# Hail damages 1600 vehicles at BMW's Spartanburg plant



## tim330i (Dec 18, 2001)

_Photo not from Spartanburg plant_

More than 1600 Spartanburg US Production X3, X4, X5, and X6 vehicles were damaged in a hail storm at the plant. The vehicles have been placed on a vehicle hold while the plant repairs them using Paintless Dent Removal (PDR). It may take two months to complete repair work for all vehicles, sold vehicles are being prioritized. On a daily basis the plant will provide the VINs that have been repaired, routed through final inspection, QC'd and are ready for shipping.

*Customer Sold Vehicles*
For any order that was Priority 1 (sold to a customer) prior to this announcement, if the customer refuses the car and wants a replacement, BMW will rebuild their vehicle and price protect the new order. If your BMW is affected by this hail storm you can let your client advisor know you would like it rebuild at that time.

In the case of X3 and X4, a customer vehicle rebuild will have to be MY 2017. The new vehicles will be price protected and due to a change in the maintenance program for MY 2017, we will reimburse your dealership for value of the Ultimate Care Plus contract, through miscellaneous billing.

*Stock Vehicles*
Stock vehicles will be repaired, disclosed and shipped barring any dealership refusals.


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## Vitacura (Jul 22, 2005)

Ouch...


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## Ninong (May 20, 2014)

Tim,

You might want to throw this into the Performance Center Delivery forum, too. This might be of interest to someone whose car is in Spartanburg and scheduled for delivery or redelivery soon.


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## tim330i (Dec 18, 2001)

Ninong said:


> Tim,
> 
> You might want to throw this into the Performance Center Delivery forum, too. This might be of interest to someone whose car is in Spartanburg and scheduled for delivery or redelivery soon.


Good suggestions. Done.

Tim


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## turpiwa (Jun 13, 2005)

Makes me want to cry 
Another hit - what with the airbag recall...tough times.


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## travlinmanny (Mar 9, 2016)

I think my car finished production around March 14 (the date of the hail storm), and was delivered to the dealer earlier this week. How do I find out if my car was affected? Is the dealer required to disclose this?


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## tturedraider (Nov 11, 2005)

turpiwa said:


> Makes me want to cry
> Another hit - what with the airbag recall...tough times.


+1  That is NOT going to buff out.

In Texas many dealers, if not most, now have enormous tent systems to protect their inventory.
edit: just a little fyi, I've driven through this lot many times.


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## [email protected] BMW (Aug 2, 2010)

That first photo looks like it's at a dealers lot?


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## tim330i (Dec 18, 2001)

The photo is simply representative of a BMW with hail damage. It is not from Spartanburg and I've added a note to the first post to reflect that.

Tim


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## tturedraider (Nov 11, 2005)

tim330i said:


> The photo is simply representative of a BMW with hail damage. It is not from Spartanburg and I've added a note to the first post to reflect that.
> 
> Tim


Was the Spartanburg damage reported to be that severe?


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## tim330i (Dec 18, 2001)

I would guess not if they can repair the damage with paintless dent repair.


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## tturedraider (Nov 11, 2005)

tim330i said:


> I would guess not if they can repair the damage with paintless dent repair.


Must admit after seeing the pic I didn't read the repair details, assuming the damage was irreparable.

PDR will repair them to good as new.


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## Racer-X / 6'er (May 19, 2013)

Easy..

Re-brand them as the "Golf edition", engage Titelist as a sponsor, jack up the price another $1000 and sit back to watch people scramble to get them. :rofl:


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## rmichae9 (Apr 27, 2008)

What is the "change in the maintenance program for MY 2017" referred to in the OP?


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## tim330i (Dec 18, 2001)

rmichae9 said:


> What is the "change in the maintenance program for MY 2017" referred to in the OP?


For MY 2017 BMW is reducing the 4 year, 50,000 mile No Cost Schedule Maintenance program to 3 year, 36,000 miles.

Read more - http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=889897


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## Lionnutz (Jul 24, 2014)

For those that are affected getting a MY 2017 is a plus for resale down the line. One model year newer and giving the original 4 year warranty with a MY 2017 makes it even better.


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## EatonZ26 (Jun 27, 2014)

Hail sale? If so where and what kind of discounts?


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## Autoputzer (Mar 16, 2014)

PDR doesn't work on concave surfaces, like on the hood and trunk lid of the F10 5 Series, or on hard plastic, like nose/grill/bumper on some BMW's. The reason PDR works on convex surfaces is that when a convex surface is impacted it makes an "in-y," soft of like when you push on underinflated basketball. But, the metal isn't stretched. if you get behind it and push form the edges, the in-y pops right out. You can also hit the dent with liquid nitrogen, slightly shrink the metal, causing it to pop back to its original convex surface.

If you own a PDR franchise and your area gets a hail storm, you've won the lottery. You have neighboring franchise owners come over to your area and work for you... for weeks. 

I had some dings taken out of a Nissan once. The car was perfect in about five minutes, for $65 (in 1993). The guy was initially worried that I was mad about the price, considering the time he spent on the car. I told him that I was very happy, BUT that was the fastest I've ever seen anybody make $65 with their clothes on.

In addition to new vehicles coming off the Spartanburg assembly line, Performance Center fleet cars, and customers' PCD cars, BMW offers subsidized leases to employees after they've been with BMW for a few years. They have about 3,000 employee-leased BMW's and MINI's that they maintain at the Performance Center.

Weather reports said the hail was up to 1.75 inches in diameter there.


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## tturedraider (Nov 11, 2005)

Autoputzer said:


> PDR doesn't work on concave surfaces, like on the hood and trunk lid of the F10 5 Series, or on hard plastic, like nose/grill/bumper on some BMW's. The reason PDR works on convex surfaces is that when a convex surface is impacted it makes an "in-y," soft of like when you push on underinflated basketball. But, the metal isn't stretched. if you get behind it and push form the edges, the in-y pops right out. You can also hit the dent with liquid nitrogen, slightly shrink the metal, causing it to pop back to its original convex surface.
> 
> If you own a PDR franchise and your area gets a hail storm, you've won the lottery. You have neighboring franchise owners come over to your area and work for you... for weeks.
> 
> ...


Good point about the factory employees leases. Those ought to make some really good deals when they're turned in. I was in GSP last summer. Those factory guys get Mini's a lot.


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## TimV1 (Feb 19, 2016)

Glad my wife's new X3 was delivered Friday. That would have sucked.


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