December 29, 2022 -

Going to try and be brief, and am only posting here as I have run out of options and am seeking the guidance of the internet.

On 3/4/2020 I Flew from Abq, NM to Houston, Tx to buy a Certified Pre-Owned 2018 BMW M2 from BMW Houston North for the above market value of 49,426. I did this as I was buying the car sight unseen and didn't want any of the hassle associated with having the wool pulled over my eyes, so I was happy to pay about 10 grand more for the car than the current market was going for. When I signed the paperwork to buy the car, I signed a copy of the Car Fax report stating the car had never been in an accident, the sales rep explained to me that the car had never been in an accident and we moved on with the purchase agreement. This however would turn out to be a blatant lie.

On (Edited, corrected date) March 5th 2021 after a very cold night in Albuquerque, NM I went to go drive to work, and noticed what I thought was a scratch on the drivers side rear fender. On closer inspection, it was an 1/8th in. wide crack about 6 inches long. The crack was not caused by me, nor anyone impacting the vehicle. This was verified by Sandia BMW here in Albuquerque, and two other local body shops to be shoddy body work, and around 1/4 inch thick bondo that had now cracked due to poor workmanship. Since they were inspecting, I also asked for estimates on what it would take to fix per BMW NA standards, and both quotes came back at 12,000 dollars plus for full rear quarter replacement.The crack:

This is the crack that appeared after a cold night. From above No other damage to the car at all.

I had paid 10,000 dollars more to this dealership for a CPO car... There is no way they would rip me off by selling me a previously wrecked vehicle, then blatantly lie to me about it not ever having been wrecked. At this point, I called the dealership and explained the situation. The first sales person I talked to told me I had wrecked the car and would have to deal with it on my own. I called again and asked for the sales manager, who told me he would contact the person who traded the car in to see if they had lied about wrecking it, after a week I got no response. I called back a 3rd time and asked for the general manager. They gave his email. So i emailed him the first time on March 23rd with no response for 2 weeks.

At this point, I reached out to BMW NA, who gave me Randys direct phone number on 3/30/21. After finally getting to talk to Randy on the phone, he informed me that the car had indeed been wrecked, and was fixed by them on 11/14/19. He sent pictures and a copy of the repair ticket, which had a total of 2,177.74, which is under the threshold to report to carfax, or to get the car denied for CPO status.

The damage from the General manager

2nd page of the repair bill from Autonation (Owned by BMW Houston North)

There are now two huge blaring issues here. 1) They knowingly committed fraud by selling a CPO vehicle as a non wrecked pristine example, knowing all along that it had indeed been wrecked and fixed it themselves, improperly to keep it under a certain dollar amount to not have to report it or lose money on the sale. Per the 2 certified BMW repair facilities I took it to for quotes, this was a 12k repair job to be done properly, so how could BMW Houston north get away with doing it for only 2,177? 2) How can a BMW dealer not repair the car to BMW North Americas standards? The two places I took it to said per BMW they would need to replace the entire rear quarter, not just slap some bondo on it and send it on its way.

Edited to add the CPO checklist showing the quarters were indeed inspected:

Quarter Panel Left/Right Meets BMW standards for CPO o.O

After going back and forth for quite some time, the GM Randy made me buy a 500 appraisal to move forward, which I agreed to. After that the communication stopped, and Randy refused to get the car fixed, or work with me to remedy thew situation by taking the car back and refunding me my full purchase price. I was being quite reasonable, I just didn't want a diminished value car that I didn't have the pleasure of wrecking myself.

I then hired a lawyer, who made no less than 10 attempts over the last year to mediate with the dealer, since taking them to court was signed away when buying the car. Every attempt to mediate was ignored, certified letters were all refused and here I am, stuck with no recourse and a previously wrecked car. They did this knowingly and purposefully to sneak past the 2 year statute of limitations that Texas has for issues like this.

Is there anything else I can do at this point? BBB has been useless.

Sincerely,

Bummed Out