2006 e90 330i service - Dealer, Local or DIY?

[siwebster]

Hi, as per the title, I'm just canvassing opinion before I make a decision - my car has FBMWSH so far, has just ticked over 81k miles and is due (slightly over after this week) an oil service.

I've had a look at pricing, BMW seems to charge £160 for their value oil service, which I don't think even covers my car and seems like a lot of money for very little work, something I can easily do myself for using the service pack from Opie Oils (Mobil) for £47 and about half an hour of my time including resetting the service light. This, however, leaves me with no stamp in my book to keep up the history.

As an alternative I can get my local garage, who I trust, but are not a BMW specialist, to do it for about £100ish - or even the local ATS will do it for £80ish.

Is it worth double or triple the cost for the stamp at the age of the car/mileage - would it be a deal breaker if you were looking to buy it as a used car and do you think it would have any impact on resale?

All opinions appreciated...

[Sticks.]

...or you supply the oil and the dealer does it?

Edited by Sticks. on Tuesday 10th April 15:04

[rich85uk]

ask yourself this. would you of bought your current car if it didnt have FBMWSH? alot of people buying a 2nd hand bmw are extremely fussy with things like this so you need to think carefully incase you plan on selling anytime soon.

a well know indy garage will be seen as just as good or even better, though most likely to be soomeone on here as opposed to someone buying it 'because its a bmw', personally its indy garage for me. a friend works at a very well known indy garage and i have heard about the horror stories of bmws being worked on at places like quick fit ( being ripped off, things not fitted properly, sensors etc not being replaced to warn you when the part needs replacing again)not saying it was quick fit picked out but you get the general idea

then the thought of your car being used to pick up lunch in, 1.2 corsa, 1.8 mondeo, etc etc then 3.0 bmw hmmmm...

[ITP]

if you are not having to go to a main dealer due to extended warranty I would go to good independant. It's about £220 for an oil change only for your age of car at a dealer.

In my experience main dealers are less trustworty too......money generating machines where anything goes to extract maximum cash from your wallet.

[bigdom]

I think it's getting to the age/mileage where most would expect it not to have a full BM service history.

Personally so long as it's fully serviced with a reputable garage (I wouldn't use Kwik Fit et al) then it's fine and certainly wouldn't put me off. I would expect to see 'bills' to back up the stamps.

[siwebster]

bigdom said:

I think it's getting to the age/mileage where most would expect it not to have a full BM service history.

Personally so long as it's fully serviced with a reputable garage (I wouldn't use Kwik Fit et al) then it's fine and certainly wouldn't put me off. I would expect to see 'bills' to back up the stamps.

Yep, that was my thinking too.

If it was a 2008 model with 40k on the clock it would be straight to BMW. If it was like my last one which was 11 years old and past 100k it wouldn't matter what I did. It's just that this car is very middle ground really.

I've costed it exactly based on my local garage (£95) and the nearest dealer (£165.35 including 15% discount for online booking) - I can't really justify the extra £70 just for the BMW stamp rather than the local stamp...