every 2 years and 15,000 miles ( 25,000 km ). 

In XX/XX/XXXX, dealerships had received a service bulletin regards to the N63 powerplant, which amended the oil capacity requirements of the engine, adding a full ( 1 ) US quart to the capacity of the motor, citing " increased oil consumption '' in the twin turbo V8. 

Models affected by the recall included : F01 and F02 ( 7 Series Sedan ) produced fromXX/XX/XXXX toXX/XX/XXXX F04 ( Active Hybrid 7 ) produced from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX F07 ( XXXX XXXX ) produced from  XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX XXXX  ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) produced from XX/XX/XXXX toXX/XX/XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) produced from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXXXXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) produced from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX XXXX  ( XXXX ) produced from XX/XX/XXXX toXX/XX/XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) produced from XX/XX/XXXXto XX/XX/XXXXXXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) produced fromXX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX The dealership bulletin was accompanied by region sales rep meetings with branch/service managers, informing of them of the forthcoming campaign, and issuing instructions to contact all owners serviced at their branches operating the XXXX   engine. The accompanying marketing campaign, which would be a major focus of XX/XX/XXXX for BMW world-wide, was intended to dampen the affect of such a wide spread recall on BMW 's waining brand loyalty and customer service issues. The tactics of which could be seen in the extended efforts surrounding the recall. 

BMW dealerships were instructed to offer extra incentives for owners affected by this campaign, offering trade-in cash bonuses for their N63 equipped vehicles with the purchase of a new BMW ( details in a separate sales bulletin - " XXXX  Customer Loyalty Offer '' ). Sales teams were also provided with discretionary authorization to provide customers with a gift of {$50.00} value, including anything from a gas card, gift bag containing BMW Lifestyle products, or vehicle detailing.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation