Sagar P.
Yelp
I went in 3 weeks ago to purchase a 2016 BMW M4. Sabrine and Omar were the two associates I dealt with. They were kind in the beginning and itching to make the sale. Omar ran some numbers and gave me an estimate. The next day, to my surprise, they added a $2900+ "pre-delivery inspection fee" out of nowhere to the total cost of the car. This charge was for an inspection that they do on every car.
Before finalizing the paperwork, I asked them to remove some bumper stickers and a hood sticker that was on the car. They said they can have their detail shop do it but then said that I would have to try to remove them myself or have a detail shop do it. Taking delivery of the car without having the stickers removed was a mistake. The stickers that were put on this car were so cheap that it was impossible to get them off as they would just break into small pieces when you tried to take them off. I brought the car to three well-known detail shops and no one was able to take them off easily. I had to buy this tool called a 3m rubber eraser, attach it to a drill, risk messing up my clean coat, just to get these stupid stickers off. The shops tried using a heat gun, steamer, goo gone, but nothing would work.
After paying almost $6k+ over MSRP due to the car "pre-delivery inspection fees" + the aftermarket warranty, I looked into the warranty further and decided that I wanted to cancel it because I was planning on modifying the car. Also, the warranty doesn't even include the majority of the additional parts that come on supercharged or turbocharged cars. DO NOT BUY THE WARRANTY IF YOU ARE GETTING A CAR WITH A SUPERCHARGER OR TURBOCHARGER. It doesn't even cover a basic part such as an intercooler which my previous aftermarket warranty company ProGuard, did. I reached out to Sabrine a couple of days after purchasing the car to cancel the warranty and was told she would have to speak with Omar to cancel the warranty. Not hearing back from her, I followed up the next day and got a generic response. I followed up almost every day since then and she just kept giving me the run-around. The last time I spoke with her yesterday, she said the warranty was canceled which was untrue. I contacted the warranty company today to double-check and they said they have no records of any cancelations.
Today, I am sitting at their "Service Center'' which is Autopia in Union NJ. A couple of days ago, I received a check engine light on my "inspected" car, that STILL HAS TEMP TAGS! After reading the codes on the check engine light, I was directed by my mechanic to take a look at the coolant level of the top-mounted intercooler. To my surprise, the reservoir was empty. Since it's a closed-looped cooling system, there shouldn't ever be a need to add coolant to this reservoir. After going on a bunch of BMW forums, this seems to be a common issue with the S55 motor that was in my car. The coolant from the intercooler can leak into the engine, which can cause a possible hydrolock of the motor. I contacted Sabrine right away. She directed me to call someone on their cell phone, who happens to be the "Service Manager''. The Service Manager told me to bring it to the Autopia Service Center. This Service Center was almost an hour away from where I live and I had to take a half day at work because of this. The Service Manager is not here and could only be reached by phone. I told the mechanics (who have been super helpful and knowledgeable which was the only positive part about this whole experience) that I recently had a shop install cold air intake and downpipes before they started inspecting the coolant leak. It turns out, the intercooler is busted from the inside and needs to be replaced as suspected. Sabrine and the service manager refused to pay for the part and labor on a car that I purchased from them, only 3 weeks ago. (Did I mention that I have been at the service center for almost 3 hours already? They didn't even offer me a place to sit. I was standing outside in the sun for almost 3 hours.) In addition, they're not sticking with their powertrain and drivetrain warranty because the car was "modified". They tried to convince me that a BMW dealership would also void a warranty on a brand new car if I had done the same mods to them, which is completely false! Dealerships are not legally allowed to void warranties due to simple aftermarket bolt-on parts that are designed to make the car run smoother.
Now I am out of a car for a couple of days and will be paying out of pocket almost $1500 for a new intercooler, coolant, and an oil change to ensure all of the coolant leaking into the motor has been removed. My mechanic also pointed out that the tires are directional and were mounted backward on all sides of the car. This means they have been wearing unevenly and were recommended to purchase new tires. Another $1200+. Why didn't the $2900+ inspection catch a simple issue like this? They are quick to blame others instead of taking responsibility