[snowty80]

Just got denied records from an out of state shop.

Have a 335i that had a major maintenance don't back in 2016- and I emailed the shop cause they're in California..

Does anyone know the laws on this? I emailed them a few times and got no response, but the guy on the phone said he "holds all records for all cars he's worked on" so I asked for a rundown of what happened, and he said he could only give it to the owner of the car.

I said cool, I am the owner of the car, updated registration and my ID. Cause I live in Arizona... And he said he got in trouble for providing that to someone and that I'd have to come in to the shop physically..

Can someone verify the laws in California/Arizona on this?

[StradaRedlands]

I don't think it's law, just CYA best practice. I had to provide registration to get it from Seattle BMW with my previous car. It was an extra step, but due-diligence on their part. Records didn't include any owner information, so not sure why it's such a big deal. Try getting hold of service dept manager, they have probably been there longer and NBD to them.

[eljay]

Here in Canada, dealerships will not give that out. Even when I showed proof of ownership and asked them to remove any previous owners' personal details. They wouldn't do it citing privacy laws. Not just BMW, but Audi, VW, Merc etc. It's stupid.
I think someone should petition lawmakers to make some consumer protection law to provide anonymized service history.

[krhodes1]

Run a Carfax? Every single thing done to my 128i and Mercedes by previous owners is on the Carfax report, in surprising detail. Of course, useless if a shop doesn't report to Carfax, but most seem to these days.

In the case of the Mercedes, I know it's accurate because nobody EVER touched that car but the dealer, and I have all the dealer records too - they came with the car. One owner creampuff of a '14 E350 wagon.

For my 328i it won't show much though - never anything done to it except by me other than recalls and under warranty by the dealer. And annual safety inspection at the dealer - they do it for free as I bought it new from them.

Dealers seem very hit and miss, and mostly miss with this.