Domino Motors

by jjguan on 04/28/2015

Recently looked into purchasing a 2011 used white BMW 335i xdrive from this dealership. Took car for a test drive, but noticed after turning car off there was a series of loud clicking/knocking sounds. After bringing this to dealership owner's attention he immediately said it was an "autoleveler" and that sound was normal (pretty sure that this sound on any car would be considered abnormal, especially since my family owned multiple BMWs and none of them ever had this sound). During the price-negotation process I googled "clicking sounds for BMW 2011 335," and managed to find that someone had posted a vehicle with the same sound and was quoted $1500 to fix a broken eccentric shaft sensor. After I gave this link to the salesperson, he immediately assured me that since the car drove well and the sound came from below the motor, it was due to a normal oil injector priming process and was not because of an engine problem. After I adamantly requested the car to be inspected at a certified BMW dealership, salesperson said that "after doing further research" he found there were actually 2 recalls on this vehicle that were never performed, and so the dealership would agree to have the vehicle driven to a BMW repair shop 200 miles away to get the recalls taken care of, and additionally have them check on the noise issue. After the car left the BMW repair shop and was driven back to the dealership, I called the BMW repair advisor, and he told me they found that the clicking sound was due to a problem with the valve actuator. He said that BMW posted a bulletin that said in BMWs that have this issue, reprogramming the system may fix the problem, but if not, there may be underlying issues with the actuator valve. If this reprogramming does not fix the issue, the valve (and maybe along with other parts including the eccentric shaft sensor) will have to be replaced. This will be at least a $1500-$2000 job. For the vehicle I was looking at, the repair guys found a fault in the valve actuator so went ahead and reprogrammed the system. The noise went away, but when they re-tested the system they still got a fault from the valve actuator. This entire process was written in the work notes. The advisor said that the service guys told the dealership people that because the fault existed, there is likely an underlying issue with the valve actuator, and bottomline, the only way to definitively fix this problem would be to replace the valve. Though the sound went away, it may return, since the underlying problem may still be there. The advisor said that the dealership decided to not do any additional work on the vehicle and left. I was very close to closing the deal with the dealership to buy this car, but after hearing what the repair advisor said, I requested that the dealership fix the problem for good or reimburse me on the cost to replace the valve before I make the purchase. However, the dealership said it would "not budge on the price," kept telling me that "the repairmen put this car through thorough engine diagnoses and did not find any issues other than an issue with the coding, and after reprogramming the issue was solved," kept reassuring me that this car had no issues whatsoever, and that if I did not like the vehicle I could buy it elsewhere, as they can sell the car to someone else. Thus I decided to not buy the car. Yes, the car's seller has the right to determine what price to sell their car, but I think dealerships should at least be able to deliver a car that has no issues. And if they don't want to fix the issues, they should come down on the price accordingly to reimburse the buyer to personally fix the issue. This place was not willing to change the price and still wanted it for a price similar to other dealership prices. To expect that price, dealerships put their trade-in vehicles through thorough inspections to make sure there are no issues. This place knew there is an issue but were still not willing to get to the bottom of it. Throughout this entire time they kept reassuring me this car had no issues, even when the repairmen told me otherwise. Overall, this dealership repeatedly lied or "bent the truth" to sell me this vehicle, telling me "this vehicle has no problems," going so far as to tell me something completely different from what the repair people actually told them. They know this car has an actuator valve issue, but to save costs and put the burden on whoever is careless enough to buy this car from them to pay for the bulk of the repair, they decided to do only the bare minimum to "cover up" the issue but not actually fix it. I doubt they will bring this repair issue up with the next person who is interested in purchasing this car. Granted, they are a Buick/Chevrolet dealership and know very little about BMWs, but 1) this is exactly why they should maybe sell the car for less, and 2) they probably didn't even inspect the vehicle and are expecting to sell it for the same price as if they were a BMW dealership themselves who make sure the car had no issues. I gave this dealership 2 stars and not 1 only because they agreed to take this car to get the recalls done and to diagnose the noise issue (only after I told them repeatedly to do so)...but then again, since the recalls had been out for 2 years already, I don't know if they purposefully didn't mention the recalls to avoid having to pay for a driver and gas to have the car taken to the BMW repair shop 200 miles away. At this point, I am only concerned that this dealership will continue to try to sell this car as it is without telling the buyer about its underlying issue. PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN BUYING FROM THIS PLACE, ESPECIALLY THIS CAR! I would not trust this place.

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