[mscindybmw]

The only inspection company BMW uses for end of lease - what a shame!

I Called BMW Financial to set up my end of lease inspection for my 2015 BMW. The rep told me they use AutoVin for all of their inspections, so I figured this must be an awesome company since I feel BMW financial is great!!! Well, no way. Autovin must be related or have something pretty heavy on BMW for them to keep such a horrible company to do all their inspections. This is my story.

I called Autovin to set up my inspection. After giving all my information on the car and agreeing to a time for someone to come to my home to do the inspection, the service rep said they had no one to service that area so they cannot do my inspection. Now, how is it that BMW only uses this company and they refuse to service a BMW customer? I live in a moderate income area where there is a BMW dealership actually in my town. I asked the rep why there was no one to service my location and he said they do not go to that zone - they are zoned for certain areas and mine was not one. He did not offer any alternative, just said that and basically good luck to you.

I immediately called BMW back and told them this and the lady on the phone could not believe what I was saying. She asked me if the rep from Autovin gave me an explanation because she had never heard of such a thing. I told her about what he said regarding the zoning and she said she will notify a supervisor over there at once to call me back because that is their job. I explained to her that this was my only day off to set this in motion and was trying to get the car back to the dealer asap. She understood and said someone will call me back today.

After thinking about the matter a fact attitude of the rep from Autovin I decided I don't want them inspecting my car for fear they would not do the right thing at this point since they did not want to service me in the first place. So I called BMW back and spoke to a very nice person (sorry I don't have names but trust me - basically anyone you get at BMW is going to be professional and willing to work with you, I have owned 5 BMW's but my last 3 were through this finance company so they are the real deal )

I explained to the rep at BMW that I really needed to find a place to go to have my car inspected other than Autovin who did not want to help me anyway. I told her all that happened and asked her to find me a place in NY where I could go and have my inspection done. At this point I knew I was going to put more miles on the car but I was so upset with the treatment of Autovin that I just wanted to be done with this lease and move on.

There is only one BMW dealer that does inspections in NY and I happened to have been a previous customer of theirs and they are awesome, because they are BMW of course. Not Autovin who apparently couldn't care less about the customers of such a wonderfully made car. I was so grateful to the rep because when I was told I had to go through Autovin I swore after I turned in my 2018, I was done with BMW after a long run since 1997. I work very hard for my money and I respect everyone, I will not be mistreated by a company who clearly picks and chooses without any care of the company who is giving them a great deal of business. I say shame on BMW for his but I stand by clearly they must have something on them or be related.

Now for the call back from Autovin supervisor named Jacob. When Jacob called me he had a less then thrilled tone in his voice and just wanted to get to business. I told him I had already set up my inspection somewhere else because they refused to do it. Well, listen to this. Jacob said how is that possible when we are the only authorized company to do the inspections for BMW? Are you listening my fellow BMW drivers? If Jacob knew this then clearly they did not give a damn if my car was inspected or not since they told me they could not service my area. How is this even possible. What was I supposed to do, keep the car?

This is why when I told the BMW rep, she could not believe it. So anyway, I told Jacob I was going to get it done at a BMW dealership and he was clearly angered and said no one told him that - Why Jacob, why would anyone tell you anything when your company left me to fend for myself. What a character indeed. This is who Autovin has supervising people who are clearly just doing what they are told. I blame BMW for allowing this less than customer service company to even be a part of a company who has a reputation that is great because of their cars. If I did not have this dealership to go to I would definitely be dealing with a inspector who would have been taking orders from a supervisor who was less than decent in my opinion.

In closing just so I could get off the phone with this person Jacob I said I would call BMW to make sure everything was OK, which I already knew it was, I just wanted to get off the phone and never have to hear his voice again. Jacob from Autovin also said that he was calling because he was instructed to get my car inspected and could not believe I had somewhere else to go so he was basically wasting his time calling me back just to keep in good with BMW, I was so happy when I hung up, I cannot even tell you.

So I called BMW back just to let them know that Jacob called and what he said and how he said it. The rep was so happy for me and said that Autovin has a job to do for their customers so when they heard they would not service my area, no one could believe it. And yes, the BMW was genuinely happy for me and that restored my faith as a customer who really does not want to leave them but felt I would have had no other choice. Mistreatment of any kind should not be tolerated and I have never experienced that with BMW.

After this happened I decided to go online and check the reviews for Autovin and man o man, what in the world is wrong with BMW!!!!!!

This company has one star because you cannot give less. They are not rated or part of BBB so when you go on BBB and see the A- review it is not for them because they are not affiliated with them. I was confused by that but read more and saw what BBB said regarding them.

I am going to finish this up with if the dealership I am returning the car to decides to not inspect cars anymore, I am going to Mercedes. Of course I will ask them who they use for end lease inspections first and then google that company. But for sure, I will never deal with Autovin, I don't care how much I like the car, I will just research something else.

One last thing. Since BMW of Freeport is allowing me to have the inspection done there, they are officially my new car dealership for all my BMW's in the future - One stop shopping people. If you live in NY, this is your best bet not to deal with Autovin if you choose not to.

BMW Rocks!!!!!!!!!

I have owned:
1997 528i - fully loaded - black on black
2003 X5 4.4 - Cream interior, black exterior
2013 528i X-Drive- Brown interior, black exterior
2015 328i - X-drive - Black interior, brown exterior
2018 530i - X-Drive - best car ever!!!!! Black on black

If I have to leave BMW because of a disgusting lease end company I will, but clearly it will be a decision I would never want to make.

Cindy - Long island, NY