Bought a Rockster LEMON with 1400 miles TODAY from Ride West

[Glaber]

So here's the deal, I bought this great looking bike from Ride West BMW. It ran well on the test ride and I was pretty sold so I put a deposit down. This was Saturday. Today (Tuesday) I finished buying this used 2004 Rockster with 1400 miles and within an hour and a half it won't start. So proud at making this wonderful purchase I decide to drive it around and show it off whereupon it promptly poo out at my brother's house. So I take the seat off and I'm looking at the battery, the negative terminal is corroded to bejesus. He has no tools to speak of and no battery tender. The issue isn't that the battery was not charged enough since I had been riding for at least half an hour at this point and the dealership had it on a charger previous.

My question is: what legal recourse do I have? Clearly, this is a black mark for them which I would hope they choose to rectify with speed and efficiency. Which is at least a battery issue and possibly more. Which is fairly likely since this is the FIRST DAY! Since it's used and I (apparently unwisely) declined the outrageous year-long warranty price it also has no warranty to speak of.

The Washington state lemon law info I've hastily researched mentions a warranty period, days out of service, defects with repeated attempts to fix so it seems not to really apply in my case. Basically I paid $7,000 from what I thought was a reputable dealer in Seattle (half down, the rest in a personal loan). Now I'm wondering how to get my money back if the sh*t hits the fan.

Any thoughts?

[jfslater98]

Welcome, and sorry for the trouble. My personal advice is to contact the dealer and *gently* explain the situation. Giving them the benefit of the doubt may work out to your advantage. If they're not receptive, turn up the "volume." Good luck, hope they do right by you.

[Buckster]

I agree. Contact the dealer and see what they can do for you. I'm sure they would like to keep your business. I don't think the bike will fall into the "lemon" catagory unless you have had a similar failure over and over again after it has been fixed.

[sjbmw]

Any and all contracts in the USA have a 72 hour recind period, granted to either party, no questions asked.
Call an attorney, they should confirm it.

[MongooseGA]

I agree. Contact the dealer and see what they can do for you. I'm sure they would like to keep your business. I don't think the bike will fall into the "lemon" catagory unless you have had a similar failure over and over again after it has been fixed.

Also, just to add, it would not fall into the 'lemon' category regardless because it can only be considered one if it is a new vehicle. This is a used bike and wouldn't be eligible unless the dealership has their own sort of 'lemon buy-back' program.

This may also be a state-by-state thing, so I can't guarantee this to be true for the OP's location. I only know this is the law in VA.

I should also put in that in VA all vehicles sold through a dealer as retail (not wholesale to another dealer) have to come with a 30 day, 50/50 warranty. Meaning, if the vehicle poops a brick within 30 days of purchase, the dealer is legally required to pay for half of parts and possibly labor. The labor is a grey area since it can't ever really be a set price like parts.

Can you tell I've been in the business for a while in VA?

Anyways, good luck to the OP. This could be tricky, but it can also be simple if it's a stand up dealership. Was the price 'too good to be true'?

[Railbender]

It sounds like this is WAY over blown. It is a problem that could be easily resolved by a civilized conversation with the dealer.

[Glaber]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies I appreciate it.

Update time : Called them up and after leaving a few messages which weren't returned, managed to get some folks on the phone. The long and short is, they picked up my bike and I bought a 2 year warranty. It's still at Ride West as we speak. Customer service was so-so but honestly, as long as she runs that's ultimately all I care about.

As for this being a small issue, that's debatable. How likely is it that when such a small but obvious issue is ignored, larger (and costlier) ones could easily be as well? Really hoping not to revisit the store for a looong time. Thanks again folks!

[Buckster]

Let us know what they find out. Hopefully everything will pan out for you.

[jobooth321]

I'd do a deep run through and make sure everything else is in order as well. They should have sold it to you in better condition

[Glaber]

Absolutely, next step is buying a repair manual and getting dirty! A couple times it took longer than expected to start after having run it for an hour and still hot and I was scared she wouldn't fire.
There's some oil leaking out of the cylinder head (common problem I guess?) plug but nothing too crazy. Other than that she's doing great and I couldn't be happier with my Rock.

[Keppelj]

I've done quite a bit of business with Ride West, parts and service, and always been happy with them. It's also easy to understand why a little ridden '04 would have corroded battery terminals as well as other is low use issues. Remember it's still 7 years old. It might be a good idea to ask them to look it over for other possible issues a stored bike might have. I'd change fluids which have been sitting that long, for instance, especially brake fluid.

[jas]

Take the bike back and have them replace or at least put the inner cover gasket back in the correct location, or do it yourself. This is the small round gasket that the sparkplug passes through. It should not leak and is a common problem only if installed incorrectly. If you lean the bike down in a curveand the oil starts pushing out, your rear tire will trail through it. I had a dealership do the same thing that almost resulted in my bike being balled up.

[garr2]

Take the bike back and have them replace or at least put the inner cover gasket back in the correct location, or do it yourself. This is the small round gasket that the sparkplug passes through. It should not leak and is a common problem only if installed incorrectly. If you lean the bike down in a curve and the oil starts pushing out, your rear tire will trail through it. I had a dealership do the same thing that almost resulted in my bike being balled up.

+1
The oil leak you speak of is almost certainly the inner cover gasket (donut) that jas has described. I had a similar problem resulting in me picking up the bike after a dealer service and arriving home to find my shoe, trousers and the back half of the bike (including the tyre) coated on oil. That's the main reason I started doing all my own services. Up until that point I had been a novice mechanic. See viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22465 for references to DVD and internet instructions on doing your own routine maintenance. It aint rocket science!

[Airman]

I've done quite a bit of business with Ride West, parts and service, and always been happy with them. It's also easy to understand why a little ridden '04 would have corroded battery terminals as well as other is low use issues. Remember it's still 7 years old. It might be a good idea to ask them to look it over for other possible issues a stored bike might have. I'd change fluids which have been sitting that long, for instance, especially brake fluid.

Why would Ride West let a used bike sell with a corroded battery ? I can't see them doing that. Was it perhaps a consignment ? The battery 0n my "03 crashed after 5 years and I ride every day. Speaking of batteries, I'd bet there's damage to the battery box that they should fix while the tank is off.