Dealership vehicle abuse

prospect

New member
I took my car to Cedar Isle Auto on 01/12/14 with just under 3/4 of fuel in the tank and consumption at 12.9L/100km. Picked it up yesterday with 1/4 fuel and consumption at 38.6L/100km :angry:

5chqvr.jpg


I changed phones in December before updating DropBox with the pics I took when I dropped it off so can't claim anything from them.

If you drive a x35i/Mx there's a very good chance it will be abused while at the dealership. Some of you might remember the Carte Blanche episode discussing/investigating dealerships who wrote off customer vehicles back in 2008. Here's a thread on MyBB. You've been warned.
 

Maljan

Active member
Eish! :RedNo:

You could ask your tracking company about where the car has been and how fast it was going while on the way there.
 

Mike-R

Member
Mmm. I don't like this sh/t hey. You think they look after the car when it's at the dealership only to discover aftrerwords that's it's been driven hard.
 

Mike-R

Member
Granted. But what if your car goes in for a maintenance issue. Are you going to sleep there for 3 to 4 days while they try and sort your car.

I bought secondhand but there were a few little issues on the car that needed to be sorted. So my car is at the dealership now for a full week. Not a word from them. Starting to get worried
 

DieselFan

Honorary ///Member
There was a forum member who's car clocked 180 or 200 while at the dealership, tracker confirmed. If I recall correctly they ended up giving him something like 3 years free maintenence
 

Peter@AEW

BMWFanatics Advertiser
Official Advertiser
When I reset the cars they sometimes leave from here with similar consumption figures without having hit the road.
Not necessarily fast driving although the fuel loss could be to siphoning.

Not saying that you are wrong just that fuel consumption is not always representative of what has happened.

Although there is one time when Alex and I did a CSL and when it came back from a test drive I think it had recorded similar consumption figures..........














and Fordless was the driver :)
 

Teezy_F30

New member
the e90 went in to the glen for a week, new air con compressor, starter motor, gear box service and oil change.. im sure it had just over half tank fuel when it was dropped off, got it back with near quarter .. didnt recall the before and after mileage ...
really makes u wonder how safe is ur pride and joy when at the dealers ...
 

Ratslaaf

///Member
The dealers record the mileage when you book it in. It gets pulled off the keys.

Ask the dealership to prove it wasn't them...
 

Clownshoe

Active member
Does your sat nav have the cookie crumb function?

I see now you can get a GSM GPS vehicle tracker for about 1.2K. It could be very useful.
 

Blaino

Member
I had a similar experience, when I questioned them about it, they denied the car was driven hard. went in with a full tank and came back on reserve and they did 200km with the car "test driving it".
 

tivoli786

Member
lol I had the same experience at Club Motors Randburg sometime back sent in with 3/4 got back little under quarter. Enquired they said it was due to having the car programmed all day and they had to let it idle not to cause battery drain. You just lucky they never over rev the motor as I suspect that is what happened to my car and had to have motor turbo and diff replaced. I am also astound as to how my disks have such bad ridges and the mileage is only 33000 kms but then again my car used to sleep at the dealership and they could help themselves with what they liked. I have also provedn that parts in my boot were swapped. I made them give me brand new parts as they could not produce mine.
 

Ratslaaf

///Member
tivoli786 said:
lol I had the same experience at Club Motors Randburg sometime back sent in with 3/4 got back little under quarter. Enquired they said it was due to having the car programmed all day and they had to let it idle not to cause battery drain. You just lucky they never over rev the motor as I suspect that is what happened to my car and had to have motor turbo and diff replaced. I am also astound as to how my disks have such bad ridges and the mileage is only 33000 kms but then again my car used to sleep at the dealership and they could help themselves with what they liked. I have also provedn that parts in my boot were swapped. I made them give me brand new parts as they could not produce mine.

That doesn't sound right. You cannot code the car with the motor running. And SOP dictates that whenever a car is coded it must be connected to a PSU first, ISTA/P wouldn't even start the programming process until it detects a PSU connected to the car (ie. voltage above 13V - your battery won't hit 13V on its own)

In other words, they are talking shit.
 

prospect

New member
Early last year I took it in for a replacement windscreen washer tank and it was 'test driven'. When I inquired they couldn't give me an answer. Needless to say I lost it and swore at a few people.
 

UpNcOmiNg!

Events Organiser
Common thing.
The thing that irritates me the most is that they boot the car on a test drive when the car is still cold!!! :RedNo:
I mean really now.
Long periods of idling can cause high consumption figures like that, buuuuuut so can driving like an idiot
 

Hugo_za

Well-known member
Gbyleveldt said:
tivoli786 said:
lol I had the same experience at Club Motors Randburg sometime back sent in with 3/4 got back little under quarter. Enquired they said it was due to having the car programmed all day and they had to let it idle not to cause battery drain. You just lucky they never over rev the motor as I suspect that is what happened to my car and had to have motor turbo and diff replaced. I am also astound as to how my disks have such bad ridges and the mileage is only 33000 kms but then again my car used to sleep at the dealership and they could help themselves with what they liked. I have also provedn that parts in my boot were swapped. I made them give me brand new parts as they could not produce mine.

That doesn't sound right. You cannot code the car with the motor running. And SOP dictates that whenever a car is coded it must be connected to a PSU first, ISTA/P wouldn't even start the programming process until it detects a PSU connected to the car (ie. voltage above 13V - your battery won't hit 13V on its own)

In other words, they are talking shit.

You can actually code most of the modules with the car running. I think only the DME and Trans modules would not allow you to code them. However, the check built into ISTA/P would not allow this unless you have a modified version of the SW.
 

tivoli786

Member
They do let the car idle all the time well that is what I saw when my cluster was being replaced. A mechy was chatting to a colleague and did not give a rats a$$ that the car was idling away and he was laughing with his bud and talking for over half an hour
 

Teezy_F30

New member
UpNcOmiNg! said:
Common thing.
The thing that irritates me the most is that they boot the car on a test drive when the car is still cold!!! :RedNo:
I mean really now.
Long periods of idling can cause high consumption figures like that, buuuuuut so can driving like an idiot

i disagree with " Long periods of idling can cause high consumption figures like that " ..if u check ur instant consumption .. most cars use under 1 litre of fuel per hour idling .. that may even go down to 0.6l/h on idle ..
 

DieselFan

Honorary ///Member
Teezy_F30 said:
UpNcOmiNg! said:
Common thing.
The thing that irritates me the most is that they boot the car on a test drive when the car is still cold!!! :RedNo:
I mean really now.
Long periods of idling can cause high consumption figures like that, buuuuuut so can driving like an idiot

i disagree with " Long periods of idling can cause high consumption figures like that " ..if u check ur instant consumption .. most cars use under 1 litre of fuel per hour idling .. that may even go down to 0.6l/h on idle ..
My cars consumption does seem to sky rocket on idling.
 

Quick///M

Well-known member
Have you approached them ?


That is why I have Skytrax on my car I get a detailed reports if my car is moving faster than it should in a zoned area, and detailed trip info, Turn by turn info.

It also emails for harsh brake events, speeding, ignition on /ignition off.

This is a must have for any vehicle.
 
Top