How does this happen?
#1
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Earlier this week my wife dropped off our '07 525xi at our dealer for the following items:
1) Ticking lifters - It seemed to happen last winter when we bought the car, but it's much worse this winter. (Doesn't do it in the summer months)
2) Typical "leaking wind" sound from the sunroof at HWY speeds.
3) Heat output seems low even with the "damper" in the iDrive set to MAX RED setting.
The car had 50,300 miles on it when it got dropped off. My wife was upset when she found out that our "regular" warranty had just expired and we now had a $50 copay with our CPO warranty and may have to pay for some repairs.
The next morning the service advisor called my wife with an update: "Yep, the car has ticking issues when cold. The repair costs would be your responsibility, but since your car is so close to warranty, BMW is going to cover it for you. The sunroof is NOT covered, but we can repair it. That will cost you $430. The heat-output seems OK, but could we have a tech take it home for the night to let us try it and get a better idea of what's happening or not happening..?"
At that point my wife thanked the the Service Advisor for taking care of the lifters, tells him that I will replace the weatherstripping on the sunroof myself (I've seen the FAQ on this site) and agrees to let them keep the car for the night to diagnose the heater.
The next day (today) the Service Advisor called and said, "Well, we have some new info for you. I was able to convince my service manager to repair the sunroof at no cost. Part of doing this was that we had to reprogram your vehicle's computer with a new program. While we were in there, we were also able to increase your vehicle's heat output and we think you'll be pleased with the results. You can pick up your car whenever you'd like. Your cost will only be the $50 copay."
So, here are my question(s)....
1) Should the sunroof repair really cost $430 if we were to have to pay for it?? (I thought I'd read somewhere that the part is ~$40?)
2) Is there truly a need to go into the computer to "fix" this sunroof issue?
3) How in the HECK can a dealership change the heat-output of a vehicle by going into the computer??
I know all of this is a moot point and I should probably just shut up and enjoy our car, but I've done most if not all of the work on all of our other vehicles and something just doesn't seem "right" as to how they went about taking care of these issues.
Any thoughts?
1) Ticking lifters - It seemed to happen last winter when we bought the car, but it's much worse this winter. (Doesn't do it in the summer months)
2) Typical "leaking wind" sound from the sunroof at HWY speeds.
3) Heat output seems low even with the "damper" in the iDrive set to MAX RED setting.
The car had 50,300 miles on it when it got dropped off. My wife was upset when she found out that our "regular" warranty had just expired and we now had a $50 copay with our CPO warranty and may have to pay for some repairs.
The next morning the service advisor called my wife with an update: "Yep, the car has ticking issues when cold. The repair costs would be your responsibility, but since your car is so close to warranty, BMW is going to cover it for you. The sunroof is NOT covered, but we can repair it. That will cost you $430. The heat-output seems OK, but could we have a tech take it home for the night to let us try it and get a better idea of what's happening or not happening..?"
At that point my wife thanked the the Service Advisor for taking care of the lifters, tells him that I will replace the weatherstripping on the sunroof myself (I've seen the FAQ on this site) and agrees to let them keep the car for the night to diagnose the heater.
The next day (today) the Service Advisor called and said, "Well, we have some new info for you. I was able to convince my service manager to repair the sunroof at no cost. Part of doing this was that we had to reprogram your vehicle's computer with a new program. While we were in there, we were also able to increase your vehicle's heat output and we think you'll be pleased with the results. You can pick up your car whenever you'd like. Your cost will only be the $50 copay."
So, here are my question(s)....
1) Should the sunroof repair really cost $430 if we were to have to pay for it?? (I thought I'd read somewhere that the part is ~$40?)
2) Is there truly a need to go into the computer to "fix" this sunroof issue?
3) How in the HECK can a dealership change the heat-output of a vehicle by going into the computer??
I know all of this is a moot point and I should probably just shut up and enjoy our car, but I've done most if not all of the work on all of our other vehicles and something just doesn't seem "right" as to how they went about taking care of these issues.
Any thoughts?
#2
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My Ride: 2006 BMW 550i
Earlier this week my wife dropped off our '07 525xi at our dealer for the following items:
1) Ticking lifters - It seemed to happen last winter when we bought the car, but it's much worse this winter. (Doesn't do it in the summer months)
2) Typical "leaking wind" sound from the sunroof at HWY speeds.
3) Heat output seems low even with the "damper" in the iDrive set to MAX RED setting.
The car had 50,300 miles on it when it got dropped off. My wife was upset when she found out that our "regular" warranty had just expired and we now had a $50 copay with our CPO warranty and may have to pay for some repairs.
The next morning the service advisor called my wife with an update: "Yep, the car has ticking issues when cold. The repair costs would be your responsibility, but since your car is so close to warranty, BMW is going to cover it for you. The sunroof is NOT covered, but we can repair it. That will cost you $430. The heat-output seems OK, but could we have a tech take it home for the night to let us try it and get a better idea of what's happening or not happening..?"
At that point my wife thanked the the Service Advisor for taking care of the lifters, tells him that I will replace the weatherstripping on the sunroof myself (I've seen the FAQ on this site) and agrees to let them keep the car for the night to diagnose the heater.
The next day (today) the Service Advisor called and said, "Well, we have some new info for you. I was able to convince my service manager to repair the sunroof at no cost. Part of doing this was that we had to reprogram your vehicle's computer with a new program. While we were in there, we were also able to increase your vehicle's heat output and we think you'll be pleased with the results. You can pick up your car whenever you'd like. Your cost will only be the $50 copay."
So, here are my question(s)....
1) Should the sunroof repair really cost $430 if we were to have to pay for it?? (I thought I'd read somewhere that the part is ~$40?)
2) Is there truly a need to go into the computer to "fix" this sunroof issue?
3) How in the HECK can a dealership change the heat-output of a vehicle by going into the computer??
I know all of this is a moot point and I should probably just shut up and enjoy our car, but I've done most if not all of the work on all of our other vehicles and something just doesn't seem "right" as to how they went about taking care of these issues.
Any thoughts?
1) Ticking lifters - It seemed to happen last winter when we bought the car, but it's much worse this winter. (Doesn't do it in the summer months)
2) Typical "leaking wind" sound from the sunroof at HWY speeds.
3) Heat output seems low even with the "damper" in the iDrive set to MAX RED setting.
The car had 50,300 miles on it when it got dropped off. My wife was upset when she found out that our "regular" warranty had just expired and we now had a $50 copay with our CPO warranty and may have to pay for some repairs.
The next morning the service advisor called my wife with an update: "Yep, the car has ticking issues when cold. The repair costs would be your responsibility, but since your car is so close to warranty, BMW is going to cover it for you. The sunroof is NOT covered, but we can repair it. That will cost you $430. The heat-output seems OK, but could we have a tech take it home for the night to let us try it and get a better idea of what's happening or not happening..?"
At that point my wife thanked the the Service Advisor for taking care of the lifters, tells him that I will replace the weatherstripping on the sunroof myself (I've seen the FAQ on this site) and agrees to let them keep the car for the night to diagnose the heater.
The next day (today) the Service Advisor called and said, "Well, we have some new info for you. I was able to convince my service manager to repair the sunroof at no cost. Part of doing this was that we had to reprogram your vehicle's computer with a new program. While we were in there, we were also able to increase your vehicle's heat output and we think you'll be pleased with the results. You can pick up your car whenever you'd like. Your cost will only be the $50 copay."
So, here are my question(s)....
1) Should the sunroof repair really cost $430 if we were to have to pay for it?? (I thought I'd read somewhere that the part is ~$40?)
2) Is there truly a need to go into the computer to "fix" this sunroof issue?
3) How in the HECK can a dealership change the heat-output of a vehicle by going into the computer??
I know all of this is a moot point and I should probably just shut up and enjoy our car, but I've done most if not all of the work on all of our other vehicles and something just doesn't seem "right" as to how they went about taking care of these issues.
Any thoughts?
2. the sunroof needs to be initialized for the new seal....just a matter of holding the switch and running the sunroof through a cycle. and for some reason they program the car to tell it that the sunroof is changed...kinda dumb.
3. with as many electronics on these cars nowadays, everything is controlled by computers.
#4
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1. Warranty pay sucks, customer pay is tits. However something is better than nothing so they caved and just charged BMW. Either that or the tech assumed it would be paid by BMW and did it before getting a ok. It happens.
#8
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Actually I was one of the good guys. but I see what happens in the shop everyday. I ended up being shop foreman and thats when I really see what happens between the service writer, the customer, and the techs. Customer pay is always considered gravy. Service writer also gets paid on customer pay jobs.
#9
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How many hours do you think it should take to replace the seal and re sync the sunroof?
lets say the part is $60 and labor is 160 and hour.
430-60=370
370/160=2.3 hours of work.
lets say the part is $60 and labor is 160 and hour.
430-60=370
370/160=2.3 hours of work.