E92 BMW M3s, 1-Series and others destroyed in tipped cargo ship

Wow, talk about a travesty. And now watch the price of the M3 skyrocket in the short term until they can bring more over.

What is BMW going to do (if anything) for the people in line to get their car?

Sell them as salvage... for half the price.

If they currently have BMWs, BMW will extend their current leases until they can get their new vehicles ordered and delivered.

i read somewhere that a Lexus fan boy was responsible for the tipping.

Sneaky lil devil?

clever!

I could use a new engine and transmission for my e34. i would give em a buck for one of the cars. (after all they got paid by the insurance co.)

ugh...what a waste

sad case...i wonder if the owners will get to find out if their car was repaired from this.

dealers MUST disclose that a car has been damaged. otherwise, they set themselves up for litigation.

Umm. . . Cars that weren't totalled will be sold AS NEW?

I wouldn't be buying any new BMW's for the next several months if that's the case.

Ya it happens to BMW (I'm sure all manufacturers) all the time. It's well documented though, and not sold at sticker. A buddy of mine used to do the major body work for these wrecked vehicles for BMW...pretty sweet job if you ask me. Oh, he also fixed cars wrecked at the performance school.

Previously damaged BMWs are only sold as new if the repair costs less than 3% of the MSRP. So that is $1500 on a $50K car - what it costs to fix a couple of scratches.

yeah i have to agree selling them as new isnt right, especially if they dont disclose that those cars were wrecked at one point. 1500-2000 on a 50,000 car still isnt good enough to sell it is a new, they should disclose that information and discount it for the amount. Why would anyone want a repaired car for sticker price.....thats not right

guys...they will be sold as new because they ARE. and dealers will also have no choice but to disclose that the cars have had bodywork. it's standard procedure.

Well, if it was ruined and they are reselling them as new. Those vehicles will go to corporate officers for BMW. As a consumer, BMW has you sign a "disclosure" at the point of sale. That is how you will know if you got a BMW that was involved in this mess. Just ask your dealer, they are required to tell you if it is a dissclosure or not. Its that easy!
Either way, all those E92's!!!! An angel just lost her wings...

Ya, that's right. He did say something about most of them becoming company cars. But everything that's done is carried with the title so there are no surprises when they do eventually sell them.

Those cars were most likely show cars and not personal orders. The M3's going to my dealership have not gone into production and we have 3. So, I dont think M3 orders were lost, but unfortunately other orders were.

also, if any of you are in the insurance business, you know they cant resell these anyways because there will an insurance claim put out on each specific vehicle, therefore cannot be resold.
but if a BMW, gets a bumper scratches and that is it, they can put a new bumper on the vehicle and sell as new, that is a disclosure.

Most of the M3s and 1 series were dealer demos according to info I have read on the BMW sites.

BMW has been there before and they cheated. They were fined several times by the US Gov. Here is an example:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/94-896.ZO.html

I'm sure they will disclose it this time...well I hope so.

I just emailed the link to this article to a friend that has an M3 on order.

Told him to pray. Read the article. Then call his dealer to find out if his car was one of those. He was expecting a early February delivery.

tsk tsk tsk. certainly not good news.

In Halifax, on the east coast of Canada, there is a facility called “Auto Port” just like this place in New Jersey. Acres of cars! When the ships arrive, they’ll unload a herd of Porsches, BMWs and the like. It is fun to see the new cars before they hit the dealerships. In late December I was doing my usual tour and feeling sad as I drove by the “Touch-Up” centre. There, you see samples of every type of car that had a bad experience on the trip across the pond. There were the usual suspects that day including an R8. What shocked me most was seeing a Phantom Convertible in blue! I’d be rather upset to find out that my new car didn’t have that original factory paint; especially knowing how hard I work for life’s little pleasures. The lesson here is buyer beware. The dealer certainly wouldn’t be informed about delivery damage. Wouldn’t it be worth having an expert inspect the paint for discrepancies? Considering the number of cars that are touched up, we are all at risk (or mercy). This isn’t an isolated incident.

they do that in baltimore too.

That was filled BMW and Volvo too - it was called the Tricolour I think.
Volvo XC90 used prices stayed high for a verr long time!

Wallenius is a shipping company.

I misread your post - I thought you said the boat was THE Walenius, not A Walenius.
And I'm hardly a nautical person, but I've heard of Wallenius. They're a big company.
What I remember most of all were the shots of the capsized boat, on its side, with loads of press shots of the name Tricolor, because of some laws in England about showing brand names (I think).

"REPAIRED AND SOLD AS NEW"!?!?!? Ouch! I would be completely Ticked off (to say the least) if I purchased that M3 and wasnt told about its past.

Offical Comments..

A cargo ship carrying new BMWs, Mercedes, and Volkswagens arrived in the Port of New Jersey on Friday with more than 470 damaged cars in one of its cargo holds. The cargo ship Courage, operated by Wallenius Lines, encountered rough seas in the Atlantic before arriving at port. Vehicles in one of the ship’s cargo holds were ripped from their lashings during the storm, hurtling cars into one another. In total, about 470 BMWs were damaged, roughly 120 of which are a total loss.

BMW North America spokesman Tom Plucinsky confirmed the incident, which was first reported on the eve of the start of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Plucinsky indicated that while there were BMWs in several holds of the ship, the damage appears to be limited to just the one. Nevertheless, BMW plans to inspect every one of their vehicles that was on the Courage, looking for damage at chassis tie-down locations and conducting a four-wheel alignment check on each one before releasing them to dealers.

The exact breakdown of the damaged vehicles is still being sorted out, but a significant number of the cars in the affected cargo hold were M3s intended for use as dealer demonstrator vehicles ahead of the full launch of the M3. A fair number of new 1 Series coupes, also intended for dealer use, were damaged as well. The remaining cars consist of customer orders and European delivery vehicles.

BMW says customers concerned about ending up with a damaged car can rest assured that any and all damage will fully disclosed before being sold to dealers. Following its long-standing policy, the damaged vehicles will be handled appropriately based on the degree of damage incurred. For instance, any vehicle whose repair costs approach or exceed its inventory value will be crushed in whole at the port.

Vehicles with damage greater than three percent of their value will be repaired and used as employee vehicles for a period of time before being sold at dealer auctions with full disclosure of the damage and repairs. After being sold at auction, the cars will carry the balance of the original factory warranty.

Cars with less than three percent damage will be repaired, after which the dealer, or the customer in the case of a special order vehicle, will be notified of the damage and repair and then given the option of accepting or refusing the car. Any repaired car that is rejected by either a dealer or a customer will be sent to a dealer auction and the vehicle will be replaced with an identical one at the earliest possible time. All repaired vehicles will carry the full factory warranty.

Those customers who were waiting for their European Delivery vehicle to arrive will have the same options and everyone else. Essentially, they can take a similar vehicle from dealer stock, or they can order an identical replacement new from the factory.

The damaged inventory is an unfortunate setback given the timing. New M3s, 128i and 135i coupes

I wonder how many of the cars we are driving had any damage when they were shipped? i dont think this is the first it happens....

Those poor M3s!

That's what's going to happen when the ISF blows them off the road anyway.

Tears are falling from my eyes...

What an aweful seen... I cant even stand looking at the pics...

Ouch, Thats ruff. Must really suck for the ppl who have to wait even longer now.

Am I the only one who noticed all the other cars in the background, like the older Corrollas, and some Cadillacs as well? It looked like they were damaged as well, but some were fairly old. The Caddy was a mid-90's STS.

Amazing Idiot must be suicidal.