Bought a brand new Countryman S yesterday. It's awesome, so happy with it. Parked it on the street overnight, went to drive it this morning, and when I got in noticed glass dust all over the seat and center armrest. Looked up and there is a 8"x3" hole in my sunroof, shattered glass everywhere. My wife and I are devastated.

Geico is dealing with it, and it's all covered under our glass policy. It didn't seem like anyone would break in through the sunroof (why not just break the window?), so we have been assuming that it was vandalism - some kid saw a shiny new car with temporary tags, and decided to mess with it. There was a super tiny rock on the roof.

But, I was just googling around and by the second result I found some postings about spontaneously shattering sunroofs. I quickly found this BMW forum post about people having sunroofs spontaneously shatter (some while driving). There's links to multiple other forum posts about the same thing, including a video with a professor saying it's pretty much impossible for a rock to be kicked up from another car and break the sunroof.

Is it worth contacting the dealer at all? I mean, our insurance is covering it, and we don't have a deductible for glass claims. But not sure if it'd be something they'd own up to being a manufacturer's thing at all. I guess at a minimum it'd help identify design issues if it ultimately was one. Vandalism still seems like the most likely explanation to me, but the other comments about this happening to new BMWs makes me concerned.

Pic of the broken, brand new sunroof. Ugh

 

I would contact the dealer. At least then it is on record while under warranty. My previous car was a 04' 325i and you are correct that BMW owners have been experiencing problems with their sunroof shattering. Unfortunately, it is not just BMW but KIA, Ford. etc. See the article on the link below.

http://www.wral.com/without-warning-...ces-/11728208/

 

I would contact the dealer. That way it is on record while it is under warranty. My previous car was a 04' 325i and you are right that BMW has had problems with sunroofs shattering. Unfortunately they are not the only manufacturers, KIA, Ford, etc are experiencing the same issues. See the link below...

http://www.wral.com/without-warning-...ces-/11728208/

 

Weird, I posted this weeks ago and it got the message that it was being held for moderation, but the thread never showed up...

Anyways, update: took it to the glass shop, the glass guy thinks someone broke it with a bb gun or something like that. he didn't think it was spontaneous at all, and it was covered 100% by Geico, so I never raised it with the dealer.

 

That sucks, but glad your insurance covered everything.

 

The dealer would never fess up to a broken window or any glass. Had a new truck the second day I had it I was driving it down an empty road no one around and all of a sudden windshield cracked. Took it to the dealer thinking the windshield was stressed when it was installed at the dealer and cracked from the pressure. The dealer went over it with a fine tooth comb and said there was a small chip in the glasss where a "rock" must of hit it. Refused to do anything had to go through insuance to get it replaced. Dealer will never admit any fault they will always try to blame that you or someone else must of done something.

 

what a bummer on a brand new ride. It will be good as new, but it affects the initial thrill, no doubt.

Now, I want to know what insurance company that is. I like that I'm hearing about glass insurance with no deductible!

 

See post number 4

 

Congrats on the new car...let this protect the body from any dents. once the glass is replaced you won't even know it happened. Don't let this spoile the fun.

Willie

 

Yeah, it's with Geico. They were super helpful and really easy to work with. There were a lot of stipulations that we had to get either a camera inspection or fax the bill of sale and a bunch of other paperwork to them (not sure if this is a Geico thing or an NY state thing?) within like 5 business days or else they could terminate the coverage, but luckily I was able to round everything up and scan/email it to them so that there wasn't any reason that they could deny coverage. But all in all, was super happy with them.

Definitely a relief that the sunroof is as good as new but I think it's always going to be in the back of my mind. We were planning on parking the car on the street (in Brooklyn), but we're going to scrape together the funds to park it in a garage, which is not cheap at all but worth the piece of mind at this point.

 

It's amazing what mean spirited or cowardly people do when they aren't accountable. Not long after we got our clubman a high tweaker rammed my pregnant wife, did some cosmetic damage to the front of the car then shoved my wife and knocked her camera phone out of her hands when she was trying to document it. She fled the scene and was never found.

 

^^^^ And people wonder why drugs should be illegal in this country...

 

Glass coverage in NY has no deductible . The paperwork must be a geico thing. I had my front windshield replaced twice last year thru 2 different companies and never did any of that paperwork / photo stuff. I have to get the glass replaced on my r56 now too. Thankfully I live in NY!

 

sorry - I think this may not have been clear. the paperwork/camera inspection was something that had to be done as part of getting coverage, not related to my claim.

Since it was a new policy, I either had to take it to a place on their list to perform a "camera inspection" to ensure it was as described, or since it was a new car I could fax/email them the bill of sale and window sticker. They sent a letter with the policy docs that said I had 5 business days to do that. And, I was filing a claim before sending that stuff in, so I was worried they could use that as a loophole to deny coverage, but they were really easy to deal with, and I called and confirmed that they had received it and my policy was set a few days later, so no worries.

 

Ah yes I understand . I had to do that when j bought my used R56 last year too, with the photo and stuff. Glad everything worked out.