Buying a broken BMW i3

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark Severs
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Mark Severs

Mark Severs

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We bought a 2020 BMW i3 (a rather fetching "Panda" or "Stormtrooper" black & white) from Big Motoring World in Morley, Leeds, in the north of England. At first, it was great! But after 28 days it refused to charge from AC any more. A quick spin round the forums indicated that others who have had this fault have discovered that the KLE module, which supervises AC charging, could be defective. Worryingly, the EME might be busted too, adding up to an expensive repair... maybe.

Fortunately the car was well within its 90-day warranty. So the problem was reported to Big Motoring World via their app, and also by telephone.
 
I took the car back under warranty. Unfortunately, the seller (Big Motoring World in the UK) is very very poor at dealing with warranty claims, according to reports on consumer experience discussion forums; there are at least 2 facebook groups devoted solely to complaining about the company. It took 4 weeks for them to arrange to get the car in for repair, which involved the car being eventually booked with the nearest BMW franchise main dealer, which is Sandal BMW Huddersfield in the north of England.

Having done this, they wouldn't actually authorise payment to carry out a diagnosis of the fault so the car just stood in the service department parking area with nothing happening. After 40 days of the car being broken, I notified the seller that I would be rejecting the car under British law, the "Consumer Rights Act 2015", and that the seller would be giving me back the money paid (£10800) for the car.

This tripped some sort of response inside their main office and the next day, Sandal BMW were emailed with authorisation to diagnose the car.

Today, after 45 days broken, Sandal BMW confirmed what was suspected all along, that the fault is a broken KLE module. Fortunately, the EME does not seem to be damaged. they will now seek authorisation from Big Motoring World to carry out the repair. I wonder how long it will take?
 
Another month has come and gone with the car sitting idle in the dealer car park (if nothing else, this proves you can leave them parked for a while without ill effects). The seller, Big Motoring World, have now stated that they refuse to pay the BMW bill to repair the car and that I must take it back to them to do the repair. But they won't do this until the 15th of September. That will total 75 days off the road and it's before they even start the repair.
Rarely have I dealt with a retailer whose customer service is so tragically poor.

We have sent a written letter by recorded delivery rejecting the car.
 
I'm not sure how the legal process works over in your country, but that sounds ridiculous. They would not hear the end of me. I'd call hourly until something happened.
 
brianc35 said:
...They would not hear the end of me. I'd call hourly until something happened...
Click to expand...

Here, we have a state consumer protection agency called "Trading Standards". They legally enforce consumer regulations and can bring the full force of the law to bear. Violating the Consumer Standards 2015 regulations is a criminal offence and people go to prison, rather than having to do lawsuits and stuff. So we are acting in accordance with the Trading Standards instructions.
 
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