BMW MINI - Bloody dealerships

Hi all,

I have issues with a BMW MINI. The vehicle is owned by my partner, she purchased it used at about 2 years old with about 40k miles on it. Since taking ownership she took it into the shop multiple times to be checked as the alignment was well out and the car physically pulled over bumps / lumps in the road and eventually they ended up replacing a wishbone and saying it was fixed. The vehicle went in about 6-7 times over this period and she was told it was her driving style, that "all MINI's drive like that", It's a heavy car (It's Paceman... Hardly an X5!) the fact it has run flats etc etc. We test drove the vehicle side by side another Paceman and the two were night and day different, despite the dealership saying they were not and there was no fault technically with her car or how it drove.

This wasn't the case and fast forward nearly 12 months later I ended up taking it to the financial ombudsman who requested an independent examination. This showed that there is a fault with the geometry of the vehicle likely from a side impact at some point. This is great news! However, Due to the time taken to get to this stage they said they cannot guarantee that the vehicle wasn't impacted since taking ownership...

The financial ombudsman has decided they will uphold this and they are not able to support me any further.

My query is that we cannot remember the dates that the vehicle went into the dealership for work with no fault found. What the dealership said is that if there is no work to be completed then the job is deleted and no record is kept (Which I find hard to believe).

I am after a bit of advise here, Am I being fed a line? Should this information be held somewhere, if so how can I get to it?

To be so close and yet so far is very very frustrating.

Thank you

Did you phone to book it in? Check phone records.

Did you email to complain? Check Emails for dates.

Do you let google track you? Look back in your timeline and see when you were there.

Did you send text messages to each other/other people around the time is was in getting looked at? Check messages.

Did you take time off work to get it sorted? Check work leave requests.

Was the car bought on finance? (at least partly?) If so, contact your finance company about it, they may be able to help.

I would have thought the garage would keep a record of what their staff were working on each day, so they should have a record in my mind.

Did you phone to book it in? Check phone records. - Already on that one!

Did you email to complain? Check Emails for dates. - No

Do you let google track you? Look back in your timeline and see when you were there. - Nope

Did you send text messages to each other/other people around the time is was in getting looked at? Check messages. - New phone means a lot of the messages are gone, However going to try old facebook messages

Did you take time off work to get it sorted? Check work leave requests. - No dropped off in the morning and picked up after work

Was the car bought on finance? (at least partly?) If so, contact your finance company about it, they may be able to help. - Yes, BMW Mini Finance. They couldn't find a fault with the dealer....

I would have thought the garage would keep a record of what their staff were working on each day, so they should have a record in my mind. - Me too... Seems odd. I get this from Audi or Mercedes for my cars...

Can't you contact previous owner see if they can shed some light on any damage that car had , did dealership supply you with an HPI certificate , also dealership should of done a PDI ( pre delivery inspection ) before you bought it , which should of shown up any faults as the independent inspection the obudsman got you to do did, how long you had the car ? Was it before

Oct 2015 ?

You need to do a Subject Access Request (SAR). It should cost you a maximum of £10 (I think) and they should supply all the information that they hold on you/the subject matter. Google it.

Sent from my SM-T715 using Tapatalk

Can't you contact previous owner see if they can shed some light on any damage that car had , did dealership supply you with an HPI certificate , also dealership should of done a PDI ( pre delivery inspection ) before you bought it , which should of shown up any faults as the independent inspection the obudsman got you to do did, how long you had the car ? Was it before

Oct 2015 ?

I don't know who they are. It was a dealership car apparently. I will check the V5!

You need to do a Subject Access Request (SAR). It should cost you a maximum of £10 (I think) and they should supply all the information that they hold on you/the subject matter. Google it.

Sent from my SM-T715 using Tapatalk

Is that a legal binding thing? They've already supposedly given us everything they hold, which is what the invoice. They say they delete the records after the visit if it's not invoiced...

Sell the f**k'er and buy a different car

Contact BMW head office and explain how you've been treated. They will be interested to hear how one of the branches is giving the brand a bad name.

Also contact trading standards and explain the situation.

Also contact DVSA see if they can help with you being sold a damaged repaired car.

All else fails, trade it in at the same dealer - dump the problem right back on them!