Kingsbridge Autos 2 Posted April 10, 2016 Evening Chaps, Sold a 61 plate X5 40d to a customer about 3 months ago with about 47k on it. declined my warranty offer on it. Customer sends me a full 'legal' email stating power steering leak diagnosed by bmw and wants me to pay for it to be replaced. I ask him to take it to my garage who diagnose a rear main oil seal leak adjacent to the bell housing a cheap part but very labour intensive to get to and involves dropping the gear box etc. My garage dont want the job as its too big, been quoted nearly 800-1k to do and customer saying he expects me to pick up the bill in full as it was present when he bought it. I did not notice this and neither did he before as its a very minor bit of oil dripping from the seal so could of been there and take a while to appear or may not have there at all on purchase. what do you advise should i just cough up or argue the toss and agree to pay half or refuse to pay saying its a wear and tear item? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steve92 80 Posted April 10, 2016 I'd clean it up and send it back to them, given BMW said it was power steering and it's something completely different. How did they find out about it ? Has it been to BMW for a service lately ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kingsbridge Autos 2 Posted April 11, 2016 The new owner noticed drips of oil on his driveway and took it to BMW to see what was wrong. Service history is all BMW and last one was in last 6 months. With the consumer rights act now everyone seems to become a lawyer when something goes wrong on their cars! however this isn't affecting its driveability its very minor and I just feel there should at least be a shared responsibility with the customer! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rory RSC 596 Posted April 11, 2016 What warranty did you offer on the car ? how many miles has he done since purchase? Its always the ones that don't extend the warranty that make thebiggest song and dance about it when something goes wrong. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gavin@Rousdon 137 Posted April 11, 2016 May sound harsh but a BMW X5 40d must be £25k worth of car. Would anyone on here be happy if their £25k investment was leaking oil after a couple of months?? My advise would be get it sorted and send the customer away happy. I'm guessing maybe it's an 10 hour job, if you have a workshop it's a few days work if not I'm guess you will be paying a trade rate. No one likes a £600 bill on a car that is sold but if it gets to court expect a far larger bill then that. Keep the customer onside and he may chip in a bit. We all sell cars in the attempt to make money but we do have a legal obligation to our customers too, it's what sets us aside from the cowboys who give the trade a bad name. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
It's me 615 Posted April 11, 2016 27 minutes ago, Gavin@Rousdon said: May sound harsh but a BMW X5 40d must be £25k worth of car. Would anyone on here be happy if their £25k investment was leaking oil after a couple of months?? My advise would be get it sorted and send the customer away happy. I'm guessing maybe it's an 10 hour job, if you have a workshop it's a few days work if not I'm guess you will be paying a trade rate. No one likes a £600 bill on a car that is sold but if it gets to court expect a far larger bill then that. Keep the customer onside and he may chip in a bit. We all sell cars in the attempt to make money but we do have a legal obligation to our customers too, it's what sets us aside from the cowboys who give the trade a bad name. i agree at the end of the day selling something like this you really need to be making plenty so if it does come back you have the contingency me i would have stashed a grand away but then this is why i dont do big lumps like these Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bestprice4cash 20 Posted April 11, 2016 (edited) 2 hours ago, Gavin@Rousdon said: May sound harsh but a BMW X5 40d must be £25k worth of car. Would anyone on here be happy if their £25k investment was leaking oil after a couple of months?? My advise would be get it sorted and send the customer away happy. I'm guessing maybe it's an 10 hour job, if you have a workshop it's a few days work if not I'm guess you will be paying a trade rate. No one likes a £600 bill on a car that is sold but if it gets to court expect a far larger bill then that. Keep the customer onside and he may chip in a bit. We all sell cars in the attempt to make money but we do have a legal obligation to our customers too, it's what sets us aside from the cowboys who give the trade a bad name. It is painful but I agree this is the best option. This is not a £1500 clearance car is it? The full legal email would get my back up. Probably the reason he never paid to extend the warranty is because he 'knows his rights'. But what can you do. 3 months is not a lot unless he has done huge miles. Edited April 11, 2016 by bestprice4cash Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steve92 80 Posted April 11, 2016 if it's dripping on a driveway then I guess it's a bit more than a drip, I guess you need to minimise the cost and get it in and out quickly before the customer demands a like for like car ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom 164 Posted April 11, 2016 I wouldn't be asking this question but fixing my clients high end BMW! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rory RSC 596 Posted April 12, 2016 How many miles has he done ? If the customer has done huge mileage then I wouldn't not necessarily cover it. Is it 3 months, is it less, is it more ? Do you offer aftermarket warranty or just your own in house ? We do have legal obligations and we should look after customers completely agree but there is also some fairness required for the dealer and if this chap has done 10k in it I don't see why the supplying dealer should necessarily pay. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gavin@Rousdon 137 Posted April 12, 2016 Clearly if the customer has done 10k miles you wouldn't be (as) liable, I base my warranty on 1000 miles per month, so 3 months or 3000 miles. Common sense has to be used !!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
It's me 615 Posted April 12, 2016 car had 47,ooo at pos so even if buyer had done 10,000 i wouldnt want to go legal in such a short time base Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kingsbridge Autos 2 Posted April 12, 2016 Thanks for all the comments, I will of course pay for it and my priority is keeping my customer happy with our service. Bear in mind this is not a regular dripping of oil but a very slow odd drip from a worn metal seal. My question was more interested to hear others advice on how much to pay taking everything into account. In hindsight perhaps difficult to call without knowing all the details from start to finish. Also interested to hear point of view from the new Consumer rights act as it seems to pretty much put responsibility for anything at all on the dealer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wood235 36 Posted April 13, 2016 (edited) This is one reason why we get them all up on the ramp and service and check them over. can you not ask to have it back to inspect it for a day, get some additive engine stop leak, put it in, you will need to let it tick over for possibly a few hours to make it work. i had a Nissan terrano as my own car that was dripping underneath, put the additive in, ran it up for possibly 3 hrs, kept cleaning it off with brake cleaner to check it and it went bone dry for the next 2 yrs I owned it. it can't be a metal seal and must have rubber which will swell when in contact with the chemical. has worked a few times for us. just a suggestion that help. Edited April 13, 2016 by Wood235 Added info 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
