I just wanted to vent about my horrible experience at Vista BMW. Before I do I just want to give you a little background. In the last 4 years I have had a 645 and 2 M5s and I was planning on trading in my current M5 for the new 750 until the F10 M5 comes out, which I am thinking not to do anymore. I have brought my car in for some kind of service at least 3 times a year and have never had an issue getting a loaner car. I have also always filled out the surveys and given my service writer good surveys which I always think helps out. This morning my service adviser called in sick and I had to see another service writer which I thought was no big deal. My driver's side parking lamp was out and the molding around my windshield is popping up. I also wanted to do an alignment and replace two tires. (They charge $179 to align and $69 each tire to mount and balance and M5s do not have active steering). I have never really had a problem with Vista BMW and their service department because it is close to my home and I get a loaner car so I don't mind paying a premium for convenience(even though the service department did steal a bottle of cologne one time) and instead of getting better deals from other dealers across the country or even in other counties I preferred to always by my cars and Vista BMW because I was assuming I would get better service and a loaner car every time. This year I guess Vista BMW changed their policy and I found out rudely this morning. I do the normal routine and walk over to the loaner desk and the lady tells me because my name is on the insurance policy itself they can not loan me a car. I asked her to call state farm and verify that I am a driver. She said she will not call anyone and I need to fax over a copy verifying I am on the insurance policy. I called state farm and they said they can speak to anyone and verify I am a driver on this policy, but anything they fax over will say that my parents are the ones insured. I asked to speak to manager of the loaner car department and she stated the same thing and I kindly asked her if she had a minute could she just call state farm and verify and she said no that is my job. I asked her what her job title was and she said "to make my life more difficult. and I have three options, take my car that needs service and go home, take a shuttle or walk across the street and rent a car." Needless to say if I do buy a BMW again(hopefully not) I will not buy a new car from a local dealer and pay a premium. I will find whatever the best deal is to my door. I love BMW cars and think for a driver they are superior to any other car, but I really don't like their service department. I guess you get what you pay for. Sorry for complaining so long and thank you to anyone that read this post.

 

That sucks.....what a bitch.

 

not sure how companies can remain successful when there front line people are so rude. i know alot of the dealers have changed their policy on loaners, but there is no reason to be so rude. Is the loaner department a separate entity from vista (enterprise rental car.) if so could you complain to vista themselves just to let them know that they are discourage you from doing business there in the future.

 

thats pretty shitty service... try threatening to take your car elsewhere next time... it might work

 

Vista sucks... I'm actually surprised they still have a franchise. I had the most miserable car buying experience ever when I bought a CPO '03 530 w/15K miles from Vista several years ago. They rubber-stamped my car thru the CPO process (if they even did that much), and completely disregarded BMW's CPO Standards. I traveled from several states away to buy this car... they were 6 hrs late delivering it, so I had to stand around the dealership all day waiting. By the time they let me look at it, I was in such a hurry that I took it around the block, came back, signed the papers and bolted to begin my long ride back. Once I got up to cruising speed, I noticed a vibration from a rear wheel. Then I noticed the passenger headrest was fully extended, and when I tried to lower it, it would not go down, and when I tried to lower it, I noticed that the seat trim around the headrest button was broken and falling off. When I got to my hotel that night, I noticed the lower half of the bumpers were repainted with flat paint! The list goes on. Long story short, when I got home I called them and they blew me off totally. I contacted the owner who blew me off too. I then contacted an ombudsman of the BMW CCA. They went to work and got to the Exec VP at BMW NA in charge of the CPO program who called me and took down all of the details, and told me to take the car to my local dealer for an inspection. The inspection yielded everything I found and more. They came up with an estimate of over $3500 to put the car right. BMW NA underwrote the cost to re-certify my car, and billed Vista back. My dealer replaced a wheel, a tire, fixed the headrest and trim, removed both bumpers and re-shot them in a paint booth (vs the mobile ex-crack addict paint job behind the garage that Vista did...) changed the oil (nope, Vista didn't do that either...) and a few other things too. I told the VP that I felt Vista's franchise should be yanked. Apparently NA didn't. Too bad because dealers like them really tarnish BMW's image. In the end, my car came out of my local dealer in awesome shape.

Fast forward to 10 days ago... I traded the old 530 at my local dealer for a '07 CPO 530XI with 8K miles. They delivered the '07 in equally awesome shape, and I could not be happier.

I feel for you having to deal with Vista. If it were me, I'd find another dealer cuz these guys are bottom of the barrel.

 

i would call bmw of NA and write on every single forum and bash them. i hate stealers and i hate bitches.

 

Thanks for all the comments guys... The Service manager called me and supposedly put a note in the computer to let me get loaner anytime I needed as long as my last name was on the insurance card... Cheers... Thanks for all the comments...

 

come on guys, grow up.

it was handled wrong. sure. but WTF?

if that was YOUR business, and some dude (I assume you are young), shows up and his name is not on the insurance policy because he is NOT on the insurance policy, they loan him the car, and the car gets totalled for whatever reason, and their insurance and the dude's supposed insurance refuses to cover it because technically, it is an unauthorized driver, then there is an issue.

Obviously, that happened to them, and they changed their rules to protect themselves. Of course it was handled wrong, but that person is probably got a GED, and does really care about their image.

I am often amazed and saddened by how 'ignorant' about business, liability and the facts of life some people are. VISTA has actually been very good to me; in fact, VISTA is not just VISTA but a conglomerate consisting of two VISTA dealerships and South BMW of Florida. They need to protect their asses, and I don't blame them.

You wouldn't blame them either if you were in their shoes.

 

The dealer's rules (since loaners are actually short-term rental agreements) must be consistent with your state's insurance rules. You must meet the loaners insurance company regs by providing proof of coverage. Have you personally ever rented a car at AVIS or HERTZ? If your parents rented a car, did not include you on the list of drivers and there was an accident - it's a BIG OPPS!! OH - by the way .. car rental companies have age limits (won't rent to someone under 23 or 25 I think). Are you in that age category?

Maybe no one asked you for proof of insurance prior to this visit ... I'll bet someone slipped up and it cost somebody some $$$$$ ! Now that they are sticking by the rules it was an inconvenience to you.

That said, sounds like they could have been better at how they handle (or manhandle) a BMW customer.

 

Sometimes I ask younger folks to give dealers the benefit of the doubt. Because sometimes us slightly older folks have a hard time giving young people the respect they may deserve. However if you have had a 645 and two M5's from these people I assume you aren't 16 and they have seen you before and know you well. I also assume that you are not an ass to these people.

That is well over a quarter million dollars in cars/business. I would have mentioned that they are in severe danger of taking that incredible amount of business elsewhere. Their job is to solve the problem and get you in a loaner, period.

Unless they apologize I would complain to BMW NA. If you give them 5's again (doubt they will survey you this time) your nuts.