Is it dealer policy to "hide" part numbers ffs?!

[Y282]

Just had to buy 2 rear hangers brackets for my evo, seventy five bloody quid btw. But that's not the point of this post.

I went into the main dealership and the parts chap told me i'd need half a dozen other things and ramped me up to well over a hundred quid before vat altogether. I asked for a printout of the quote and parts so i can look at what i actually need when i take it apart.

Umms and errs a bit, goes off and comes back with a printout photocopy with the part numbers carded out. Seriously. In 2011. With te internets. And realoem. And a hundred other places that list part numbers.


Do dealers still do this to you, or do some of them have a faint understanding that people can access this sort of info now?

[E30M3SE]

My dealer doesn't, never has.

All the BMW part no's you will ever need are all here.

[Y282]

Mental innit? When i rang back to order i told him the part number anyway, just to confirm it was the right one.

HAS INTERNETS.

[_Neal_]

I've had this before, not with BMW (never tried) but with Peugeot main dealers (last year). I think I told them their policy was so backward that even if they did work out cheaper then "the internets" I wouldn't be buying from them, I'd go to another main dealer.