Isnt the VPC still considered part of the assembly line process? If that is the case, then it wasn't repaired. Who knows how many times a panel gets painted in the real factory. Paint lines are another thing...

 

Coffee,
can you re-check those thickness figures? 6 and 9mm is THICK! No paint on modern automobiles is this thick. Could it have been um?

I spent more than an hour examining my new auto at the dealer before completing the sale. I looked extensively for odd contours and dents in the sheet metal; blemishes and inconsistencies in paint; and quite a few other things. I even passed a magnet over the entire body to assure there was no filler anywhere. Prior to doing these and other things (like looking extensively at the undercarriage and suspension; engine and tubing; interior and all switches; etc), I told the sales woman I what I would to. She had no problem with this and I may have been one of few employees that looks so carefully at the new vehicle. But hell, I was paying for a new, undamaged auto and wanted nothing less.

 

I understand Coffeeman being a bit surprised about the repaint, but I agree with what appears to be the majority: This is a typical corporate legal shakedown (by the way-- this is one reason cars "cost so much" these days-- so we can help defray the cost of car companies having to pay off the "coffeemen" of the world). Creating an anti-MINI blog is childish and will only work to your disadvantage, legally.

The sanctimonious tone of your posts are a load of..a-hem..baloney. Obviously you don't have enough going on in your life to put this deal in it's proper perspective-- what a bunch of time, effort and expense it sounds like you've wasted thus far.

Bottom line? I hope the judge in your lawsuit awards you just enough money to pay for a properly re-painted quarterpanel, and a big container of "ring pops" (candy pacifiers) for you to suckle.

Sorry your car is only worth $18-22K-- in case anybody hasn't mentioned it to you before, cars suffer a HUGE amount of depreciation the first year after purchase-- so this will happen to you again if you make a poor decision and then decide that you "must" change direction a few months months later. This is what I call a "STBY situation"-- STBY = Sucks To Be You.

Kent
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Only a tiny, tiny % of civil cases actually reach jury trial. They're settled through meditation or arbitration, or dismissed because someone missed a deadline for an answer or information. "10 Angry Men," this is not.

If the claim is actually filed, my guess is BMW/Mini will just hand the Coffee guy a few grand. Otherwise it'd cost more in legal fees, and BMW cares more about the accounting than "the principle" of the issue.

 

[quote=ColoFalcon;1927205] This is a typical corporate legal shakedown (by the way-- this is one reason cars "cost so much" these days--

The sanctimonious tone of your posts are a load of..a-hem..baloney.

Kent
]

I understand how huge punitive damages are a windfall to a plaintiff and make other people question the system. But here the guy says he will give any such damages to charity. Taken at face value that’s quite commendable, And I don't know the guy so I certainly wouldn't call his veracity into doubt. Compensatory damages on the other hand, are reasonable and should be fair game under all circumstances. Diminished value seems like a reasonable component of compensatory damages to me.

I'm glad to live in a time and a place where the average person can summon a giant into a courtroom and make it account for its misconduct. In a world where the average guy can not or will not do this, the corporate giants will tend to evolve into tyrants. This case isn’t a tragedy or other big deal, but when the powerful entities get away with misconduct; their conduct tends to worsen until something really terrible happen.

 

Sorry to hear about your issues. I would, however, try and steer you away from a Volvo. Being here in Germany, I have ran across more folks with Volvo's who can't wait to get rid of them in favor of a Beemer or some other German vehicle. Electrics, transmissions, etc. are all problem areas for Volvo; also, if you want any parts for your car you get them from Volvo. No such thing as "aftermarket" for those cars. If you need a bigger car, I would recommend an Audi A4. Great cars and less $$$ than a comparative Break My Wallet (BMW). At any rate, hope all works out for you and keep us apprised.

Cheers

 

For what its worth, I just measured the paint thickness on my MC with an old magnetic paint thickness guage. ~7 thou. inch on the bonnet, ~8 thou.inch doors and side. ~10 thou.inch on boot.~ 9thou.inch on white roof. This compares with the 6 to 8 thou that I found on my Ford Ranger and my Mercury Sabel. I would imagine that those other measurements taken previously, were .3MM and .6MM not 3 and 6MM.

 

This is a waste of time, ultimately my money and all of yours. Frivolous lawsuits like this are a huge problem today in this country, in addition to the attys that take and prolong them. All what follows has already been said before here, but it is worth mentioning again.

Unless unit was previously sold and then resold to OP as still a new car, the car was still a new unit, manufacturer can "repair" anything about the car while it is still in "production" or unsold. The car or portions could have been repainted 20 times and it is still a new, unit, as long as it met their production specs.

A lawsuit like this is one thing that is wrong with the legal system today. I guarantee BMW/MINI NA will not just hand over a few thou to make this go away, they will drag it on. The real crime here will be if the OP's atty keeps prolonging this resulting in him/her picking his pocket for real money.

BMW/MINI NA has no reason to offer a GOODWILL settlement, especially after the OP has gone here and slammed them, asked people to boycott them and looks like he will never be a customer again of theirs. Not to mention the mondo legal boner he committed of coming here and blabbing all this while involved or contemplating legal action.

Best to bandage his foot where he shot himself, sell it privately and move on with his life maybe with a kit car that he can build himself.

 

Ditto for itburns and the others. This is a totally silly waste of time. A MINI that was bought for $32,500 had to be heavily optioned. Options don't do well on resale. And he wanted to turn around and sell after 6 months. The car has already taken a hit. I never buy a car for its resale value. I buy it for what it will do and how much I like driving it. If he can now turn around and afford a BMW 335Xi, it is just silly to even argue about it.

Coffeeman reminds me of a certain friend of mine. he will spend literally millions on items (including cars) he likes and wants and then turn around and stiff a poor waiter a tip at a fancy restaurant because he didn't get exactly what he wanted in service, even though it may not have been the waiters fault. This kind of behavior is just over the top. There are so many important things in life to concern ourselves with. Myself, I am going out and enjoy my MINI today. It drives and looks great. It gives me a special feeling every time I get in it, whether it has a "paint line" that is almost impossible to see or not. Get a life.

If I were BMW/MINI, I would say, sorry for your trouble, but please never buy a car from us again.

 

Is this really the law or is this just a standard you believe should be the law?

 

Well, I have to say, despite all the talk about diminsihed value and resale and so on, it is first and formost a car, not an object d'art, it's made to go out into the asphalt jungle and provide transportation first, looks second.

I think he should sell it and buy something else, and make a thorough pre-delivery inspection as a few others have done, then he'll be happy. At least till someone door dings him or hits him in a parking lot or something.....

 

It's hard to take sides on this but I will say one thing, there use to be a time when people and companies took pride in their work. Quality was all that mattered, not quantity. If I had spent $10K on a new Honda, I'd expect a decent car with decent paint and decent reliability. If I spend $32K on a car I would expect a little more quality all around especially from the dealer. This is a hard case because we don't know where the car's been for the last 6 months, but at the same time BMW/Mini should understand the OP's point of view too, he paid $32K for a car that was damaged without his knowledge. You can go to Wal Mart and buy a shirt, find a hole in it a couple of months later and return it for a new one no questions asked! This is Wal Mart, not some fancy car corporation!
If anything, this should serve as a wake up call for BMW/Mini, they need to ensure they have better control over their cars while in transit, how many times has this happened and BMW/Mini were clueless? How many cars have they sold to unsuspecting customers through no fault of their own?

 

Given the fact that the car has an obvious paint line, it sounds like this was definitely not work done at the factory or VPC. Sounds like the car was repaired at the dealer or by a bodyshop selected by the dealer to fix the car. It is very hard to hold BMW/MINI responsible for damage caused to the cars once they are released from the VPC and in the hands of the dealership.

edit: though, if the car is damaged at this point it obviously has to be repaired. It would now be the dealer's responsibility to fix it and disclose the damage as required. If it is damaged on the truck, the dealer claims with the shipping company for transport damage, and if it is damaged after it is in their possession it is on their dime.

 

Issues like these are exactly what courts are for. When lawyers depose the dealership employee's, BMW/Mini, the buyer, etc., the story will unfold. If Coffeeman wants to pursue this, who are we to judge. I certainly would not be happy if I found out my new Mini was damaged before I received it. BMW/Mini and all insurance companies are keenly aware of the term "dimished value". They should, because they all lost lawsuits over it.

Coffeeman, please let everyone know what the final outcome is.

 

"You can go to Wal Mart and buy a shirt, find a hole in it a couple of months later and return it for a new one no questions asked! This is Wal Mart, not some fancy car corporation!"

He didn't find a hole in the shirt-- someone else looking at with the equivalent of a magnifying glass did. In the final analysis, the simple fact of the matter is that Coffeeman has repeatedly stepped on his coffee grinder crank over and over in this whole scenario:

1. He displayed poor planning and judgment regarding what car would ultimately serve his needs best.
2. He apparently optioned the car through the roof-- either not knowing or choosing not to heed the fact that options don't typically return a 1 for 1 value on resale
3. He apparently failed to perform an adequate pre-purchase inspection
4. He was unable to find the paint flaw on his own...couldn't have been TOO bad of a repaint job, could it?
5. He fails to recognize it's a car, not an objet d'art (thanks to the earlier poster who pointed this out)
6. He failed to step up and take responsibility for his own lack of situational awareness
7. He has displayed continuing bad judgment and incredible immaturity by creating a website/blog to trash BMW. It sounds like something a six year old would do (nah...on second thought, that's unfair to six year-olds)
8. He refuses to take responsibility for any of the above items I mentioned.

Nothing can be done with someone like Coffeeman, except let him run his course. Hopefully BMW/Mini will bleed him dry and make him go broke. In the meantime, it's given me an idea-- perhaps I should start a bulletin board so that I can start listing the names of scam-artists so that merchants and companies can be warned early so that they can be in a position to refuse people like Coffeeman services and products.

All I'm asking is that he take responsibility, start acting like an adult, and get past this and deal with it. Coffeeman, you're not going to end up owning BMW/Mini over this dumb thing...so let it rest and get on with your life.

Kent

 

...I will shut up on this topic now. This is supposed to be a fun place to offer and get mutual support...so I'll abide by that.

Kent

 

Agreed, hopefully all of us including Coffeeman can learn something from this.

 

I'm truly confused about this . . . where is the harm? So what if the quarter panel has been repainted . . . is the frame bent? Is there structural damage? Did it actually make the car worth less? Are you also going to sue a guy who accidentally backs into your car in a parking and pays to repair it with great fanfare and guilt . . . for diminution of value?

How about suing you own insurance company for repairing your car after an accident and not making you whole up to it's original value.

How about suing the guy who build your house because the hallway was repainted?

Holding the dealer and BMW to different standard is ridiculous. This sounds like a full employment plan for your local bar association.

I think the whole thing is bunch of crap and I suggest someone needs to get a life....

 

From the OP:
So, yes, the OP is claiming that it did indeed make the car worth less. (Though not worthless.)

 

I have to say that while I tend to agree that these kinds of things are what make cars cost more for all of us, I DON'T agree that the OP should just have to eat the difference in the diminished value of the car. It doesn't matter who did it, as long as it wasn't him - they are required to disclose and did not.

My guess is they will either A) pay him the dimished value difference or B) buy back the car minus mileage. BMW/MINI will do their research, find that the OP had no body/paint work done to the car, which leaves it in their lap. They're not going to go to trial over a few thousand dollars. They'll do the math, pay him, and it will be history.

 

Interesting.
This sounds very much like what happened to me and my 2001 Camaro SS.
After taking the car to have the rear end gears upgraded from the stock 3.24 ( or at least what thats what I thought I purchased ) up to 4.10s.

The tranny/rear end place I took it to when attempting to put the new gears in found and stated "the rear end you have does not go with this car" :| Ok $39,000 Camaro SS Convertible bought with less then $200 miles ( most of that caused by the dealership having the car driven down from another location ) having its rear end replaced.

I did much of the investigations you did. Calling the dealer I bought it from, the dealer they bought it from, SLP and GM. All had no paperwork showing ANY work every done to the rear end and what they all showed was a stock rear end with 3.42s as shown.

Although it most certainly did not.

Basically, in the end, I was told flat out by attorneys and GM, you have had the car for ( at the time ) 4 years and out of warrenty. YOU at any time during these 4 years could have had this done, or ANYONE could have done it without your knowledge. Everything we have shows no work. Sorry, NEXT...

BMW/Mini at any point can state flat out they sold you the car, and you accepted the car. If you did not notice this defect or work at that time.

They can say during the time you owned it, YOU had the work done, and done at a place that did not enter that work into the carfax place that shows major work done.

Don't want to burst your bubble but... I am sure BMW has good attorneys and even they can think of this.

 

Dude, you are talking about $20k car here, not a Bentley. Chill.

 

Ayup...

BMW and Carmax are both seeing something that is not listed under that VIN and want to know what happened.

I really do know the knots in your stomach if you had nothing to do with it. TRUST me, a new rear end for a Camaro aint pocket change either.

If you truly did not do this, or perhaps someone you know ( ie kids took the ole mini for a joy ride while dad was on vacation and bumped something and quickly got it fixed under the radar ) then give it a shot, although the worse that can happen is a judge says to bad so sad, or like the other case gives you a ton of bucks. but I have a feeling in that case, there were records of damage and they were trying to pull a fast one.

good luck.

 

I don't think that's fair. He's talking about a $35k car, actually. The difference in value could be a lot to some people - maybe not to you, but maybe to others. If he fees that money is worth his time then more power to him.

 

It's not a defect, there is nothing defective about the car.

As long as the car was never sold (registered) prior to the OP buying it, it is a new unit, and the manufacturer can "repair" anything about it, be it repainting a body component or replacing the exhaust or rebuilding or dropping an entire new engine into it.

Also, we also have to consider the manufacturers production specification, if the paint or color or thickness is within spec it's fine. Lets not lose sight of the fact this is not a 250K Alfa, or whatever. Production vehicles and their manufacturers have a minimum level of quality specification they require, if it meets that quality of spec and passes their quality inspection it's good to go.

I do work for a major motor vehicle manufacturer, I am not an atty but was in charge of handling the most escallated situations in customer relations for about 5 years -lemon law complaints, atty general complaints, the worst C/R cases, etc...

Take my word for it manufacturers do not just roll over on lemon law cases, and will dig their heels in in a case like this. All production vehicle companies have goodwill money they can use for those good customers who ask for assistance, but they will battle till the very end before they will give it to a customer who they have already lost, who is badmouthing them, or threatening to bad mouth them, or threatening filing a lawsuit or the biggest joke of all - a class action suit.

Believe me, they hear this stuff all the time, some people specialize in complaining about everything, from their donut in the morning, their lunch in the afternoon, and their beer not being cold enough at night.

Sorry if this is what you don't want to hear but it is what it is.