[vivcal]

Wish I had read this thread earlier, I'm at around 2.5k miles now. If I took it in for an alignment, would they refuse to do it under warranty?

[BMR.WRLD]

Originally Posted by vivcal

Wish I had read this thread earlier, I'm at around 2.5k miles now. If I took it in for an alignment, would they refuse to do it under warranty?

Possibly, but it's worth trying. I was way over break in and it wasn't my dealership, but the closest one. I had found a nice 20% or 30% off coupon online so I used that.

[EMZWEI]

Originally Posted by fanofbmwe46

Ugh yea shitty. I can def see them saying a tech would need to verify the issue first.

I was a service manager at various dealerships for years and for warranty submitting to the manufacturer to get them reimbursed for any warranty work there needs to be 3 “C’s”: A “Customer complaint” a “Cause of the customers complaint” (diagnosis) and a “Correction of customers complaint” (repair).

If you show up to the dealership saying that you “want an alignment” without presenting any complaint their hands are tied, they can’t get paid from BMW for doing the alignment.

With that said, the dealer can make up a story on the work order saying “Customer complains that the car pulls to the right” and then the Tech can make up a story saying “Test drove the car and verified the customer’s complaint” but this at a granular level is committing fraud and could get the dealership in trouble with the manufacturer.

This is why you’ll get pushback from the dealer if you just show up and say an alignment is supposed to be warranty, I want an alignment!

[fanofbmwe46]

Originally Posted by EMZWEI

I was a service manager at various dealerships for years and for warranty submitting to the manufacturer to get them reimbursed for any warranty work there needs to be 3 “C’s”: A “Customer complaint” a “Cause of the customers complaint” (diagnosis) and a “Correction of customers complaint” (repair).

If you show up to the dealership saying that you “want an alignment” without presenting any complaint their hands are tied, they can’t get paid from BMW for doing the alignment.

With that said, the dealer can make up a story on the work order saying “Customer complains that the car pulls to the right” and then the Tech can make up a story saying “Test drove the car and verified the customer’s complaint” but this at a granular level is committing fraud and could get the dealership in trouble with the manufacturer.

This is why you’ll get pushback from the dealer if you just show up and say an alignment is supposed to be warranty, I want an alignment!

This all makes sense. I recall some dealers I’ve been to in the past for other brands have some device that when you drive in they tell you if you are out of alignment with some sort of underbody scan. A way to try to sell alignments I guess but I wonder if any BMW dealers have this and can diagnose a problem upon arrival without it being stated by the customer.

[fzr100098]

Originally Posted by vivcal

Wish I had read this thread earlier, I'm at around 2.5k miles now. If I took it in for an alignment, would they refuse to do it under warranty?

2k miles is the limit - even at 1200 miles I had to talk them into doing it. Unless you have a reason to believe it's out they won't do it (at my dealer)

[BgsDks]

Originally Posted by fzr100098

2k miles is the limit - even at 1200 miles I had to talk them into doing it. Unless you have a reason to believe it's out they won't do it (at my dealer)

I kind of had a similar experience - my steering wheel seems slightly off (which is not necessarily an alignment problem - but I wanted it checked anyways). At first the SA wanted me to pay, but she seemed clueless, and I told it would be checked under warranty because this was the 1200 mile service and I complained about the car "pulling". It was in spec, but I would demand it at the 1200 mile service even if you need to tell a little white lie considering the reports of some cars being out of spec from the factory.

[SpaceGhost]

My wheel is about 5 to 10 degrees off to the left. When i put the big red stripe at TDC of the wheel, my car veers to the right. I plan to get over to the dealer for this to be addressed. Hopefully an alignment and a steering wheel adjustment will fix it. Hoping my dealer doesn’t push back on the work....we will see