Wisdom of the Crowd Saves BMW SULEV owner
July 14, 2011 at 8:00 am 7 comments
Last week I was part of a discussion thread in the BMW group on LinkedIn. An owner of a 2005 BMW 325 was in shock after going to his dealer with a fuel pump problem, and was desperate for help.
He was desperate because the dealer had quoted him a price of $6,500 for the part alone, labor not included! This was because he owned a Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV), that achieved its super low emissions partly through a stainless steel gas tank, with the fuel filter totally enclosed within the tank. To replace the filter, the entire tank must be replaced. These cars were sold in four states between 2002 and 2005 — more info here from Wikipedia and here from Bimmerforums.
Diagram of stainless steel tank courtesy of realoem.com
The price quoted was correct, but a very critical piece of information was left out. The emission components of a BMW SULEV vehicle carry a 15 year or 150K mile warranty. But no one at the dealership told him that — he needed to find that out in the LI group.
Not that his dealership gave in without a fight. According to him:
Greg, Christopher. Speaking about honoring…The local BMW dealer either was clueless or they know exactly how to act in regards to SULEV and my problem ! Not only the local dealer, but the BMWNA as well. Both were singing the same song of $6,500 , not covered by warranty 
Sad reality.
Eventually the repair was made under warranty. So through some online research and the help of other BMW owners, this guy probably saved around $8K in parts and labor.
So this story had a happy ending, thanks to the power of communities of interest connecting online. You just can’t own these cars out of warranty without doing a lot of research. You need to reach out to fellow owners and take advantage of information others have already found.
Maybe this dealer honestly didn’t know about the extended SULEV warranty. But it was their job to know. Don’t depend on a dealer for warranty and repair information – unleash the power of the Internet and tap into the wisdom of the online crowd.
Entry filed under: Tech, Wheels. Tags: BMW and LinkedIn, extended gas tank warranty, online car research, SLEV cars, SULEV, SULEV and BMW.
1.
Mark | July 16, 2011 at 12:36 pm
I love it when you use the phrase ” unleash the power of the internet “.
Your Bro
2.
Jannet Calixto | September 6, 2011 at 9:05 pm
I am having the same problem with my vehicle and have been researching for two weeks. I have no idea which direction to turn to and I have already spent $1500. The part replacement is $6400. Any direction would be great.
3.
Danny Rapkay | September 12, 2011 at 2:18 pm
Which BMW dealership was Samuel’s BMW fixed at? I am having problems with my fuel tank (2004 BMW 325 Ci SULEV PZEV) as well and both BMW dealerships and BMWNA keep ignoring my requests to honor their 15 year/150,000 mile emissions related warranty. Please help!
4.
Peter Adler | September 16, 2011 at 5:15 pm
Chris,
Many thanks for the input. I have put the warranty question to my sales guy at VOB BMW. If they come up with the wrong answer, I will contact BMW NA.
B/R
Peter
5.
Veronica | April 21, 2012 at 3:14 pm
I guess I am out of luck. My car just reached 164,000 miles and of course my problem is that the fuel pump goes out and no longer has warranty.
6.
Arun Subramani | May 23, 2012 at 2:04 pm
Hi, I am having the same problem. My mechanic quoted $6700 (parts alone). He mentioned that he had taled to the dealer and they said there is no warrantly. I’m in Glendale, CA. Please let me know if there is a dealer who knows abou this. Thanks.
7.
cparente | May 24, 2012 at 9:15 am
Hi Arun, sorry to hear about your trouble. Is your car under the 15 year/150K miles mark? If so, I have a number for BMW HQ customer service you can try.