ch7656

After two days with my 545 (just sold my E60 525) it stopped raining here in CA and I got a good look at my car for the first time clean and dry. And what I found was that on the trunk lid and hood the paint is noticeably thin, blotchy and flat out doesn?t match the rest of the car. Each area is a minimum of 12?x12?.

I immediately called the dealer where I bought the car and they of course suggested that I immediately bring it to them. When I told them I wouldn?t have the time to drive and see them for a couple days (they are 50 miles away). They suggested I take it to two local dealers to get their opinion, so I did With each visit the car ended up with three people standing around it (from the dealer) shaking their heads and telling me to march straight back to the dealer where I bought it from and give them hell.

I?ve since had numerous conversations with the dealer I purchased the car from and have set a meeting for this upcoming Wednesday with the head of service, the GM, my salesperson and a BMW N America rep. Please understand everyone is being very accommodating, very nice?.and it seems (to date) they are doing everything they can for me?I have no complaints.

But now to my question?it needs 6 panels re-painted and that will take 3 weeks. I?ll obviously be supplied with a loaner car?but it seems to me this car was not fit to be sold and should not have been sold to me in the first place. When it gets painted that will be part of the cars history and will reduce its value. Now obviously cars get involved in accidents, they are painted and look fine?but an accident comes after the sale and is not the dealers/manufacturers fault. This car passed through god knows how many quality checks on its way to me?obviously everyone failed to do their job and now their incompetence has become my problem.

So what do you think?have them paint it and move on?or demand a new car based on the fact that this car should not have been sold to me in the first place? I think I want a new car?do you think I have a leg to stand on?

Really hard to capture with a camera...but here's one of the areas

BangleBox_530d

Not sure what you can do, but I certainly would be pushing for a replacement car, rather than a repair.

It's exactly the sort of thing I want to know about, so that I can look out for problems when I take delivery next month.

Does the paint look thin? Is it smooth or rough? What should you look for?

BMW.Aaron.TeamF1

Let them paint the car. If the body shop do an excellent job painting the car then you should not worry about it. 6 months from now you wont remember about the problem.

If the body shop does a lousy job then you have the right to complain all you want but talk to them nice and give them a chance to make it right.


Can you take some pictures and show us the problem?

wassy

If the car is only 2 days old, then NO, don't let them paint it, select another car.. Who wants to spend $60k on a car and have it repainted during the 1st week due to no fault of your own?

tell them up front you want a new car, and realize that the lower mileage, the easier they can resell it.. so do they want to have you re-select now, or wait until wednesday?

While some body shops are awesome at painting, and you probably wouldn't know the difference by looking at it, you will always know it was repainted.. and when it comes time to trade it in... guess what... any good wholesaler will know that the car had paintwork... goodbye realistic trade-in value!

just my experience....got to do what you feel good about. BMWNA is trying to appease their clients.. they have done it with me as well!

ch7656

Smooth just looks very thin...like the rest of the car received three coats and these areas received one

ch7656

You see I tend to agree...I really keep falling back on the fact that had they caught the problem the car would not have been sold to me in the first place. Had the car been "right" when I bought it and then something developed well OK that's what the warranty is for...but they sold me damaged goods

ch7656

I'll try to post some pics today/tomorrow. The whole "paint" thing just doesn't sit well with me...not after 2 days of ownership, not after I drove off the lot with a problem. By letting them paint the car it seems they are making their problem mine...And even if the paint is perfect in every way...it still pushes the cars value down

BangleBox_530d

Unless they remove every panel, windows, trim, etc. It wil NEVER be the way it should.

And unless they paint the whole car, it will NEVER match 100%

It's not a cheap car. REJECT IT!

roost

If the car was a special order with the options you wanted I might keep the car, after the 3 months of waiting and checking owners circle 5-15 times a day every day I couldn't go through it again but if you picked it off a lot I would ask for a new one.

JDN

Now you are getting there. The dealer receives a fee from BMW for inspection. You also have to wonder about the Performance Center checks and all the other checks along the way. The dealer needs to belly up. Get BMWNA to find out if any of the inspections along the way showed any paint problems prior to delivery. IOW, where did this defect first surface?