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Satellite Radio Missing on 2018 440i?

5K views 16 replies 15 participants last post by  loumillman 
#1 · (Edited)
I am trying to determine if my dealer is scamming me regarding Satellite Radio.

I bought a new 2018 440i x-drive convertible on 1/6/2018. Last week I received a letter from SiriusXM wanting to know if I was enjoying my 1 year free subscription to their Satellite Radio service. When I tried to access Satellite Radio from my car, I was not able to find any Satellite option in the radio menus at all. When I asked the dealership about it, the Service Manager, BMW Genius, and salesperson seemed confused. They took a day to investigate and then informed me that my car doesn't have the Satellite Radio feature. They said that I could purchase it for $581.56. The car was purchased with the Luxury Package, the Essentials Package, the Premium Package, and the Executive Package. On the BMWUSA.com website it states the following regarding the Essentials Package "Gives your vehicle the essentials: featuring Comfort Access Keyless Entry for the ultimate in convenience, Park Distance Control to provide assistance during parking maneuvers and SiriusXM® with a 1-year All Access subscription enhancing your entertainment options."
My sticker lists "SiriusXM Satellite Radio with 1-year All Access subscription" under "Standard Equipment"

What makes this more confusing is that there is no mention of Satellite Radio anywhere in the owners manual.

Does anyone know whether the dealer is right and I never purchased Satellite Radio, or the sticker is right and it was supposed to be a standard feature? Or does anyone know how I can find out for sure?
 
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#2 ·
Check your VIN, if it doesn't list Sirius then you should get a refund for that option, likely you're missing others too, otherwise the dealer should fix it.
 
#3 ·
If it's listed on the sticker, then there's no way the dealer can be right. Go over the sales person's head, call the GM, tell them about it, and make sure to mention that the sales person is trying to charge you for something that should be standard. And, BTW, when you get your dealer survey, this will be reflected in the score you give them.
 
#4 ·
Listed in the package and listed on your sticker. If they screwed up building the car somehow, BMW needs to make it right. Otherwise, there's a software setting that needs to be fixed. With that setup (and the listing on your sticker) you are supposed to have SiriusXM AND a 1 year subscription (which you've now lost a month of).
 
#6 · (Edited)
I had a similar issue with my M Roadster not having cruse control (which should have come as standard equipment). I took it back to the dealer and explained that my car was missing an item listed on the window sticker and they simply installed it without any other discussions (and apologized for the error on BMW's part). If you get any less from your dealer, find another dealer and file a complaint.
 
#9 ·
My 2018 440 came with Satellite radio, I had to initialize it with a code and it works fine. I don't think I'll be renewing it after it expires but it is fun for the time being.

jummo


Sent from my iPad using Bimmerfest
 
#10 ·
I would definitely want it sorted so the car is "right" and I got everything I paid for.

However, as for Sirius/XM itself, have it in all vehicles but have not renewed subscription for about 18 months or so. Nice to have, but not for the price they want, esp for multiple vehicles. I know this isn't a thread on the value of satellite radio.... But always felt like I was subsidizing Howard Stern and sports channels just to get the ~8 stations I actually wanted. And some of the ones that I liked had a lot of commercials. Like paying for HBO and then getting 10 commercials thru GoT or something....

Around $35 per year per vehicle I'd do it. Very nice on long trips. But too many other ways to get what i want to listen to now to see subscription as good value.
 
#12 ·
'18 440xi vert that was Munich delivery in late October, and re-delivered by the SoCal dealer with XM working in December.
 
#13 ·
Sirius is standard in the 2018 440i / end thread.

I am trying to determine if my dealer is scamming me regarding Satellite Radio.

I bought a new 2018 440i x-drive convertible on 1/6/2018. Last week I received a letter from SiriusXM wanting to know if I was enjoying my 1 year free subscription to their Satellite Radio service. When I tried to access Satellite Radio from my car, I was not able to find any Satellite option in the radio menus at all. When I asked the dealership about it, the Service Manager, BMW Genius, and salesperson seemed confused. They took a day to investigate and then informed me that my car doesn't have the Satellite Radio feature. They said that I could purchase it for $581.56. The car was purchased with the Luxury Package, the Essentials Package, the Premium Package, and the Executive Package. On the BMWUSA.com website it states the following regarding the Essentials Package "Gives your vehicle the essentials: featuring Comfort Access Keyless Entry for the ultimate in convenience, Park Distance Control to provide assistance during parking maneuvers and SiriusXM® with a 1-year All Access subscription enhancing your entertainment options."
My sticker lists "SiriusXM Satellite Radio with 1-year All Access subscription" under "Standard Equipment"

What makes this more confusing is that there is no mention of Satellite Radio anywhere in the owners manual.

Does anyone know whether the dealer is right and I never purchased Satellite Radio, or the sticker is right and it was supposed to be a standard feature? Or does anyone know how I can find out for sure?
 
#14 ·
Thank you and update.

Thanks to all who took the time to respond to my post. I appreciate all the information. Based on what I was hearing, I called BMW of North America and they agreed that my car should have come with a satellite radio. They told me to talk to the dealership GM to get this resolved. After a few more calls to the dealership, I got a call from their Service Manager offering to install Satellite Radio for me free of charge. I'll be making an appointment soon.
 
#16 ·
Seems to me the OP is now the owner/leaser of his/her first BMW. And it sounds like the dealer did a POOR job providing even a basic orientation to the new BMWee. That's really a shame :-(

Though we (my wife & I ... & our children before they were emancipated) have owned BMWs since the 1980s last year I finally convinced my wife her next car should be a BMW and it was / is. Our dealer sales consultant AND the dealer's "Genius" spent almost an hour familiarizing her with the X1 and reviewing each standard and optional feature. They also knew that I'd be the ready resource and had already studied the on-line manual for the peculiarities of the X1 (E84) etc etc etc so it wasn't our first rodeo!

BUT when a dealer skips those basic steps ... it's a POOR REFLECTION ON BMWs and the GREAT BMW DEALERS out there! The GM of that dealership should know someone dropped the ball and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
 
#17 ·
Another Update

I dropped the car off at the dealership last Saturday (4 days ago) for what was supposed to be a 3 hour upload to install the satellite radio software. It took much longer than they thought, and they had to finish it on Monday. Then they realized that the satellite antenna was never installed. Last I talked to them, they were waiting for the antenna to be shipped to them so they can install it. They have been apologetic, and they gave me a loaner car. I will post again when they finally have this car fixed. (Soon, I hope).
 
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