[Herms]

Excuse the post if someone has discussed this on the 100000 other posts (most of which I've read) on the new dme/software update, but can someone educate me on warranty issues and the process of returning a leased car.

I have the SSTT, and to be honest, I'm not that worried about this warranty deal because my experience and that of others has made me confident that it will not damage the car. Sure something could happen to my car, and then I'd be out of luck whether the SSTT was at fault or not, but I'm willing to take that risk as the car will only have 36k miles on return and I don't push the car to the point that I think the SSTT would be an issue within that span.

Having said that, my concern with this hidden code is that it will show up upon lease return and would be an issue. Perhaps the dealer would try to say the car can't be cpo'd or the warranty is void which is akin to excessive damage and they'd try to bilk me for some money even if the car is fine.

Does anyone have any insight on this issue? Thanks in advance.

[Haris]

I think someone will come up with a way to reset this code.. soon. which would be the easiest solution to this problem.. i hope. Use piggyback/flash.. let to code go off.. take off your tune.. reset code.. return/take in for service.. I'm sure someone probably mentioned this in one of these 10,000 posts.. i'm not going through them... need cliff notes on it.

[foxman]

Well for one thing that will be 3 years from now and who knows what we will be dealing with then. I do know that leased car returns go through a fairly rigorous inspection process, but unless there is a failing or failed part...I have a hard time imagining a specific problem.

That is the main risk before turn in as well. This whole issue revolves around a failed powertrain part.

[E30M3Driver]

Originally Posted by Herms

Having said that, my concern with this hidden code is that it will show up upon lease return and would be an issue. Perhaps the dealer would try to say the car can't be cpo'd or the warranty is void which is akin to excessive damage and they'd try to bilk me for some money even if the car is fine.

Does anyone have any insight on this issue? Thanks in advance.

Yep doing anything to the car that alters the material value including something that voids the warranty can be considered excessive damage and they COULD ding you on that. Not saying they will, just that they could-it's in the lease contract.

[arabbmw]

when i take my car in for service can i request that the progman not be updated?

sorry to thread jack

[Herms]

Originally Posted by E30M3Driver

Yep doing anything to the car that alters the material value including something that voids the warranty can be considered excessive damage and they COULD ding you on that. Not saying they will, just that they could-it's in the lease contract.

this really raises a lot of other issues: 1) voiding the warranty would be speculative at this point if nothing has happened to the car (and nothing may happen in the 12 months, or less depending on when it's finally sold, remaining on the warranty); 2) will this hidden code really be evidence of tampering sufficient to charge someone (we're not talking about voiding the warranty when I make a claim); and 3) how do you value the damage? Presumably it should be the difference in resale value, but that's a tricky, especially with the car not yet being sold.

my guess is that a lot of dealers won't make a big deal if the inspection is okay and would not disclose anything to buyers, especially if you're trading in for another bmw. if not, and they do make a big deal about it, the other option is always to exercise the buy option and then sell privately or trade in to a non-bmw dealer. of course, and I realize I'm way overthinking this now, but imagine the outrage if/when bmw tries to void warranties on secondary owners who haven't used tunes (the guy that buys the car from the dealership that gets the trade-in).

[Herms]

Originally Posted by arabbmw

when i take my car in for service can i request that the progman not be updated?

sorry to thread jack

no idea. I'm going in tomorrow to get brakes done and plan to ask my sa about it. my story is going to be that I've been considering the dinan flash (sa has the flash) but heard that it won't work if they update the software.