[thebmw]

Originally Posted by MadOzodi

My first guess would be Plaza Motors.

Here is another reason the OP needs to clarify the dealer. People are now going to guess, leading to potentially inappropriate blame being placed on the wrong dealership. OP, you opened up a can of worms. Now let us know who the worms belong to!

[MadOzodi]

Originally Posted by thebmw

Here is another reason the OP needs to clarify the dealer. People are now going to guess, leading to potentially inappropriate blame being placed on the wrong dealership. OP, you opened up a can of worms. Now let us know who the worms belong to!

WORMS!!!

Seriously, though...there are really only 2 other BMW dealerships aside from Plaza. I only name them as my guess because of my family's past experience with them; we quit giving them ANY of our business back in the early '90s.

My dad bought his first 5 series from what is now called BMW of West St. Louis, and his more recent, 2nd 5 series from Autohaus BMW.

IMO, Plaza Motors makes so much $$$ they can take ALL the inappropriate blame for any BMW dealership in the state!

[thebmw]

Originally Posted by MadOzodi

IMO, Plaza Motors makes so much $$$ they can take ALL the inappropriate blame for any BMW dealership in the state!

There are some dealerships that are so notorious, they should always be avoided.

[mcompact]

I worked at a BMW dealer for eighteen months; one of my responsibilities was lease turn-ins. I can tell you without hesitation that nothing made me happier than to find that a turn-in was already inspected. I don't know what the OP dealer's scam was, but I used an iPad that was logged into BMW FS; when a VIN was entered I knew immediately if the car had already been inspected. If that was the case the only "inspection" I performed was to verify the vehicle mileage for the Federal odometer statement.

As an aside, I was never encouraged to pad inspected cars with extra wear and tear charges; if anything, the opposite was the case. For example, if a car comes in with any maintenance due BMW charges a flat $750. What I would do is run the car through service and have the work performed before the car was grounded so that the lessee did not get dinged for the charge. In one case the lessee was a repeat customer and the car was absolutely immaculate when turned in. The tires were all a tiny bit below 4/32 but the New Car Manager and I decided to let it slide due to the overall condition of the car.

Sometimes lessees would go ahead and replace the tires prior to turn-in. The problem was that they often went to Billy Bob's Laundromat, Tanning Salon, and Expert Tire Service and would get regular tires installed instead of run-flats. A couple of tire shops even told the customers, "BMW don't care about them tires jest as long as they are new." While I didn't care if the tires were OEM or not, they did have to be the OEM size- and have the same or higher speed rating and be RFTs if that was how the car was equipped when new. I remember at least two turn-ins that had a different brand tire at each corner- and another one that had shiny new Chinesium Ditchfinder Supremes installed.

I know that everyone at our Center preferred third party inspections- and wished BMW made that a policy rather than an option.

[thebmw]

Originally Posted by mcompact

I worked at a BMW dealer for eighteen months; one of my responsibilities was lease turn-ins. I can tell you without hesitation that nothing made me happier than to find that a turn-in was already inspected.

Some dealerships and their respective leadership and employees are great. Others, not so much. All the more reason the OP should disclose the offending dealership (and even the employees who worked on his case).

[Mjpgolf1]

Originally Posted by mcompact

I worked at a BMW dealer for eighteen months; one of my responsibilities was lease turn-ins. I can tell you without hesitation that nothing made me happier than to find that a turn-in was already inspected. I don't know what the OP dealer's scam was, but I used an iPad that was logged into BMW FS; when a VIN was entered I knew immediately if the car had already been inspected. If that was the case the only "inspection" I performed was to verify the vehicle mileage for the Federal odometer statement.

As an aside, I was never encouraged to pad inspected cars with extra wear and tear charges; if anything, the opposite was the case. For example, if a car comes in with any maintenance due BMW charges a flat $750. What I would do is run the car through service and have the work performed before the car was grounded so that the lessee did not get dinged for the charge. In one case the lessee was a repeat customer and the car was absolutely immaculate when turned in. The tires were all a tiny bit below 4/32 but the New Car Manager and I decided to let it slide due to the overall condition of the car.

Sometimes lessees would go ahead and replace the tires prior to turn-in. The problem was that they often went to Billy Bob's Laundromat, Tanning Salon, and Expert Tire Service and would get regular tires installed instead of run-flats. A couple of tire shops even told the customers, "BMW don't care about them tires jest as long as they are new." While I didn't care if the tires were OEM or not, they did have to be the OEM size- and have the same or higher speed rating and be RFTs if that was how the car was equipped when new. I remember at least two turn-ins that had a different brand tire at each corner- and another one that had shiny new Chinesium Ditchfinder Supremes installed.

I know that everyone at our Center preferred third party inspections- and wished BMW made that a policy rather than an option.

This is exactly how we do business as well. Myself and most all of our employees go above and beyond to help our customers have a wonderful experience so they continue to do business with us. Unfortunately guys like the one listed in the OP give all of us a bad name. Also you never know how long this guy will even work there. BMW in general is extremely strict when it comes to making sure their dealers are taking excellent care of their customers. So people like that won’t last long.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by CP911

It's on you, as the consumer, to either choose to educate yourself or continue getting taken advantage of throughout your life.

Indeed. We are choosing to be educated in terms of knowing the name of the offending dealership. However, the OP is refusing us that knowledge. Now who's to blame for that, eh?

Other than the statement above, you're far off-base with most of your post. For decades -- well before the internet, Kelley Blue Book, CarMax and Saturn's no-haggle pricing model, etc. etc. etc. -- the fundamental problem with the dealership model has been twofold:

- the attempted fleecing of uneducated consumers, and
- the attempted fleecing of stereotyped consumers (best example: women)

The internet age has corrected a good portion of this because its far, far easier for an average consumer to be educated. However, as I stated in a previous post, many dealerships have not adjusted their business models accordingly. Plainly -- as evidenced by the two posts above by current or ex-dealership employees -- the OP's dealership is one of those that has not adjusted. We deserve to know that dealership's name. Period.

[thebmw]

Originally Posted by Viffermike

Indeed. We are choosing to be educated in terms of knowing the name of the offending dealership. However, the OP is refusing us that knowledge. Now who's to blame for that, eh?

Other than the statement above, you're far off-base with most of your post. For decades -- well before the internet, Kelley Blue Book, CarMax and Saturn's no-haggle pricing model, etc. etc. etc. -- the fundamental problem with the dealership model has been twofold:

- the attempted fleecing of uneducated consumers, and
- the attempted fleecing of stereotyped consumers (best example: women)

The internet age has corrected a good portion of this because its far, far easier for an average consumer to be educated. However, as I stated in a previous post, many dealerships have not adjusted their business models accordingly. Plainly -- as evidenced by the two posts above by current or ex-dealership employees -- the OP's dealership is one of those that has not adjusted. We deserve to know that dealership's name. Period.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

[CP911]

Originally Posted by Viffermike

Indeed. We are choosing to be educated in terms of knowing the name of the offending dealership. However, the OP is refusing us that knowledge. Now who's to blame for that, eh?

Other than the statement above, you're far off-base with most of your post. For decades -- well before the internet, Kelley Blue Book, CarMax and Saturn's no-haggle pricing model, etc. etc. etc. -- the fundamental problem with the dealership model has been twofold:

- the attempted fleecing of uneducated consumers, and
- the attempted fleecing of stereotyped consumers (best example: women)

The internet age has corrected a good portion of this because its far, far easier for an average consumer to be educated. However, as I stated in a previous post, many dealerships have not adjusted their business models accordingly. Plainly -- as evidenced by the two posts above by current or ex-dealership employees -- the OP's dealership is one of those that has not adjusted. We deserve to know that dealership's name. Period.

Nice try, but I still argue that if you are considering doing business with a particular dealership, it's on you to do your due diligence beforehand by seeking out feedback and reviews for that particular dealership. If the dealership is shady, I promise you will find out by doing your due diligence. Instead, you are demanding and proclaiming "we deserve" to know as if OP is in the wrong for not publicly shaming a dealership when he is clearly not comfortable doing so for a likely conflict of interest... Let's grow up, shall we?

[1gkek]

Another update (on what I thought was a done deal)...

In MO we pay a personal property tax on every vehicle we own every December. On a leased BMW, BMWFS pays the tax (since they own the car) and then passes along the charge to the lessee. Perfectly normal. When I terminated the lease early, BMWFS charged me an estimated amount for the tax. All well and good.

Apparently the lease return people don't communicate with the tax people at BMWFS. I got notice in the mail that I owed the tax on my leased vehicle. The good news is that the estimated amount I overpaid at lease termination was ~$130 more than the actual amount I paid so they're sending me a refund of the overage. The only bad news is that it took BMWFS around a week to realize the error after I "sent them a message" via the MYBMW site.

Never "send them a message" via the site. It's at least a 24hr turnaround time each way. Just a terrible response time. I should have called them.

[Elvisfan]

He doesn’t have to name the dealer. Based on the speculation here,he could open himself up to a lawsuit. It’s not a waste of time. You know the area he was in. And you someone may try to fudge the number on tires. Why is pure speculation.
I bought a CPO car. Brakes were supposed at a certain point. 3,000 miles later I’m told I need brakes. Not the same dealer. I went back to the mfg and questioned the measurement on the brakes. They said the brakes were at 50% at the time of the sale. They wouldn’t help. Perhaps the tech measured wrong. Perhaps the dealer didn’t want to do a brake job. Who knows. You can’t just start naming names.