[compounder]

I have a little difficult situation right now and I hope someone on the forum can give me some pointers on what to do with my vehicle. Currently I am leasing a 2008 335xi and have exactly 6 months of lease payments left. Unfortunately I have so many issues with this car. I will list my issues below:

1. Replaced high pressure fuel pump twice
2. Blown turbo valve
3. Cylinder malfunction (may need to be replaced)
4. Navigation malfunction
5. Seat belt malfunction during accident (rear-ended)

I addressed above issues to the dealer and BMW of North America. All the engine malfunction (ie. fuel pump and cylinder issue) caused me to lose power of the car while driving and now I'm concerned for my safety because of the fact that I am facing more issues with this vehicle. I called BMW to ask if I can get out of the lease and hopefully get me into a new vehicle but they are going to penalize me for terminating my lease early.

Does anyone on the forum have experience in terminating lease early due to vehicle problems? I have currently over 35,000 miles and have 6 months of lease payment left. I would appreciate everyone's feedback on this. Thank you.

[PGJ]

i'm really curious about this seatbelt malfunction...was the engine's malfunction the reason u got rear ended?

unfortunately i dont have much input about ur lease situation

[kgb1637]

Are you trying to lemon your car?

[Proxibid]

Originally Posted by compounder

I have a little difficult situation right now and I hope someone on the forum can give me some pointers on what to do with my vehicle. Currently I am leasing a 2008 335xi and have exactly 6 months of lease payments left. Unfortunately I have so many issues with this car. I will list my issues below:

1. Replaced high pressure fuel pump twice
2. Blown turbo valve
3. Cylinder malfunction (may need to be replaced)
4. Navigation malfunction
5. Seat belt malfunction during accident (rear-ended)

I addressed above issues to the dealer and BMW of North America. All the engine malfunction (ie. fuel pump and cylinder issue) caused me to lose power of the car while driving and now I'm concerned for my safety because of the fact that I am facing more issues with this vehicle. I called BMW to ask if I can get out of the lease and hopefully get me into a new vehicle but they are going to penalize me for terminating my lease early.

Does anyone on the forum have experience in terminating lease early due to vehicle problems? I have currently over 35,000 miles and have 6 months of lease payment left. I would appreciate everyone's feedback on this. Thank you.

I would finish out the lease and deal with the problems. You should still have warranty left through the end of your lease period. It might be a hassle for 6 months, but it will be an even bigger pain to unwind the lease before it is up. I would use your negative experience as negotiation leverage when you purchase another BMW.

[persian54]

Try to lemon.

[Yay-Z]

I would just finish out the lease and look into another vehicle

[cb1111]

What is this seatbelt "malfunction?"

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by persian54

Try to lemon.

Lemon claim is going to take most of 6 months anyhow and be more trouble than it's worth. If BMW won't do it as good will, you're stuck with it.

[dtc100]

Just finish out the lease, Lemon will take much more than 6 months but if you are certain on the Lemon, a better way is to ask an attorney, you might have to buy the car at the end of the lease to continue the Lemon case, but it can get tricky, I just don't know how that will impact the case.

In any event if you don't want the hassle, just ride the lease out, one of the reasons for leasing a car. The Lemon route potentially can get most (if not all) of your lease payments/fees refunded.

[slim_e90]

one thing you can do is keep taking the car back to dealer for each issue and drive a loaner... maybe that'll get you thru to the end of the lease.

[persian54]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

Lemon claim is going to take most of 6 months anyhow and be more trouble than it's worth. If BMW won't do it as good will, you're stuck with it.

My lemon took about a month.... where is this 6 months thing coming from?

[John 070]

6 mos. is such a short time, OP should ride it out and never lease a car again. I don't understand why people feel it's unfair that there is a fee to terminate early. A lease is a guaranteed revenue stream for the lessor, and extremely profitable, why would they give it up? It's like beating a friend at cards, and saying, fuggetiboudit. Why would you do that? If there are unused miles to be driven, enjoy the car. If not, park it, it's not the end of the world. 6 mos. goes like that.

[Chadd]

Call a lemon law attorney. If not a lemon then at least your attorney could negotiate some sort of monetary compensation. Cant hurt to ask. These type of attorneys never should ask for money out of your pocket, so in a sense their work should be free to you.

[persian54]

plus even if you try to lemon and it fails, you're not 'stuck with it'

at least not in CA.

and yeah, doesn't hurt to ask.
Won't cost more than a little bit of time to call a lawyer

[jopa489]

Forget the lemon, not worth your time at this point. You can get out of the lease 3 months early if you buy/lease another BMW. So just stick with it for another couple of months and get into something new then. Now might be a good time to think about ordering your new car if you're going to go that route.

[dtc100]

Originally Posted by persian54

My lemon took about a month.... where is this 6 months thing coming from?

The 6 months thing is OP's end of lease time left, that is where it is from. Most buybacks take more than 6 months to settle, often longer. Of course since they know his lease is due in 6 months, there is every reason to drag it out. It takes almost a year now to actually get a court date set in some jurisdictions. By then there will be no buyback to speak of. Although I think a case will still be a case depending on how the lawyers work it out.

The manufactures' attorneys look at all factors involved when advising their boss. Still I agree talk to a lemon lawyer first.

[compounder]

The seatbelt malfunction came from me bumping my head on the steering from a 5~10mph rear bumper collision. I was fully stopped at a STOP sign and when the other party hit my rear, my body went forward and hit the steering wheel. BMW of North America end up taking my car and tested the seat belt afterwards. They determined that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. So during their testing, they put in a 4 cylinder Honda Accord as a loaner (yes ... this is coming from a BMW corporate) and had to drive that around for 3 weeks.

I really hate BMW. This will be the last time getting a BMW.

[compounder]

I was reading the New Jersey Lemon Law. Lemon Law only applies when your initial car problem starts within first 20,000 miles of the life of the car. My first fuel pump went after 20,000 miles. Hence, I do not think lemon law may not apply here.

I will call a lemon lawyer and ask first.