Tischer BMW

A heavy rubber object, presumably tread from a truck (i.e. "18-wheeler"), slammed into the side of my car, a 2007 BMW X5 of mint condition, while I was driving on the I-495 Capital beltway early one morning, damaging the side-view mirror. Specifically, the side-view mirror fell off and was lost. No other apparent damage occurred aside from the rubber markings of the door panel and side-view mirror cover.

The car was taken the next day to the Tischer BMW dealership in Silver Spring, MD. A very courteous and friendly service representative, Juan, reviewed the damage, including the mechanism that folds the entire side-view mirror in and out; and he only noted the mirror to be missing but no other problems (i.e., the folding mechanism was intact).

In hopes of simply replacing the mirror, he retrieved one from the parts department, and along with a mechanic, tried to replace it. He was unsuccessful, and he and the mechanic informed me that the motor that controls the mirror, which the mirror attaches to, not the folding mechanism, must be missing along with the fallen mirror.Therefore, the car needed to stay for further repair. Fine.

I was called that afternoon and was told that the car was ready and the repair was made. No problem, I thought. I picked up the car, and upon inspection, I thought that everything was in order--the mirror was in place and the motor controlling the mirror worked fine. When I got home, I proceeded to fold the entire side-view mirror in which I always do upon parking the car for the night, only to find that it did not move! Remember, 1) we tested it prior to leaving the car and it worked fine, and 2) I was told that the repair was complete--mirror and underlying motor.

The point of this letter is that my confidence in the work that this dealership conducts has fallen significantly! The dealership's lack of diligence in fixing my mirror was obvious. I could easily see that it was not checked out after all of the work was supposedly completed. What if it were an engine problem which completeness I could not verify? Then what?

Finally, when all of this was pointed out, after I had to spend more significant amounts of time taking the car back and picking it up, the service representative suggested that this problem was present when the car was initially damaged. Really? Why wasn't it damaged when another rep and I looked at it initially? Also, why wasn't it fixed if it was broken?! I'm not a mechanic! That is why I spend the extra cash to take my car to a supposedly competent mechanic (i.e. dealership). This should have been checked out before turning the car back over to me and telling me that it was fixed!

My car warning system alerted me that my tire pressure was low. I took it to TISCHER BMW for them to check it out. I was told my car was also due for a scheduled maintainance service for which I gave the ok. While at work I recd a call from the service writer that the tire pressure problem was due to a nail in the tire. He told me the cost to have it replaced (RUN FLAT TIRES).I then informed him that the tires were insured and therefore can be replaced without any cost to me. He then informed me that I would have to take the car back to where I purchased to have it repaired. I called my dealership and they told me quite the opposite.

I was provided a tel # and was told to give it to the service writer at TISCHER BMW. The service writer took the info and said he would take care of it. at around 4:30pm I recd a call from the service writer, informing me that my car will most likely be ready the next day as he was having trouble faxing the info to the insurance co regarding pmt for the tire and even if the fax was to go through at this time (4:30pm+)the insurance co would not respond this late in the day. After hanging up I called the ins co. They told me not only did they recv the info from TISCHER, they had already responded with the authorization for the repairs to be done. I then called back the service writer and infomed him that the info he needed was sitting in his office.

After a short while i recd a call from TISCHER telling me that my car was ready to be picked up and I still had to pay $10+ for the overage in repair cost. Now the thing that baffles me is,WHY DID I HAVE TO DO THE LEGWORK TO HAVE MY VEHICLE REPAIRED?, AND WHY WAS I LIED TO ABOUT HAVING IT REPAIRED AT THE DEALERSHIP WHERE I BOUGHT IT FROM 9 MONTHS AGO? I MADE A CALL TO SEVERAL OTHER DEALERSHIPS THE NEXT DAY AND ASKED HOW THEY WOULD HAVE ADDRESSED MY TIRE ISSUE....EVERY JACK ONE WANTED TO SCHEDULE ME FOR AN APPOINTMENT TO HAVE IT FIXED AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO ME. SO WHY WAS THE SERVICE WRITER AT TISCHER SO ILL-INFORMED. WHY DID I HAVE TO DO HIS WORK AND BE CHARGED FOR IT. I HAVE NEVER ONCE PLAYED THE RACE OR MINORITY CARD IN MY 30 PLUS YEARS IN THIS COUNTRYBUT DAMN!

I own a 1997 BMW 540i that I purchased used in 09/2000 from CarMax with 76000 miles on it. I took it in to Tischer almost immediately for inspection based on recommmendations of other BMW owners. Three months later, in December of 2000, I took it back to Tischer for a full inspection service, which included replacing the spark plugs. At the time, the car had 79900 miles on it. Since then, I have taken it to Tischer exclusively for service or repairs.

In April of this year, I took it in to Tischer again for an oil change. Soon after I left them, the check engine light came on and the car started misfiring slightly at idle. I parked the car until I found the time to take it back to Tischer. I started it up occasionally, or drove it just enough to keep the battery charged, and the misfire became progressively worse. Finally, on May 24, I called Tischer to ask to bring the car in for repair, but they said they would not be able to look at it until June 1 at the earliest. I was very concerned about the severity of the problem, so I took it to an independent BMW mechanic. At this point, the car had 101,500 miles on it.

The check engine light was caused by the failure of the cam sensor. He replaced the sensor, but the car continued to misfire. After further diagnostic tests, he found that the spark plug on cylinder #2 had worked its way loose, to the extend that the threaded hole in which it was installed was badly damaged. When I asked him how the problem started, he stated that most likely the spark plug was not sufficiently tightened when it was installed. When he said that, he was under the impression that the spark plugs had just been replaced, but I found that the plugs had actually been last replaced in December of 2000. He told me that it is entirely feasible that the spark plug could take that long to work loose.

Tischer has up to now stated that the spark plugs are out of warranty, and they have no responsibility to cover the repairs. I feel that I have a reasonable basis to believe that this problem was caused by their mistake.