BMW gives out rental cars as checkups continue

BMW Korea announced Wednesday that it will provide rental cars for free to owners of recalled vehicles who have yet to receive an emergency safety checkup.

The emergency checkups are being offered by BMW Korea to owners of vehicles that will be recalled on Aug. 20. The checkups allow drivers to have their vehicle inspected before the official recall begins, offering peace of mind to vehicle owners that are living in fear of their car bursting into flames. Inspected cars will still be recalled.

The owners can either visit official service centers or a BMW technician can come to them. The inspection takes about one hour.

“Owners of recalled vehicles who weren’t able to have their cars checked right away will be provided with BMW rental cars that are in the same segment as their own car free of charge,” a BMW Korea spokesman said. “After the checkup is finished, the rental cars will have to be returned,” the spokesman added.

The owners of some 106,000 BMW’s that will be recalled are eligible to use one of the rental cars if they are unable to have their cars inspected immediately.

BMW Korea pledged to complete the emergency inspections by Aug. 14. It said it has supplied the necessary inspection tools to its 61 after-sales service centers around the country. On Monday, BMW Korea said it has completed inspections of 3,289 cars and received reservations for some 7,000 vehicles.

The latest measures come amid continuous claims from local customers that they haven’t been able to make reservations for the inspection because the recall hotline is constantly busy.

BMW Korea on Wednesday said it has doubled the number of employees at the call center to deal with the issue. More than 27 BMWs have burst into flames in Korea this year, according to the Transport Ministry. The majority of them were BMW 520ds.

BMW Korea has blamed an engine emission part called the EGR as the reason behind the fire hazards, announcing a recall of over 106,000 units from 42 different models. The automaker is still unable to explain what has caused a disproportionately large number of cars in Korea to catch fire.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]