[drand]

Yesterday I was able to pickup my 135i at the dealership after dropping it off in Munich 6 weeks ago. I knew the wait was going to be hard, but it was more difficult than I expected. After patiently waiting for the truck, which must have taken the longest possible route between Port Hueneme and Salem possible, the car was finally ready. I picked it up with 5 miles more than it had when I dropped it off in Munich.

Within 5 minutes of leaving the dealership I had a low air pressure warning. I first thought that it was due to the TPM system needing to be reset but found a place to pullover and I checked the tire that was indicated as having the issue. It was totally flat. I called my CA who said that the service department just closed and that I should go ahead and drive it home and bring it in first thing in the morning. I went to the closest gas station and tried to put air in it but it wouldn't hold anything, all of the air would escape moments after filling it. So I drove it home and did not enjoy the evening as I thought I would, driving the car through the local hills.I was able to find a very large puncture, obviously from a nail.

The next morning I drove it to the dealership-a 20 mile drive, 15 of which are on a highway so I set the cruise at 50 and watched everyone pass me, not the driving experience I was expecting on the first morning with the car. I took it in and after looking at it and identifying the fact that they couldn't repair it, the first question they brought up was who was going to pay for it. I mentioned that had it happened today or tomorrow it would be a different question, but on the drive home from the dealership, I thought there was next to no chance that I did it, on the other hand, it really wasn't driven from the point that I left it. I could see this going either way and I could understand it if they didn't cover it.

Within 5 minutes they were back to let me know that the dealership was covering it but that they didn't have one in stock and they wouldn't have it until tomorrow afternoon. Within 5 minutes I was on my way out of the dealership with a '07 525 loaner, which while not my 135, is much better than the rental I have been driving for the last week.

I do have to say that I had a great sales experience with them, BMW of Salem (formally Delon) and with my CA, Jim Mannheimer and now that my first service experience thus far has been great. I really would have understood if they hadn't have covered the tire. Buying a new tire on my second day of having the car here would have been the last thing that I would have wanted, but there is a chance that I picked up the nail somewhere in the short time I was driving it. It wasn't the ideal experience I could have hoped for but the dealer really made up for it.