Santa Monica BMW was told to pay up for repairs to a Marina Del Ray man’s automobile that dealership officials claimed had been taken off-roading.
Steve Aguilar sued the dealership in Santa Monica Small Claims Court last week to recoup more than $7,800 in damages to his new, $70,000 BMW 745i sedan.
On two separate occasions, the car’s passenger side rear wheel well had collapsed. During the latest instance, a tow truck sent by the dealership to pick up the vehicle punctured one of the car’s side panels. Aguilar apparently wasn’t pleased.
The plaintiff also sued because the factory-installed car phone never worked, and when he sent it in to be repaired, company officials said it had water damage, which isn’t covered under the warranty.
John Passom, the dealership’s service manager, acknowledged the auto manufacturer had been having problems with the phones, but he said he found it strange the wheel wells would collapse if Aguilar hadn’t been driving the car in rough terrain, or even taking the vehicle off paved roads entirely.
“I find it suspicious that the rear end would collapse like that,” he said. “It’s strange for any car to do that.”
Aguilar denied the claim. “Who in their right mind would take a $70,000 automobile off-roading,” he said. “That’s crazy.”
“Who in their right mind would take a $70,000 automobile off-roading. That’s crazy.” — — STEVE AGUILAR Marina Del Ray resident
Judge Pro Tem Donald Goldstein agreed. He awarded Aguilar $5,000 — the maximum amount allowed under small claims rules — to help off-set the repairs he has had to make out of pocket.
“Who would use a car like that off-road,” Goldstein said. “I didn’t find that argument credible.”
“If I could have, I would have given him the full extent of his damages,” he added.
The first time the rear wheel collapsed was when Aguilar was pulling out of a friend’s driveway earlier this year, he said. He took the car to a nearby San Bernardino mechanic who is BMW certified, he said.
The second time the wheel collapsed occurred when he was driving the car up a steep street in Topenga Canyon. Even though Aguilar said he was driving the car 15 m.p.h., when he went over a speed bump the back end of the car crumpled.
“Both times they claimed I had been four-wheel driving,” Aguilar said.
Passom said when Aguilar had the automobile fixed in San Bernardino, the warranty was no longer valid. Only dealerships should be performing work on cars under warranty, he said.
But Goldstein said Aguilar was within his right to go to the nearest BMW certified mechanic to get the car fixed, which in this case was in San Bernardino. “(Passom) didn’t offer any defense,” Goldstein said after the trial. “He tried the off-roading thing and taking the car to a different mechanic, but other than that he really didn’t offer anything.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 16, 2002. Read the original PDF.