BMW Service Standard Pricing - Beware!

[Mr Whippy]

I don't mind good BMW garages.

I've had all servicing, tracking etc done at Sandal Wakefield and been totally happy with service/price.

I've used them for tyres and been happier with them than most tyre places that treat wheels like junk (despite having awesome online reviews etc)

I suppose different dealerships vary.



But this needless chasing down on prices is going to eventually cost you on quality.

I'd be put off any new ish non-BMW fsh car entirely, unless it's old and has a completely solid and good quality independent service... and even then I'd be wanting to pay less for one.

So from my perspective people skimping on service just makes me skip their car.
Having to research and check a car worth £££ to make sure it's right just isn't worth my time when there are loads of fsh cars out there.

And jeez, £100 here and there is peanuts in the big picture of maintenance, fuel, insurance, depreciation etc.
In fact it's possibly the one thing where if you pay more it just adds to resale value anyway.

[Sheepshanks]

survivalist said:

When I phoned my local dealer they confirmed that these were in fact Inspection I and II prices and wouldn’t offer any discount. They did tell my they could do the Inspection II ‘while you wait’ which surprised me as my understanding was that the engine had to be stone cold to measure and correct the valve clearances.

My experience with franchised dealers is that they’re only really useful for servicing the current generation cars, after that you’re better off with a Indy / specialist. Their business model seems to have shifted to having large numbers of junior mechanics hoovering out oil and swapping filters while charging £100+ hourly rates and fewer senior mechanics doing diagnostics , fixing things when they go wrong. Fair enough if that works for them, but for older cars the more complex services are so high in cost I can’t see many people paying the price.

Had to laugh when my 335i was in for a oil, air and micro filter service though. The customer service agent phoned me to say my car had arrived (they collect) and that the service would be £454. I pointed out that they advertise it at 199 plus whatever the air filter costs. His response was ‘well, we could bill it that way if you prefer’ - I asked him if he could think of a reason why I would want to pay almost double the price for exactly the same product/service - ‘fair point’ came the reply. I’m guessing they use this approach as a percentage of customers just say fine and don’t question / haven’t seen the price.

Basic servicing work at rack-rate pricing is fantastically profitable for dealers and it takes a fraction of the 'book' time.

[survivalist]

Mr Whippy said:

I don't mind good BMW garages.

I've had all servicing, tracking etc done at Sandal Wakefield and been totally happy with service/price.

I've used them for tyres and been happier with them than most tyre places that treat wheels like junk (despite having awesome online reviews etc)

I suppose different dealerships vary.



But this needless chasing down on prices is going to eventually cost you on quality.

I'd be put off any new ish non-BMW fsh car entirely, unless it's old and has a completely solid and good quality independent service... and even then I'd be wanting to pay less for one.

So from my perspective people skimping on service just makes me skip their car.
Having to research and check a car worth £££ to make sure it's right just isn't worth my time when there are loads of fsh cars out there.

And jeez, £100 here and there is peanuts in the big picture of maintenance, fuel, insurance, depreciation etc.
In fact it's possibly the one thing where if you pay more it just adds to resale value anyway.

I completely agree about skimping on quality, but in this instance they were trying to charge me double price for an oil, micro filter and air filter change - no difference in the service items just how it was billed on their system.

For anything rare or old I’d buy on condition and would probably favour a specialist with a decent reputation over a franchise.

I’d agree that anything average and newish (e.g. 4 years or younger) without a franchise service history is a bit suspect, especially given the low price of service packs.

[jimmybell]

I've noticed recently the bmw-service.co.uk site has just been down for 'maintenance' for... weeks.

It was really handy to at least ensure stealers were loosely in line with others (and to know what the bill should be in advance of booking...).

anyone aware of any other systems like this?

[Wills2]

jimmybell said:

I've noticed recently the bmw-service.co.uk site has just been down for 'maintenance' for... weeks.

It was really handy to at least ensure stealers were loosely in line with others (and to know what the bill should be in advance of booking...).

anyone aware of any other systems like this?

Yes it's called the telephone.

[jamoor]

Wills2 said:

jimmybell said:

I've noticed recently the bmw-service.co.uk site has just been down for 'maintenance' for... weeks.

It was really handy to at least ensure stealers were loosely in line with others (and to know what the bill should be in advance of booking...).

anyone aware of any other systems like this?

Yes it's called the telephone.

It’s a pain though having to ring around and negotiate pricing.

[RUSSELLM]

jimmybell said:

I've noticed recently the bmw-service.co.uk site has just been down for 'maintenance' for... weeks.

It was really handy to at least ensure stealers were loosely in line with others (and to know what the bill should be in advance of booking...).

anyone aware of any other systems like this?

I noticed the same recently.

The BMW Connected app shows prices, though.

Go to ‘hub’
Chose a preferred retailer
Click ‘schedule service’, and you’ll get the price list.

The prices differ from dealer to dealer, but you can change that in ‘Preferred retailer’

[dasbimmerowner]

jimmybell said:

I've noticed recently the bmw-service.co.uk site has just been down for 'maintenance' for... weeks.

It was really handy to at least ensure stealers were loosely in line with others (and to know what the bill should be in advance of booking...).

anyone aware of any other systems like this?

I'd you go to a dealerships website you can get the costs by starting to book a service. I've found that even dealerships in the same group charge different prices. It's a it of pain having to put your reg in each time but you can find who's cheapest before any phone haggling.

[jimmybell]

Wills2 said:

Yes it's called the telephone.

Cheers, hopefully you feel better now

[Doovde]

jamoor said:

It’s a pain though having to ring around and negotiate pricing.

Called my local BMW dealer today for an oil-change service for my X6, to be calmly quoted £420. I confirmed that it was just an oil and filter service, - yes with the microfilter... £420 for just oil and two filters! FFS

My local BMW indie was quoting a mere £180 for the same service, and assured me they can update the service history and it will be maintained on the iDrive service history as they can update the 'BMW servers'.

[tjlees]

Supply your own oil - my oil, filter and micro filter service dropped to £160, the BMW ll04 oil was £35.

It also worth checking their parts department, and buying their discounted filters - sometimes it works out even cheaper because service will often not apply discounts on parts. For the spark plugs, I often buy them online at half the stealer price. Similar for brakes discs, sensor and pads. BMW where quoting me close to a grand. Online there were £296 for brembo parts and £150+vat for labour at the stealer.

Ultimately, the BMW Indy at around £65 per hour labour will be cheaper and still able to update your electronic service book - it never effected the 2nd hand price for me as long as it was a known good Indy.