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      02-19-2019, 11:16 PM   #48
EstorilM240
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Drives: 2017 M240i 6MT
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: California

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One more round of dealership games. TLDR: Was told a few weeks ago I had 4mm on fronts and needed to replace them ($1.3K), came in to a new dealership, now that I bought the extended warranty the fronts are magically at 5mm (the requirement is 4mm to be covered). 4 hours wasted, no harm done otherwise, got to drive a loaner. I can still cancel warranty under 30-day cooldown and go indie all the way, but fear of lease return is the only thing stopping me.

I had both higher and lower expectations this time for two reasons: Higher because I went to a new location, on a day off, got a loaner, and was not under any time pressure. I called beforehand twice to confirm everything was in order, and that warranty covered brakes that were at 4mm or less. I had lower expectations because when I had bought the wear and tear extended maintenance warranty, I already had accounted for a 30% chance they'd try to weasel out of it. The dealership B where I had the oil change experience said I was due for front brakes AND rotors because they were at 4mm, for the low price of $1290.

I called in the morning of the appointment before to see if brakes were doable same day: They said about 4 hours and with my early afternoon appointment I'd probably make it. Came in, got processed in 10 minutes, waited 40 minutes for a loaner, was told I'd have to pick it up my car the next day, and they'd call me to update, but they had to check the brake depth left before doing service. No biggie. By noon the next day I didn't hear anything, so I called, and they said the brakes were actually at 5mm and they couldn't do it. Welp.

Before I went to pick up, I sent in an email with the original service paperwork from dealership B quoting 4mm. How can I possibly have driven my car several hundred miles and GAINED brake life? I want to figure out where to pick up these magic pads in the future. Anyway, when I came in for pickup, the service advisor basically told me in person "4mm isn't always 4mm" (paraphrased) and because I was not under warranty when I came in the first time, the dealership B was motivated to sell me a $1.3K brake job, but now that I was under warranty, suddenly their measurement is more accurate. Told me he thinks two dealers in the area do this, and to come back in a few months. Basically confirmed my suspicions on fudging numbers to improve the bottom line. I also strongly doubt I they will do rotors "as recommended" now that BMW is paying, but whatever.

I don't know if I'll be able to use the warranty before the time is up, although my initial calculus was - I'm at 4mm now, still 10 months left, 60% chance I need to change fronts, 30% chance I need to change fronts but they play games with me and refuse to do it, 10% chance I need to do both, expected value of warranty = 0.6*1300+0.1*2600=$1040, with the warranty at $600, seems like a decent gamble. If I compare to indie prices it's probably more like 0.6*500+0.1*1000=$400 so not worth it, but 0.0x * lease return hassles. I also probably could have waited until the morning of service for a guaranteed win, but I figured, I have paperwork SHOWING that I'm at 4mm, how can they deny me? Turns out, they still can. I tried calling dealership B that quoted the 4mm, but no one wants to return calls.

I probably should have told dealership C to ask dealership B about their "4mm". Might have been popcorn time. Alas, staircase wit. Dealership B is ignoring me anyway. I really don't see a good solution out of this other than to just let time run its course.

Today, I can actually still cancel the warranty since I'm within the 30-day window and get a full refund, but there's a good chance I will use it and wasting another ~2 hours buying it again doesn't feel fun. Unless I really do have a magic set of brake pads which are going to keep gaining life until the day before lease return. I can already hear the wear indicators in some situations, unless I'm mistaking the sound. I'm actively considering buying a brake pad gauge off Amazon just to see what the truth is. The "rational" decision still seems to be to keep the warranty, because I'll probably still get to use it, and keep going to the dealership for more punishment (LOL). The emotional-but-make-a-statement decision is to just cancel everything and do all indie until lease return. I also read in another thread where someone suggested to get your service advisor a gift every visit so they threat you better. This world.

The worst case scenario is I go in for service at 35,999, am told I'm still at 5mm, then at 36,001 the maintenance minder comes on, and I pay for a warranty I didn't use and need to out-of-pocket for the brake job. At that point I'm probably going indie, I'm unhappy enough at the dealership experience, and I'll roll the dice on lease return.

Quote:
If you have having all of these issues with dealers, take your car to an indy!

Leased car, lease return all of that stuff is a myth! You DO NOT need to service a leased car at a dealer what-so-ever!

Go to your beloved indy ans stop worrying about all of this non-sense that you are experiencing.

PS: Do you have experience with others???? There are some other brands I would never consider simply due to dealer experience! BMW has been very good to me so far after many many vehicles. .......Having said that, I kinda know what I am doing too when car goes in for service, especially when at my own expense.
Good advice. I should have gone indy from the beginning, but alas, the first $99 oil change bait convinced me that maybe the dealership wasn't so bad after all. Yes, I bought the "you need to dealership service a lease!" completely (I knew the law, but the uncertainty chewed on me). For some reason I have this image of a nitpicking lease return officer trying to charge me $5K because "I never changed the oil according to their system" and me throwing out paperwork and quoting consumer protection laws to no avail.

I have experience with Honda dealers (probably 3x), but I've been to indies way more (30x+). Honda was fine - not as great as indies but better than BMW. No one was actively malicious at Honda. I consider hiding fees, hiding paperwork, fudging numbers on brake wear, etc. to be actively malicious/playing games. I sure wasted less time there. I only really trust dealerships for the simplest jobs (recalls, oil, brake, etc.) The only service on this car that I did at an indie was the tires, but that went like a charm.
@Rebound, thanks for the San Rafael suggestion, they're on my list for the next visit.

Last edited by EstorilM240; 02-19-2019 at 11:37 PM..
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