[sashak1966]

I am seeking for others who may have had similar experience and can suggest my course of action. The electric range on my 2018 530e has dropped to effective 6-7 miles or less. The car is 6 1/2 years old, so I took it to a dealer to warranty the high voltage battery (8 Years, 80K miles in the USA)
They told me that if the tests show I don’t have an issue and it’s simply my lead foot, then I owe them $240. I agreed, sounds fair.
After a couple of days I got a call from the dealer and they said that battery capacity is in fact at 54%, which is far below the 70% that is a replacement threshold and they submitted the case to BMW. BUT, and that is a big freaking BUT! BMW is now requesting to run additional tests, to see if there may be something else that causes battery to drain and that is additional $1200 worth of test that they want me to guarantee before they make determination. So they basically make it impossible to use the warranty. I am pretty sure that everything else works fine, since the dealer simply found a couple of failed nodes in the battery, but why should they intimidate me into not using the warranty?
I swear I was hoping to fix the battery and then possibly trade it in for a new X5 Plug in Hybrid. At this point I am not even sure if I want another bimmer.
Others, please advise, what did you do, were you asked similar things, what do you suggest I do?

[BlueSander]

Are they going to reimburse any of these if the battery is determined to be warrantied at the end?

[sashak1966]

Originally Posted by BlueSander

Are they going to reimburse any of these if the battery is determined to be warrantied at the end?

Yes, but isn’t it intimidating when you have to come up with 1500 just to find out if they will warranty it? This seems to be designed to discourage one from asking for warranty repair.

[sashak1966]

Originally Posted by sashak1966

I am seeking for others who may have had similar experience and can suggest my course of action. The electric range on my 2018 530e has dropped to effective 6-7 miles or less. The car is 6 1/2 years old, so I took it to a dealer to warranty the high voltage battery (8 Years, 80K miles in the USA)
They told me that if the tests show I don’t have an issue and it’s simply my lead foot, then I owe them $240. I agreed, sounds fair.
After a couple of days I got a call from the dealer and they said that battery capacity is in fact at 54%, which is far below the 70% that is a replacement threshold and they submitted the case to BMW. BUT, and that is a big freaking BUT! BMW is now requesting to run additional tests, to see if there may be something else that causes battery to drain and that is additional $1200 worth of test that they want me to guarantee before they make determination. So they basically make it impossible to use the warranty. I am pretty sure that everything else works fine, since the dealer simply found a couple of failed nodes in the battery, but why should they intimidate me into not using the warranty?
I swear I was hoping to fix the battery and then possibly trade it in for a new X5 Plug in Hybrid. At this point I am not even sure if I want another bimmer.
Others, please advise, what did you do, were you asked similar things, what do you suggest I do?

Update, I let them know my displeasure with the situation and asked to escalate. A manager authorized additional testing free of charge. Will update on future developments.

[BlueSander]

Sounds great! Hope you get this resolved ASAP.

[NGT2]

Yeah that’s some bullshit, to use a techincal term.

[LogicalApex]

Definitely keep us posted. Also if you pull a Car Dara report what does it show for your battery? Would be helpful to know if we have a predictive datapoint available.

[Johnny Grabble]

They employ similar tactics for warranty claims - not just on batteries but on anything - in the UK. The whole system is designed to prevent you making a claim by charging you up front for costs related to "diagnostics" which are only reimbursed in the (rare) event of a successful warranty claim. Then there is a step-by-step process where they ask you for increasing amounts of money so they can perform ever more detailed "diagnostics", which I assume is their way of trying to find a loophole to wriggle out of a warranty claim. Good luck with yours, and keep us posted.

[sashak1966]

Originally Posted by Johnny Grabble

They employ similar tactics for warranty claims - not just on batteries but on anything - in the UK. The whole system is designed to prevent you making a claim by charging you up front for costs related to "diagnostics" which are only reimbursed in the (rare) event of a successful warranty claim. Then there is a step-by-step process where they ask you for increasing amounts of money so they can perform ever more detailed "diagnostics", which I assume is their way of trying to find a loophole to wriggle out of a warranty claim. Good luck with yours, and keep us posted.

Why are we still buying BMW then? This kind of behavior is disrespectful to the customers and feels like worthy of some cheap company that doesn’t care about its reputation

[sashak1966]

Originally Posted by LogicalApex

Definitely keep us posted. Also if you pull a Car Dara report what does it show for your battery? Would be helpful to know if we have a predictive datapoint available.

Dealer told me the battery is at 54% capacity, I observed the same at home. I have a meter built into my charger and the full charge from empty was showing about 4.2kWh vs. 7.5 when the car was new.
I don’t know how to pull the car data? Is it easy?

[LogicalApex]

Originally Posted by sashak1966

Dealer told me the battery is at 54% capacity, I observed the same at home. I have a meter built into my charger and the full charge from empty was showing about 4.2kWh vs. 7.5 when the car was new.
I don’t know how to pull the car data? Is it easy?

It is. You generate the report at the below BMW website. It then generates a report that contains details BMW telematics unit has reported.

https://mygarage.bmwusa.com/car-data.html

It includes battery details and I am wondering if we’ll see some details that might help us know when it is needing replacement. My latest one included the following.

Mine looks like it is getting low too compared to new. I included some screenshots of my report.

[sashak1966]

This is very helpful info, but for some reason I can’t get the Car Data. It’s just sitting at “Report is Being Created”

[LogicalApex]

Originally Posted by sashak1966

This is very helpful info, but for some reason I can’t get the Car Data. It’s just sitting at “Report is Being Created”

The report will be ready in 24 hours or so. It requests the status from the car.

[sashak1966]

Originally Posted by LogicalApex

It is. You generate the report at the below BMW website. It then generates a report that contains details BMW telematics unit has reported.

https://mygarage.bmwusa.com/car-data.html

It includes battery details and I am wondering if we’ll see some details that might help us know when it is needing replacement. My latest one included the following.

Mine looks like it is getting low too compared to new. I included some screenshots of my report.

Attachment 3425549

Attachment 3425550

So it takes some time to get the report, I didn’t realize at first. But when I look at the report there is nothing special about the battery. The health status of the battery is 200, just like on yours.
For some reason I can’t find the second report you sent that shows the Maximum energy content of high-voltage battery.
Do you have to order this report separately?

[Johnny Grabble]

Originally Posted by sashak1966

Why are we still buying BMW then? This kind of behavior is disrespectful to the customers and feels like worthy of some cheap company that doesn’t care about its reputation

Because the competition are no better and BMWs are a better drive. Had similar experience in the UK with Audi...

[LogicalApex]

Originally Posted by sashak1966

So it takes some time to get the report, I didn’t realize at first. But when I look at the report there is nothing special about the battery. The health status of the battery is 200, just like on yours.
For some reason I can’t find the second report you sent that shows the Maximum energy content of high-voltage battery.
Do you have to order this report separately?

I didn’t. It was included in the top section of my report. I was hoping that would help us know how worn the battery is.

[sashak1966]

Originally Posted by LogicalApex

I didn’t. It was included in the top section of my report. I was hoping that would help us know how worn the battery is.

I guess you could just look up initial capacity of your battery and see if it drops below 70% technically they should warranty it at that point. But so far they are trying really hard to not do it.

[sashak1966]

Originally Posted by Johnny Grabble

Because the competition are no better and BMWs are a better drive. Had similar experience in the UK with Audi...

Some competition is better. In the USA Lexus RX 450h+ comes with 8 Years/100,000 Miles warranty for all hybrid components. So if battery depletes they will not ask why, whatever caused the decay would be covered.
I am so disappointed, my dream car is BMW X5 50e and I was hoping to order one in the next couple of months. But if they refuse me this claim, I am not touching another BMW. Basically this is my test if they can be trusted.

[LogicalApex]

Originally Posted by sashak1966

I guess you could just look up initial capacity of your battery and see if it drops below 70% technically they should warranty it at that point. But so far they are trying really hard to not do it.

I will at my upcoming oil change and will report back. It is next month.

The report is around 8kWh on the battery and it has a 13kWh battery. So it is below 70%.

[BlueSander]

Originally Posted by sashak1966

Some competition is better. In the USA Lexus RX 450h+ comes with 8 Years/100,000 Miles warranty for all hybrid components. So if battery depletes they will not ask why, whatever caused the decay would be covered.
I am so disappointed, my dream car is BMW X5 50e and I was hoping to order one in the next couple of months. But if they refuse me this claim, I am not touching another BMW. Basically this is my test if they can be trusted.

We were looking at the X5 50e before deciding on 40i. Both were almost fully loaded and about the same price. The battery lifespan was my ultimate concern. To be completely honest though, I do regret the decision every now and then.

From my personal experience, Audi is pretty good with recalls and warranty services. Mercedes sucks! It's almost like asking for a big favor every time I go there. One time, they told me straight in the face that they fixed my car on their own time without getting paid by MBUSA while my car was still under warranty. I went out of my way and made sure they understand that I paid for the car and didn't need a favor. The local BMW dealer, somehow, likes to freak me out every time I come in. The brand new X5 got check engine light with less than 2k miles and they told me they will run tests but if it's not something under warranty, diagnostic fee will be charged. Just last week, the M550i has problem with Nav and XM. I was told the bill won't be cheap and it will be even more expensive if the car has to stay overnight it feels like they either don't want to do the work or many ppl have brought their cars in expecting to be fixed for free.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by sashak1966

Some competition is better. In the USA Lexus RX 450h+ comes with 8 Years/100,000 Miles warranty for all hybrid components. So if battery depletes they will not ask why, whatever caused the decay would be covered.
I am so disappointed, my dream car is BMW X5 50e and I was hoping to order one in the next couple of months. But if they refuse me this claim, I am not touching another BMW. Basically this is my test if they can be trusted.

Wait until you have to have an American made car repaired under warranty.

[sashak1966]

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

Wait until you have to have an American made car repaired under warranty.

I haven’t had an american car in years, but this treatment makes me feel sick. No wonder these cars are near worthless after 4 years.