BMW ripping off my mileage
 

My car's lease is due in about 6 months, definitely planning to return the vehicle.
But so far from the look of it, I am pretty sure I will go over the allowable mileage by 3,000-4,000 km. (I think they charge 16 cents a kilometer, so the over mileage charge is probably going to be $500.

The problem is, the odometer is a total rip off.
I've tested multiple times by going on the exact same route using 2 other different cars (Acura RSX, Dodge Ram), and the BMW's kilometer is consistently over the other 2 by about 4%.
(Actually, all 3 cars are rip off based on my GPS. If my GPS shows that I am going 120km, the BMW shows 127+km)

Base on this, it probably means I got rip of 3000-4000km over the 66,000km I put on the car.

If I complain about this when I return the vehicle, will they do anything about it? Or should I just save my time and pay the $500?

btw, car is bone stock. Factory rims & tires.

Same thing happened with Honda and certain newer model Fit's.

Find a piece of highway that has some mile markers and use your GPS to confirm how accurate the odometer is. Record everything, and talk to the dealer. If they dealer won't listen, bring it to the media.

Go online and see if other people are having the same issues with the same model vehicle. If there is enough, maybe get a class action lawsuit going. This time it is $500, next time it could be $1000. They are in the wrong if the odometer is inaccurate.
And if you are going 120 km/h on the odometer and the actual speed is 127 km/h, that difference of 7 km/h can be enough that you get pulled over for speeding, assuming the speed limit was 120 km/h.

"LOCAL NEWS: Local driver claims his odometer is off."


4% is acceptable, I believe if you drive downhill and uphill GPS will make slight difference.
My old BMW speedometer is around 8% different, and my fuel guage didn't match with the
on board computer, every car is like this, it's not the auto makers do it in purpose.

If you can afford a BMW, dont' complain about that extra mile they charge you. $.16 is decent
4% only make a $25 different...I don't understand why would you sue BMW or bring attention
to the media.

because certain BMW drivers cheap out here and there, including their lunch money. Every penny counts yo!!!! So after all the hassel, they can finally afford their 318, wait 320, no wait 323...oh my bad its officailly 325 now!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:



4% aint that bad tho....good luck fighting that battle

Honda's speedometers were off by 2-4% yet here we are today.
http://www.hondaodometerclassaction.com/

GM speedometer class action lawsuit.
http://www.speedometersettlement.com/

It happens, so don't listen to the negative tards on this site and get what is yours.

Speedometers will never be totally accurate... I mean, even tire wear will cause it to change over time.

yes, bimmer's odometer is off by 5% or so, and its known to show a bit faster than actual speed.

323i is the base model.

I thought odometers are allowed to be off by up to +/-10%. Most German cars make their speedos (and hence their odometers) read high because if it went the other way, people would be griping about how they got speeding tickets needlessly. Not sure about BMW, I know Mercedes does this for a fact. Mercs read 4% high all the time, and I'm not talking about just my own car. I asked the dealer and that's what they told me.

Hate to say it but you're probably not gonna get anywhere with this. How about overinflating your tires for the remainder of your lease? :) The other option is to increase your rolling diameter, but that's a bit pointless with a lease ;)

temporarily remove the gauge cluster from the car from today until the day of the return. The 4% will come back in no time.

That probably does not work with modern cars where the ECU actually keeps track of the mileage. But if it works then there you have it.

Of course it's entirely illegal too but if you wanna pinch pennies whatchugonnado?

^ smart thinking, but it won't work...bmw ECU will record an error that tells the mechanic
the cluster had been disconnected. It has been talked about in DTMpower.net since 2000.
Their portable reading device will show it all.

and the classaction might never work in Canada. Good luck finding another Canadian BMW
owners that care about that $25.

Honestly, I don't care about the odometer being 6% higher than actual if I am not charged by the kilometer. And I am not going to waste my time in court for $500

I just want to see if this is something you can reverse by bitching at the manager.
I definitely don't mind spending 15 mins arguing with BMW's manager for $500.
It is $500 that I shouldn't need to pay if their speedo is accurate.

What? only 16 cents? 35 cents right here. :p

Anyways, shouldn't the odometer and speedometer be two different things? I mean one is to show you the speed. I don't care if that one is higher, save you from tickets. But odometer shows distance traveled, this should be pretty accurate. Since it affects vehicle resell value.

which bmw dealership?

Only that the odometer calculates it with the simple formula of distance = speed x time.... :\

It sounds to me that when you drive the BMW you do burn outs 4% of the time.

$0.16 is fairly cheap compared to what most manufacturers are charging. :p

But it's the principle. :D

That would be too simple. And if you allow a speedometer error of 10%, that is translated into odometer error, which is alot. But I think odometer also has error, just not as high as speedometer. I say check your tire pressure if the odometer is off.

I found this, not sure if this is true or if it applies to other companies:
- July 1999 Honda Service News
"Customers who suspect a fast speedometer may also
be concerned that the odometer is logging more miles
than the car actually drives. So let them know there’s
no correlation between speedometer accuracy and the
odometer reading. Odometers are very precise and do
not record mileage from speedometer inputs."

wasnt there a thing on the news a month or 2 ago where theres a lawsuit against honda for this very reason?

lol :thumbsup:

how do you come up with $500? You drove 3,000-4,000km on top of the
allowable milage has nothing to do with the odometer error. 4%, as you claim,
is only 160km difference. x 16cents = $25

Math > asian_XL

Time to stick to apple cartoon news.

Assuming a 36 month lease with a limit of 20,000 km's a year.
If he is over by 4000 km's, that means his total odometer reading is 64000 km's. Assuming his odometer is off by 4%, his odometer is over by 2560 km's. 2560 X $0.16 = $409.60

But of course, all this is based on assumptions.