I called the BMW Customer Relations Department to obtain my vehicle history (since I am the 2nd owner - purchased from an owner & still under warranty), I am told to go to the dealership and they should be able to print it for me. I went to the Edison dealership in NJ, I am told, we do not have the information since it wasn't purchased from here. So I asked, "shouldn't you be able to pull up the record, regardless where the service(s) were performed? or if I were to go to another state, they won't have my vehicle record" And, I am told NO. So, they referred me to the DIFEO in FortLee. I called them and they tell me, they can't give me that information because it falls under "Privacy Act of previous owner"!!!

I am asking for vehicle's history that you worked on, not the previous owner's medical history or his actual "baby"?!!! Just because we call our beast "my baby" doesn't mean I can't get the info! So, now I don't know how/where else to get the vehicle history report. :(

I was at the dealership today (alignment) and the part guy found the part I was looking for for quite a while now. since they triple overcharge there, I asked him to give me that part# in case I want to order in the future and he said that it's the dealership's policy not to give out parts numbers. BS! he gave me a hint though what section to look it under so I used my laptop, and their wireless, went realoem and found it myself. now kiss my ass suckers!

a carfax will give you a generic idea of his service history at the dealership, mine had things like brakes and fluid changes listed.

how close are you to the original owner? Ask him to get the full list of service records for the sale of his vehicle. The dealership who did numerous things to the vehicle certainly would want to keep a customer happy. Another angle would be a sevice manager. Find THE guy, and explain that you intend to maintain this car to the standards of his fine establishment. Would it be possible to find out what services I don't need to perform as it has already been done. Good luck.

I was able to get the service history of mine. Just no personal history about the 1wst owner, i think I am only the 2nd :D
~Phil

Your dealers are assholes

The vehicle service history says nothing about the previous owner, only where he had it serviced.

My previous car (01 330i) was bought in nevada and maintained there for several years. I bought it in cali and my service rep printed it out for me the first day I brought it in... no questions asked, I didnt even know about the history reports.

same happen to me...all i wanted to know if the inspection 1 or 2 was done...and they gave me the crap about privacy laws...and wont tell me.
bunch of idiots...

They want you to pay for another inspection :-) The part number thing is BS, but you can get on many websites and find them anyway, if they treated me like that I would simply never do business with them again, and tell them so. A large part of why dealers can charge so much more is they provide excellent service, no service, no money.

I was looking at a used 2001 540 at a local Saab/Caddy dealer and located called the local dealer and discovered they had maintained it. I wanted the info prior to purchasing the car. They refused to release the same info to me unless the Saab/Caddy dealer authorized it since they owned the car at that point. The Saab/Caddy dealer refused, citing THEIR privacy concerns about the guy who traded it in. I told them to redact any information identifying the previous owner. The wouldn't do it, so I didn't buy it (good thing too, I found a better one two weeks later).

My point is, the local BMW was going to release the info if the Saab/Caddy dealer authorized it. They made no mention of prtecting the actual previous owner.

This is BS. It depends on your local dealer. Some will run you a report on any vin# you are even considering buying, others will give you no prior info on any car, even yours. My dealer was willing to run out the complete history on the vehicle, once I was the owner, (and having it serviced through their shops). It has no "private info" just date of service and what was done to the vehicle. There is no real excuse for not giving you info they have on your vehicle. It only took them about two min. to access BMWNA computer system and print it out.

Don't expect too much though. A lot of it is code numbers and part #'s, so he had to write some explanations as to what exactly was done.

there is personal info about the previous owner on the report ie, name, address, tel# etc but can easily be censored out. it does say on our dealerspeed website for bmw employees that the info is not to be reprinted etc legal stuff etc. the report is only going to tell you most of the options the car has and the service history consists of the following, date of service, repair order#, vehicle's mileage at time of service, servicing dealer's 5 digit i.d. #, and what service was done but this is listed in an alpha numeric code which will be useless to you.

you should have made better friends with your salesman or service advisor. Either of those guys would be willing to print me a copy if I asked. Heck, my salesman used the past history as a selling point when I was trying to decide between 2 cars on the lot. He printed both cars history and suggested I buy the one with a shorter list of past issues.

I agree with many of the previous posts...that if you own the car or you're negotiating a deal on purchasing the car...that BMW should be willing to share that info with you.

The previous (or original owners) personal information IS on the BMW service history. I was fortunate enough to obtain the history on my 97 e38 and 95 e34 ... as I hold the service history of my e34 in my hand...the original owners name and home address IS on it...I won't reveal his name and house number...but he lived on Powell Creek Dr, Charlottesville Va 22911-8265 or at least he did back on 2/16/1996 when he purchased the car. ;) Again, the dealership could have removed this info before they gave it to me if "privacy" was an issue.

Just out of curiousity (not that I would ever intrude on this PO's privacy) I just spent 5 minutes on google and found the original address (maps directly to him)...then found out that he's since moved and goolged directions to his new abode. So, if you are comfortable with anyone being able to have access to this type of info...then you definitely have an argument. ;)

If you do get your service history and want to know what the defect codes stand for on your BMW's service history...you can enter the codes at this site and it will tell you what most of them are: http://www.tmk.com/defect-form

And as an example of how that site works...my e34 has one "defect code" listed on its service history. It was logged on 4/21/00...mileage was 46,268...and the defect code was 11120148SA (which when entered comes up as a "cylinder head gasket leaking".

BTW...I live in Indiana and purchased the car in Alexandria VA back in 2004...and from the Service History...I was able to find a map to the original owners old address (seen below) and also to his new adress:

I called the BMW Customer Relations Department to obtain my vehicle history (since I am the 2nd owner - purchased from an owner & still under warranty), I am told to go to the dealership and they should be able to print it for me. I went to the Edison dealership in NJ, I am told, we do not have the information since it wasn't purchased from here. So I asked, "shouldn't you be able to pull up the record, regardless where the service(s) were performed? or if I were to go to another state, they won't have my vehicle record" And, I am told NO. So, they referred me to the DIFEO in FortLee. I called them and they tell me, they can't give me that information because it falls under "Privacy Act of previous owner"!!!

I am asking for vehicle's history that you worked on, not the previous owner's medical history or his actual "baby"?!!! Just because we call our beast "my baby" doesn't mean I can't get the info! So, now I don't know how/where else to get the vehicle history report. :(

This is an example of BMW masking its greed with an irrelevant legal cite. They have decided that providing information to help you better maintain your car does not make them any money.

If they truly cared about keeping these beautiful cars on the road then they should gladly provide a maintenance history. At the least they could sell it to you for a nominal fee.

Just another sad example of corporate greed.

I agree with many of the previous posts...that if you own the car or you're negotiating a deal on purchasing the car...that BMW should be willing to share that info with you.

The previous (or original owners) personal information IS on the BMW service history. I was fortunate enough to obtain the history on my 97 e38 and 95 e34 ... as I hold the service history of my e34 in my hand...the original owners name and home address IS on it...I won't reveal his name and house number...but he lived on Powell Creek Dr, Charlottesville Va 22911-8265 or at least he did back on 2/16/1996 when he purchased the car. ;) Again, the dealership could have removed this info before they gave it to me if "privacy" was an issue.

Just out of curiousity (not that I would ever intrude on this PO's privacy) I just spent 5 minutes on google and found the original address (maps directly to him)...then found out that he's since moved and goolged directions to his new abode. So, if you are comfortable with anyone being able to have access to this type of info...then you definitely have an argument. ;)

If you do get your service history and want to know what the defect codes stand for on your BMW's service history...you can enter the codes at this site and it will tell you what most of them are: http://www.tmk.com/defect-form

And as an example of how that site works...my e34 has one "defect code" listed on its service history. It was logged on 4/21/00...mileage was 46,268...and the defect code was 11120148SA (which when entered comes up as a "cylinder head gasket leaking".

BTW...I live in Indiana and purchased the car in Alexandria VA back in 2004...and from the Service History...I was able to find a map to the original owners old address (seen below) and also to his new adress:


Damn, that's to funny, I live less than 2 miles from the PO of your car!!!!

I am beginning to agree that dealers are assholes!! Only if they had provided that information to me, I would definitely be going there in need of services. I wouldn't have minded paying for that information either, but it just never got that far.
It wasn't purchased from a dealer, therefore no salesperson to deal with. As one of the poster mentioned to go to carfax, carfax doesn't give you the service history.
This sucks!

I called a near by dealer and ask if they can provide me the service record if I provide a VIN number. She said the only thing she can print out are works that were performed under warrantee. Is this a bunch of bull? I was just wonder.

From memory, I believe their database only tracks warranty work at the national level, however, the dealer that actually performed the work on the car will have all of the service records.

Thanks to some members and other sites, I was able to get the service history from some great ppl on the net and then able to find out what those codes meant! Now, just have to step into a different dealership and hopefully they are able to provide A+ service! (wishful thinking)