Help Car woes

[old.user4556]

I'm in the middle of changing cars from a private "personal contract" to a company car. I currently have use of a pool car until my new car is delivered in mid-August.

My BMW Z4 can be handed back to the finance company sometime in June which suits me as I won't need to MOT it (due end of July), insurance it, tax it or put it through a rather large and pricey service. The Z4 sits out on the parking area and I take it out for a quick spin once a week to make sure it's ok and the brakes get warmed up and the rust off them.

It's about 2 months until I hand it back, and I went out today and decided I'd put the roof down as it was nice and sunny. The roof didn't go down . After checking the obvious (fuses, obstructions etc.), it appears that it's a pretty common problem on the Z4 that has been detailed in a BMW service bulletin (ill draining water fecking the roof motor). There is a good guide here on doing it yourself:

Z4-forum.com • View topic - How to Remove your Soft Top.....56k Beware

Z4-forum.com • View topic - How to Remove and Replace your Soft Top Motor..56k Beware

The motor itself is £250 plus vitting and vat, the total bill from BMW can be aroung £700 (!) and I really don't want to have to pay that if i'm giving the car back in a couple of months.

Under the "fair wear and tear", what are the chances of handing it back and saying "it's been like this for a while?" and getting away with it? The car has been serviced properly and at the right intervals by a main BMW dealer, so I have taken particularly good care of the car. Has anyone handed a car back to the finance company with bits not working fully? From what I've read on the web about fair wear and tear, recharges are made if there is actual damage to the car out of negligence (torn seats, scratched paintwork, badly kerbed alloys, nasty dents, cracked glass, accident damage etc.), but the failure of part of the electrics (in this case, the roof motor) doesn't seem to be mentioned.

Any musings or advice welcome.

 

[Ch3tan]

I'd say risk handing it back, and not mentioning it. If they do say something then wait a while and come back with to them with the BMW service bulletin - if it's a known issue then it's not down to negligence on your part.

 

[old.user4556]

Yeah that's what I'm thinking; I've not neglected to keep up the maintenance on it, it's a failure of a part which has been recognised by BMW.

Service bulletin:

http://tech.bentleypublishers.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/56-29644-288775-4559/540303g.pdf

 

[old.user4556]

Tom / Gaff / Gumbo / Bodhi?

 

[Tom]

Drop it back, I very much doubt they'll test the roof when you return it.

If they get back to you saying "this roof is knackered, pay up", your response would be "it worked when I returned it, you must have broke it. Prove otherwise or fuckoff tbh."

 

[old.user4556]

Guess you're right Tom; what more can I do, I won't pay of my own back, I just hope they don't test it all before they take it back and simply check the inside and outside for straight forward wear and tear.

 

[Scouse]

Take it back on a rainy day

 

[old.user4556]

Fucking genius Scouse, why didn't I think of that .

 

[throdgrain]

And you're in Scotland, so any day will do

 

[Ctuchik]

Take it back on a rainy day

They just roll it inside and try there.

Or at least they should be.

 

[old.user4556]

They will come and collect it from my property. As long as it meets fair-use wear and tear and the paperwork / servicing is up to date, then it shouldn't be a problem.

The argument will be around the failure of the motor in the hood mechanism as a wear and tear item (if they even inspect it) and the 'neglegance' on my part, particularly since it's been identified as a sub-standard part. Remember, they evaulate it based on the car's age, mileage and the fact I bought it second hand / year old from a dealer. They can't possible expect it to be in showroom condition.

In my experience of handing a car back to the finance people, they take a walk around the car checking the obvious on the paint work, check the interior for any obvious damage, check the service book and that's about it. It goes to a car auction anyway.

 

[DaGaffer]

I ended up having a massive row with Audi when I handed the S3 back. They tried to bill me for absolutely every tiny thing. "Wear & Tear?" You've got to be joking. They flagged every single tiny scratch and scuff. The way it works is the car gets inspected, they present you with an inventory and you've got 48 hours to dispute it (which I did). Fortunately for me, they tried to screw me for a repair "that was to an inadequate standard". As it happened, the repair had been done at an official Audi dealer and cost me about 800 quid. So when Audi sent me a bill for £1100 excess I fortunately had all the paperwork and told them to gtf. We ended up settling on £250.

So, basically, don't expect BMW to be any better.

 

[old.user4556]

Oh well. To be fair, they were fine when I handed back my 1 series which had a nasty chunk out of the alloy where I hit a kerb sideways and a scuff down to the plastic on my bumper (about 5cm long and .5cm wide).

What were the terms of your lease Gaff? Was it a personal lease or a company car lease? Did you own the car from brand new?

I suppose BMW may have been more lenient with me on the 1 series as it was already a second hand car with the odd minor mark; the Z4 was the same (one year old, 6000 miles with a scuff on the leather seats).

Edit: I'm also the fourth owner .

 

[DaGaffer]

Personal lease owned from new. It may just be that VW finance are a hard-nosed shower of cnuts, but I wouldn't rely on it. It was kind of stupid of them because it soured my attitude towards their products tbh.

 

[Tom]

I suspect most people would find, if they were insistent enough, that most of the "charges" for "repairs" were simply pocketed, and the vehicles auctioned as is—as is the case with hire cars.

 

[old.user4556]

I agree Tom, I think it's a bit of a scam personally. Sounds like they may have had you by the balls Gaff; if it's a car you've owned since new then they can (and did...) change their arm in getting you to cough up for every little thing.

 

[DaGaffer]

I suspect most people would find, if they were insistent enough, that most of the "charges" for "repairs" were simply pocketed, and the vehicles auctioned as is—as is the case with hire cars.

They don't make a secret of it. Its purely treated as a wear and tear excess. The inspector even told where it would be going to auction.

I agree Tom, I think it's a bit of a scam personally. Sounds like they may have had you by the balls Gaff; if it's a car you've owned since new then they can (and did...) change their arm in getting you to cough up for every little thing.

Totally. TBH I expected some charges, but was livid when it was so much, and if they hadn't foolishly included their own repair as "damage" we'd probably still be arguing about it now. They also annoyed me because their pickup process fucked up; I'd flown over from Ireland to meet them for the pickup (the car was at my UK flat), and the inspector turned up, but amazingly the stupid haulier didn't (and called me at 5PM to say he wasn't going to make it - I had a flight back to Dublin at 7). It then took them 10 days to sort out the pickup. It was only because I was fortunate enough to have off street parking and my brother lives nearby that this was even possible, and during that time the car was out of MOT and uninsured (which if anything had have happened would have ended up being a massive dispute I'm sure, even though I flagged it as soon as the pick up didn't happen).

 

[old.user4556]

Well that's the bloke come and gone to pick it up, I felt some sadness because it's scorching hot today and I had spent hours of washing, clay barring and polishing to get it mint. I also bit the bullet and got all four alloys refurbished, and without a word of a lie, you could have rolled it straight into an approved-used dealer show room as it was immaculate.

The best bit? He never checked the roof! He spent about 10 minutes checking the paperwork and the condition of the body work then simply said "ok that's it" and I signed off on it. Anything from that point on is no longer my responsibility.

I'll wait until I get a letter from BMW confirming no further obligations to them before I draw a line under it. It's now off to Leeds and straight to a car auction.

 

[Ormorof]

what company car are you getting? (or did i miss that bit? )

 

[Tom]

A 3-cylinder VW Polo

 

[old.user4556]

what company car are you getting? (or did i miss that bit? )

It was going to be an Audi A3, but went for an almost fully loaded Golf GT tdi.

 

[Tom]

Get ready for 1,500 rpm of power, and 3,500 rpm of .....wait for it........wait.......waiittt......

 

[old.user4556]

That's exactly what I need.

 

[Tom]

Whereas I have 4 litres of lovely V8ness to rocket me toward the horizon, and no lag

 

[old.user4556]

You mean George Takei's car from the 1980's in classic Jap old-man gold?

 

[Tom]

Mr Sulu never had clouds of soot coming from the Enterprise's exhaust

 

[GimmlyThe3rd]

Dunno about BMW's, but I've seen a soft top being fixed before similar to that and fuck that royally. Wouldn't attempt it my self and wouldn't be cheap at £25+ an hour (a lot more at a dealers)

You might also get some useless idiot (more often than not) on the day that won't check.

 

[old.user4556]

Mr Sulu never had clouds of soot coming from the Enterprise's exhaust

You're right, only another man's jizz.

 

[old.user4556]

Besides, something for the weekend?

Jensen : MK1 Jensen Interceptor.

Racing Green Cars : TVR Chimaera 4.0L V8

Vauxhall : VX220 2.2 n/a

BMW : BMWZ3M ROADSTER 40586Miles

Or this for less than £6k?!

Honda : Mot till March 2012, Full service history, New rear discs and pads.

 

[Raven]

Racing Green Cars : TVR Chimaera 4.0L V8

I used to live about 100 metres from there and walk past every day on my way to work, they had some stunning cars there from time to time.