http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=911343 Even though the whole incident sucks, it's even worse for those potential owners waiting for a new car, only to get stuck with a refurbished, salt-water damaged car. If you're in the market, you might want to wait a while, or buy used.
Um, none of the cars fell on the water, so why would there be salt water damage? And most of the cars will be repaired and sold. Seriously, this isn't nor should it stop anyone from buying a new BMW. As long as the repair cost is reasonable, you'll have no idea if your new BMW was on this ship or not because BMW doesn't actually have to tell you. A lot of these will also be salvaged titles, or go on to be demos.
First post tells story: The Courage tipped today at the port in Jersey City causing major damage to over 300 BMWs not including 70+ BMWs that were total losses. a majority of the destroyed vehicles were M3s (mostly in dark blue) with a variety of 3ers and 1ers smashed up as well. A small number of the cars destroyed had German Tourist plates on them, those European delivery customers will NOT be getting their cars back. If you were expecting your M3 or e90/92 in the next month, you're going to be in for a sad surprise. those cars that were a total loss will be crushed, I asked a BMW rep, he stated that they will not be auctioned as there is a liability for letting those cars on the road. The shipping company's insurance is footing the bill, I do not know how they will handle those cars that are already owned by the European Delivery customers. Those cars with light damage will be repaired at the Elizabeth Receiving facility and sold through BMW's dealer network as new cars.
Oh, after a brief skim, I assumed some cars fell into the water - my mistake. I think there's a way to trace the shipping route via the VIN, so it is possible to find out whether the car had been on the Courage. But it does suck having to pay new car prices for a fixed-up damaged vehicle. I guess it happens frequently, though.
The only way you're going to find out information like that is if BMW releases the VIN's of all cars on the Courage. I don't think BMW's going to do that, honestly.
Did they load all the 7 series on one side, and all the 1 series on the other? That would be a big weight imbalance, and could cause a tip over ?
Unload might be the verb. Those cargo vessels are pretty top-heavy nowadays to make them easy to load/unload, but that is ridiculous. If it could make it across the North Atlantic this time of year, and then capsizes at port, I would not want to be the crane operator.
Here is a link to some of the pictures..... http://www.autoblog.com/photos/bmw-m-v-courage-shipping-damage/577083/
I've heard that most of the M3s were heading to the Bimmer customer driving school somewhere in SC(?), so the majority of them were not customer cars.
Maybe they can turn them into an amphibious sports sedan? Create a whole new sports category all together! Definetely an "offroad" vehicle! I can see the magazine articles already.
You would have to have a ton of info to figure out how/ where your car was shipped, the VIN wouldn't be any help by itself. Also all manufactures touch up cars that are damaged in transport, mostly paint and body work. A lot of the older 7 series BMW's had fuel pump failures due to overheating {for example}.
Who would put a new car and new engine through a driving school without a proper break in period? That's begging for trouble.
There are ways but you would have to have an "in" with a salesman or maybe just ask and state your concerns.
Somewhere? 10 miles from my house! It's at the factory where they made Z3s and Z4s, now the new crossdresser thing.
Photos were too dark so I did my best to fix them. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
LOL! No kidding.... its almost as if the Chinese/Korean car companies will start sinking our own cargo ships just to gain market share here..... Sabotage !
I'm surprised the cars aren't tethered down tighter. I wouldn't want to think I was picking up one of the "fixed" ones.
They're anchored fairly well and come with plastic discs in the suspension to keep them from moving too much. Until you take them out {during PDI} it's a bumpy ride.
Probably true in today's world, but I had a 1982 911SC Porsche Targa that came in with only a very slight amount of corrosion because the container was not sealed well and sea water blew in. The dealer's inspection revealed it; they called in a PNA rep, and the decision was made to crush the car and bring me in a new one. I could barely believe it; you really could not tell there was much damage just to look at it. Oh, well - I got the chance to change my color choices, as the first one did not look quite as good in real life as you would have imagined it from the color samples.
