[The J-Man]

So I took my X5 into the dealership last week for an oil change and to address a few small warranty issues.

After they make me rent a Mini at my cost from Enterprise, I go on about my day.

A few hours later, I get a call from the service adviser saying that a tech took my car for a spin and hit some ice, running into a curb, and that they need to replace the front bumper. When I inquired how the bumper hit a curb, he stated that it was more of a "curb wall."

I took the Mini back and they gave me a base 328i loaner. They generously agreed to cover the cost of the Mini rental for the day.

They have had my car since the 9th and today they have informed me that bumper replacement is done, but they noticed that the front right fender is also damaged, and will need to be replaced. ETA is about 1 more week.

I am not sure how to handle it going forward - what would you guys do?

Can I trust they've repaired everything and are not cutting corners?

Should I pursue diminished value now that an accident is on record for the car?

Any ideas?

[shaheen@Z4MCbuyersguide]

Oh man. I hope you've got documentation of every claim they've made. How new is the X5? is it accident free until now? Did they sell it to you? If it were me I would have immediately refused to take the car back.
Why did they need to drive the off the lot car to check an oil change?
I'd say some sort of reparation is in order besides repair. Be it a waiving of a few monthly payments or a bonus for taking it as a trade in towards a new car.

When my X5 got classified as a Lemon BMW NA refunded every penny of the lease and offered $10K towards any new car. Just gotta work it.

[NemesisX]

Yeah I'd pretty much be furious. I would definitely pursue diminished value in this case. It's not enough to just fix the car. Your car will never be the same, and that fact warrants more than just fixing your car to the best of their ability.

[TrevorM3]

woah, first thing is.. get over to the dealer to see the damage for yourself.

how did they not notice the fender got damaged in the impact? something else went down imo..

this is another reason why NO dealer will EVER see my cars.

[The J-Man]

I own the car outright, so it's not like I can just give it back at end of lease and not care about the accident. I bought it private party, not from the dealership.

It was in for an oil change, and the front brakes grinding. Apparently they crashed it while testing the brakes.

It's a 2011 X5, about 28,000 miles on it.

I did see the damage for myself and got some pictures. They definitely hit something more than a curb. More like a wall.

What should I ask for with the diminished value? A few thousand? Do you think I'll need to take them to small claims court? Anybody have experience with this?

[Arben72]

If you own it outright and plan to keep it for a while ask for an extended warranty. Then if they say no to that ask for diminished value, if they give you any trouble go to court.

[shaheen@Z4MCbuyersguide]

Diminished value I'd say $4000 or a larger amount towards a replacement.

[P1]

I understand things happen and I'm sure the service tech did not crash your X5 on purpose. You stated you went and saw the X5 yourself and took pictures. That's good. The dealership is well insured, and of course they are going to fix it with OEM parts and a BMW-approved body shop. If you want, you can always take it into your own body shop and have them just do a sanity check for you just to make sure nothing was missed.

Now that your car will be fixed back to what it was like previously, you'll have a vehicle that's been in a wreck before. So the value of the vehicle is LESS than what it was before. You can either have the dealership pay you that money in cash, or they can CPO it for you (if that's a value to you). Perhaps throw in a maintenance plan also? If you will keep it for a while, that might be interesting for you. A car can be CPO'd if it has had less than four panels repainted, so I think your car would quality without any issues.

If you have the pics, please post them.

[The J-Man]

Originally Posted by P1et

I understand things happen and I'm sure the service tech did not crash your X5 on purpose. You stated you went and saw the X5 yourself and took pictures. That's good. The dealership is well insured, and of course they are going to fix it with OEM parts and a BMW-approved body shop. If you want, you can always take it into your own body shop and have them just do a sanity check for you just to make sure nothing was missed.

Now that your car will be fixed back to what it was like previously, you'll have a vehicle that's been in a wreck before. So the value of the vehicle is LESS than what it was before. You can either have the dealership pay you that money in cash, or they can CPO it for you (if that's a value to you). Perhaps throw in a maintenance plan also? If you will keep it for a while, that might be interesting for you. A car can be CPO'd if it has had less than four panels repainted, so I think your car would quality without any issues.

If you have the pics, please post them.

Thanks for the input - I'll post some pics tomorrow. The CPO is a good idea - who knows what will go wrong with the car after a jarring impact like that shaking things up.

Any idea what a fair amount for diminished value would be if they won't go CPO. I see somebody suggested $4K. Fair or too high?

[P1]

Originally Posted by The J-Man

Thanks for the input - I'll post some pics tomorrow. The CPO is a good idea - who knows what will go wrong with the car after a jarring impact like that shaking things up.

Any idea what a fair amount for diminished value would be if they won't go CPO. I see somebody suggested $4K. Fair or too high?

I've read that dimished value can be as much as 30-33% after an accident. The dealership won't have to pay this: you will have to pursue this with the dealership's insurance company.

It will likely show up on the Carfax, mind you. If it doesn't, count yourself lucky.

[Rotorocious]

Originally Posted by P1et

I've read that dimished value can be as much as 30-33% after an accident. The dealership won't have to pay this: you will have to pursue this with the dealership's insurance company.

It will likely show up on the Carfax, mind you. If it doesn't, count yourself lucky.

Be prepared to prove your case for diminished value. I had to submit all kinds of comparisons

[HTran]

Originally Posted by Rotorocious

Be prepared to prove your case for diminished value. I had to submit all kinds of comparisons

What kind of documents did you need and where did you acquire those comparisons?

[Patrick303]

OP I see you're in Denver. Which dealership are you speaking of??

[Rotorocious]

Originally Posted by HTran

What kind of documents did you need and where did you acquire those comparisons?

Basically price comparisons of similar cars with similar mileage. Online ads etc.
It's pretty tough to prove and the insurance companies drag their feet big time.

[p1nk50ck]

depending on how bad the damage is, it may not devalue your car much at all. if no insurance claim was made, there's a slight chance that there is no record of the accident. a lot of cars don't have cosmetic accidents on record when insurance isn't involved.

in the grand scheme of things, it was an accident, nobody got hurt, and they'll be replacing your stuff with genuine BMW parts. chances are, it'll look better than when you brought it in.

you should try to have this on record, and i would probably sell the car back to them when you're done with it, and you should be able to get them to waive any diminished value from the accident that someone in their hands caused. there's no need to start a witchhunt over something like this. i feel like people are just waiting to capitalize on opportunities like this like they deserve some kind of cash compensation? that's ridiculous. karma's a bitch. if you wanna cash out on something petty like this, i would watch your back.

[The J-Man]

Originally Posted by p1nk50ck

depending on how bad the damage is, it may not devalue your car much at all. if no insurance claim was made, there's a slight chance that there is no record of the accident. a lot of cars don't have cosmetic accidents on record when insurance isn't involved.

in the grand scheme of things, it was an accident, nobody got hurt, and they'll be replacing your stuff with genuine BMW parts. chances are, it'll look better than when you brought it in.

you should try to have this on record, and i would probably sell the car back to them when you're done with it, and you should be able to get them to waive any diminished value from the accident that someone in their hands caused. there's no need to start a witchhunt over something like this. i feel like people are just waiting to capitalize on opportunities like this like they deserve some kind of cash compensation? that's ridiculous. karma's a bitch. if you wanna cash out on something petty like this, i would watch your back.

Are you suggesting that if I go to sell the car to a private party, that I should not disclose the repairs, as long as it doesn't show up on Carfax?

If I do disclose the repairs to a future buyer, would you expect that buyer to pay as much as a non-wrecked vehicle?

The steel bumper reinforcement attached the the chassis was bent. Is that impact not great enough to jolt things around such as drivetrain/suspension/electrical to where the vehicle could have random problems in the future that it otherwise wouldn't have had?

Do you think a paint job from a small town body shop can match the quality and longevity of the paint job coming out of a multi-billion dollar BMW factory?

I'm not trying to be argumentative, these are just the questions that I need to consider.

I think at this point, I am considering asking them to:
1.) CPO the car
2.) Buy it from me at a clean private party value. Not retail value or trade value. They could still put it on their lot at retail value and make some money on it.

[MediaArtist]

Wow. Late to this party but I would definitely get compensated for lost value, or not take the car back. I would not doubt that speed was definitely a factor in this accident. No way someone driving a few miles at a leisurely pace just randomly slams into a wall.

[Myrder]

Eeek this is a bad situation. Why did you wait so long to think about pursing CPO or diminished value after seeing the damage done to the car? I really think that the time that has passed is going to be the largest problem. You should have started singing this tune once you saw the car.

[The J-Man]

Originally Posted by Myrder

Eeek this is a bad situation. Why did you wait so long to think about pursing CPO or diminished value after seeing the damage done to the car? I really think that the time that has passed is going to be the largest problem. You should have started singing this tune once you saw the car.

Well, as time goes on, they keep calling me telling me they have found more parts to be replaced. At first it was just the bumper cover, then it was bumper cover and bumper reinforcement. Now they called me yesterday saying the fender is also damaged, and they'll need the car one more week.

[The J-Man]

Originally Posted by MediaArtist

Wow. Late to this party but I would definitely get compensated for lost value, or not take the car back. I would not doubt that speed was definitely a factor in this accident. No way someone driving a few miles at a leisurely pace just randomly slams into a wall.

Apparently the tech hit some ice and slid into a wall, or as they call it, a "wall curb." Either way, he was going too fast for road conditions.

[Myrder]

Originally Posted by The J-Man

Well, as time goes on, they keep calling me telling me they have found more parts to be replaced. At first it was just the bumper cover, then it was bumper cover and bumper reinforcement. Now they called me yesterday saying the fender is also damaged, and they'll need the car one more week.

Start dealing now then while they are still trying to "fix" it. As others have said, who knows if they are fixing everything correctly and not cutting corners. Clearly they did not do an accurate inspection of the vehicle on the first try to fix it, showing that they wanted to do the bare minimum.

[RandomHero]

If you didn't already purchase it, make them cover the cost of a full extended warranty/maintenance plan to cover the vehicle past the 4years/50k miles.