Car damaged (minor) by the dealer

[ums81]

I dropped off my X5 today to have some curb damage repaired on a rim at a BMW dealer near my office. I'm very meticulous about the appearance of my car, hence the reason for my visit there. I always look it over thoroughly before leaving. Today I noticed that someone hit my car and was obviously really annoyed.

I asked to speak to someone regarding the damage to my car and was told that the Service Manager would come out to speak to me. I was frankly dreading having this conversation since I really had no way to prove that there was no damage to my car before i dropped it off. The Service Manager assured me that they'd take care of it and it definitely meant a lot as a customer to not have to argue in this situation. However, it definitely made me think that in the future i should take pictures of my car right before i drop it off or ask someone at the dealer to look over my car.

What do other people do when they're dropping off their cars, anyone run into a situation like this before?

[Tailwinds]

I had a similar experience today as well and was wondering the same about taking pics and how that would be received. I was lucky as they will make it right for me. What is most annoying is that I found the damage (not likely unnoticed by the workers) before leaving and no one bothered to fess up ahead of time. That makes the conversation uncomfortable. Oh well.

[jrmccain]

It looks like the scratch below the reflector is old and someone attempted to fix it or cover it up. The scuffs on the fender are an easy fix, two minutes with a buffer, no biggie.

[EPT535i]

I dropped mine off for some service also, my dealer does a walk through when u drop it off and they write it on the service receipt. I picked my x5 and noticed they curbed my right front wheel, I told my service advisor about it and the sevice manager came out and told me not to worry about they would fix it. They gave me a loaner and repaired it. So it was good but sucked that they would have said nothing unless I mentioned it to them.

[ums81]

Here is a close-up of the scratch below the reflector. I agree, the scuffs can likely be buffed out pretty easily. Not sure how they'll handle the scratches.

There has never been any damage to that area, the black stuff looks like it can be scraped off as well. Maybe a black car hit it??

I'll give the dealer the benefit of the doubt since they'll take care of the issue, but in the back of my mind i'm definitely wondering if they knew this happened. They were pretty nonchalant about it, didn't really ask any questions.

[jrmccain]

That picture shows the damage more clearly and what I thought was touch-up paint looks to be material left on your bumper. It looks as if the paint was scraped off the bumper cover exposing the plastic? If so, then yeah, I understand your concern.

[Poppyboy]

Here in Chicago, the dealership (Perillo) has such tight quarters and they stack cars so close, it must happen all the time. I was so paranoid about dropping it off. The one benefit of being out of warranty is that I don't go there anymore.

[windsailor]

Happened to me as well, got the SA to check on it bcos just by chance decided to check it before driving it out. Everything fixed but, agree with bad mouth taste of not getting this flagged by them instead. I now do the check with the guy receiving the car and right after it's returned to me.

[ums81]

So, this situation has turned into a real mess. I've had my car into the dealer three times to try to get this resolved.

The first time i took it in, the 'bumper' guy completely F@#ked it up. I don't know what the hell he tried but it looked horrendous, he actually managed to make it look worse than had he never touched it. As you can see in the attached pictures, the color is all faded and weird. I complained to the svc manager and they said they'd take care of it.

The second time i took it in, the guy apparently just didn't show up.

The third time i took it in, he re-did it but it's all orange peely and almost has a flat/matte finish. It's not as terrible as his first try but it still looks bad.

At this point i'm extremely fed up with this and refuse to let this guy touch my car again. I took my car into a certified bmw collision shop and they confirmed that the guy did a sh!tty job. They provided me with an estimate and said that the that the dealer is trying to cheap out on the repair. In order to restore to a professional finish they will need to replace the bumper cover. The person who did the estimate also said he is willing to talk to the service manager regarding the estimate.

I've e-mailed the svc manager the estimate as and asked that they pay to have this repair work done by a certified bmw collision facility...still waiting to hear back from them. My question is this, if they refuse to do this, what are my options? I have it in writing from them, both e-mails and via invoices that they gave me, they are at fault and will cover the repair.

Any tips would be much appreciated.

[ums81]

Here are the pictures of the 'repair' job

[bscarlett]

While I agree the repair work is unacceptable, it does seem odd that the body shop is suggesting replacing the bumper cover. That appears excessive given the bumper does not appear broken or cracked. From my experience, it simply needs to be removed and resprayed and that should be less than $1000.00

The dealership is covered by insurance and simply wants to go the cheaper route to avoid the claim. I would suggest getting the quote from the BMW collision repair shop, present that the the Service manager and if he refuses, indicate that you will get BMW North America involved as well as the General Manager and BMW dealer principal (franchise owner).

[Capnhook]

Those pics look like the dealer went to Wally world and Krylon sprayed the bumper! That's terrible. Now imagine the same dealer trying to perform routin maintenance on said vehicle. I'd look for another dealer.

[P1]

Yikes, that is one crap repair. Have you ever roamed around a dealership and walked all the way to the back where they prep the used cars? That is probably where they fixed your X5. These are guys working out of old Astro Vans where they just spray bumpers in the elements. I always get slightly sick looking at these cowboys working on nice cars like that.

[ums81]

Quick update, the dealership apologized for trying to take a shortcut and has agreed to replace the bumper cover and have it repainted. They'd like to use one of the bodyshops where they send their cars for repair rather than the one i specified. I'll have to check out the bodyshop and approve it.

I was pretty surprised that the BMW certified facility said the bumper cover needs to be replaced but it kind of helped in my argument that the dealership really F'd it up bigtime.

[ums81]

Originally Posted by Capnhook

Those pics look like the dealer went to Wally world and Krylon sprayed the bumper! That's terrible. Now imagine the same dealer trying to perform routin maintenance on said vehicle. I'd look for another dealer.

I started a new job a few months ago and this dealer is two miles away which is very convenient. That being said, i'm likely going back to the dealer i've used for 5+ years with zero issues. Sucks because they're about 45 miles from where i live.