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      10-20-2017, 09:56 PM   #1
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Is the garage joy riding my car?

TL;DR I can't prove it but I have a strong feeling they drive the car more than they should!

In July 2017 I took delivery of my pride and joy. Since then I had my car serviced three times. First time was after the break-in period, second time was because the LED of the remote control of the M Performance exhaust didn't work anymore and the last time was because the cruise control LED was not showing correctly in the speedometer (the green LED was on 50kmh when I was driving 120kmh on cruise control for example).

Being it my pride and joy I'm very cautious about who drives it and how they drive it. I always want to know how many kilometers the garage drives the car when I have to take it in so I keep an eye on the odometer when I drop her off (yes, it's a she but I haven't named her yet) and pick her up.

The first time after the break-in they drove around 10km, which is fine for me given the type of service they did (new motor oil, new diff oil, ...).

The second time when they had to re-pair the remote control of the exhaust and I was a bit surprised they drove 10km for this. When I checked the status of the car in the remote services app, I noticed there was 1 extra liter of fuel when I got her back (could of course be a glitch in the app).

In the meantime I had a dashcam installed. It's rather discrete and most people don't notice it so this could also give some insights into the test drives.

The last time (yesterday) was for swapping the instrument cluster because of the cruise control LED. When I got the car back, it had 33 kilometers (20 miles) extra on the clock. When I picked up the car they told me they test drove it for 10 minutes to test everything. When I came home, I checked the video of the dashcam and saw how I dropped off the car, how they drove it the next day into the garage, fixed the car, took it for a testdrive of literally 2 minutes (1.4km;0.86miles) and how I left with the car. So where are the other 32 kilometers? Did they shut off the camera before taking it out for another drive? The video did show the car always leaving the previous parking spot. Does anybody have another explanation for this? Is there another way I can check how and when the car was driven?

I know I'm very distrustful but my biggest fear is them flooring the car with a cold engine or mistreating it any another way for their enjoyment.
The things that triggered me the most for being distrustful are the reset of the trip computer every time (could of course also be because of a software update), the "extra" gas (could be a glitch of the remote services app) and the amount of kilometers they drove on their last test drive.

I know I have to let it go, but it can't get it out of my head. The 33 extra kilometers on the odometer versus the 1.4 kilometer test drive is what's bothering me the most. It's even 4:48 now when I'm typing this up in the hope I could get it out of my head and get some sleep.
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      10-20-2017, 10:11 PM   #2
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I think there is some device you can get that shows where they drove and how fast they were going and how fast the acceleration was. F87luv had this device I think, maybe ask her what it was.
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      10-21-2017, 05:22 AM   #3
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The odometer doesn't lie. Your camera was unplugged during the extra trip. They unplugged it because they were up to no good.

On the plus side, they are unlikely to have hurt it.
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      10-21-2017, 05:33 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by akkando View Post
I think there is some device you can get that shows where they drove and how fast they were going and how fast the acceleration was. F87luv had this device I think, maybe ask her what it was.
I got the same device as F87luv. It is the automatic car tracking adapter. It plugs into your OBD-II port. Definitely gives me peace of mind when I drop off my car for service etc. It notifies you whenever the car is started and parked. You can also track it in real time. It also shows hard accelerations and hard braking.
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      10-21-2017, 05:33 AM   #5
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Surely this shouldn't be keeping you from sleeping. Being paranoid isn't good for your health. If it bothers you that much ask them the question and tell them about the dashcam and that you will not be taking it back in future. Apart from that my suggestion is to relax and enjoy the car. The car is built to driven hard so even if they did give it a bit of a flogging it is designed for it. Relax and enjoy your car
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      10-21-2017, 09:28 AM   #6
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I'll have to admit the paranoid in me fears the same thing whenever I take my car in... but I realize it is very unlikely that the BMW service people would act so irresponsibly. One easy explanation is that the car wash facility they use is 5km away from the garage - that is one reason I tell them I don't want the complimentary car wash. That being said, your dashcam does seem to have been tampered with if it does not show the video explanation of the miles incurred.

There are lots of location trackers available. Hide one in your car before you leave it next time... or just stop going to that garage and be done.
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      10-21-2017, 02:19 PM   #7
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Youhad the cluster replaced. I'm not sure abour BMWs, but when you put a new cluster on a VW, it shows 0km. You have to put the km of the old one into the new one, but it only works by 20k increments. Let's say the odo shows 32128km, you will enter 3212 in the new cluster, and it will show 32120 km. It could be something similar. And the tech can do a typo. So yes, the odo can lie. Chill out.
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      10-21-2017, 02:24 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by impulsiv View Post
Youhad the cluster replaced. I'm not sure abour BMWs, but when you put a new cluster on a VW, it shows 0km. You have to put the km of the old one into the new one, but it only works by 20k increments. Let's say the odo shows 32128km, you will enter 3212 in the new cluster, and it will show 32120 km. It could be something similar. And the tech can do a typo. So yes, the odo can lie. Chill out.
This also crossed my mind, but wouldn't that be to easy to commit fraud with the mileage?
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      10-21-2017, 02:31 PM   #9
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By posting this, it already cleared my mind. The car is of course build to be driven hard but not with a cold engine. The thing bothering me the most is extra miles I can't explain.

I'm going to look for a tracking device and confront the garage if I get more "evidence".

Thanks for the responses.
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      10-21-2017, 03:06 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by emargul View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by akkando View Post
I think there is some device you can get that shows where they drove and how fast they were going and how fast the acceleration was. F87luv had this device I think, maybe ask her what it was.
I got the same device as F87luv. It is the automatic car tracking adapter. It plugs into your OBD-II port. Definitely gives me peace of mind when I drop off my car for service etc. It notifies you whenever the car is started and parked. You can also track it in real time. It also shows hard accelerations and hard braking.
The OBD 2 port is accessed during service all they have to do is remove it until they are done monkeying around

OP install a GPS tracker on your car /
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      10-21-2017, 06:41 PM   #11
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My advice is to go back and ask why there are 33 extra km on the odo. Don't confront them until you have strong evidence to back your claim, and certainly don't accuse them of beating on the car.

Ask them what's up with the extra mileage and choose your next steps from there.

I think the extra miles would bother most car enthusiasts, but you've got to learn to deal with things you can't control. No amount of anxiety or worry will prevent assholes from fucking your shit up. That's life.

Usually what I've found in these instances is that the extra time and energy investment to go back and question people isn't worth the result. What do you expect to come of it? A reimbursement? An apology? Will any of that make you feel better?

Just like door dings and rock chips shitty mechanics are par for the course. Start taking your car to a different garage.
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      10-21-2017, 10:28 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by johanva View Post
This also crossed my mind, but wouldn't that be to easy to commit fraud with the mileage?

I will again refer to VWs as I know them, the answer to your question is no. The odo on new clusters can only be reprogramed once, and only if it shows less than 100km. I am not talking about odo hacking however, but this is not something a dealer can do.
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      10-22-2017, 03:33 AM   #13
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have you also thought about needing to test the cruise control module for extended periods of time? they may have wanted to test it on the motorway etc? There's actually times where I have had wished the dealer road tested the car MORE to check everything is functioning well and for any intermittent issues. Would the dashcam had lost its setting by having the power disconnected due to the installation of a new module for the cruise control/odometer etc? I know human nature these days is to think everyone is guilty straight up but can't you give someone the benefit of the doubt first?
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      10-22-2017, 06:50 AM   #14
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You should talk to service manager.
Next time tell them No Test drive. I ride along with them if there is any test drive involved.
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      10-22-2017, 06:55 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MineralGreyMetallic View Post
No amount of anxiety or worry will prevent assholes from fucking your shit up. That's life.
Wise words, plainly spoken
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      10-22-2017, 09:02 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jav_au View Post
Surely this shouldn't be keeping you from sleeping. Being paranoid isn't good for your health. If it bothers you that much ask them the question and tell them about the dashcam and that you will not be taking it back in future. Apart from that my suggestion is to relax and enjoy the car. The car is built to driven hard so even if they did give it a bit of a flogging it is designed for it. Relax and enjoy your car
Johanva's issue is keeping ME up at night. This is terrible and I hate the possibility that there may be some vehicular abuse going on here. We need more oversight and controls around this kind of stuff.
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      10-22-2017, 09:04 AM   #17
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The first two drives seem like they were fully testing out the work they had done. How else are they suppose to make sure the exhaust is fixed w/out driving the car, switching modes, etc.? To me seems like they wanted to make sure it is fixed so you didn't have to come back again for the same problem. For the instrument cluster they probably had to confirm more functions and therefore more miles. Perhaps the extra gas was to compensate you for the miles they had to drive?

Lastly why does mileage == abuse?

Ask.
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      10-22-2017, 11:15 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by emargul View Post
I got the same device as F87luv. It is the automatic car tracking adapter. It plugs into your OBD-II port. Definitely gives me peace of mind when I drop off my car for service etc. It notifies you whenever the car is started and parked. You can also track it in real time. It also shows hard accelerations and hard braking.
And there's nothing stopping the techs from unplugging that, and in fact they probably would've unplugged it if the cluster was replaced (since the new one probably had to be coded).

If the OP's cluster was replaced, I wonder if the mileage difference was due to a tech's failure to input the mileage into the new cluster correctly (i.e. the odometer might be wrong).

[edit: i see both of the above have been covered earlier by other posters, I should've read the whole thread first... ]
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      10-23-2017, 12:12 AM   #19
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There's a simple and foolproof way to know everything but it entails losing a day's holiday. Get another car and park in the road outside the garage then follow your M2 at a discreet distance.
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      10-23-2017, 08:59 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by johanva View Post
The first time after the break-in they drove around 10km, which is fine for me given the type of service they did (new motor oil, new diff oil, ...).
>
They did not need to drive at all for the break-in service. Not a single kilometer. Just on and off of the lift.

Quote:
Originally Posted by johanva View Post
The second time when they had to re-pair the remote control of the exhaust and I was a bit surprised they drove 10km for this. When I checked the status of the car in the remote services app, I noticed there was 1 extra liter of fuel when I got her back (could of course be a glitch in the app).
They also did not need to drive a single mile to see the exhaust flap open when pressing the button.


I would avoid this dealer... or go in with your evidence of mileage and the videos from the camera and demand an explanation, and if they cannot give you one, demand a new cluster from them as yours 'must be off "
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      10-23-2017, 01:10 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jav_au View Post
have you also thought about needing to test the cruise control module for extended periods of time? they may have wanted to test it on the motorway etc? There's actually times where I have had wished the dealer road tested the car MORE to check everything is functioning well and for any intermittent issues. Would the dashcam had lost its setting by having the power disconnected due to the installation of a new module for the cruise control/odometer etc? I know human nature these days is to think everyone is guilty straight up but can't you give someone the benefit of the doubt first?
If they tested it for and extended period, it would have shown on the footage of the dashcam. The dashcam has footage of me arriving at the dealership, the mechanic driving it into the garage and doing the maintenance and the short test rit of 1.4km.

I'm just wondering why the other 30+ kilometers are not on film. Wouldn't you find it suspicious If they unplugged the camera when driving 30+ kilometers with your car?

Quote:
Originally Posted by omasou View Post
The first two drives seem like they were fully testing out the work they had done. How else are they suppose to make sure the exhaust is fixed w/out driving the car, switching modes, etc.? To me seems like they wanted to make sure it is fixed so you didn't have to come back again for the same problem. For the instrument cluster they probably had to confirm more functions and therefore more miles. Perhaps the extra gas was to compensate you for the miles they had to drive?

Lastly why does mileage == abuse?

Ask.
The car has the M Performance exhaust. The remote controller they replaced works independently from the driving modes, so yes you can check if everything works without driving a single mile.
I don't mind the test drive or the amount of kilometers they drove after the break-in service. Seems normal to me.

For me: unrecorded mileage == abuse or something they don't want me to see.

I still leave it open if they abused the car. I just find it very strange the camera has no footage of the 30+ kilometers but there could of course also be another reason, but I just don't know which one and that's bothering me.

Last edited by johanva; 10-23-2017 at 01:17 PM..
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      10-23-2017, 02:42 PM   #22
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Truth be told I am an American and had to convert 30km to Miles. A little over 18 miles. That is one long test drive to hear if the exhaust valve is working or not.

Now I am not sure where you live, or the laws there, but I thought the MPE was for track use only and not legal to use on public roads. Having said that, how could they even perform the test drive without breaking the law? Get these answers from them. They are joyriding your car.
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