I was recommended by my son in law after getting 3 cars repaired at Lafata. I trusted going there because of the recommendation made by him. After 19 days I finally got my car back. I have a 2004 M3. The car was painted on both sides including the bumpers. I first noticed smears on the windows and walls. I just paid $100.00 to get my car detailed there. Eric had his guy re-wipe everything. At first my car seamed to be OK until I got in the car to go home when I noticed that nothing was working on my dash. I purposely took a picture of the Odometer and dash to make sure my car wasn't used for any joy riding. I then was told to go to some shop down the road to try to see if a fuse was blown. Then we went to disconnecting the battery and letting the computer reset. As I was going through all this when I was suppose to go back to work I then opened my engine compartment. All the dust and debris from the shop was all over my engine. Eric told me they cant put any water on my engine instead of going to wipe it clean. Well no avail on the computer resetting anything so Eric offered me to use a rusted up car to go back home with. I started to take it but felt horrible having to drive a junk around. There was no gas in it also.
Well I thought Eric was going to do the right thing when he told me to take the Car to Auto Europe and have them call him to see what the problem is. They were also told by Eric the same thing he told me that the Battery died a couple times so they had jump started the Battery. Well that's a bad decision because those cars are not to be jumped. After the diagnosis which took over a week it was concluded that the Instrument Cluster was Burned out. When Auto Europe told Eric at Lafata the problem and the cost, Eric decided to back pedal and get out of the responsibility to pay for it being that the cost was over $1,700.00. He then claimed it wasn't his fault and said he would pay for a used Instrument Cluster. I told him I would pay the difference. He then decided he wasn't going to do anything saying the problem is a common problem with the Car! So after consulting his supposed Attorney who never gave me a proper name address or office, then offered me $500.00. He also was telling me that I was pushing him after 1 month of losing my vehicle waiting for them to pay for the repair and started accusing me of doing something crooked. So after going back and forth with emails with this Lawyer, they decided they will not make any further offers.
My Car was left abandoned at Auto Europe and was all disassembled. I ended up having to pay the money for the repairs. By the way they were able to clean my engine compartment and it looked like a new Car. I also can see all the paint lines in the doors and fenders. The paint didn't match exactly so it was very obvious. It turns out that my son in laws cars all had the same issue. Eric hung up the phone on him when he was asked about why he did this to someone that he had referred to his shop.
I really tried to be nice about everything but unfortunately this is how I was treated by Eric and his shop Lafata Auto Body
By the way:
1: No google searches can find any problems with a 2004 M3 Instrument Cluster where the entire cluster fried
2: No Dealers could confirm a problem with the Instrument Clusters
3: BMW North America has no info on recalls, extended warranty issues, or Bulitans! read more