2012 BMW 328i Sport Scott Evans

摘要

If you haven't been reading the Car Salesman Confidential series on motortrend.com, I recommend it. It's a fascinating look behind the scenes at a dealership and shows how slim the profit margin can be on a new car. The service department, though, is where there's money to be made. I discovered this firsthand when the 328 recently suffered a flat tire while out on a video shoot. The video producer who was driving it had it shipped down to South Bay BMW in Torrance, California, via BMW Roadside Assistance, because the fix-a-flat in the trunk wasn't going to cut it. That's where the trouble started. The car was "lost" for approximately five hours at the dealer- the tow truck driver had apparently dropped it in a corner somewhere the dealer didn't think to look. Once found, the dealer determined it didn't have an OEM Pirelli Cinturato tire in stock and would have to order one, which meant it wouldn't be fixed on the same day. Never mind that the 3 Series is far and away BMW's best-selling model. A follow-up call to the dealer a day later revealed the car had been "lost" again, but this time for only an hour.