If it were a Volvo it’s almost needed. They expect the car with almost 0 wear no tear. They won’t even define how large a scratch or dent needs to be to squeeze money out of you. BMW at least is transparent on their website for what they’ll charge for.
Genuinely not trying to be pedantic, but I want to make sure you understand the relationship of the parties here.
Zurich isn’t providing any protection on behalf of the dealer.
You bought a Zurich insurance policy from a dealer, like you can buy a State Farm auto insurance policy from an insurance agent who has a storefront in a strip mall next to a dry cleaner.
The business relationship for the lease-end coverage is entirely between you and Zurich.
Yes, I am very clear on the relationship.
The problem is the dealer misled me about what I was buying.
Here’s an analogy: You go to get your taxes done by H&R block in 2021 and 2022. You pay $500 and they do everything for you. In 2023, you go through the same process, they input all your docs, you pay $500, and you say “am I all set?” and they say “yes”. Then 6 months later you get an IRS bill that says you owe taxes and a penalty. And you call H&R Block and they say “Oh you didn’t read the fine print? We just take your information, we don’t submit taxes anymore, we have a 3rd party for that now. You were supposed to call them before the tax deadline and start the process. It was on the last page of the fine print of your contract. Sorry, this is between you and the 3rd party, we just collect your info and take payment. And there is no written record of our agent saying you were all set.”
I went to BMW to buy the same BMW lease protection I always buy. They didn’t point out that it was different, and they didn’t tell me there was a new process, even when I asked. Given I was in a room filled with BMW stuff with a BMW finance guy, asking me the same words “do you want lease protection”, I reasonably assumed I was getting the same BMW insurance I had gotten the previous 2 times when I said “Yes”.
I think the bigger crime here is that you agreed to pay $1485 for a wear contract on 5 cars. $7400 in finance upgrades could have gone really far in something else.
I didn’t get lease protection on my first of the 5 cars, and got a huge dent in the parking lot (I wasn’t even in the car), and had to pay for that. Since then we buy lease protection (and have used it).
I still don’t think you understand who’s responsible for what, but I’ll tap out because my intent isn’t to argue or antagonize.
You’ve received good advice to plead your case to BMWFS and see if they’ll waive the cost of two worn-out tires. Glad you didn’t have an accident and hurt yourself/anyone else while you drove around like that.
Good luck.
You don’t think I understand that the insurance that was sold to me was from Zurich?
The problem is that if you go to a State Farm agent, and they sell you State Farm insurance every year, and the 3rd year they say “oh, actually I sold you FlyByNite Insureco insurance last year without telling you, it’s a totally different process you were supposed to start 6 months ago, sorry not my problem”. That is not OK, either ethically, or by the “reasonable expectations of a consumer” standard that has been set by a court finding that no reasonable consumer would be expected to read the fine print of their Apple Terms & Conditions at every OS update.
I understand there is no written contract reason the dealer has to help me, that is why I’m asking for advice in an internet forum for other ways to figure this out.
Unfortunately, I asked BMWFS to waive the fee and they would not.