BMW Specialists near J24-J10 of the M25
Discussion
Hi
can anyone recommend a reliable, reasonably priced BMW specialist on the "left-hand" side of the M25? Really just looking for a good value alternative to my local BMW dealer, who has just quoted me £230 for an oil change and a further £25 to reset the service indicator (apparently this would be free if the car was still under warranty/extended warranty). Add in a brake fluid change, oil change and coolant change and the cost is well north of £600.
Thanks in advance.
S
can anyone recommend a reliable, reasonably priced BMW specialist on the "left-hand" side of the M25? Really just looking for a good value alternative to my local BMW dealer, who has just quoted me £230 for an oil change and a further £25 to reset the service indicator (apparently this would be free if the car was still under warranty/extended warranty). Add in a brake fluid change, oil change and coolant change and the cost is well north of £600.
Thanks in advance.
S
I've used Boxer Motor Works in Ashford quite a few times, excellent firm with decent rates.
http://www.boxermotorworks.co.uk/
About 10 mins from Junct 13.
http://www.boxermotorworks.co.uk/
About 10 mins from Junct 13.
It's an E90. I managed to reset the service interval on the brakes once before, but not sure if the oil, sparks etc can be done. Based on my experience of buying tyres from Kwik Fit (the E46 was a company car, so tyres had to come from KF) their prices might not be much cheaper - happy to be proven wrong though and will check tomorrow.
That dealer should be reported to BMW GB! Charging to reset the service indicator after servicing the car......outrageous.
Brake fluid change should be around £75 depending on the fluid quality and about the same for a coolant change. An oil service should be about £150, again dependant on the oil used. You could only expect to be charged to reset a service light if they did not carry out the service, its actually PART of the service schedule, as is calling up any stored fault codes.
You need another specialist to look after your car. Try Phoenix Motorsport in Surrey, www.phoenixmotorsport.co.uk.
8Tech.
Brake fluid change should be around £75 depending on the fluid quality and about the same for a coolant change. An oil service should be about £150, again dependant on the oil used. You could only expect to be charged to reset a service light if they did not carry out the service, its actually PART of the service schedule, as is calling up any stored fault codes.
You need another specialist to look after your car. Try Phoenix Motorsport in Surrey, www.phoenixmotorsport.co.uk.
8Tech.
Thanks for all the reply's.
Ended up chatting to an outfit called Lancaster Garages who are local to me and got a good write up on Bimmerforums. They seemed very knowledgeable and happy to chat about the work required, how long it would take and pricing. Ended up getting oil, coolant, brake fluid and sparks changed as well as the front disks and pads changed for what I consider a fair price. They even sorted an MOT out for me at the last minute when I realised it ran out this weekend.
Surprisingly, a couple of garages I spoke to were very polite but unable to quote for the service items immediately. I suppose this may be because their main business is around older models that have the Inspection 1/2 service model, rather than the condition based servicing of the newer models. A couple never called back either, so I guess business must be good - hardly surprising given main dealer costs.
For anyone interested, I called three BMW dealers one each in Surrey, London and Slough and found pricing pretty similar.
8Tech - Are the prices you mention for any particular dealer/region? Thanks for the recommendation but by then my car was already in the garage.
Typical prices were:
Oil - 210-230
Brake Fluid - 115-135
Coolant - 105-125
Sparkplugs (65) - 220-295
Font Pads and Disks - 440-670
And the one dealer who wanted £25 to reset the service counter.
Seems the fabled ///M tax is rapidly filtering down to lower models. Also, unless I was willing to wait 6 weeks I wouldn't be able to get a courtesy car either. Guess as long as people keep paying the prices won't come down.
Have to say, some of the times quoted to complete a job seemed crazy to me. As an example, one dealer claimed it takes up to 2 hours to change the front disks and pads. Having done this myself in the past (admittedly not on an E90) it wouldn't take me that long - and I don't have a ramp, power tools etc or carry out this type of work every day.
Anyway, rant over. Thanks again for the info.
S
Ended up chatting to an outfit called Lancaster Garages who are local to me and got a good write up on Bimmerforums. They seemed very knowledgeable and happy to chat about the work required, how long it would take and pricing. Ended up getting oil, coolant, brake fluid and sparks changed as well as the front disks and pads changed for what I consider a fair price. They even sorted an MOT out for me at the last minute when I realised it ran out this weekend.
Surprisingly, a couple of garages I spoke to were very polite but unable to quote for the service items immediately. I suppose this may be because their main business is around older models that have the Inspection 1/2 service model, rather than the condition based servicing of the newer models. A couple never called back either, so I guess business must be good - hardly surprising given main dealer costs.
For anyone interested, I called three BMW dealers one each in Surrey, London and Slough and found pricing pretty similar.
8Tech - Are the prices you mention for any particular dealer/region? Thanks for the recommendation but by then my car was already in the garage.
Typical prices were:
Oil - 210-230
Brake Fluid - 115-135
Coolant - 105-125
Sparkplugs (65) - 220-295
Font Pads and Disks - 440-670
And the one dealer who wanted £25 to reset the service counter.
Seems the fabled ///M tax is rapidly filtering down to lower models. Also, unless I was willing to wait 6 weeks I wouldn't be able to get a courtesy car either. Guess as long as people keep paying the prices won't come down.
Have to say, some of the times quoted to complete a job seemed crazy to me. As an example, one dealer claimed it takes up to 2 hours to change the front disks and pads. Having done this myself in the past (admittedly not on an E90) it wouldn't take me that long - and I don't have a ramp, power tools etc or carry out this type of work every day.
Anyway, rant over. Thanks again for the info.
S
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