bjsbuds

A couple of weeks ago when I picked up my car at my local BMW dealership, the service advisor asked me what I ran over that caused the damage under my car. I had not, so I was sure it must have happened by the prior owner. I submitted a post a couple of weeks ago, asking what recourse I had against the dealer I purchased the car from since it was a CPO. Thanks for all your advice, but now I have discovered the damage had to of happened since I owned the car. Here goes.

My brother jacked up my car this weekend to take a look at the damage I was referring to, and much to our disappointment it appears worse than thought. Also, because there was damage on the bottom of the front M-Tech bumper that I had installed this spring, the damage had to of happened since then. The problem is I don't know who did it, other than I know it wasn't me. The car has only been without me at the local tire shop and the BMW dealership. It had to of happened at one of these places, but how will I ever know, or how will I ever prove it.

The local tire shop installed new tires on my new 166 wheels in February, before the M-Tech bumper was installed. I have only had the car back there once, because I thought a wheel was out of alignment because it was shaking (now I assume the shaking was from this damage). They said it was just fine but rebalanced it just to be safe. The car has been at the local BMW dealership 6/4/09, 7/22/09, 8/7/09 and 11/11/09. The first service was for an oil change and brake fluid was flushed. The second service was for a problem with my bluetooth and comfort access FOB. The third service was for the bluetooth again, and they kept the car overnight. The last service was because the Steering Malfunction warning light kept coming on for over a month. This is when the damage was discovered. I am narrowing it down to the 8/7 visit to the BMW dealership, but do not know how I can prove this.

Here's photos of the damage. You can see in the bumper damage that there are several long scratches that continue as gouges in the plastic shield (reinf plate?) under the engine. Then whatever caused the damage ripped the metal heat shield and plastic shield. It also really scrapped up the Clamp or housing on the stabilizer bar, and bent the stabilizer link.



Needless to say I am very bummed about this whole thing. Looking for advice on what to do next. Thanks!

turboawd

another reason to document the miles whenever you take a car in for service.

sucks, but what can you do now? it doesnt look like anything that will affect drivability.

AchtungE60

You already drove it off the lot so there's nothing you can do. What's done is done. Does the tire shop you took it to drive it onto hydralic ramps? You stated one of two places. 1) I find it hard to believe a BMW dealership would be that negligent. 2) BMW's use lifts that use the chassis supports and you cannot get this sort of damanage from those specific lifts. 3) From the pics It appears this is possible from a "ramp" lift. Some tire places have these. It will lift the car about 20-24 inches. What it looks like to me after examining your pics, is that it was driven up with the left hand side (drivers) wheel half-way up the ramp thus scraping your front bumper with the left side of the ramp as it approached the ramp and drove up. Then it looks like the car fell off the side of that ramp and scratched up the metal and so forth. it would cause exactly that type of damage. Nothing serious because you have the tire that supported the car....worse case the driver had to slowly back off the ramp and reapproach it. It's all theory of course.........nothing serious, just drive it like that. No need to spend $ because eventually you'll get hit or hit something and have to fix it anyway right? Just tally it all up in the end.

vwvwvw

It doesn't look that bad to me. It sucks, sure, but it's probably not worth pursuing.

v_therussian

I think you should let your insurance company sort out who did this and just concern yourself with making sure you find a reputable shop to have any necessary repairs done.

If you make a claim to your insurance company, they should pay for the damage under the comprehensive coverage - how/whether they recover the money back from anyone for this is not your concern - that's why you pay for insurance.

tooltec

I agree that this is the most likely scenario,but as others have said,it looks mostly cosmetic.I would use a different tyre shop next time.

turboawd

those tire ramps are bad news, but i dont know if that damage was caused by that.
i had a 97 m3 before, and went to discount tire. the ramp had pushed up the rear floor footwells. i guess the douche who lifted my car didnt put the proper lifting blocks.

AchtungE60

Good idea but we don't know what his deductible is or if he even has comprehensive.

AchtungE60

The tire ramps use the tires as supports. If a ramp pushed up your footwell then it wasnt a tire ramp but a chassis ramp like the dealers use but it wasn't centered on your chassis support blocks. BMWs have the nylon chassis support blocks and they should have been used and if they're missing at least one would know where to put the supports.

turboawd

ah yeah, chassis ramps. but you still have to put spacers between the support blocks and the lifting deck. the bottom of the car is not perfectly flat.