dealer recommendations - W.London/Thames Valley

[silver16v]

Hi All,

Was wondering if anybody could recommend an official dealer in West London/Middx/Thames Valley for servicing, based upon your own experiences.

I've got my car booked in with my local dealer - based v. close to Gilette Corner, but I'm not filled with confidence based on my dealings with their service dept so far.

Anybody else dealt with these guys, or had great service from another dealer close by? Any feedback much appreciated.

[Roger645]

I use the same dealer but their Heathrow branch. The service guy Naser is always very helpful and happy to haggle on pricing.

[carlovers]

I live in chiswick west london. But i will be taking my car to bmw N.oxford ,havent been their yet but highly rec. by Charles the Alpina forum moderator,good luck.

[silver16v]

Thanks for the feedback, will probably give the heathrow branch a go, perhaps I had unfairly tarred them with the same brush as brentford (who aren't willing to haggle on rates btw)

[Roger645]

Problem with Brentford is they are too busy therefore don't need to discount the rates. I have used Sytners in Ascot/Sunningdale before as well who were ok.

[obscene]

The dealer I goto in Farnborough (if that's not too far out your way, I think it's a Barons) has seemed to be very decent although a tad pricey.

[VerySideways]

Brentford is very expensive, as are Heathrow and Sunningdale.
Reading are rubbish, Odiham are good but probably not that convenient for you.
Farnborough are a little expensive and unpredictable, sometimes great, sometimes average.
Hgh Wycombe are pretty good but can be busy.

I suggest you stick to Taplow (near junction 7 of the M4). Better per hour charges and always good service. I'll be there myself tomorrow morning.

If you don't believe me about the prices, ring around for yourself for a standard service (like a coolant change on a 535d).

[bmw2002]

VerySideways said:

Brentford is very expensive, as are Heathrow and Sunningdale.
Reading are rubbish, Odiham are good but probably not that convenient for you.
Farnborough are a little expensive and unpredictable, sometimes great, sometimes average.
Hgh Wycombe are pretty good but can be busy.

I suggest you stick to Taplow (near junction 7 of the M4). Better per hour charges and always good service. I'll be there myself tomorrow morning.

If you don't believe me about the prices, ring around for yourself for a standard service (like a coolant change on a 535d).

So Pete, how were Stratstones? I was a very unhappy person on Friday there due to a monumental cock-up on their part, am revisiting them tomorrow to see how they do on a 2nd visit.

[VerySideways]

They've always been good, used them on and off for years but i like to check around.
My 1'er service was great, all done in 2 hours, price as quoted, car was washed and hoovered, and the hot chocolate wasn't bad either.

Cock up? Well i guess it's how they make up for it that shows the true mettle eh?

[silver16v]

what are the labour rates like at Taplow?

Brentford charge £150 per hr
Sytner High Wycombe quoted me £132

In the end I stuck with Brentford due to the convenience factor over Xmas, the service guy told me they are likely to get even busier as the dealer in Wimbledon has closed.

[PartsGuru]

this post will probably get cut but try us we're in Park Royal and because of some overlapping in databases from when we sold Chiswick and Heathrow we have customers who think we closed down last year!! Like most main dealers we are under booked and open to doing deals galore!!!!!

[bmw2002]

Ok, so what are your hourly rates?

[robmw750]

Does it have to be a Stealer ? what about independants Gary at Autobahn Rickmansworth does a Damm good job. Phone number below

01923 718907

[bmw2002]

robmw750 said:

Does it have to be a Stealer ? what about independants Gary at Autobahn Rickmansworth does a Damm good job. Phone number below

01923 718907

I only ever use the main dealers for warranty work, all my cars go to an independent locally, I was more trying to get the BMW parts guru advertising agency fella to quote his (BMW HR Owen) hourly rate, if I recall correctly it is around £160ph, the most expensive in the UK for BMW in the last survey!

Edited by bmw2002 on Tuesday 20th January 20:56

[PartsGuru]

bmw2002 said:

robmw750 said:

Does it have to be a Stealer ? what about independants Gary at Autobahn Rickmansworth does a Damm good job. Phone number below

01923 718907

I only ever use the main dealers for warranty work, all my cars go to an independent locally, I was more trying to get the BMW parts guru advertising agency fella to quote his (BMW HR Owen) hourly rate, if I recall correctly it is around £160ph, the most expensive in the UK for BMW in the last survey!

Edited by bmw2002 on Tuesday 20th January 20:56

I think you may find that on the last survey it was either Hexagon or Park Lane!!
I expected to take some flack on here at some point so thanks bmw2002 for making it sooner rather than later!! Ask any dealer if they get to charge their retail rate. We're trying to setup a better menu pricing system that allows us to quote acurate prices on the phone. At the end of the day we need to pay everyones wages and the bills but we understand we need to be tuned into our local market place and offer better prices. I get a win either way as alot of the local indis use me for their parts but then I could have one of our techs standing around scratching his ass!!! We price match where we can on servicing work all the time and I've never known our Advisors not do a deal, but the perception will always be that we are always over priced because we are a main dealer. We have customers that have been coming to us for 10 years or more so we can't be that bad!!

[amokwa]

PartsGuru

Which Indie's use Cooper Thames Ditton in Surrey for parts ?

[PartsGuru]

amokwa said:

PartsGuru

Which Indie's use Cooper Thames Ditton in Surrey for parts ?

We had a couple of places that were using them a while ago but I think they stopped and use just us now because our stock holding is the best on panels lol!!!!!


Why???

[amokwa]

I live close to them and need my car serviced by an Indie nearby.