Engine in car seized on the freeway while I was going 65mph, (almost died, came within inches of hitting a big rig truck when my wheels decided to lock up because of the engine seizing).
Tow to the dealer, next day "give us 19k for a new engine and 6k for the labor because your car is out of warranty". Told them I had brought in the car multiple times for ticking noises and random limp modes during warranty and this was to be expected since they didn't replace the engine within warranty, a tech actually told me "drive it until it breaks, so we know what to replace" since these limp modes apparently didn't store any permanent error codes that they could pull up during the warranty. Anyhow, dealership says they would contact BWM NA. Few days go by the dealership says BMW NA isn't going to pay for it. I call in BMW NA, they said they would investigate the good will replacement. They call me back in a few days saying the good will request was denied completely and there is no way I can do anything. I ask to speak to boss/supervisor and person on the phone said "you reached the guy at the top, there is nobody at BMW that can help you". I kept arguing with the dude on the phone to no avail.
So, I originally paid about $70,000 for the car, so now it's a $70,000 paper weight sitting at the dealership collecting dust. I even asked the dealership if they would buy it from me, or if i could trade it in, how much they would give for a trade in, the sales guy called back and said "we don't want it either".
It looks like it’s the main bearing problem that so many others have experienced before with these cars. I was out of warranty by 20k miles, and was looking at a $25,000 bill for a new engine from BMW. After much research I ended up reaching out to my attorney friend in San Diego. He was able to resolve this case for me and BMW purchased my car back for significantly more then the current KBB retail value! I figure, in case you are in the same situation as I was, he might be able to help you too. He is a California based attorney, so you have to have a California car and be a California resident for him to help you. Alternatively, you can google Lemon Law Attorney in your state, to find someone local in your state. Any way, his name is Bogdan, you can email him at
brl@sdbr.net, tell him about your case, he might be able to help you. I am not sure about all the legal caveats of my case, so I am not sure if it would work every time, but it’s worth a try.
Not only did BMW pay attorney fees, they paid off the remaining balance on my auto loan ($5-$6k remaining). So I drove a BMW M3 (basically) for 5 years and 72k miles for under $15,000. This 2008 e92 m3 will be my last BMW, considering that I had to hire an attorney to be treated fairly with BMW NA. I am actually planning on getting a Nissan GT-R.
and... that's pretty much all I wanted to say.
