I took my car in the other day for the accessory belts replaced, fog light replaced and front strut mount replaced. It took them three days to fix it, but whatever.

When I get back in the car, I notice they put on 5 miles. Not too bad I guess, but then I check my MPG and it went from 19.5 (mine) to 18.8. Now, in 5 miles, to drop that much, they must have been driving it HARD, right?. I have a supercharger, and I feel like I've been taken advantage of a little bit. Just because I have that doesn't give them the right to drag race it. Unless there's another reason my mpg dropped that much, I have to assume this.

Also, now my car pulls HARD to the left. It had no pull whatsover before, and now there is. So I called and complained and they're gonna look at it tomorrow. I better not have to pay for an alignment.

Any good things to say or ways to approach this so it doesn't happen again and so they pay for the alignment? I hate to be an ass and have a bad relationship with the only dealer in the state who can fix my car(because of the SC), but what should I do? Be a total dick or just let it slide off my back?

Thanks,

They will probably make you pay for an alignment. When they replaced the strut hat I am suprised they didn't do it. Of course if it is under warranty they will fix it for ya

Which dealer?

Motorwerks BMW in Minnesota. I can't go anywhere else either because of my DINAN mods. Oh well.

well...I don't know about the MPG.
Mostly because if they had it idling for a long time, it would do the same. That is, they start it, move it 20 feet to position it in their lot. Start it again to get it into the shop. Start it to ensure the accessory belt is in place. Start it for the fun of it and rev it a little. Start it again to move it out. Start it again to drive it up to you. You get the picture.

5 miles - that's absolutely NOTHING. They HAVE to road test the car because of the Strut Mount replacement - to ensure that the got it right. Plus they make sure the belt is in place.

Did you pay for any of it beyond the $50 deductible?

I had to pay for the belts being replaced. They said that was a "wear" item. I haven't found out about the alignment yet. If I do have to pay for that, I'll be PO'd to say the least. If it's not pulling when I bring it in, and it is when I pick it up, that means they messed something up. They should fix it.

I just never thought the mpg thing would go down that much with just idling here and there. But maybe it did, I don't know. I just want the alignment fixed now. He said he would look into the "unauthorized" driving of my car. So who knows.

I'll keep you updated.

Not sure what the $50 deductible is. Can you explain that to me?

sorry...assumed that your car was a CPO - BMW warranty program with $50 repair visit deductible.

As for the pull - I would assume that the strut mount being a little loose or worn, might cause the shock/spring assembly to "flex" more and thus your car may have originally been aligned with this "flex". This is a "pull it out of the ass" I think it's logical assessment.

You may want to check to see if your rim is true - cause if they drove it over a curb, I can see the car pulling like that:(

How would I check to see if my rim is "true"? Not sure how to do that.

Thanks for the info. It's back at BMW today, so who knows what they'll find. Hopefully they'll fix the alignment with no hassles though.

Thanks.

well if the rim is "out of round" it's not true. Have the dealer check it for you.