[f30er]

So I think it’s long overdue that I post my experience of leasing a car through a 3rd party leasing company. Lemme just say off the bat, I have MANY people I know who used these guys with very few problems. I think they’re a good idea and convenient for the 99% of the people who get cars that are practically perfect from day 1. Unfortunately, my experience may be something that happens rarely, but I do want people to know that IT CAN HAPPEN!

Like I said before, I know a lot of people that used Exotic Motor World for leasing their cars with few problems. Actually the biggest problem I heard about was not getting their license plates in a reasonable amount of time and poor communication. More on that later. Anyways, knowing they had a decent reputation, I went in to their office with a friend who was also looking into leasing a new 335xi. After sitting down and talking that first day, I didn’t feel comfortable with them for some reason but my friend wanted to continue. For months, I tried working with dealerships and finance managers to try and get similar lease prices as EMW but was never successful even getting close. Finally, after ~4 months of trying on my own, I decided to go back to them. In the mean time, I had moved to the DC area but was told this wasn’t going to be an issue.

On to the car, it took ~2-3 weeks but finally, they found me a car! This was early August so the 2013 lease prices were great as they were no longer being produced or ordered since the 2014’s were just hitting the streets. They found me a 2013 BSM 335i xdrive, premium, driver assist, cold weather, tech, HK, sport trans. Only thing missing on it was the DHP but hey, I figured I’d add some coilovers and be done with it. So once everything was set in motion, came the first change. They wouldn’t deliver the car to me in DC, something they previously stated wouldn’t be a problem. Not wanting to spend more than necessary as I was already spending quite a bit, I decided to take a 5am train from DC to Newark, and then have a friend pick me up and take me to the EMW office. I spoke with EMW multiple times to remind them that I’ll be arriving at 8am, and should be at their office by 8:45-9am.
After 3 weeks, the day for my shiny new car had arrived! I got up nice and early and headed to Union Station in DC. I got into Newark ~815 and immediately texted EMW that I was on my way. I had also spoken with them the night before. On the way to their office, I get a text saying their office doesn’t open till 10am. Yes I know that, but we had discussed for WEEKS that I would be arriving early as I had to pick up the car and drive back immediately to DC as I had plans that evening. I got to their office 9:10 and surprise surprise, no one there. My friend who gave me a ride stuck around and we chatted in the parking lot for a half-hour before he had to return to work. I sat in the parking lot, getting angrier and angrier until finally, Jason came with my car at 10:30. I was pissed off but felt immediately better at seeing my new car!!! I walked around it for a few minutes, took some pictures to send to my wife who was away on a business trip that weekend, and went inside to do the paperwork. Paperwork took ~30 minutes which wasn’t nearly that bad but Jason had to stop in the middle multiple times to step away to answer phone calls. Paperwork finally complete, fat check written out to EMW, and we were ready to go. Jason stayed inside to make more phone calls (likely to other customers), handed me the keys to go play with my new car and said he’d be out in a minute to go over everything with me.

And here we go. I get into the car, (i.e., jump in!), and keeping the key fob in my pocket, step on the brake, and press the Start button. Engine turns, turns, turns, turns, won’t start. Drivetrain malfunction on the screen. Honestly, I don’t think I even saw it properly the first time, I just turned it off really quick and tried a second time. Turn, turn, turn, no start. Ok, now I have a sinking feeling in my gut. I take the keys out of my pocket, put them in the center console thinking maybe the fob was too far away and tried a third time. No go. I walk out of the car and get Jason’s attention who’s still inside on the phone. He comes out a couple minutes later and I explain what happened. He smiled thinking it was a joke and got into the car and tried to start it, nothing. After a couple tries, he suggests locking the car and letting it “reset itself” and trying again in a few minutes. He then starts making calls but speaking in Russian but clearly talking about my car. 10 minutes goes by, try again, still nothing. Jason decides to call BMW, but walks away from me leaving me in absolute disbelief at what was going on. Everytime I approach him to try and see what was happening, he walked away. I go sit inside the office and after a little while he comes back in and tells me bmw is sending a tech to take a look. Ok, I continue waiting. 30 minutes later, no tech is coming, likely a tow truck to take it to the dealer if I want. He gave me some options; 1) Go back outside, press the BMW Assist button and deal with it myself. 2) Have him call BMW as the broker, have the car towed to the DC area, or 3) Have him call BMW, and have the car sent to the closest BMW dealership service department. After thinking #3 was my best option, he called BMW again (walking away into a closed office). He returns and says that since I am from out of state, I am not eligible for a BMW loaner car and that BMW says I should “find my own way back home.” I’m absolutely furious at this point and after him talking to the other people in his office (none of the conversations of which I understood as they were in a different language) and multiple phone calls, he states that his manager was going to be nice and allow me to take their company loaner car. Since all BMW service departments are closed on Saturdays, nothing was going to happen until Monday. Also, since I had signed the paperwork, the car was mine. No turning back, no refusing delivery, no nothing. Jason drives me to their other office where the loaner was parked, which happened to be a car covered in EMW decals with lease prices on every window and in bright orange. Anyways, I got into the car and left their office ~2pm finally and started back home. Looking back, I don’t think I was in the proper state of mind to even drive that day!! I think if I even saw someone use a turn signal wrong, I’d have rammed their car just to release some anger!! But thankfully, it was an uneventful drive back.

So the next week was pretty much me calling and texting EMW. The excuse I kept hearing was, “I can’t get a hold of the SA.” Then later in the week, “They’re working on it.” By Thursday, I had had enough and wanted the SA’s info so I could speak with him myself. EMW wouldn’t give it to me saying that since they were in contact with them, me calling would only confuse them and it wouldn’t be helpful. Also, just as a side note, getting a hold of Jason was/is damn near impossible. If you call or text, you won’t get a reply in any reasonable amount of time. I learned that for him to actually call you back, you have to call him 3-4 times in an hour, otherwise, forget it. Anyways, so finally on Friday, I insist on the dealership and SA info. I get the info and am again advised that I shouldn’t call as they were talking to the SA and didn’t want to confuse him. I called immediately and lo’ and behold, he answered on the first ring. I introduce myself to him and his very first comment was, “I’ve been calling you all week at the number I was given (EMW’s number) and haven’t been able to get a hold of you.” Ok, I gave him my cell number and told him to call that number from then onwards. I was then informed that they had been looking at the car all week and couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it. Their assumption was that the car had a bad DME and they would have to order a new one from Germany. BUT, before doing that, they have to open a PUMA case as it was a brand new car and get BMWNA approval before they could order a new DME. Not happy with where this was headed, I called Jason back and again asked for a different car. Too late, I signed on the dotted line, nothing he would do to help me.

BMWNA finally approved the DME the following Thursday (9/5). Expected delivery to the dealership was Wednesday the 11th. I call Wednesday, nothing, Thursday, nothing, Friday, nothing. I also started speaking with BMWNA during this week and they were ABSOLUTELY USELESS. On Friday, I had had enough, the dealership was stating the new DME would arrive the following week. Not willing to wait another week and play the same song & dance again, I filed a complaint with the BBB. The following Monday, BMWNA was very interested in speaking with me to resolve the BBB complaint. After many back and forths, they were still useless and towards the end, downright rude and told me that since I wasn’t the buyer, the 3rd party leasing company was, I shouldn’t call BMWNA anymore. Luckily, I had one last chance, New Jersey’s Lemon law states that if a car is disabled for 21 calendar days, it’s eligible to be a lemon. My 21st day was on Friday the 13th. I spoke with the NJ department of Consumer Affairs and they agreed that my case was a direct case and to file the paperwork on the 13th and they’ll handle the rest. Well, the day before I could file for a lemon, the GM for the dealership where the car was originally bought contacted me and told me not to file anything, he was going to start the buyback process and find me another car ASAP. Why wasn’t this offered to me in the beginning? I had been asking for a different car from day 1. It took them a day to find a car similar to mine. And over a week for BMWNA to approve and get the car to me.

In the end, for my troubles, I got a car identical to mine, w/black kidney grills, which they made sound like a gift from the car gods! I still had to make payments on the car, including the month that I never had the car, and have yet to hear back from BMWNA how they are going to “make it all better.” Dealing with Exotic Motor World has been a nightmare. They NEVER answer phone calls, once they deliver you the car, nothing is “their problem,” I was told multiple times that they couldn’t do anything to help me since they were only brokers. My license plates arrived 3 weeks after my temp tags expired, also “not their problem.” Their customer service is atrocious, from making me sit and wait on the street for over an hour on day 1, to talking to others in the office about me in another language followed by snickers and laughs is unacceptable.

Again, this review was of my personal experience. I’m sure plenty of people have had good experiences with 3rd party leasing companies but I wanted to write my story so everyone can see that there is another side to them. I can’t tell you how many times BMWNA and the BMW GM told me that next time I should go through a dealership directly, as working with a broker is much more complicated and everything takes longer. Re-reading this post, I’m remembering a lot more conversations I had that infuriated me, both with BMW & EMW. I can’t even begin to describe how many times I was told I’d be “called right back,” and never heard from anyone. How utterly terrible the “loaner” car they gave me was with the constant diesel leak smell in the cabin that gave me headaches unless I opened the windows while driving around or how disgustingly filthy it was on the inside or that the registration had expired 4 months before I took the car and one of the headlights was out. In the end, I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll never use a 3rd party leasing company again and since BMWNA still won’t call me back, this will also likely be my last BMW. And on a side note, after driving the F30 the last 2 months, I should have listened to my wife and gotten an Audi S4.

[Raja Ventureshield]

I am so sorry to hear that bro. You truely deserve much better. It's a shame that most business do not care of the customer after the transaction is completed or money in their pocket. Shame but reality.

Thanks for your review. Will keep this on back of my mind when leasing a car soon.