ok, first real chance to type out a proper response since this entire event occurred.
While having a breakdown is a painful experience and mine could have been much worse, i am glad that it is over and I managed to still have a watered down holiday in durban.
I already knew the impact of this community on many people and try to be part of it as much as possible but this was the first time i got experience the true meaning of BMW fanatics and the awesome people that come with it. Firstly a huge and gratuitous thank you to my diesel fanatic buddies that were running around finding out all the info i needed to continue with my repair. To the guys that found me mechanics in Durban, I thank you for the efforts in finding possible mechanics ( mind you this was no less than 5 mechanics in under 30min). To name a few people and i apologise to those i have left out but my mind was all over the place at the time.
Rob, Nikhil, Ray, Karsh, Fuzz and Kish.
raise:
raise:
raise:
raise: Reps for you chaps
To the mechanics who assisted me and are not on this forum, Nasser and Don, they have passion for what they do and it shows.
My biggest problem with the entire process was that the claims department at Innovation(warranty company) only opened on the 28th, car broke on the 25th. The roadside assistance was willing to tow the vehicle but since i had nowhere to tow it to at the time i delayed the towing(plus i was lucky enough to have parked at my parents place when it gave in). The rental service could not be activated as the car had not been towed yet, so that sucked.
I decided to bite the bullet, hired my own vehicle and chose to enjoy some of my holiday with the high revving rental. After having a good chat with Kish he suggested Don and Veez auto Works and when receiving the list of RMI workshops in the area they were on there as well.
Amazingly enough i managed to get the car towed on Wednesday to Don and picked it up on Thursday. I managed to get a rental for 3 days( even though my policy stated 2 days) and i requested something with a little more space as i had 2 car seats, pram and luggage to carry and was given a Renault duster which again served its purpose well.
The repair was covered mostly by the warranty which was good and just a small shortfall had to be paid by me. I was hoping for OEM part but the Conti one had to suffice.
