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Review of Perillo BMW

Avoid this dealership! The service certain will ma...

Avoid this dealership! The service certain will make up any excuse to charge you more money for something that should be covered under warranty.

I just had to cough up over $2,100 to replace a battery on my 2018 BMW M3 (purchased brand new April 2019) because the service center claims the battery was not "properly maintained". The vehicle is only one and half years old. It has been garage kept and driven normally, excluding a two-week period when I was forced to be away from the vehicle due to COVID19. It was an unplanned event, however it should not have resulted in a battery replacement.

The symptoms of an electrical problem initially manifested just before the first service interval (approximately 3 months old) when I noticed an alert upon starting the vehicle one day. The alert said the battery was weak and if the problem persisted to contact the service center (not the exact verbiage, however that is the summary of the alert). Still, the car started fine and I did not see any follow up warnings in the days to follow. Almost one week later I took the vehicle in to Perillo BMW service center for its initial service. I informed the service agent of the recently displayed battery warning and asked that it be investigated. The vehicle was returned to me several hours later and the report said the battery was in good condition. Obviously this was false!

Fast forward a few months and the car will not start after having to be away from it for reasons related to COVID as aforementioned. The service advisor told me the battery was not properly maintained and would not be covered under warranty. I explained to the advisor that diagnosis did not align with how the vehicle was operated on a regular basis. He then tried to use the mileage as an indicator that the vehicle is not driven much, as if that justifies a new battery dying within the first year. The vehicle had approximately 5,400 miles on at the time. Prior to the pandemic the car was driven regularly, albeit not very far on average. After explaining this to the service advisor he then indicated that the battery should be put on a charger when it's not being driven. This makes absolutely no sense to me, as I have NEVER had to put my vehicle on a trickle charger if it is not driven in two weeks. I've had an Acura TL that had to be out in the cold for over a month and the battery was fine. Never had a problem with any other car's battery under normal operating conditions. I could see if I left the M3 in the elements for several months, then sure, a trickle charger would be required. TWO WEEKS? In a garage, away from the elements? No! All signs point to faulty battery!

My previous vehicle was a 2016 M3, and I never had this issue. I had to leave that car in my garage for 2 weeks from time to time because of travel for work and it always fired right up. So this is clearly an issue specific to the battery that was put in the vehicle prior to purchase and BMW refuses to take ownership of a pre-existing problem.

I raised a case with BMW directly on the issue. After 3+ weeks of no response I eventually received a message that the battery will not be covered under warranty. My friends and family members all told me about the horror stories of owning a BMW. Unfortunately I did not listen. I had such an exceptional experience with my first BMW that I thought it was safe to become a return customer. Even trying to convince them that the issues they experienced were things of the past and BMW is reliable. Sadly, I now have to eat those words. I now agree with them 100%. This has been a major headache, and a costly one at that. There is no reason a new vehicle should require a battery replacement within 1 year of operation. Even more alarming is that BMW refused to cover it. I have a relative that purchased a new BMW X7 and from the time it was driven off the lot the vehicle had warnings and errors. It had to be taken to service over 5 times! At this point I am done with BMW and I highly recommend not using Perillo BMW, as you will be taking a gamble the could cost you big!