Theft Recovery Systems & European Delivery

[champignon]

Earlier on in the week I posted in the general 1 Series Coupe forum about a battery drain issue in my 1M, that ultimately proved to be due to a theft recovery system that was installed in the vehicle, unbeknownst to me, and which was found through extensive sleuthing at my BMW dealer's service department by a crack tech. The module was spliced into harness wiring and was located, I believe, under a rear passenger seat. It has since been removed, but I have not yet reclaimed the vehicle from the dealer, as I am not in town at the moment.

Logically speaking, I'm 99% sure that this is an aftermarket part that was installed by the prior owner in an independent shop of some sort, although the tech working on the car told me that there are a few BMW dealers who install stuff like that, even though it is not approved nor warranted by BMW. The original selling dealer was one located in Toronto, Endrus BMW. The car was actually delivered in Germany, however, under European delivery.

I know the odds are remote, but I am trying to find out if there is any possibility that BMW itself might install such a system on a car delivered in Europe under European Delivery. On doing a VIN lookup, I see that the car was equipped with the option called "302 Alarm System." I am assuming that this is some sort of standard BMW option and not what I am describing was installed on this car. There is also "6AA BMW Teleservices" and "6AB Control Teleservices," which I am assuming have nothing at all to do with this.

Thanks for any information that anyone can supply. If it turned out that what was put in the car was put in there by BMW, then perhaps I would have a chance to get BMW to pay for this repair and new battery, although I think the odds of BMW having had anything to do with this are probably very slim.

[eeghie]

Originally Posted by champignon

... I see that the car was equipped with the option called "302 Alarm System." I am assuming that this is some sort of standard BMW option and not what I am describing was installed on this car. There is also "6AA BMW Teleservices" and "6AB Control Teleservices," which I am assuming have nothing at all to do with this.

Thanks for any information that anyone can supply. ...

This is the unfavorable answer you've been expecting: #302 is the factory alarm and I'm 100% sure there are no parts of that underneath the rear seat. Although alarm cable routing passes the rear seat at the driver seat towards the rear wheel well. The other 2 vehicle options 6XX are processed in your combox (in the trunk)

Option 818 (BATTERIEHAUPTSCHALTER) includes a battery main switch that during the PDI is usually partly removed and disconnected and the connector is left barren underneath the rears seats. The connector however does not have any electrical potential and thus could not cause drainage

[champignon]

I managed to get ahold of the original owner of the car in Toronto, whom I had spoken to a couple of months ago shortly after buying the car. He had purchased the car with European delivery in Germany, then returned the car to Munich where it was shipped to his dealer in the Toronto area, where it underwent a second pre-delivery inspection before being returned to him.

This gentleman DID NOT have any such device installed in the car, did not pay for it and did not have it in the car to his knowledge at any time. He did tell me that he was warned on picking up the car originally in Germany, that there are a lot of thefts of expensive German cars from people doing European Delivery of their vehicles for later shipment to other places. Apparently, once stolen within Europe, these cars are then usually shipped in containers to Russia or the Balkans.

I did not buy this car from the original owner; he sold it to a 2nd hand dealer in Montreal, who then sold it to me. There is certainly the possibility that the 2nd hand dealer in Quebec might have installed this device prior to selling it, however that doesn't make much sense if their intention was simply to sell it for a profit and move on.

So, this raises the possibility that this anti-theft device was installed by BMW prior to the European delivery, or less likely in the port before shipment to Canada. It is not inconceivable (at least to me) that with a high value and rare car like this, delivered in Europe, that BMW might choose to put something like this into a car during a period of risk of theft while the car was being driven around on a pleasure trip by a foreign tourist, that the protocol in that situation is that the thing should be removed at the port before onward shipment, and that this was not done by accident.

Could this be possible?

[eeghie]

Originally Posted by champignon

I managed to get ahold of the original owner of the car in Toronto, whom I had spoken to a couple of months ago shortly after buying the car. He had purchased the car with European delivery in Germany, then returned the car to Munich where it was shipped to his dealer in the Toronto area, where it underwent a second pre-delivery inspection before being returned to him.

This gentleman DID NOT have any such device installed in the car, did not pay for it and did not have it in the car to his knowledge at any time. He did tell me that he was warned on picking up the car originally in Germany, that there are a lot of thefts of expensive German cars from people doing European Delivery of their vehicles for later shipment to other places. Apparently, once stolen within Europe, these cars are then usually shipped in containers to Russia or the Balkans.

I did not buy this car from the original owner; he sold it to a 2nd hand dealer in Montreal, who then sold it to me. There is certainly the possibility that the 2nd hand dealer in Quebec might have installed this device prior to selling it, however that doesn't make much sense if their intention was simply to sell it for a profit and move on.

So, this raises the possibility that this anti-theft device was installed by BMW prior to the European delivery, or less likely in the port before shipment to Canada. It is not inconceivable (at least to me) that with a high value and rare car like this, delivered in Europe, that BMW might choose to put something like this into a car during a period of risk of theft while the car was being driven around on a pleasure trip by a foreign tourist, that the protocol in that situation is that the thing should be removed at the port before onward shipment, and that this was not done by accident.

Could this be possible?

Like many others, I did EU delivery, but an undisclosed Factory tracking/anti-Theft device story has not yet come to light. Theoretically it's still possible, but if you want to determine its origin and whether BMW installed it, I'd proceed with getting your hands on the device and getting details on how/where (which wires, which colors etc) it was spliced.

[champignon]

Originally Posted by eeghie

Like many others, I did EU delivery, but an undisclosed Factory tracking/anti-Theft device story has not yet come to light. Theoretically it's still possible, but if you want to determine its origin and whether BMW installed it, I'd proceed with getting your hands on the device and getting details on how/where (which wires, which colors etc) it was spliced.

The dealership still has the device, I'm assuming, although it has been removed. I'll try to do a little sleuthing after I pick up the car. I also contacted the actual seller, the 2nd hand exotic car dealer in Montreal, to see if they put it in, which I would doubt.

In the end probably no one will own up to having put it in there, is my guess.

There must be a lot of thefts of high end European delivery cars. When you look at the BMW European Delivery brochure, they provide extensive insurance coverage for the cars while in Europe, however there is a 10% deductible for theft, kind of high for a car that likely has a week or two of ownership ex factory.

Addendum: I have now contacted the 2nd hand exotic car dealer who sold me the car from Montreal. They adamantly deny placing such a device in the car, and I can't come up with a reason why they would have put one in. I think BMW put the device in the car, but we shall see if they admit it when my dealership calls them.

[champignon]

Update from my Idaho dealer's service department:

The removed device has "Made in Canada" as its only marking on the outside. Someone in Canada is either lying or has a faulty memory. I guess there is a chance that the BMW dealer in Toronto installed this, but I'd doubt that also. BMW in Germany would not install a part that says "Made in Canada" like this and in this fashion.

[eeghie]

Originally Posted by champignon

... although I think the odds of BMW having had anything to do with this are probably very slim.

Originally Posted by champignon

The dealership still has the device, I'm assuming, ... In the end probably no one will own up to having put it in there, is my guess.

There must be a lot of thefts of high end European delivery cars. When you look at the BMW European Delivery brochure, they provide extensive insurance coverage for the cars while in Europe, however there is a 10% deductible for theft, kind of high for a car that likely has a week or two of ownership ex factory.

My impressions of the ED insurance conditions vs the EU theft risk did not raise concerns. Granted that many EU local policies have zero theft deductible, the ED insurance only applies in the first two weeks of ownership, when the car value will typically deteriorate at its highest rate. Also ED-ers, hardly able to assess local 'wrong' spots and neighborhoods as they're moving around through an unfamiliar continent, may contribute to the higher theft deductible. More importantly if any elevated (1M) ED theft-risk was found and BMW spend effort to install tracking devices, I'd expect them to spin that with marketing efforts to somehow reflect positively on them.

So far I totally get why, in spite of the odds, you're researching this: beyond responsibility, it sucks to not understand why batteries die or in general why stuff goes wrong. Once you get the device in hand, with help of the forum community, the highest likelihood scenario will soon emerge.

[champignon]

The only other potential source of information I could think of at this stage was the BMW dealer in Toronto. I just called their service dept. and the person I spoke with pulled up all the records on the vehicle. Their dealership does NOT install this type of device and looking over all the records on this 1M, there was no mention of anything like this being installed in the car.

Lojack, according to their website, has ceased installing this product in cars within Canada for a while, so there is no way that the 2nd hand dealer from whom I bought the car would have been able to put it in, even if they had wanted to, 3 months ago. The fact that the module was hidden in a hard to find location in the vehicle fits perfectly the stated procedure that Lojack uses/used.

So the only logical conclusion is that the original owner had it put in, and either doesn't remember having done so, or was not truthful with me on the phone. Otherwise you have to get into some far fetched scheme involving the FBI, CIA (or Canadian equivalents), Russian Maffia, or whatever. Usually the simplest explanation is the most likely, so that is my guess.

When I get my hands on the POS, I'll take a picture of it and post it here.