[Explorer3253]

What is it?

I had a loaner car and was driving up to Boston from NY and I fill up the tank of gas half way there and about 3 miles in, I go to pass a car. I downshift the tiptronic and all of a sudden, the car goes to M1!! Mind you, I'm doing about 100. Normally the computer should never downshift to an unsafe gear, except this time it did. I thought I left the engine on the highway. The car bucked and I was able to get from the far left lane to the shoulder.

I called up Roadside assistance and they sent out a tow truck. They gave me an ETA of 2 hours but luckily he was there in 15minutes. I was told to call the nearest BMW and they will take care of me. BMW of North Haven told me that the shop is closed and therefore nothing can be done and I can take a train back. I called up my BMW and the Sales Manager said take a train back. Shouldn't there be something that should be done on BMWs side when a car leaves you stranded in the middle of nowhere?!?

Luckily the tow truck guy said he'll tow it back to my normal dealership in NY so I was able to get back home safe but no thanks to BMW!! I would have thought BMW would have tried to make some sort of accomodation for me. Find me another rental? Pay for a cab? something!

[ianbiz]

Did you call BMW assist? Should have called another or closer dealer.

[Explorer3253]

Originally Posted by ianbiz

Did you call BMW assist? Should have called another or closer dealer.

I called assist and they told me they will take it to a BMW dealer 3 miles down..so I called directly to that dealership and they were like you are out of luck and on your own! I couldn't believe it. Worst service I received.

[DBville]

If I understand this right, you had a loaner, driving it at 100 mph, manually downshifted the auto into 1st gear (how we don't know, but still), over revved it, and it shut down, possibly with a damaged engine.

You called BMW assist and are pissed because they did not arrange a loaner car for the loaner car.

Uhhh, hate to rain on your parade, but you need to understand a couple of things.
1. BMWNA does not provide loaner cars - the dealers do, if they want to.
2. You actions, at least partially, contributed to the demise of the loaner car.
3. Even if it were your car, and it broke down, BMW will not be rushing out to get you a cab, loaner car or anything beyond the tow truck. That is the limit of the contract that you signed with them when you bought the car - the limits of BMW Assist.

What did you want your dealership to do? Get somebody to drive a new loaner car up to you and have them take the train back, as well as fix the loaner car that broke? Or have them pay for a rental for you?

Stuff happens, things break, and sometimes you have to deal with it. Life sucks sometimes.

[Year's_End]

Did you tell them you were going 100 in their loaner?

[Xeloj]

Speeding in their loaner and breaking it?

Yeah I wouldn't be that happy about it either.

[JSpira]

What Roadside Assistance provides:

And we can even help arrange alternate transportation and hotel accommodations if your trip is unexpectedly interrupted.

[JSpira]

Originally Posted by DBville

3. Even if it were your car, and it broke down, BMW will not be rushing out to get you a cab, loaner car or anything beyond the tow truck. That is the limit of the contract that you signed with them when you bought the car - the limits of BMW Assist.

Correct re limitations but has nothing to do with BMW Assist.

[PaulBailey@ltbmw]

Originally Posted by DBville

If I understand this right, you had a loaner, driving it at 100 mph, manually downshifted the auto into 1st gear (how we don't know, but still), over revved it, and it shut down, possibly with a damaged engine.

You called BMW assist and are pissed because they did not arrange a loaner car for the loaner car.

Uhhh, hate to rain on your parade, but you need to understand a couple of things.
1. BMWNA does not provide loaner cars - the dealers do, if they want to.
2. You actions, at least partially, contributed to the demise of the loaner car.
3. Even if it were your car, and it broke down, BMW will not be rushing out to get you a cab, loaner car or anything beyond the tow truck. That is the limit of the contract that you signed with them when you bought the car - the limits of BMW Assist.

What did you want your dealership to do? Get somebody to drive a new loaner car up to you and have them take the train back, as well as fix the loaner car that broke? Or have them pay for a rental for you?

Stuff happens, things break, and sometimes you have to deal with it. Life sucks sometimes.

+1

[Explorer3253]

Originally Posted by DBville

If I understand this right, you had a loaner, driving it at 100 mph, manually downshifted the auto into 1st gear (how we don't know, but still), over revved it, and it shut down, possibly with a damaged engine.

You called BMW assist and are pissed because they did not arrange a loaner car for the loaner car.

Uhhh, hate to rain on your parade, but you need to understand a couple of things.
1. BMWNA does not provide loaner cars - the dealers do, if they want to.
2. You actions, at least partially, contributed to the demise of the loaner car.
3. Even if it were your car, and it broke down, BMW will not be rushing out to get you a cab, loaner car or anything beyond the tow truck. That is the limit of the contract that you signed with them when you bought the car - the limits of BMW Assist.

What did you want your dealership to do? Get somebody to drive a new loaner car up to you and have them take the train back, as well as fix the loaner car that broke? Or have them pay for a rental for you?

Stuff happens, things break, and sometimes you have to deal with it. Life sucks sometimes.

i didnt manually downshift to m1. I was at m6, and tapped it once to go to m5. It automatically went to m1.

[JSpira]

Originally Posted by Explorer3253

i didnt manually downshift to m1. I was at m6, and tapped it once to go to m5. It automatically went to m1.

Ja, that is definitely a fault of the car, not the driver. It´s not like you would be able to TELL it to shift to 1 from 6.

[Explorer3253]

Originally Posted by Bimmer Loyalist

Did you tell them you were going 100 in their loaner?

Doesn't matter if I was doing 100 in the loaner or my own car. I may be exaggerating a bit..It may have been about 90 or so...I was easily avg 85mph on i95 going with the flow of traffic..I'm sure my speed increased over 90 as I went for the pass

I'm sure you all do 90ish or so going with the flow of traffic and amazingally the 328 seems to have a lot more pep than my 325

[Explorer3253]

Originally Posted by JSpira

What Roadside Assistance provides:

That is what I am referring to. What Roadside should provide. They are supposed to help you get to your destination if the car somehow breaks down. I wouldn't really mind it if it was my own car that broke down and I had to deal with it. However, the fact that I was in a BMW dealerships loaner, they should have tried a little more to be helpful.

Not to mention, I may not have freaked out considering my car has navigation and this car didn't. I honestly had no clue where I was.

[Year's_End]

I do go that speed regularly, but I don't think I do that in loaners. All right, hell, I drifted the loaner 325i sedan we got last year in a five lane street late one night....

[Explorer3253]

Originally Posted by Bimmer Loyalist

Did you tell them you were going 100 in their loaner?

also the car is supposed to be built to do 100. Yes its speeding, but that would be taken up with law enforcement. BMW shouldn't care if I'm doing 90ish or so. If I was doing burnouts or neutral drops and such..then yes. That is wrong, however I treat their car exactly the way I treat mine.

[Explorer3253]

Originally Posted by Bimmer Loyalist

I do go that speed regularly, but I don't think I do that in loaners. All right, hell, I drifted the loaner 325i sedan we got last year in a five lane street late one night....

lol...why not do it in a loaner. You'll get just in much trouble when you get pulled over in a loaner as you would in your own car..haha

plus for some reason in the 328, I really didn't know I was speeding at times. Its actually very very smooth and picks up quickly opposed to my 325. Can't wait to get my 328 coupe!

[L~R~G nor cal]

I would tell the deailership that you were going with the flow of traffic. I would leave the mph out of the conversation..

[TurboFan]

Originally Posted by Bimmer Loyalist

Did you tell them you were going 100 in their loaner?

I guarantee the know by now. People post the stupidest things, thinking the dealers don't see anything. It's hilarious. When I walk into my dealer, half the people not with a customer are logged into e90post! I think every SA has it bookmarked, and I know for a fact they will do a little searching in the main forums if things look fishy.

[itsbrokeagain]

the ecu will most likely log the time of downshift, speed, etc. So when they check it, they will know.

BMW kicked me in the nuts the same way. Blew the belt off (335 problem), Assist told me the flat bed would take my car back to the shop tonight (they wanted to drop it off at Manhattan BMW...and I live in Long Island..F that). After fighting with them for 10 minutes, they finally agreed to get it back to Hassel. I told them I needed a ride back too..they said they would arrange it with the towing service to take me back to the dealership where I could have my friend come get me.

Flatbed gets there, and its the dude and his baby momma and the kid...no seat for me. Ask him how Im supposed to get home cuse Assist said you were doing it, he said its not his problem and they will drop the car off Monday (not that night as Assist said).

So I was really pissed at this point. I was lucky I wasnt that far from Flushing, one of my friends came over the bridge into the Bronx to fetch me and take me back to Long Island. I fight with the flatbed dude, telling him my dealership is open on saturdays so they can fix it tomorrow so I want it there first thing. He says ok (i think just to shut me up), and he drives off. Go to the dealership Saturday, cars not there. Waited an hour cuse the towing company wasnt picking up the phone, finally get a hold of them and they say there is no recorded drop off for saturday because it wasnt an emergency.

Now Im really heated because my weekend that I was supposed to spend in Philly is gone down the tubes (it was supposed to be part business trip, part friends) and my dealership couldnt help me out cuse my car wasnt there to get a RO written up so they could at least give me an enterprise rental..they dont give out BMW loaners on saturday.

I wait the weekend out, go back Monday during lunch..the car STILL isnt there. Called the company AGAIN and they said it was enroute, should be there soon. 7:15, right after the dealer closes,　my car shows up....7 hours later! They tore through all the stuff in my trunk looking for the tow hook (they said they couldnt find it, yet the cover was off in the corner and it was right there in front of them)...they broke both front lifting pads and hooked through the holes in them...and didnt even bother to bring the lifting pads with them. On top of that, their ghetto old strap through the wheel technique messed up the lips on both of my rear wheels, and they said they werent responsible for that.

At least my dealership had my car ready by 10AM the next morning..hats off to their great service. Assist I cannot say the same for...absolute crappiest shit I have ever seen. I let them know it in the stupid CSI survey they called my house a billion times about ( I gave them my cell number and told them to use that, yet they keep calling the house and Im never there) Gave them a 1 on the lousy assistance they gave me. They made no attempt to make up for it either.


Sorry to hijack the thread, but thats just my opinion on Assist.

[JSpira]

That sounds awful (I mean that sincerely).

Who took care of the lifting pad and rear wheel lip damage you mentioned? Was it fixed?

Also, just to clarify, are you sure you are blaming the right entity? You keep saying how bad Assist is but this really had nothing to do with BMW Assist.

[LEDZEP]

I won't go as far as to chastise you for your speeding, but I'm not sure that your dealer's intention of a loaner is for you to take a long trip from NY to Boston. Loaners are "extras" that most dealers provide for the convinience of their customers - but I think your expectations are way too high.

[ultmachine]

It down shifted from M6 to M1? From a computer standpoint, that's impossible, but more importantly from a mechanical standpoint, maybe i'm wrong, but i thought that's REALLY impossible...I'm pretty sure the trans isn't even capable of executing that kind of shift (down five gears) in one go no matter what...not accusing you of lying or anything, but there's something fishy here.