Now I know why Car Dealerships have a bad reputation

[3axap]

There is a reason why the BMW community affectionately calls the official service center "stealerships". I visited my local one for the first time yesterday looking for some plastic clips for my 21 year old BMW...10 pieces for ~$75. Walked the hell out of that place. When I got home, I checked the mark up on the parts (I have access to the dealer catalogs) and I kid you not, the local dealer was quoting prices 200-250% of BMW MSRP + shipping from Germany on a few. Luckily I have other sources for OEM parts.

As for the oil pan story...not at all unexpected. The oil pan for a 3-series is around $500, plus labor to get it in and out (on my car I have to drop the front subframe)...it'll add up to over $1k real quick at a stealership.

Just my $.02

 

[Blackhawk]

I'm not so much mad at the stealership, as mad at myself for continuing to believe that dealerships might eventually treat you right. I guess as I get older I just want someone else to fix stuff at an affordable price so I don't have to take the time and trouble to do it myself. I prefer not to have to pay for their new building, their service writers, their QC inspectors, the shop foreman, the switchboard operators, the car wash guy, and so many other overheads. I should have learned a year ago at the same dealer when I had an A/C problem on the same car. They told me it would be a new A/C control head at $800. I finally fixed it myself with a $1.17 capacitor from Radio Shack soldered onto the control circuit board. I guess I'll never learn (but I am getting some interesting lessons on internet research, high finance, and do-it-yourself).

 

[I_FLY_LOW]

Who ham-fists a freakin oil pan plug anyway???
sheesh... amateurs...

 

[LongGoneDays]

Caulk it and sell it.

 

[jimdana1942]

I have held the front axle together on a Jeep with about 10 metal coat hangers and duck tape Once used some spare strands of barbed wire to make a ghetto fabulous master link for my dirt bike chain while out in BFE

I always carry a big tube of JB Weld for those "Must fix" situations. Haha.

Would a small tube of Mr. Weld do? I didn't know you had been to Egypt? Was it hot?

 

[Emperor]

I guess I'll never learn (but I am getting some interesting lessons on internet research, high finance, and do-it-yourself).

You are learning! Just the hard way! Sometimes, that is the best education money can buy.

 

[Cat]

Lost, doesn't Walker own the BMW dealership as well? Maybe not, but that's another dealership we avoid at all costs in Alex. I'll drive to Lafayette and Courtesy GMC before speaking to them.

 

[lost]

Yeah Cat, it's Walker. We bought the wife's Accord from them and one of my trucks. Same group, just at their Honda lot. Never had any problems with them but have only been in for recall/warranty work. I do all of my own work besides AC and that goes to a small shop close by. I figure Walker is trying to get too big and it will come back to bite them in the butt.

 

[Russo]

90% of service techs are glorified part changers.. if it doesn't come with instructions or if a computer doesn't automatically fix it, they don't know how to work on it... rarely do any of them subscribe to an automotive forum to know of common problems and work-arounds to better assist customers and educate themselves

 

[Dave328]

I love all the car owners who surf the interwebz and read their marque's forums who have become instant experts. "I don't care how many certifications or years experience you have, Bubba on XYZ.com said that it can be fixed with a bobby pin and some twine". We at the "stealerships" get a kick out y'all!

 

[SirIsaacNewton]

I'm calling BS. BMW owners don't change their own oil. They pay proletarians to do it for them.

When I actually start making money I am driving a rebuilt FJ60/62 or classic truck. This might sound strange but I love metal door handles. Love them....

 

[Barney88PDC]

Yeah, BMW has never been known for cheap maintenance costs.

Sure it's wrapped in the price but actually they are. New cars come with a 4 year 50k mile warranty. All you pay is gas and tires. Certified preowned you get 6yr 100k from the in service date (you pick up a battery in addition to tires and gas at 50k) maintenance free. They pay everything, lube, fluids, tune ups, wiper blades, brakes, rotars. So until that runs out you are good. After that you get bent over a barrel.

It is all in what you want to spend your money on.

 

[jayd]

It is all in what you want to spend your money on.

This^
Had a BMW bike recently and when it came time to do the servicing, you had to PAY and pay big
But I wont knock Heberts BMW motorcycle service, they did excellent work and I knew going into ownership that I had to pay to play, lol
So no ninny cryin here

 

[robbynola]

1

 

[kz45]

This^
Had a BMW bike recently and when it came time to do the servicing, you had to PAY and pay big
But I wont knock Heberts BMW motorcycle service, they did excellent work and I knew going into ownership that I had to pay to play, lol
So no ninny cryin here

Hebert's is awesome, I decided to do my own repairs, new clutch disc's and trans, they told me I could call, come by, and ask any questions about the job, which I did, and it helped big time

 

[Peashooter]

I guess we know where you work. lol
Used to work at a factory authorized firearm repairshop and was amazed at the people that would bring 1911s to us that someone/owner had "tweaked", lol Then get indignant when we quoted them all new factory parts to repair it back to factory spec. If we didn't put it back to original condition wouldn't been able to warranty the work thru the manufacturer

I dont call a longer bolt or helicoil a half asses repair.

I would assume YOU and BMW North America would disagree on that point, eh? , hehe

\

 

[jdindadell]

After working on all makes for the last 20 yrs I have to say that all of the european cars are basically over-engineered junk. Somewhoe they manage to make everything more difficult to work on, and at the same time make the parts out of recycled beer cans and once wetted newspapers. The interiors are crap, do not last and have some sort of shitty rubberized paint that flakes off if you look at it funny. These are cars that are 4 yrs old and have 60k miles, not old dinosaurs. Ford and doge interiors hold up alot better, as do the japanese cars. Koreans are getting there.

Volkswagens are the biggest pile o steemin' poo that ever was deposited on the earth. BMW is not too far behind, with Mercedes. And volov and saab make snap-tite cars, try taking anything apart without some clip or fastener breaking. Jags are turds, although they are better since ford bought them.

Parts are way over priced, and the dealers have to charge more for labor as the damn cars are so hard to work on. I bet a good BMW tech has twice the training as a chevy tech. Plus the currect en vouge practice of loading the car down with auto sun shades and 500 proximity sensors/cameras is only going to drive the costs up more, as ALL of that stuff eventually fails.

I stick with ford trucks, parts are cheap, they are "relatively" easy to work on (my hands fit most everywhere in need them to), and they do not design new bolt heads for every part they attach (like vw do).

 

[jimdana1942]

I'm still trying to design a vehicle that is made out of tree limbs and powered by rubber bands. I'll let yall know if I succeed.

Should be easy to find parts for it.

 

[charlie12]

My buddy had one of his customers in his shop last week, one of the customers workers put urea in his diesel tank on his new 2011 4x4 four door King Ranch instead of the urea tank.
Well the truck stop running so he had it towed to the Ford dealership he got it from.
They told him it would be $8,000.00 for them to fix it. He called Mark to ask if he would look at it, Mark said send it to me.
Wrecker shows up with it, next morning Mark starts working on it, by the end of the day I drove it to the customer's house to pick him up.

Cost $600 to fix it.

 

[Barney88PDC]

Not this **** again.