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.
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