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BMW dealer wrecks 3 month old M3 and guess how the dealer acts?

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Old 07-24-04, 09:24 AM
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LexFather
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Default BMW dealer wrecks 3 month old M3 and guess how the dealer acts?

This story seems to be spreading all over the net. So here it is.
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49291

more comments here
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ighlight=lexus
 
Old 07-24-04, 09:24 AM
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Now It Can Be Told

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know that my switch from the BMW camp to the Porsche camp seems rather sudden, and truth be told, I loved my M3, but the ordeal that I experienced in getting the dealer that totaled my car during their joyriding to do the right thing, and BMWNA's usual lack of customer service attitude really made me rethink what I thought was going to be an easy decision of simply ordering another M3.

Here's how it all happened:

I custom ordered my M3 with SMG and Xenon only. It was Carbon Black, it had no moon roof, and had the cloth seats instead of leather. I simply did not want options I did not need and wanted a unique car. As some of you who have custom ordered your cars might recall, it takes about 3 months from 111 status to picking up the car at the dealership.

Part I, The Customer is Unreasonable:

On 7/28, I brought my 30K mile 02 M3 with SMG to Savage BMW for a routine oil change. They put me in an E46 330Xi loaner, and sent me on my merry way. The next day, 7/29, my service advisor (SA) called me and left a message with the office receptionist informing me that my car was ready for pick up. I did not get the message until almost the end of the day, so I called my SA back the next morning (7/30) and told him that I'd be there after work to pick up my car.

At 3:42PM on 7/30, my SA called and informed me that my car was crashed by their test driver while out on an unauthorized test drive. How do I know that it was unauthorized? Well, my SA admitted it, saying that the car was already QC'ed on 7/29, which was why he called that day to inform me that the car was ready for pick up. In fact, the test driver, in his early twenties, did not even have a tech sheet with him. He apparently wanted to see what an M3 could do. I was told by my SA that I should come by the next morning to check out my car and meet with the owner, Peter Savage, to discuss a solution to the situation.

So I called Raffi, who’s a lawyer, told him what happened, and asked him to come with me to the dealership. I brushed off that nagging negative feeling of not getting a call from the owner of the dealership for something this major, and I thought that based on my previous experience with Savage BMW, that Peter Savage would make it right. Up to this point, Savage BMW had been a great dealership in service, always providing me with loaners and taking good care of my car. They were always able to fix whatever issues I have with my car, and were always pleasant to deal with. On top of that, I have never met another SA as upstanding as Eric Hall. Based on that, I thought that I'd show up, they'd apologize, and if the car were badly damaged, we’d work out something reasonable.

The next morning, 7/31, Raffi showed up at 6 in the morning, and we drove over to Savage BMW. My SA greeted us and led us to the car for us to inspect the carnage.

As best as I was able to determine, the test driver lost control of my car turning right. The car went into a very fast oversteer, the driver could not correct it and the driver-side rear wheel hit the concrete curb so hard, it broke off. The rear control arm snapped off and the impact caused the panel behind the driver door to be pulled in by the frame, breaking the welds. The momentum then carried the car along the concrete curb and rashed the front wheel, damaged the front suspension and twisted the front bumper. In the process, both the driver side door and head airbags deployed.

Upon further inspection, we discovered that the driver side front quarter panel rivets securing it to the engine bay were knocked out of alignment by a good 5mm. Furthermore, the driver side partitioning wall near the strut tower was torn all the way down, and the rear driver quarter panel was gouged by the trunk lid hitting the panel, all due to the sheer force of the impact. None of the panels in the car (doors, trunk, hood) were correctly aligned anymore, all from a “QC test drive.” The rear half of the car was twisted upwards and towards the passenger side a good half inch.

Does that sound like a BMW prescribed QC test drive?

So at around 8 o'clock, we met with Bill Smith, the service manager. After seeing the condition of my car, I told him flat out that I didn't want the car back, as it was obviously totalled and would never be the same. He labeled my request as totally unreasonable and even countered by asking "If you get into an accident on the track, do you automatically get a new car?" The service manager then figured out pretty quickly that Raffi was a lawyer, and advised us that we would have to speak to the owner, Peter Savage himself, and ended the meeting.

So after an hour, we were finally able to meet with Mr. Savage. However, upon learning that I had a lawyer with me, Peter Savage was not even going to meet with me, unless Raffi was not present in the meeting. It was clear to me he was trying to take advantage of his business skills, and get me to agree to whatever he put on the table. After some stern words from Raffi, Mr. Savage finally agreed to meet with us. In the meeting, I told him that all I wanted was to have them buy my car back at Blue Book retail, and give me a new M3 at invoice, and something to drive in the mean time. They could then deal with my old car as they wished. I was obviously going to absorb the difference between the used car blue book and the new car invoice, since after all, my car was not brand new. Mr. Savage, who looked very uncomfortable by now, thought that I was being unreasonable, and retorted with irrelevant questions, such as: "Let me ask you this, if you had crashed my loaner, do I automatically get a new one from you? and "I know that Andy takes this car to the track, and that he did not exactly baby the car" and, best of all, "I heard from the service guys that the tires were bald" (to which we have photographic evidence showing otherwise). Mr. Savage refused to even acknowledge liability for the joyride incident, and brushed the problem off by telling us to deal with his insurance company. Only after Raffi brought up the issue did Mr. Savage at least allow me to keep the 330xi loaner until their insurance company found us a suitable rental. He told us to pick up a copy of their insurance card from Bill Smith to file the claim, then sent us on our way and ended the meeting.

Now what would you do if you were not fortunate enough to have a lawyer friend like Raffi who also happened to be a car nut? I would be left to deal with insurance companies which, as we know, are not exactly the quickest to pay and would try to drag this matter on forever until I gave up and accepted a lowball offer. This alone is the reason why even though we settled the property damage claim in October, I feel compelled to share my story with you all.

Part II, We'll Fix Your Car:

Before we left Savage, I decided to chat with their on-site body shop. The estimator told me that based on visual inspection, the car had sustained about $20K in damage. Unfortunately for him, I have clients in the body shop business, and I also happen to be very familiar with both Ultramate and Pathways, the estimating programs for body shops. The car was totaled, without question, a tweaked front, wheel broken off, airbags, torn off bumper, and miscellaneous other damage, and he thought there was only $20K in damage?

We then left the dealership, feeling "savaged." At 2:31 PM, I got on the phone with Sania at BMW NA customer service, and told her what had happened. Sania apologized, took my complaint and filed it under my VIN number, fed us the same line of "we can't do anything because the dealer is an independent company" and ended the phone conversation. I was looking for some help and guidance from BMW NA and all I got was a bland apology.

I then called my SA and requested that the car be towed to Marco's Universal City body shop for a neutral third party estimate. Savage BMW seemed reluctant to relinquish the car, so I had to call again on 8/1 and finally the car was towed to Marcos in Universal City. I had to be firm and insist that the car be fixed elsewhere, so that there would not be any possible influence by Savage.

After 3 months of back and forth with the insurance carrier for Savage, the car was finally totalled. What would have happened to me if I didn’t know anyhing about the body shop business? I would have allowed them to fix the car for $20K and gotten a car that is basically worthless because it is now tweaked on both the front and the rear, with a severely affected resale value. To this day, however, Savage BMW and its insurance carrier insist that this was just an accident, not the result of a joyride. Now, again, if the car was ready for pick up on 7/29, how could my M3 be wrecked while the QC tech was on a "scheduled test drive" on 7/30, one day after the car was already ready for pick up? Why would my SA admit that it was a joyride? And if I didn't retain a lawyer, and didn't have any knowledge of the body shop business, I am sure that I would have been suckered into getting my car fixed, which would have taken several months, and would have ended up with a 30K mile E46 M3 with a severely tweaked frame that was allegedly "good as new."

Moral of the story? Be wary of Savage BMW.
 
Old 07-24-04, 09:33 AM
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Wow, you step away from this thread for a few days and I am just shocked at the outpouring of support...

Andy (Stuka) may not feel obliged to post in further detail, but since I'm a neutral party to this I will fill in some of the details.

1) The employee was fired on that same day.

2) The offer, initially from Andy, was to have Savage OR their insurance company pay bluebook value for the crashed M3, and HE will pay invoice for the replacement M3 to be ordered to his specs. He will eat the difference in depreciation.

3) Peter Savage told him to deal with his insurance company, but said no to ordering Andy his M3 at invoice for a replacement. In fact, the initial offer was to have Savage's "bodyshop" repair the damages, which Savage estimated at $15,000.

4) Stuka had a local, reputable bodyshop (Marco's in No Ho, best in L.A.) estimate the damage, and the bodyshop just laughed and said it's better to just TOTAL the car. They estimated the damages to cost over $30,000 before the tear down. Almost ALL the body panels will need to be replaced, they suspect frame damage but can not confirm until tear down.

5) Meanwhile, Savage has stopped communicating with Stuka and pretty much took a stance of "talk to our insurance company". After about 3 months of pulling teeth, numerous phone calls by lawyers and Stuka himself, the insurance for Savage finally agreed to pay Stuka bluebook value for the crashed M3, totalled it, and also paid Stuka a small sum of $$$ for car rental fee.

6) So in the mean time, Stuka ended up looking at other possibilities for replacement vehicle. After crunching some numbers, it turns out that a leased 911 Turbo has lower monthly payment than his E46 M3. Again, after he had located his perfect replacement vehicle, he couldn't purchase it because Savage's insurance company took forever to settle the claim and also took forever to cut the check to the bank that holds the title to the M3. Since TECHNICALLY Stuka was still making car payment to the M3 3 months after the M3 was crashed, and all this time making 4 digit payments without being able to enjoy the car he's paying for...Porsche Financial could not approve his lease application because of that monthly payment that he's still obligated to make.

7) Eventually that dream 996 turbo was sold to another buyer, Stuka was heart broken. Finally the settlement check was cut to his bank, and the Porsche dealership worked very hard to locate another 996 turbo speced fairly similiar to what he had wanted. When the dust is all settled, Stuka ended up paying 4 additional months of INTEREST on the M3, but got the car he's been dreaming of since he was a boy, a speed yellow Porsche turbo.

This is the extend of the sad story, from my perspective. I can only vouch for what I know.
 
Old 07-24-04, 09:34 AM
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That sucks....I would imagine how pissed off I would be.....
And it wouldn't matter which car I owned....its the fact that it was an unauthorized test drive by a kid.....
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Old 07-24-04, 09:36 AM
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And as I am reading, the ball starts rolling. Horror stories left and right. Amazing.
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...8&page=1&pp=20

So I go to Savage Bmw today to get my recall fixed. Everything goes well and they call me up to come get my car. Im at the dealer signing the papers and they cant find my car. they tell me its in the car wash keep in mind its raining. so im waiting and the receptionist is calling everyone looking for my car and they cant find it. they come to the conclusion it is not on the lot. 20 minutes later my car pulls up dirty and with a quater tank gone and 30 miles extra on my car. I see my car pull in and I raise hell. I go to my service adviser and ask him what the hell is going on. he tells me it was a test run and i told him a test run for 30 miles. a test run should be about a mile around the dealership. the service guy driving the car comes out with a burger king drink. and acts like nothing ever happened. so they decide to refill my tank and give it a wash. I go back inside and inform them Im never going back there again. and when I get in my car it smells like crap my seat is reclined all the way and my radio stations are programmed to different stations. And for him to do 30 miles in 20 minutes and waist a quater tank he must have been flooring it the whole time in the rain. uhhhhh i hate savage
 
Old 07-24-04, 09:37 AM
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This doesn't surprise me one bit. I worked as an automechanic during college for a European luxury manufacturer and the management would take the best cars out all of the time for personal use. One would even go as far as to disconnect the speedometer and take cars out for as long as two weeks for the family vacation!

C.
 
Old 07-24-04, 09:45 AM
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That sucks. Obviously was not a typical "test" drive. I can't believe they didn't make good. I love my Lexus even more this very second.
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Old 07-24-04, 09:47 AM
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Originally posted by 1SICKLEX
This doesn't surprise me one bit. I worked as an automechanic during college for a European luxury manufacturer and the management would take the best cars out all of the time for personal use. One would even go as far as to disconnect the speedometer and take cars out for as long as two weeks for the family vacation!

C.
THAT'S JACKED!!!!
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Old 07-24-04, 10:26 AM
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Wow man, these are some HORROR stories, thank god that first guy took a lawyer with him!
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Old 07-24-04, 10:29 AM
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Wow...that is just bad business!

If the dealer can't figure out that this is NOT the way THEIR customers want to be treated, then they deserve to go out of business. It is amazing that after Andy's story that the same shop would allow it to happen again to the tune of 30 miles, altered radio stations, and a stop at BK.

I would have been complaining at the top of my lungs in the middle of the showroom floor so that all potential customers could overhear me ripping them a new one and why they shouldn't buy or service a car there.
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Old 07-24-04, 02:16 PM
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that sux bad, thats why when i drop my car off at lexus i specifically say DO NOT DRIVE IT if they need to take it for a test drive i will go with them and i take down the mileage because you can never be too safe !!!
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Old 07-24-04, 02:38 PM
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Originally posted by DGOT20s
Wow man, these are some HORROR stories, thank god that first guy took a lawyer with him!
And the fact that the lawyers name was Raffi just makes him 100x cooler

what a shady dealership, from this to the story with the Burger King trip is just ridiculous
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Old 07-24-04, 02:48 PM
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wow... this is why I avoid dealerships at all costs, they always screw with you. Always.
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Old 07-24-04, 03:17 PM
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Originally posted by WhiteTiger
Wow...that is just bad business!
I would have been complaining at the top of my lungs in the middle of the showroom floor so that all potential customers could overhear me ripping them a new one and why they shouldn't buy or service a car there.

I did this once at a Toyota dealership that was not being customer friendly to a lady friend of mine. I went to every salesmans desk that had a customer to tell our story. They threatened to call the cops. I said go ahead...I'll just go to the sidewalk where it's legal for me to stand and shout all I want. After hearing that and seeing 2 customers leave, they couldn't have been more attentive. Had five people out there working on my friends car.
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Old 07-24-04, 05:34 PM
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Unbelievable!
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