[AlteBMW]

Originally Posted by saifmassoud

If you have already read my post earlier, a new 2018 740i was delivered to us from BMW via a transportation company. The car was supposed to be delivered in 5 days, yet for unknown reason, the driver took 8 days and delivered the car at night.


Here is the problem, upon closer inspection (after the car has been delivered and we signed paper stating so), we kept getting error messages whenever we tried to engage the Autonomous Cruise Control (ACC). We took the car to local BMW dealership and upon closure inspection, the technician found evidence of damage, repair and repaint on front bumper and damage to the ACC unit and its sensors in tine bumper, at a cost of more than $5,000+

We contacted the BMW dealership where we got the car from. Upon investigating, they show no records of damage or repair reports in factory or when delivered to BMW dealership.

So they decided to send a senior BMW Field Service Engineer to take a closer look and report back. Upon closure examination he affirmed the findings and conclusion of the first BMW technician but added 2 crucial points:

1. an examination of the car's computer system revealed that the error messages where activated when the car had 4-500 miles range on it . In fact, we did recieve the car with 4 miles on the speedometer. so they are saying basically that the computer system shows the errors occurred only after the car was delivered.

2. the paint job done on the front bumper is not of the same quality nor does it match the same paint the BMW uses.


From this, it is clear that while BMW had the car in its position, no damage was done, also it was inspected thoroughly before shipping. And since we did not get into any accidents while we had the car, this leaves one possibility:

That the car was damaged during transportation and that could be why the driver was 3 days late and delivered the car at night.

Also, the repaint job does not match that of BMW. This means that the car was damaged by the driver and he contacted the shipping company telling them so, afraid of loosing a customer or money, I believe they decided to use those 3 extra days to find an body shop, paint the front bumper and deliver the car to us without saying so. I think this is the most logical explanation to what might have happened.

What do you guys think? At this point what are our options? Should we go after the transportation company? we did sign that we delivered the car in good order the night we recived it. Should we involve the police so they can investigate and see if there is any paper trail for repair?

You need to put the transport company on notice that you have claim against them, and that they should preserve any records relating to the transport of your car. You can start with them yourself, but you are probably going to need an attorney. He/she may decide to sue both the dealer and the transporter. Each could deny liability and point their finger at you and allege you signed for the car and subsequently caused the damage; your credibility will be an issue, fair or not and like it or not. That is why you need an attorney. The other tack is to engage your insurance company and see whether your coverage includes such events. If so, they will pay a claim (less a deductible of course) and then go after the transporter; if they succeed in a full recovery you will get your deductible back. I am not sure insurance coverage would include transport prior to taking delivery but it is worth asking.