Here's why I ask:

My 2007 Cooper's yellow check engine light came on this past Monday. I took the car into the dealership on Wed., they checked it out said everything was ok and I picked it up Thursday evening. This morning I'm in the car 20 minutes and the check engine light comes back on, so I call the dealership tell them the light is back on and I'm coming back, I also ask for a loner car because they'll have mine all weekend. I drop off my, car take the loaner ( a Cooper S, with run flats) and proceed to drive home. I get home, park the car in the garage, get out and I hear a hissing noise. I look at each tire and the left rear has a puncture, so I call the service guy tell him whats up and he says to bring the car back and they'll give me a different loaner. So I get back to the dealership and the service guy says they're going to have to charge me for a new tire. I repeat, the service guy says they're going to have to charge me for a new tire. I ask how much, and he says the price of the tire plus labor, between $335 and $350. I cursed, not at the service guy, asked if he was serious, then cursed again. He says something like it's the dealerships policy because if I was driving my car etc. etc. The BIG difference is that 1.) I only had the damn loaner because the dealership didn't correct the problem on my car in the first place and 2.)my car doesn't have those BS run-flat tires that cost way too much to replace.

So what I want to know is this:
1.) Am I nuts for thinking I shouldn't have to pay for a tire on THEIR car? (which they use as a loaner/test drive vehicle and they'll sell used in the fall and recover a good majority of their initial cost anyway.)

2.) What is the cost, to the dealership, of a stock run-flat tire?

3.) Does it sound reasonable for me to offer to pay dealership cost (I'll say wholesale, for lack of a better term) for a tire and no labor?

4.) If I could buy this tire from Tirerack, and have them ship it to me free, then give it to the dealership, is that a reasonable offer from me?

Thanks for letting me rant, let the comments and opinions fly...

 

Yep, I think you're nuts

You accepted the car in a good condition and returned it in a condition less than received. It matters not that it is their car or that you have a different type of tire or even that you only had the car because of a fault with your vehicle. A hire car company would do exactly the same and charge you for replacemnt of the tire to make the car roadworthy.

Your mistake was going back to the dealer. You could have had the replacement done locally - at a lower cost than the dealer charges. You woundn't have got it anywhere for free though.

In some ways, the dealer tried to help you by finding another loaner - relieving you of the hassle of fixing the vehicle.

John.

 

I'm with Redhornet on this one, I think the dealership is nuts! Did you sign something saying you would be responsible for any and all damage done to the car before you took it? I'm sure you didn't. What if you had been test driving a car from them and had the same thing happen, would they have charged you for the tire? Better the hell not! The price of the tire is what the dealership pays for good customer service. It's a small price to pay to make a customer happy and better yet keep that customer. If my dealer did that to me I would never buy from them again!

 

i say dont pay it,your brand new car shouldnt be throwing a cel. And if it handnt been throwing that you wouldnt have had the car.

 

I would have the sucker repaired and return it to the dealership and not say a word about it. Most tire shops do a free repair, @ least Ive never had to pay for a tire plug. Hopefully you havent made so much of a stink about it that everyone at the dealership already knows about it!

 

I don't know the law, but I do know that if the tire was hissing, it wasn't flat when you got home--Meaning there likely wasn't damage to the sidewall, yet. You could have had the tire repaired.

By telling you to drive it back, in my book they took responsibility for the tire completely deflating, exercising the sidewall and using up its life. Their decision to have you drive back on a flat, their liability.

I think it's their problem, not yours.

 

It takes about 2 minutes to change a tire on a rim and I'm pretty sure the dealer has a decent tire sitting around somewhere from another tire change.To charge you 300+ bucks is just Bulls***! Fill the tire with some tire sealant right before you return it(leave some time for the TPMS light from the ruined sensor to come on once your gone).
Motor On!

 

Well, I have to say I'm with John on this. You probably did sign a loaner agreement (my dealer always requires it) which states, among other things, that any damage done to the loaner is your re4sponsibility. I had a nice MCS loaner for three weeks and unfortunately, a truck in front of me kicked up a large rock which put a crack in the windshield. I called the dealership immediately and informed them, and as I knew, I had to pay for it. They were very nice about it though, let me keep the car for the rest of the period (till mine got fixed). I asked them to do that, as another loaner with a brand new windshield would make me nervous at that point. Our country roads are notorious for this type of thing happening.

As to the check engine light, you're right, they not only should have fixed it the first time, they at the very least should have told you what the problem was... a check engine light _always_ gives a trouble code, so "no problem" is not an acceptable answer. The good (or maybe not so good) news is that if this second time the problem is not fixed and happens again under warranty, you have the right to get a full refund under the lemon law.

 

Thanks for the responses folks.

The reason the tire itself is so expensive is that it is a run-flat, meaning they can't be patched, you have to replace the tire. Which is why I think run-flats are a very bad technology. The other reason I'm quite angry at the dealership is that when I called to tell them there was a puncture in the tire, the service manager didn't say a thing about me having to pick up the bill. If he did I would have gone to a couple tire stores near me and found a replacement and had it mounted, for significantly less than what the dealership wants. I honestly don't have a problem with buying a new tire. I am fully aware that a punctured tire costs a dealership, but they have them in stock and it will be placed on their car, most likely by a junior mechanic and it will take less that 30 minutes to do. I am willing to cover the dealerships cost of the tire, but I am not willing to pay full retail markup for a tire and labor just so the dealership can make some kind of small profit on me because I'm not paying for service (car is under warranty).

Lastly, I work in an advertising agency, a really big one, and there are many times that my agency eats the cost of things that the client made mistakes or oversights on (many times in the tens of thousands of dollars range). In the name of better client relations and proper client service, we will usually tell the client about the mess-up and then tell them not to worry about the costs. Why? Because the hundreds of thousands of dollars my agency eats each year by client screw-ups is far out weighed by the millions of dollars the agency makes from the same client. It's called "The cost of doing business" and it makes the client feel like their being properly taken care of.

The same must apply to dealerships, especially the one I'm dealing with. They sell BMW, Chrystler, Mercedes, Landrover, Maybach and even Panoz. How much money do they make each year on total car sales? They're willing to alienate a client that spent over $22K on a new vehicle just so they can make a comparitively very small profit on something as easy to replace as a tire? That is extremely greedy and **** poor client service. If my agnecy treated our clients in the same manner, we'd go out of business in less than a year. If it were my dealership I'd apologize to the client for having to bring the loaner back, tell the client not to worry about it and probably give them a $10 Starbucks card as a way to say sorry for the inconvenience. The actual car is only half of buyer satisfaction, the other half is the treatment the buyer receives. That is what makes people loyal to a brand and a dealership no matter what a JD Powers survey says. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=142610

 

Run flats can be patched. Many tire shops out there will do it. Dealers won't. The key thing is if the tire has been driven on 0psi for any distance then shops will be reluctant to patch.

As for paying cost - why should you pay cost and eat into the time that the dealership has available to make money. Should we all pay dealer cost on installs etc? If you pay cost, are you going to compensate the dealer's cost to have the loaner serviced/valeted so it's clean for the next client?

I work in advertising too and we eat costs for the bigger picture. Any business does. However, I don't think you can compare a multi-million dollar contract to your situation apart from in principle. The bottom line right now is they don't have a problem shifting the units so they don't really care about if you come back to buy again (they should do but somebody else will walk in and buy right now anyway). Service departments will be full as the new cars keep flying out of the door. Had you bought 4 mini's already from the same dealer then you've shown loyalty and deserve some goodwill. One mini doesn't cut it I'm afraid.

They should have pointed out that you would be responsible for damage but I have to assume that you signed something to take the loaner (which will say that).

John.

 

I couldnt agree with you more!

 

Does your car insurance extend to loaners/rental cars? I agree that you shouldn't have to pay it and you should fight it tooth-and-nail but in the end, if you wind up having to pay for it maybe your car insurance company will pick up the tab. Just a thought.

 

I would tend to agree it is your responsability, but I also agree it would be in their best interest to eat in becasue you will likely spend much more than the cost of a tire in service and parts over the life of your car. By making you pay full price they are telling me they are not interested in maintaining that relationship. At the very least they should only charge you for the tire itself. Good luck!