cwmenne

Wow, lots of great responses, thank you all. It sounds like my thoughts that the dealer is out of line are not far off. So, why do I keep going back there? Maybe I like abusive relationships? In both cases, they had the car I want where the other dealer in town didn't, plus they are more convenient for me. Now that I bought the car there, I feel like the other dealer won't be as accomodating for service since I didn't buy the car there. I definitely need to find a good indie shop. For now, I use a local garage for regular maintenance and we have an agreement they will tell me up front if they don't think they can properly perform the work and I should take it to the dealer. I own an aircraft dealership and service center, so I definitely understand that no shop is perfect, but I am surprised that the BMW dealer doesn't stand behind their cars better. I guess cars are too much of a consumer item and they don't need to operate based on their reputation as there is a new sucker born everyday.

As for the tires, I couldn't find any winter tires in 275-35-18 for the rear at all, so I had to buy wheels and tires. I've had winter tires for all my cars, so I am used to the expense and the benefits, but have never seen a size that wasn't available before. The car is great and I realize that these cars aren't maintenance free, but it just seems like the dealer should have inspected the car and definitely should have been honest with me regarding the upcoming brake replacement when I asked them about upcoming maintenance. As a buyer of a used car that is maintained on the CBS system, I wonder if much of what I am seeing is because of the CBS system. Since BMW paid for the service, it seems that it deterred any additional preventative maintenance. If I had bought the car new, I would have never let it go 10,000 miles between oil changes and such.

-Thanks again. Chad

flyingpuck

The dealer DOES seem to be the problem! I personally drive past the BMW dealership that is 5 miles from my house to my preferred dealership 15 miles away and have been doing so for nearly 15 years now! Better service, better people and a MUCH better dealership experience are the simple reasons why! Good Luck in finding a better dealership, but by your description, it should NOT be hard! Besides which, if you tell the new dealership that they are taking business away from one of their competitors, they should work TWICE as hard to make you happy and deprive their competition!

DrLev99

Good one.....I know what you mean, with my dealership that is.

skylolow

Might want to check with your state laws on min. brake pad specs for dealerships to sell an automobile. If you only drove like 2K I'd find it hard to believe that those pads met the state requirments (Unless your very hard on them). Might give you a little more power in your hand to get the dealership to cover the brakes.

Overall it sounds like your dealer or some of the mechanics are doing a half ass job on over looking autos for resale. I think I'd push your displeasure more with the GM of the dealership and if your not happy then call BMW NA and tell them your issues.