That one liner from the email is too vague to know if there is anything to worry about. I’m also not from the UK FWIW.
You’d get a similar response from BMWNA depending on how you asked them. As there are laws that prevent the OEM from “controlling” dealerships. As that’s what keeps them independent. Obviously, OEMs have back door ways of controlling them with stuff like allocations, inventory interest rates, holdbacks, etc. But those are all “hands off” legally.
I had an interaction along those lines with Mercedes on my last car. I had a failure of my onboard navigation system and took it into a dealership. They said in their opinion I did something to break it so they wouldn’t cover it under the Mercedes EW I had. That was dumb, but I paid since I had a road trip to be on the next day. I later called MBUSA and complained it was bizarre and dumb. The representative fed me the same line “dealerships are independent and they determine if the warranty applies” blah blah. I was annoyed, but professional with them. Then 3 weeks later I got a call from the dealership GM apologizing for the ordeal and refunding me the repair cost. So obviously, MBUSA interjected.
Might be similar for the UK. Where BMW is giving you a boilerplate legally valid response to stay on the right side of the law, but will step in where they can.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Weather Man
All traditional OEM's are under tremendous financial pressure from EV mandates. Evey aspect of dollars going out is being scrutinized. Good will and taking care of the brand image is a cost center like any other.
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Not everything is EV related. This thread didn’t talk about EVs at all until you dropped it.
