BMW M3 E46 Coupe

[CHADROW]

hI all,

Im looking to venture into the ownership of the elusive e46 M3 coupe.
Currently have a 330i coupe which i love.

My question is, ive been hearing alot of banter regarding dealer stamps, servicing intervals, oil changes & reputable indys etc and was wondering , i have a few mechanics in the family who regualar work on ze germans finest & have all the tools, equipment etc and im thinking this could be a good way of keeping the service costs down, is there anything different that BMW Indy will do as apose to a normal mechanic when servicing the M Cars.

Any help much appreciated

Cheers
Chads

[Rawhide]

There is nothing stopping you working on the car yourself. I imagine valve clearances might be tricky without all the shims.

The main issue is it will hurt re-sale value

Edited by Rawhide on Wednesday 28th October 11:58

[CHADROW]

hmmmmmmmm, even if they specialise in german cars

[Travis Mcgee]

if i were looking for an E46 M3, then i think would want to see full BMW SH and not even Indy. I know some of it is Comfort factor, but these cars need regular servicing, and future sales depend on being able to prove the car was serviced by people, supposedly reputable. Appreciate your kin, may be good at what they do, but further down the line, someone will have a job trying to prove it.

[CHADROW]

Cheers for the info mate, how many M3s have you see that have full BMWSH from start till present. My question is how you can you justify what is being done correctly & not correctly from say Indy or BMW stealer, id rather get the job done from someone who i would trust rather than gettting a delear stamp for the sake of it.
At the end of the day, you will lose an amount of money when you sell the car.

[Slurms]

Depends on the age of the vehicle - your starting to see them with stamps from independants and there are several good ones but most buyers still want to see lots of receipts from bmw dealers before they will part with their hard earned cash.

[thehos]

people like main dealer history, on any make of car, FACT.

If you want to get it serviced by your "mate" then carry on, but what you perhaps need to weigh up is, that you are prepared to lose more money than you would usually on depreciation alone when its time to sell.

I for one would not buy a M3 without FBMWSH

[CHADROW]

How about half bmw & the rest indy?

[philmots]

I keep looking at M3's... Most have full BMWSH for 3 years then some have a independant BMW specialist history, this doesn't put me off in the slightest, i may even go as far as prefering it!