Which Main Dealer?

[Panthro]

I have an E92 M3 with a BMW warranty. Ive only had the car for 6 weeks and the service is due in a couple of months. I also have a couple of warranty items that need fixing. Im living in Wokingham and have the choice of using Cooper Reading, Sytner High Wycombe (bit far but went there once with a mate and it was an impressive facility), Sunningdale BMW or Barons Farnborough. Ive never used any of these garages so if any of you guys have good or bad experiences to share with me about them Id like to hear them.
Are prices at BMW garages all the same? Im pretty clueless as to which one to go for,the most convenient for me is Cooper but if they have a bad reputation Id rather use others.

[E30M3SE]

Panthro said:

Are prices at BMW garages all the same?

In a word, NO.

Dealer 8 miles from me wanted over £400 more for an Inspection II on a ///M car than a dealer 30 miles away.

First thing I would do is phone around those dealers you list and get some quotes together for the service, I'm sure if you asked enough people there would be good and bad experiences had in respect of all of them.

(ETA, It was for Insp II & brake fluid change)

Edited by E30M3SE on Wednesday 29th June 10:18

[falkster]

I've heard good things about Sytner High Wycombe but have no experience of the others.
There's always room to haggle at dealers and you're really at their mercy for the service they give you

[pjv997]

I have bought seven cars from Barons and one from Sytners.

By choice I would use Sytners for servicing and Barons to buy (Barons due to relationships rather than a poor experience with buying from Sytners). But as stated, I would check pricing first.

[CarbonBlackM5]

I used Cooper Reading only because I had some Discs changed under warranty. While it was there the fuel pump went so they quoted me a price to fix it which was rather pricey

I got a quote from a specialist and Coopers very nearly matched so there is some room to move on prices but not sure if that applies to services.

Couldnt fault the staff and level of service though (nice coffee too)

[AOK]

How old is the car? If it's an ex-demo / pre reg / new, then the first service is a running in service and is free of charge

[ecain63]

Nothing but good vibes from me and another PHer ref Scotthall in Southampton. Very friendly M// bunch.

[Panthro]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Its 4 years old, one of the first ones I guess, April 2007. I think I will give Cooper a go as its the nearest and most convenient for me.
Oe of the discs has warped too so I will hopefully be getting that done under warranty as they were replaced in sept 2010 (but done free of charge, as they had warped in March 2010 and replaced under warranty once before) but the previous owner did not have a receipt for the sept 2010 replacement so hopefully its going to be recorded on the key. If not Im sure a phone call to the BMW garage in oxfordshire will do the trick.

[Carlton Banks]

Sytner High Wycombe are pretty good.

I turned up and the salesguy gave me his 130i to use whilst my M3 had its running in service.

[Oh Behave]

Sytner High Wycombe tried to charge me £1140 for Insepction I on my Z4M and were going to inspect it hot rather than have me dropping it in the night before. They were useless!

In the end went to another dealer and got it done for ~£700

[flimper]

pjv997 said:

I have bought seven cars from Barons and one from Sytners.

By choice I would use Sytners for servicing and Barons to buy (Barons due to relationships rather than a poor experience with buying from Sytners). But as stated, I would check pricing first.

Totally agree, once you've bought a car from Barons you get a slightly different level of service. No problems with Sytner so far on that front

[playalistic]

I live in Reading but used Murketts in Huntingdon (Cambridge) for servicing my Z4M. Yes it was a bloody long way to go but they supplied a free loaner 1 series for the few days between and I really could not fault them. They're the only BMW dealer I've ever used that has been totally satisfactory. They look after lots (and lots) of CSLs for regular service/repairs and are very well reputed by those chaps too.