Reset of service indicator

[rocky@legendpos.co.za]

 :)Got my GS-911 WIFI in Somerset west last week.

Got home to Gauteng (this is in South Africa to those in a different part of the world)

Reset my service indicator - Ahh... bliss.

Amazing how having this reminder in your face all the time is silently unsettling.

The BMW dealers locally do not like one to do their own servicing so they refuse to reset service indicators on bikes they have not done the work on.

So anyone in the Gauteng area need to have your service indicator reset I will do it for R50.00 (ie US$4.00 at the current ROE)

[Jughead]

There is a VERY good reason that BMW does not reset the service reminder on bikes that they do not service.  I did it once and it ended up costing me R13k in legal fees.

The service components had been purchased from me.  The owner then "serviced" the bike himself and brought it to me to have the service indicator reset, which I did, against my better judgement.

Two weeks later he traded the bike in at a BMW dealership who sold it the same day to a third party.  The new owner rode it about 400km when the motor siezed.

He took it back to BMW who did an inspection on the motor.  They found that, in replacing the oil filter, the old filter seal had stayed behind.  The new filter was screwed onto the old seal, which eventually popped out, dumping the majority of the oil into the bashplate.

The BMW dealership contacted the previous owner, who promptly pointed in my direction, since I had reset the counter.  BMW tried to claim R80k from me for an engine rebuild.

[rocky@legendpos.co.za]

WOW - No honour or integrity left in the world!!

[Xchallenge]

@rocky, welcome to the reality.

It makes sense that we all only reset the service reminder on bikes that we know have had the service done according to the Maintenance schedule.

If not, it may be one of us that later buy a bike that had not been properly serviced.

With great power, comes great responibility...

[rocky@legendpos.co.za]

My goodness - I will withdraw my offer to reset service indicators.

It seems to be wrought with responsibility that I do not wish to shoulder.

On the subject of KNOWING that the dealer will do the maintenance according to schedule.

My experience has been that you simply do not know.

I like working on bikes and cars because it is the exact opposite of what I do for a living.

When I got my GTL in 2012 I took off all the tupperware and familiarised myself with what was going on with
my new toy.  In keeping with my way of doing things - I wrote on the physical airfilter the date with a ballpoint pen.
I also labeled the oil filter with the date using a brother label printer.

As the bike was new and under a three year warranty, I took it to the dealer for service. I still continued to label the oil filter with the date
as I could check if it was replaced.

Long story short - I took over the servicing myself as the bike has now reached 80000km and was out of warranty.
When I replaced the air filter lo and behold it was still dated three years back!

Now I do'nt get too bent out of shape about this as I know that the dealer relies on his staff to do the job properly - the point is unless you are doing the servicing yourself - you never know!

The dealer has the same problem with we who service ourselves - they have no way of measuring MY competence - CATCH 22!

[StephanT]

Just my 2c worth... but...

This would never hold up in court... it is a Service REMINDER... not proof of service...

I'm not going into all the details... but safe to say that someone stuffed up.. but it was NOT as a result of the Service Reminder being reset... Whether the service reminder was reset or not, that would still have happened and it is ridiculous of BMW to think otherwise...

To put it into perspective, dealers in the USA (both cars and motorcycles) will reset your service reminder if you ask them to do so.. (they might charge you for it (between $40 and $100, for their service) - but that's in the land of litigation... so connect the dots yourself...

To the contrary... VW forgot to reset the Service Reminder on my wife's Golf - so do I now have any legal recourse to sue them for a service that apparently did not happen (because the Service Reminder was still on?... 

best
Stephan

[Jughead]

Agreed Stephan.

After my initial response to the dealership, they dropped it and I never heard from them again.

However, 3 months later I started getting correspondence from the new owner, who was now looking at me to recover the costs of the engine rebuild.  He got himself a fancy lawyer and that is where things got ugly.

His reasoning was that (and this is where things get tricky), to quote "in resetting the service counter/reminder, you deem that service to be unnecessary and are thereby extending the required service interval as set out by the manufacturer."

After much to and fro, I eventually received a summons to appear in court, in JHB.

Being self employed and not having assistance at the time, I could not afford the downtime, let alone flights and accommodation to pander to his needs. 

I was forced to go the legal route to make the whole ugly mess go away.