BMW 1-series - Returned car to dealership due to issues - advice

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Tue 9 Dec 2014 10:10
BMW 1-series - Returned car to dealership due to issues - advice - mrc300

Hello all,

I have never been in this situation before after purchasing a new car, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Apologies that it is a fairly long read to fit in all the detail.

At the beginning of October I purchased an E87 130i M Sport from a reputable BMW specialist.
6 weeks later I experienced the following problems:

I Drive malfunction (Professional Nav)

The I Drive Screen crashed one morning during my commute to work, rebooted itself and now
the I drive now does one of two things:

1. Boots up and functionality is okay, but has zero sound output.

2. Boots up with accompanying SOS symbol/phone warning illuminated on the Instrument cluster and therefore zero functionality. Cannot select or navigate to anything from the I Drive menu.

Fuel Leak – OSR Wheel arch area

Strong odour of petrol inside the car after filling the fuel tank, and after refueling to maximum (one click)there's a substantial leak from the OSR wheel arch, accumulating and dripping from the RH Rear jacking point area, further contaminating evident along the length of the RH Sill Panel. Clearly quite a dangerous issue.

Auto lights and dimming mirror

Lights are always ON and mirrors always DARK. My interpretation was that the headlining was removed to rectify the roof dents prior to my collection of the vehicle; therefore the roof mounted module will have been disturbed.


I emailed the dealership expressing my disappointment that these issues have occurred six weeks into ownership and requested that they were looked at. They took my car in on 25th Nov and provided me with a courtesy vehicle FOC.

The dealer then proceeded to arrange for one of their partners more proficient in electrical problems to conduct the investigation.

Investigation results

- The fuel leak (replacement of a fuel pipe with updated part) has been rectified FOC, they stated: ‘the fuel line has failed during your ownership but as a consequence of wearing over the previous years, as a consequence we accept that we are legally bound to fix this and this is what we are doing in line with the Sales of Goods act’

- The Idrive fault however has been diagnosed as a faulty Idrive CCC, which I believe is massively expensive (Circa £650 for the part +coding), they state they are not legally obliged to repair this FOC. This is due to ‘the second clause of our Terms and Conditions listed on our Sales Invoice, which states “I understand that the Seller of this vehicle takes no responsibility for the working order of any security devices or audio equipment which includes items such as alarms, immobilisers or ‘red keys’ etc. “

They are willing to provide a £300 good will gesture.

My question is due to the clause in the terms of conditions of the sale is the dealer exempt from SOGA on this part failure?

The whole process is stressing me out L, I do not have a legal background. It feels like David vs Goliath.


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Tue 9 Dec 2014 11:58
BMW 1-series - Returned car to dealership due to issues - advice - RobJP

Unfortunately, you've missed out the most important bits of information. What age is the car, and how much you paid for it.

Those will hugely affect what your 'reasonable expectations' are. After all, it's a second(or more) hand car, and you can't expect it to be as good as a brand new car. If you've paid £4k for it, then your expectations should be quite low. If you've paid £12k, then it's a different matter.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure that the clause in their Ts+Cs would be thrown out by a court, if it went to that stage. It is manifestly unreasonable.

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Tue 9 Dec 2014 12:12
BMW 1-series - Returned car to dealership due to issues - advice - mrc300

Thanks for taking time to read my post.

The car is a 2006 model. Circa 57,000 miles when purchased and I paid £9200, all paid for on a debit card.

My stance so far has been regards to satisfactory quality: Clauses 48A to 48F inclusive of the Sale of Goods act in April 2003 which states that if goods go faulty within six months after purchase it is deemed they were faulty at the time of purchase.

But as mentioned previously they have dismissed this for this particular part failure due to the mentioned clause.

Edited by mrc300 on 09/12/2014 at 12:20

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Tue 9 Dec 2014 13:36
BMW 1-series - Returned car to dealership due to issues - advice - slkfanboy

Well I suspect six weeks of ownership before reporting these issue would hamper any claim these defect existedwhen purchased.

Further returning an 8 year ond £9,200 car due requiring a £300 fix does sound reasonable IMHO. I would suggest get someone else to repair the car.

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Tue 9 Dec 2014 13:48
BMW 1-series - Returned car to dealership due to issues - advice - mrc300

I appreciate every case is taken on an individual basis, but doesn't SOGA state 6 months?

I haven't had an official quote for the repair, but from my research it is likely to be £800+ job. I am in the process of receiving an offical figure.

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Tue 9 Dec 2014 15:46
BMW 1-series - Returned car to dealership due to issues - advice - RobJP

It's a common misconception that SOGA states 6 months : it doesn't. What it says is that good should last a reasonable period of time, and then gives an example of 6 months. Not definitive, in any way. If, for example you bought a banger of a car for £500, then expecting 6 months perfect motoring would not be 'reasonable'.

For the price paid, you've got decent 'reasonable' expectations, though. They've made an offer of partial payment, and you'd have to weigh that up as the percentage of the total costs, and whether the time/grief/possibility of getting more out of them is worth it.

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Tue 9 Dec 2014 19:51
BMW 1-series - Returned car to dealership due to issues - advice - Palcouk

Obtain a quote from a reputable company, once obtained write to the selling garage giving them th opertunity to undertake the repair at their cost, state that their T&C's are not in your opinion valid (send via recorded delivery)

If they do not respond or do not increase the offer use the small claims process

PS If you had paid by credit card you may have had more clout in any claim

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Tue 9 Dec 2014 19:57
BMW 1-series - Returned car to dealership due to issues - advice - RT
PS If you had paid by credit card you may have had more clout in any claim

That's correct - but also the reason why an increasing number of businesses won't accept a credit card, only debit cards.

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Wed 10 Dec 2014 09:11
BMW 1-series - Returned car to dealership due to issues - advice - pd

I suspect that if you took this to court you'd struggle to get better than the £300 they've already offered and possibly nothing.

It is nearly 9 years old and the fault doesn't appear to be fundamental to the operation of it as a car, i.e. getting from A to B.

As for the 6 month rule, you've already admitted it was working when you bought it.

Annoying I know but to a certain extent these sort of things are part and parcel of running an old BMW these days.

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