I think you will have to obtain an independent engineers report to take this forward. They would have report that BMW had been negligent with the work they carried out.

Suggest that if you are a member of the AA/RAC that you phone their helpline for advice.

Without such a report, it is difficult to say whether the BMW garage were at fault or not.

It might be cheaper and less hassle, to get the car towed to a decent independent garage, who may carry out the repair at much lesser cost. The danger is that anyone carrying out the repairs might find more work that needs to be carried out. I am not sure I would want a BMW garage to start finding extra work, given the amounts they charge.

This is the letter I sent into BMW and the response is below which I have recieved from them, can someone please advise on what I can do about this?

Dear Mr,
Supply of Goods & Services Act 1982 (As amended)
Common Law Scotland

On 26 January 2012, your service team undertook diagnostic on my BMW 318 Ci Coupe for the sum of £90 for completion by 26 January 2012.

I initially consulted your company for a diagnostic with an agreed price of £90. I informed your service advisor that I believe the coolant leak was appearing from the back of the cylinder head where the water flange was, as you can see it has been written by hand on the initial consultation/job sheet that I have signed. I left the car about 4pm on 25th January 2012 with your service advisor Amy . I was told it would be looked at the following day, which I agreed and that is all I was told. At the time of leaving the car, the car was in a driveable state with only a dripping leak from the screw end of the water flange at the back of the cylinder head and I only had to top up my coolant tank once a week which I clearly stated when leaving the car in your service advisor’s possession.
On 26th January 2012 I received a call at 10:47am from another service advisor by the name of Mark, and I was told that my car has been through the diagnostics and has come up with various issues. One of the issues was that the coolant connecting pipe had cracked open whilst the car had been pressure tested, and the car was now in an undriveable state and I would have to pay £490 to get it fixed. I was very shocked to be informed about this as I had consulted your company on the assumption that I would pay the fixed £90 for the diagnostics and if the repair costs were too high I would pay the diagnostic fee and bring back the car another time when I have the money to carry out the repair/s as I am on Job Seekers. I had instructed your company to diagnose the coolant leak at the back of the cylinder head with the water flange; however this was not even looked at and now I have been put into another additional problem with the car. Having initially consulted with your service advisor Amy and explained the problem I was facing with the car I believe the service advisor had a duty to inform me that a diagnostic on such a problem would incur a pressure test, and the pressure test carried additional risks which may crack coolant pipes and could leave the car in an undriveable state and by leaving the car for this test it would be at my own risk. Had I been informed of this I would have thought twice before giving my car in to have it diagnosed.

Couple of hours after the telephone call, at 2.30pm I came into your dealership and spoke to Mark, and then I spoke to your Assistant Service Manager Alan with Mark also present, and Alan had stated the same that was stated by Mark over the phone, that the coolant pipe had cracked in the process of carrying out the pressure test, and without carrying out the pressure test there was no way they could find out the leak, however I pointed out that as on the on the initial job sheet It was written in handwriting that I instructed a coolant leak diagnosis on the back of the cylinder head, (‘suspect the leak to be from the back of the cylinder head,)’ however he said that my coolant pipe has cracked and this needs to be fixed before any further tests can be performed with a charge discounted to £420, and that nothing further could be done. I could either have the car repaired with your dealership for that sum of money or I could have it towed to get fixed elsewhere and the initial £90 for the diagnostics will be waived. However I find that very unreasonable and very poor levels of customer service as this cracked pipe has lead to my car being undriveable and this has occurred because of the pressure test which was performed at your dealership. I was advised by Alan that the coolant pipe cracking open could have occurred at anytime at operating temperature, however I find that statement very strange and difficult to understand as I have had my water flange (back of the cylinder head) changed 3 times and the car was driven even on motorway on operating temperature (which I was told is the same as the pressure test temperature) but my coolant pipe under the inlet manifold had not cracked at any point. Had it done so that would’ve been my responsibility and I would have made my own arrangements as to what I would’ve done at that stage. However I feel that now your service team have damaged my car and left me with additional costs on top of my initial problem which has not been resolved on the car to date.

The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 states that

‘work should be carried out with reasonable care and skill in a reasonable time for a reasonable charge,

Also under your terms of business under section 12 it states

‘The company shall take reasonable care of the vehicle while in its custody. The company is only responsible for loss or damage to a vehicle or its accessories caused by the company’s negligence. The company will determine whether to repair or replace the damaged item or alternatively offer compensation for loss caused’.

‘I believe that as a professional car dealership with knowledgeable and skilled service technicians the element of reasonable care and skill was not carried out on this occasion. As a layman customer who has no knowledge of cars I have given my car in for diagnostics in good faith that the trained technicians would have the skill and would use reasonable care to diagnose my problem, and probably having diagnosed similar coolant problems on other BMW cars would be able to diagnose the problem on my car, and being aware of the risks involved in carrying out the pressure test would have informed me through the service advisor about these risks and have asked for my permission before carrying out such a procedure. I did not request any pressure test, I clearly had stated that I suspected the coolant leak to be coming from the water flange at the back of the cylinder head, and expected that to be replaced/repaired. Trained professional skilled technicians who most likely deal with coolant problems on BMW Cars, performing the coolant leak tests they would have known the associated risks involved and could have informed me about these beforehand, however both Mark and Alan both said, “We cannot inform customers about the risks involved,” this does not seem reasonable to me, neither is this statement written on any of the terms of business which I have signed on agreeing. I believe there was some form of negligence caused by the technicians which caused my coolant pipe to crack. I as a customer would not know and cannot be expected to know the methods you use to diagnose whereas the technicians would be aware of associated risks and should not have carried out this pressure test before informing me and seeking my permission. I do not believe I should be left having to sort out the damage caused on the car which occurred due to the service team’s negligence whilst carrying out the diagnostic.

I believe based on the above reasons your dealership are responsible for this and should be held liable for this and therefore I would like my car to be repaired at costs to yourselves and my initial diagnostic to be performed for my coolant leak on the water flange at the back of the cylinder head for the sum of £90. Furthermore, I am without a car which I need for everyday use and would like to be compensated for this loss.

Please respond to my complaint in writing and complete the work in the next 7 days. If you fail to respond and resolve the matter in this time, I will have no option but to consider seeking legal advice and taking the matter further.

Yours Sincerely



This is the response I got from BMW

Dear Mr R



Thank you for your e mail.



Firstly may we apologise that you have had cause to contact us under such circumstances.



We have investigated the matter and confirm that your car was indeed booked in for an investigation into a coolant leak. There is also a hand written note on the job card made by Amy which says that you suspect the leak to be from a flange at the back of the cylinder head.



When a car is booked in for diagnosis we offer a reduced rate for the first hour of labour and the Technician will use his experience to decide the best course of action to confirm the fault. For example, if a car is booked in for us to investigate an engine miss fire then the Technician would road test the car to confirm the miss fire then connect it to our diagnostic equipment and carry out a brief diagnostic test; a car booked in with a vibration at high speed would first be inspected on a ramp for safety then taken on a road test etc.



The initial consultation fee of £90 in this case was a basic charge to investigate the cause of a leak from the cooling system. Standard practice would be to put the vehicle on a ramp in the workshop and connect a cooling system pressure tester, pressurise the cooling system (to normal operating pressure) then inspect for leaks. Regrettably when pressurising the cooling system on your car a heavy leak became apparent beneath the inlet manifold from a plastic ‘T’ piece in one of the coolant pipes. The ‘T’ piece has become brittle over time and as you state in your letter we would expect it to fail on you in due course if it was not already failing prior to bringing your car to us.



We have not carried out any other work on your car and could not have influenced the failure of the coolant hose, regrettably therefore whilst we find the situation very unfortunate we can not agree that this is a matter of negligence. All of our Technicians are BMW trained and behave in a professional manner at all times taking reasonable care when working on any customer vehicle.



Unfortunately we do not accept any liability for the leak however we are sympathetic toward the circumstances and would like to offer a further 10% discount to the repair cost of £420 quoted to you by Nick and Alun. We should remind you that the quoted price of £420 has already been discounted.



If you would like us to proceed with the repairs at the new price of £378 then we would be happy to do so. This charge would be to repair the coolant leak from the ‘T’ piece beneath the manifold and does not include any other repair work to your car or its cooling system. If a further fault develops once your vehicles cooling system is able to hold pressure then there would be further costs incurred by you.



Alternatively we would be happy for you to take your car away in it’s current condition and would waive the £90 initial consultation fee as Alun suggested to you.



If we may be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.



Kind regards