BMW 'Goodwill'

The beginning of the tract says it. It's not proof but testimony, which may be accepted/believed, or not. It does not say it is proof, as far as I can see.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

And I would guess, based partly on the spelling of your last sentence, that "Brittish english" is heavily influenced by you neighbors across the creek to your right. The words pronounced 'mE-t&r and 'lE-t&r are spelled (and pronounced as they appear) metre and litre in French.

-Fred W

Oh dear, oh dear, oh DEAR.

British English... one "t" in the first word, capital at the beginning of the second....:-)

I don't understand what you mean given that English is an evolution of (Norman) French. They are probably more influenced by English than vice versa. Their Academie Francaise is frantically trying to prevent the use of English words.

(US liter)

. noun a metric unit of capacity, formerly the volume of one kilogram of water under standard conditions, now equal to 1,000 cubic centimetres (about

1.75 pints).

- DERIVATIVES litreage noun.

- ORIGIN French, from Greek litra, a Sicilian monetary unit

Just for fun try "liter" in Merriam-Websters and then click on the Britannica link. Funny how the spelling changes to "litre". Britannica might be American-owned but it has an English (British English to you) heritage.

A meter is a device that measures something. You know the sort of thing? Thermometer. Light meter.

Remember what I said. Americans spell some words in a unique fashion.

You'll probably get the hang of it eventually.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

Sorry, you don't know what you talk about. Americans write practice with a C not an S, both the verb and the noun.

It's one of many third-party warranty companies -- you pay X per month and you get various levels of coverage. Used car dealers like to offer these warranties with used vehicles. They aren't in the oil change business, they don't care where you get it done, only that it has to be done by a professional. They give you little cards to have filled out by the garage and submitted every 3 months.

PITA in my opinion and unlikely to be a winning proposition, but lots of people buy them.

-Russ.

No, too many 13 hour working days on the trot... ;-)

But I haven't picked up the American habit of top posting. ;-)

The laugh is that for a private individual to be able to provide suitable receipts etc for the materials while not doing the change is unlikely.

Fast fit places in the UK let you watch while they change your oil and filter - as does my local independant specialist.

But my main dealer won't let you near the workshop - nor does it have a viewing room.

And a couple of services ago, I had an oil leak. Didn't know where from, but there was some on the road and on the undertray. So I checked the engine oil level which was near minimum, as I'd expect since it was almost due to be changed by the service indicator.

Had it serviced early by my main dealer, and the leak turned out to be from the steering reservoir.

On collecting the car, I discovered they hadn't cleaned the undertray. So I also checked the oil level. It was just over minimum *exactly* as before

- but the service lights had been reset. And the filter housing didn't

*look* like it had been touched.

The service manager said their bulk oil dispenser only delivers the correct amount of oil for each model, so it couldn't be under filled. So I invited him to check the dipstick. Doncha just love these people who think you can't use a dipstick?

They topped up the oil and steam cleaned the undertray while I waited. But I was now convinced they'd neither changed oil or filter, but merely reset the service indicator. Nor had they fixed the leak from the steering reservoir.

So I changed the oil and filter myself and fixed the leak having paid for it to be done and decided never to go near them again.

Years ago (early '80s) I was on jury service, and the first trial involved a couple of lads who were charged with stealing motorbikes. In the main, 'classic' British ones like Triumph, Norton and BSA. And breaking them (parting out) either to sell the bits, or make up hybrids for sale complete. So I perked up. ;-)

The defence council was very eloquent going on and on about poor police procedures. Contemporonious (sp?) notes? The prosecution council was weak - mainly trying to rubbish the defence. Although one of the police witnesses was ok, to me at least, but of course can only answer questions from either council. Which the prosecution didn't ask to my satisfaction.

One of the defence points was a large box of receipts that the defendants had provided - adding up to several thousands of pounds. They were saying that they'd bought all the stolen bikes found in their possession (some six lockup garages worth) in good faith.

I asked if we (the jury) could examine them. And they were all for the sort of bits you can't steal off the road - like oil, filters, plugs, points, gaskets, etc. Ie disposables. Not one for a bike, or spares from one.

The point of this?

Well, forging a service history of a DIY serviced car would be more trouble than simply doing that DIY servicing.

Can I now grovel and say I've been whipped to within an inch of my life - nice, any more offers - because I got one letter wrong. I've already burnt my spool cheeker.

And a receipt from an oil change place only proves that you paid someone to change the oil. An inescrupulous service guy might've just charged for the change but not changed the oil at all. This scenario is more likely than yours because a shop has a reason to cheat. A car owner has no logical reason to be buying the oil and supplies, not actually changing the oil, *and* falsifying his own log book.

Even though I do agree, let me play the devil's advocate and present one possibility. I own a total of "X" cars. I buy lots of oil change supplies. If I was cheap (and foolish) I could buy 1/Xth of the supplies that I do now and have ample "proof" of service.

Of course I would not do any of this since none of my cars are ever under warranty. ;-)

-Fred W

Only if they all recommended the same oil and used the same filter?

The BMW dealer near my place has a viewing area, glass walls on the shop, and vairous cameras throughout which are connected to monitors scattered around the showroom.

They also have a 4 story tall glass-walled elevator containing a conveyer holding 8 cars, for a rather stunning visual display from the road.

-Russ.

Exactly. When I owned a '66 Silver Shadow, everyone was amazed I worked on it, citing it's incredibly complex technology. That tech was complex all right - when I was born! The car was incredibly simple to work on - the engine bay had scads more room than anything I've ever owned. I also heard the opposite once on a Porsche 356 list - a shop owner insisting that a 356 couldn't be properly aligned without the latest Hunter alignment laser technology. How prescient of the Porsche engineers to build a car that would stay aligned for 50 years, until technology could catch up!

Even if I restricted myself to only waving at other E46s, my arm would fall off - they're everywhere. Emanuel

:-D

Malt_Hound haute in die Tasten:

Skoda has been taken over by VW some 10 years ago. Today all Skodas are more or less the same quality than VWs, they are based on the same platform, share engines and powertrains. VW quality may not be best on the market if you compare it with Lexus or Toyota, but it definitely is not bad enough to use it for jokes. The Skodas of the soviet era have virtually disappeared from the streets of western Europe, while a contemporary Skoda Octavia seems to be a god alternative to the new VW Jetta, because it looks better, is cheaper and shares the mailn technical components.

Frank

bd snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com haute in die Tasten:

In Germany a BMW 7' series with gas engine loses up to 50% of his value in the first two years. Over 80% of these cars are operated as company cars, so you can take away the operation cost and the actual payment for buying it from your gross income (result = lower tax payments). In return you have to pay taxes for 1% of the tag price per month to cover your private usage of the car. The tax deduction is possible for

4 years, but the fee for private usage runs as long as you keep the car. This means, if you buy a 7 year old BMW for 15.000 Euro and run it as a company car, you can deduct 3.750 Euros per year from your income, but you have to add 1.000 Euro (1% of the original price tag of 100.000 Euro) to your taxable income per month for the private usage. This makes it very unpractical to operate an used car as company car, and it also makes it very unpractical to keep the car longer than 4 years. OTOH most ordinarily employed people, who simply want to buy a car, are not able neither to spend 30.000$ off their net income for an used car nor to properly maintain a 12 cylinder high end sedan. This makes it quite difficult to sell an used BMW 7' series company car. To add some trouble, according to EU laws, a company which sells a car to a private person, has to maintain a warranty of at least 12 months. So many company cars are exported to countries like Russia, but of course the russian demand is not endless;-)

BMW does not care for this at all. Those who buy an used 7' series are obviously not able to buy a new one, otherwise they would. So it does not make sense for BMW to give away expensive "Goodwill" goods to them. When I brought my 8 year old BMW 325i convertible to a BMW factory operated service station for major inspection (and payed more than 1000$), they even refused to give me a loaner car for free for the time. Now my car is being serviced by a free mechanican, I pay half the prices and he even lends me his old VW transporter to get me and my backpack from my home to my office;-)

Frank

Frank

The drive shaft broke down on my 2002 e39 530dA touring in January - around 160.000 kms' driven. They did not contribute anything. Replacement cost around £500. Car fully serviced at BMW.

It took three weeks for them to get the spare parts - and that is what really bothered me... I would expect BMW to be better than that on getting the spare parts quicker.

** Lars