My 2015 BMW I3 was acting badly, when I tried to charge it at a standard charging station, but it would kick off and require me to reset the charger several times. I know it was not the charger because I use the same one with a friend's car and it worked fine. The range till empty indicator was also acting funny: jumping for 70 mile remaining to 45 in a instant. I have babied the car its entire life, only charge the battery to 80% and only charged at night, when it was cool. I called the Melbourne BMW dealer, who quoted a diagnosis charge of $198.00, I told them the electrical drive train and battery had a 8 year/100000 mile warranty -so I still had a year left. I was told: "I would get my money back if the problem was found to be the battery or charging system." When I arrived at the dealer, they announced that "because it is an electric car the pre-diagnosis charge was double $398.00 because electrical car are a problem." The service tech told me coming in it was probably the AC unit because they have been have problems with I3 AC; so my $398 would go toward fixing AC unit. One week later, I was called to pick up my car, 20 min later I get a automated text from my BMW telling me the car has a "drive train malfunction". I called the dealer and was told, car did not run after the checkout and is still undergoing repair and not to come in. Next day I was told to Uber to the dealer, all fixed! When I arrived I was told nothing was wrong with the car -Not ever! I was charged 398.00 for wasting their time. I called BMW of North America Electric car consumer group, told them my story; asked if they will stand behind their warranty? Why did I have to pay $398 for a warranty item???
I was told "BMW Group do not dictate what their service centers charge for service." They could not help -and were rude - Never buy a BMW!
Conclusion- this is my fourth run in with BMW and its dealer -each time losing the car for a week or more, BMW is not ready to deal with electric cars, do not buy electric or any other BMW unless you have deep pockets.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
My 2015 BMW I3 was acting badly, when I tried to charge it at a standard charging station, but it would kick off and require me to reset the charger several times. I know it was not the charger because I use the same one with a friend's car and it worked fine. The range till empty indicator was also acting funny: jumping for 70 mile remaining to 45 in a instant. I have babied the car its entire life, only charge the battery to 80% and only charged at night, when it was cool. I called the Melbourne BMW dealer, who quoted a diagnosis charge of $198.00, I told them the electrical drive train and battery had a 8 year/100000 mile warranty -so I still had a year left. I was told: "I would get my money back if the problem was found to be the battery or charging system." When I arrived at the dealer, they announced that "because it is an electric car the pre-diagnosis charge was double $398.00 because electrical car are a problem." The service tech told me coming in it was probably the AC unit because they have been have problems with I3 AC; so my $398 would go toward fixing AC unit. One week later, I was called to pick up my car, 20 min later I get a automated text from my BMW telling me the car has a "drive train malfunction". I called the dealer and was told, car did not run after the checkout and is still undergoing repair and not to come in. Next day I was told to Uber to the dealer, all fixed! When I arrived I was told nothing was wrong with the car -Not ever! I was charged 398.00 for wasting their time. I called BMW of North America Electric car consumer group, told them my story; asked if they will stand behind their warranty? Why did I have to pay $398 for a warranty item???
I was told "BMW Group do not dictate what their service centers charge for service." They could not help -and were rude - Never buy a BMW!
Conclusion- this is my fourth run in with BMW and its dealer -each time losing the car for a week or more, BMW is not ready to deal with electric cars, do not buy electric or any other BMW unless you have deep pockets.
- Scott H., Satellite Beach, FL, US