some advice needed - crazy story

[user 2625]

Hey all,

My coworker's i3 has got a pretty crazy story, and I'm looking for some advice for him. I'm keeping details vague here so I don't escalate the situation. Please don't take any action, just give advice

He leased an i3rex in May or June. 2 year, single-payment lease. In July he was at a stoplight and a large construction truck rear-ended him slowly but with a ton of mass, and it had a fun metal hitch of some kind on the front. It hit right on the license plate on the left side, punching it straight in like a classic superhero punch. Quite deep. Right through the bumper to all the goodies behind it.

He took it to the local german/bmw-specific body shop, which happens to be owned by the local bmw dealer, and is where they have all the dealer body work done, which is why he went there. Turns out due to the range extender and battery location, tons of work had to be done. As I've seen a few other stories here, it took forever as his was the first i3 in the states to need this particular work done, and they had to move the car back and forth from the body shop to the dealer to get work done on the extender vs the body, replace cf sections, have specialists trained that could do the work, etc.

So the i3 was out of commission for a full 3 months. $13k+ in repairs, which insurance obviously covered. He got it back about two weeks ago.

Flash forward to last weekend, with his wife in the passenger seat and parents in the back seat, the range extender switches on for the first time since the repairs. A bit later a car next to them starts honking and gesturing wildly. They roll down the windows, and the person in the next car screams "Your car is on fire!!". They pull over and sure enough, flames and smoke pouring out the back, including flames 1-2' high. 911, fire department and police came to put it out, and the car towed back to the body shop.

The body shop called him Monday afternoon to say his car is fixed in less than a day, and that someone had left a tool inside the exhaust system of the rex, and pointed the finger at the dealer (again, same company). At this point my coworker was disinclined to trust the shop, and called BMWNA and reported it all. BMWNA called the shop, and then the shop GM called them and said their car only had smoke damage and there was no evidence of fire, anyone could have put a tool there even since it was picked up, it was just the tool handle that was on burning, and if they don't pick up their car it will be left in front of the shop Friday.

So he's had the car like 5 months, 3 of which it was out of commission and now it's been on fire with his parents in it, so he's not got a ton of interest in keeping the car at this point.

What in the world should he do or ask for to resolve this? He's not looking for anything unreasonable, at least from my perspective. Should he get his insurance company involved again? Lawyer?

I suggested he just ask for something reasonable, like to be refunded the 5 months of his lease so far and allowed to walk away, or have the car replaced with a new i3rex with some modest compensation applied to a fresh lease. But the GM of the body shop went full aggro on them already and is threatening to leave the car out on city streets, apparently because they complained to BMWNA.

Keep in mind this is supposed to be the good, respected, a bit more expensive body shop.

I'm at a loss. I figured BMWNA would sort of jump in to make things right but they haven't done so (yet). But this is just a couple days old.

 

[janner]

Don't give up the day job.

 

[psquare]

The small minority of i3 grim reapers on this forum could have a field day here...

 

[PluviaPlumbum]

Reminds me of the time I followed a little old lady ... oh never mind

 

[SSi3]

Have him look into the lemon laws in his state, but it doesn't seem like a lemon... keep it and live with it or sell it at a loss.

 

[WoodlandHills]

Of course BMW is a premium car company: just look how well they care for their customers when there are problems. Any company can look OK when all is going well, but only the truly top-line operations go the extra mile to make things right. Excellent customer service is a lot more than just making a competent repair in a timely manner, it is also treating the customer with dignity and respect. BMW seems to continuely demonstrate the strength of their commitment in this area as often reported here......

 

[PhilH]

It seems to me that this is nothing to do with BMWNA in any way - it's the repairers that are at fault, and I assume that in NA they have no business relationship except as dealing in the same product.

Still - I wouldn't like to deny you an opportunity to demonstrate that huge chip on your shoulder one more time.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Dealers are (at least in the USA) independent businesses that buy product from BMW. This situation is between the owner and the dealership and repair shop that did the work. Lemon laws would not seem to apply, since the problem originated with an accident, not a fault of the vehicle. The tool in the tailpipe is just plain sloppy. If there were any resulting damages that weren't resolved at no cost to the owner, I think he'd have a good case for small claims court.

 

[bay1974]

Wow, a tool left inside the car!!!!! I am surprised that something like that would happen from BMW. That sounds very scary. A fire is dangerous.

 

[WoodlandHills]

Dealers are indeed independent business, they are also the public face of BMW. If BMW have no control over or do not care about the way their public representatives treat their customers then whose fault is that: the customer? Other brands seem to have the service experience well in hand as per posts here from others with experience in many makes, if they can do this why cannot BMW? Why is it the norm not to have sufficient parts stocked in the USA after over a year of domestic sales? Why do all warranty claims still have to get BMWNA approval, even routine ones? It is like they don't care about the ownership experience at all at a corporate level.....

 

[spinball]

This story has exactly zero to do with BMWNA. Rather crazy story though!