Mr A v BMW Financial Services
Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Mr A acquired a brand new BMW 640i M Sport Convertible in July 2018 for nearly £70,000 by way of a hire purchase agreement from BMW Financial Services.
Almost immediately after taking delivery of the Vehicle Mr A experienced problems with it which the supplying dealer tried to repair.
However, this was just the first of what would be around a dozen occasions the Vehicle displayed faults, causing Mr A to return it to the BMW dealer. These included faults with the:
- adaptive headlights
- park assist
- reversing camera
- heated rear windscreen
- speakers
- centre armrest
- convertible hood
- driver assist
- wing mirror camera
- head up display
As a result of the Vehicle continually presenting faults and some faults failing to be repaired by the dealer, Mr A rejected the Vehicle. Both the finance company and the dealer refused they request and did not uphold the complaint. Mr A instructed Stormcatcher Law, a specialist automotive law firm, to deal with the car rejection.
Stormcatcher Law wrote to BMWFS detailing the issues which rendered the car to be of unsatisfactory quality and the number of occasions the reversing camera and other parts had to be replaced by the dealer. This if nothing else entitled Mr A to reject the car.
Instead of engaging properly, the finance company replied stating it would not be changing its position and that if Mr A decide to take action on this case, they would vigorously defend it.
BMWFS offered no explanation as to what its defence was to supplying a £70,000 new car which had to be returned the equivalent of every other month.
Nevertheless, Stormcatcher submitted a claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service which, although painfully slow in dealing with the matter, upheld the complaint.
“I’ll consider here that the car Mr A acquired had a cash price of nearly £70,000. It was brand new, and a high-end model from a premium manufacturer. So, I think a reasonable person would have very high standards for the car’s quality.”
The Ombudsman instructed BMWFS to put things right by doing the following:
- Collect the car at no cost to Mr A at a time and date suitable for him
- End the agreement with nothing further to pay
- Reimburse Mr A the deposit
A proportion of the monthly payments were ordered to be repaid as well as £800 to reflect distress and inconvenience caused.
Mr A accepted the Ombudsman’s decision to bring to an end what had been an unnecessarily long and stressful process. Mr A explained he considered the behaviour of the supplying BMW dealer and BMWFS to be entirely unreasonable in denying a perfectly legitimate complaint and rejection after the dealer had failed to out the car right.
About Philip Harmer
Philip spent much of his motor trade career in north-west London, working with performance and luxury marques including Bentley, Porsche, Mercedes, and Aston Martin. His track record includes resolving disputes involving prestige vehicles across the UK and internationally, and he is known for his depth of knowledge across a wide range of high-end brands.
He regularly advises on supercar and prestige vehicle disputes, including warranty failures, misrepresentation, and rejection claims.
Contact Stormcatcher for First Free Advice