Replacement AC Compressor - 5 Month Lead Time? (US)
About 3 weeks ago I purchased a 2016 i3 REX with ~45k miles from CarMax.
I drove the car about 2 weeks and fell in love with it. A check engine light popped (I did not read the codes myself). As I was still in the 30-day warranty period, I took it back to CarMax and they sent it to the BMW dealer for about a week to diagnose.
CarMax called me to tell that they would be initiating a buyback - the codes had to do with the AC compressor and the BMW dealer quoted $8k of work to repair (I never saw the quote/breakdown as this was all going through CarMax service). Based on what I have read about the catastrophic compressor failures on these cars the price is not so crazy to me if the compressor broke up into the battery heat exchanger.
What was unexpected is that (per what the BMW dealer told the CarMax service manager) there are no replacement AC compressors for the i3 in stock in the US, so they had to be shipped in from Germany - and that would somehow take 4-5 months to get here?
I'm definitely taking the buyback offer. Now I'm unexpectedly starting the car buying process all over again and trying to decide what to do next. Though this whole experience does make me a little nervous, I would love to consider buying another i3. But if what I am being told is true about availability/lead time of the AC compressor I don't think I'd be willing to roll the dice again as I can't have the car sit unusable for that long.
Has anyone else replaced their AC compressor recently or have the ability to check what the compressor availability is in the US? I'm trying to verify directly with the BMW dealer myself, but I figured someone else on here might have some helpful information in the meantime.
TL;DR - My recently purchased 2016 i3 REX borked and I'm being told it was catastrophic AC compressor failure. CarMax is buying the car back, and I am trying to decide if I'll buy another i3 or not. I'm being told replacement AC compressors must come from Germany and will take 4-5 months to get here. Is this lead time accurate, or was CarMax just trying to make the buyback look like the only option/the BMW dealer did not want to mess with this?