BMW owner wins suit against car distributor

[Acemundo]

Check this out. I am really surprised at the outcome.

 

 

 

A WOMAN who took BMW distributor Performance Motors to court over a manufacturing defect that made her BMW 728iA overheat won her case in the High Court yesterday.

 

Madam Florence Wee, 44, wanted to return the car to the distributor and get a full refund; or alternatively, damages.

 

The court said she should get damages but ruled that she was not entitled to a full refund.

 

It is rare for such cases to get this far, said her lawyer, Mr Leslie Phua, as such cases are usually settled out of court.

 

Madam Wee, the general manager of an advertising agency, had bought the car for $289,000 in November 1997.

 

She said its cooling system was already defective when she bought it. She sued the company last year.

 

By June 1999, the engine was losing coolant very quickly and every so often the 'check coolant level' indicator would come on.

 

In August 2001, the car overheated while she was driving.

 

She said she had driven it for only three months that year and it was in the workshop the rest of the time.

 

She said she repeatedly asked for the car to be fixed. But even changing the entire engine block did not solve the problem.

 

So she has kept it parked at home since last February.

 

Yesterday, Justice Woo Bih Li ruled that Performance Motors will have to pay damages to Madam Wee.

 

The amount will be assessed later.

 

But he also said it was 'not right' for Madam Wee to return the car and get a full refund when the car had been used for 1 1/2 years before the problem surfaced and had been in two accidents.

 

The judge said he was not convinced by Performance Motors' expert witness, who said the defects resulted from a power surge when the car got into its second accident in May 1999.

 

'In my view, the car was not of satisfactory quality,' he said.

 

Afterwards, a beaming Madam Wee said she was relieved the case was over.

 

'I've not encountered such a problem since I started driving at age 18,' she said. She now drives her Subaru Forrester or Nissan Cefiro.

 

'I will probably scrap the BMW, because it's not safe to drive such an unroadworthy car on the road,' she said, adding she knew of two other BMW 7-series owners who had experienced similar problems with the car.

 

But Performance Motors' Michael Goode, the general manager in charge of after-sales service, said: 'We've never had a problem quite like this one.

 

'When customers ask us to look at overheating problems, we've been able to resolve them quickly.'

 

In a statement, the company said it was 'pleased to note' that the court decided that Madam Wee was not entitled to reject the car and get a full refund.

 

It had tried to resolve the matter amicably, it said, but unfortunately the parties could not agree.

 

Performance Motors said it had not decided if it would appeal the decision.

Edited September 4, 2004 by Admin

[RadX]

Bro...another thread on this...see here

[Acemundo]

Oh thanks.

 

Lets all migrate to that thread.

 

Sorry did not realise there was already a thread on this.

[Super7]

wah, so BIG font........... my eye balls are hurting now......... quick, pass me eye-lotion..........

[Saaber]

Here you go.....

[Saabss]

[Super7]

thanks......... btw, this brand still around ahhh???.... was using it 20 years ago...

[Saaber]

Yes, it is still around....

[Sgyp]

Hey I have the same problem for my BMW 318i. registered in 2002 and ever since i collected been in and out of service centre for more than 10 times. Air Conditioning and electronic problem. PML(Performance Motor Ltd) say that it is an intermediate problem dat is why they can't rectify. Finally I wrote to them GM Aftersales Deparment, Mr Robert Friend, then they reply me that the problem had been fixed and will extend my aircon warranty for another years. but they did not compensate me and did not reply on my electronic malfunction.

The malfunction causes gear to disengage while driving and it is god damn dangerous.

any one got better suggestion that I can do to justify my claim?

[Vooth]

Threatening to go public usually do the trick

Maybe you can seek advice from fellow beemers at www.bmw-sg.com