Passport BMW

Review: We purchased a 2011 BMW ** in late August, 2013. Immediately, we began having issues with it (while we were driving home after purchasing it, an engine light came on). We thought this was resolved after they had the car for approximately a week. It wasn't and we had to take the vehicle in several times for the same issue. Finally, a repair to a fuel injector was made.

In January, 2014, my wife was driving through [redacted], VA, when the engine suddenly lost power and began vibrating A engine warning light came on. She had to drive slowly to a local BMW. This dealership's initial look showed it to be a timely repair and gave my wife a loaner car. However, upon further investigation by them they discovered what they termed "malpractice" of the repair done by Passport. Because of this incorrect repair, the entire head would have to be replaced - at a cost of over $11,400.00. Passport pushed back but finally loaded our car onto a flatbed truck and took it back to their garage. In our discussions, I told them I (or my best friend who works only minutes away) needed to be in the garage when the head was removed due to the fact that our trust in them was almost nonexistent. It was our agreement that this would happen. My wife frequently called Passport about a status and reminder that one of us had to be there when the head was removed. She could get no where. We called BMW North America several times, too, to lodge complaints about their non communication about our car status, also. About 5 weeks later, I receive a call that the car was "done and ready to be picked up". Just like that. No call about coming to be present when the head was removed. I stated my displeasure with them as we had a deal that either my friend or I would be there. We just did not trust them and were concerned about shoddy repairs, etc. After many phone calls where my wife just wanted them to take the car back because of concerns with it's safety (our son has a traumatic brain injury and she needs reliable transportation). They said they would look for another ** similar. Several times they told us that they were unable to locate one. We began discussions on what it would take for us to keep this particular vehicle. In the end they offered to give us a complete maintenance plan that covered "everything but tires" and that they would cover the 2 affected cylinders from 100,000 to 125,000 miles in house only. We asked for specifics about this maintenance plan and they said only that the e-mail they had sent would explain and that it was "everything but tires". We decided that I would go to the garage, look through a bore scope at the affected cylinders to check for damage. After this examination of the cylinders, we decided that with the "everything but tires" plan, a[redacted] with the extended warranty that my wife and I had purchased when we bought the vehicle, and the additional coverage on the 2 cylinders through 125,000 miles we would keep the car. Once again, we asked for the asked for the specifics of "everything but tires" and were told that we should just refer to the e-mail and that was all we needed.

Well, shortly thereafter, the battery died. We had to go round and round with them about this replacement "because this isn't covered by the plan". We reminded them about the "everything but tires" plan and they finally they replaced it. The next thing was the angel eyes headlight, which, once again they claimed wasn't covered. My wife had to speak with them again about the "everything but tires" plan we had. She had to speak with several at the dealership and they finally replaced the light. Each time it has been a huge struggle, a lot of wasted time and a huge amount of stress to us both.

Earlier this month we had to buy front tires for the vehicle. Because of proprietary BMW equipment we had to take the car to BMW for alignment. That was fine because we had the "everything but tires" plan. Once again, they gave my wife a quote and asked her to sign the paperwork. She kindly reminded them of the plan and they (once again) replied that it "was not covered" by that plan. She, once again, had to go to the man we had been dealing with on the previous occasions and he told her the asme thing. She reminded him about the "everything but tires" plan and he said they weren't going to align the tires unless she paid for it. She said that we had already purchased the tires, as per the agreement and that we just needed them aligned, as per the agreement. He refused to budge. My wife told him that maybe he just take the car back, give us our money back and that we would never have to see one another again. He then said he could research "fair market value" for the vehicle. We feel that with the refusal to honor the agreement we made, that this comment was extremely rude.

Every time we have to go to this dealership, we have to go through all this trouble. I am currently stationed in [redacted], VA, while my family lives in [redacted], MD, so that our son can be near treatment in Washington, D.C. It is very troubling to me that this dealership made this deal with us so that we would keep this particular vehicle, enchancing the deal with the promise of an "everything but tires" deal through 100,000 miles only to have them change the terms months into the agreement. It is "bait and switch". We would never have kept the car otherwise and they knew it. They knew all a[redacted] they weren't going to honor this agreement. We trusted them to keep their word. Instead they don't honor their promise to us about "everything but tires" and when we suggest them taking the car back and giving us our money back, they make a statement about "fair market value".

Once again, they made a deal with us about "everything but tires" and we trusted them. We are left to wonder whether or not they will honor their agreement to fix anything wrong on the 2 cylinder heads through 125,000 miles. We suspect not.

On a side note, BMW North America doesn't have a maintenance contract on file with them so we suspect this could be an in-house deal.Desired Settlement: We desire that this dealership honor the "everything but tires" deal they made with us. We also desire they honor the deal of the complete coverage of repairs of the 2 cylinders up to 125,000 miles, should the need arise. If this is not possible, we request a full refund of the money we paid for the car.

Business

Response:

Passport BMW will honor exactly what was offered in an email by our Service Manager, [redacted]., see email below dated 2/18/14. The email states we will take care of all Maintenance items, no where does it say we will cover everything but tires. Maintenance items are Brakes, oil changes, wiper blades and things like that, they do not include Alignments. If you hit a pot hole and knock your car out of alignment that is not a maintenance item. We will cover everything that BMW covers under their Free miantenance program that is for 4yr /50000miles that [redacted] has said we will extend up to 100,000 miles. From: [redacted]

Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2014 9:34 PM

To: [redacted]

Cc: [redacted]

Subject: RE: [redacted]