I purchased a 2012 X5M with 45,000 miles on it from Elmhurst in June of 2018 with the most comprehensive aftermarket warranty they offered.
When I got the car home to Denver, Colorado, I noticed that the "side view camera malfunction" warning came on whenever I tried to activate them. I immediately called Mike to let him know, and he said to wait a month and file a warranty claim. I waited a month, and took my car to a BMW independent shop. They noted that the oil pan gasket was leaking, a PCV hose was leaking, and the side view camera wiring was damaged and had caused corrosion at the camera itself. All told, over $3000 of work. I had them submit the claim to Continental Warranty, and all was denied except for the oil pan gasket (but they refused to cover the one-time-use fasteners, or the alignment that needed to be done in conjunction with the repair). I know these warranties have a reputation for nitpicking claims, and I was just happy they were paying for some of it.
Upon removal of the oil pan, the tech found that the engine block was cracked and needed to be replaced. They immediately called Continental Warranty, and the claim was 100% denied. I called Elmhurst to tell them what was going on, and Tim Baber said he would call Continental and see what he could do. Tim called me back after the weekend, and said that Continental refused to budge. I asked for a refund on the warranty, and they agreed to refund me in full. This was the last helpful thing Elmhurst BMW did for me.
The full price of the engine replacement in my car was $26,000. My car cost $36,000. Elmhurst didn't offer me any assistance in contacting BMW of North America, nor with the cost of the repairs. I asked them what they suggested I do, and Tim Baber told me to "JB Weld the cracks and sell the car." I pointed out how incredibly unethical that suggestion was. He said, "so trade it in at a place like CarMax." Oh, okay...I'll just pawn it off on someone else, and lose a ton of money in the process. He said, "well, you'd probably lose less trading it in than the engine would cost."
I messaged my friend who works for BMW North America to see if he could help, and he went to work advocating for me. After a few weeks of back and forth, he advised me to tow my car to BMW of Denver Downtown. In the end, he got BMW to cover 75% of the repair cost. That left me with a $1,400 diagnostic fee to my independent shop and $6,500 for the balance of the repair.
In the midst of this, I emailed Tim Baber, and Irv Shenderovsky to let them know how disappointed I was. They seemed perfectly content to sell me a car that needed a $26,000 engine and wash their hands of the situation. If I hadn't had friends at BMW, I would have been on the hook for the full cost of the repair, and they would not have lifted a finger to help me. Irv assured me that they would see what they could do to help, but strung me along for over a month. BMW dealerships are independently owned, and I wanted Elmhurst to take some responsibility. I asked Korey, the service manager, if they would have sold this car knowing the extent of the damage to the engine, and he said no, they would not have sold the car. But they did. They sold it to me. And they weren't sorry.
I finally got Irv on the phone, and expressed how incredibly upset and disappointed I have been with his handling of the situation. He acted defensive, and insisted over and over again that there was no way they could have known about the damage, totally missing the fact that it doesn't matter whether or not they knew. What matters is how they handled the issue. If they had stepped up to contact BMW on my behalf to address the issue from the beginning, if they had offered to pay for, or even split my out of pocket costs with me just to make it right, I would be raving about their customer service. I wouldn't have hesitated to travel again for another car purchase. Instead, here I am, letting the world know how bad they dropped the ball and how little they care about their clients once they've signed on the dotted line. read more