Service Costs

I agree, they won't be able to demonstrate their costs. They will naturally have more costs than an Independant, so that will be a factor. For example, all BMW dealerships have to look the same, they have to lease off BMW, they have to have show cars, they have to have tea and coffee, they have to have a plasma tv... They have to have a lot of things, which will bump the price up without increasing the level of service.

I also agree that 95% of Z4 buyers will be looking for a BMW service history, and that it'll bring the price of your car down when you sell if you do go Indy, but then you've saved on the Indy costs anyway.

I honestly don't think the servicing costs are too high, with my highest service cost on my 3.0si being £350, and that only comes every EIGHT years!
 
I just got a price off Vines at Guildford in Surrey for an Inspection 1 on my Z4M R ..... £847 !!!!

Somewhat higher than I thought. Will ring around a few before spending that money ! If people elsewhere in the country are getting it up to £200 less then I will make a few phone calls ....
 
Most dealers price match, so get a quote from Dick Lovett Swindon, and go from there. They're the cheapest I've seen.
 
bmwangler said:
Had an Inspection 2 done recently on my 3.0i at Dick Lovett Bristol and it cost a very reasonable £350.00.
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Don't forget the special formula though: M = 2(NM).

Where M = any ///M car, and NM = any non-///M car.

I still don't see why a M servicing should cost twice as much as a non-M though, as the only difference is the valve clearances which they may/may not do - and if they don't do them on an Inspection I then the price should be around the same as for a 2.0.
 
SO8 said:
I just got a price off Vines at Guildford in Surrey for an Inspection 1 on my Z4M R ..... £847 !!!!

Somewhat higher than I thought. Will ring around a few before spending that money ! If people elsewhere in the country are getting it up to £200 less then I will make a few phone calls ....
Click to expand...

I was in a similar position just a few weeks ago, so I rang Dick Lovett in Hungerford and as previously mentioned they came in at £700. So drove there and got the train back via Reading which took 90 minutes and cost £19.80 return. Train the next day to collect the car, but I'm only to 15 minutes walk to Guildford rail, which makes this all very viable, once you've integrated it into work or as in my case, have the week off.

I suppose I could have got Vines to price match, but my parents live near Hungerford so I used it as an excuse to turn up for a free meal :) In the end I probably saved £100 taking account of fuel use and train fares.

I agree though, other than the price of oil compared to a 2.0, it should could cost no more. But, what is the cost of a similar service for cars such as a Cayman S, RS4 or 996, all of which I considered? Anyone know?
 
James_G said:
I agree though, other than the price of oil compared to a 2.0, it should could cost no more. But, what is the cost of a similar service for cars such as a Cayman S, RS4 or 996, all of which I considered? Anyone know?
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I don't mind that it is more expensive to maintain an ///M, as long as BMW can successfully justify the difference. Why should, for example, checking the tread-depth cost £10/corner on an ///M and £5/corner on a non-///M? I think it's purely down to BMW thinking that you can afford an ///M so you can afford to be arse-raped come servicing time.

IIRC, the ///M holds less oil than a 2.0, so in theory it should be cheaper - although the 'approved' Castol oil for the ///M is about £1/litre more expensive (retail, not BMW prices).

Current 'official' Porsche pricing (for Boxster/Cayman/997):
  • £150 for Brake Fluid Change (when done at the same time as a service)
  • £480 for the Minor Service (£20 more for GT3/GT2/Turbo variants)
  • £600 for the Major Service (£40 extra for GT2/Turbo variants; £400 extra for GT3 variants)
 
I was once told that an M service was considerably more expensive due to them needing to fiddle with the suspension... that was a long time ago, and talking about E36/E46 M3s though
 
Tweed said:
I was once told that an M service was considerably more expensive due to them needing to fiddle with the suspension... that was a long time ago, and talking about E36/E46 M3s though
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There's nothing in the service sheet that mentions 'fiddling' with suspension and BMW will charge you £100+ for a KDS alignment. All they can do is check for wear just like on a 2.0.
The e34 M5 had electronic suspension, as do the current M5/M6 and is an option on the e9x M3 - however the Z4M has quite basic suspension which would probably cost less to replace than to spend a couple of hours 'fiddling' with it :P
 
I'm not convinced having an Indy service history does affect resale value to be honest, so long as its a good indy.

I sold my E46 M3 before buying the Z4MC and it sold about 6 hours after I put the advert up, for full asking price. Wasn't priced cheap either. BMW service history till it was 3 years old (previous owner) and Indy history from since I've owned it.

I'd far far prefer the same indy to work on my Z4MC but I suspect that in order to maintain the BMW Warranty I have to take it into a dealership, where they will ruin it :(

I think with M cars, and especially the Z4M, the buyers tend to be enthusiasts and are well aware of the benefits of an Indy looking after the car and its not so much of problem come resale time. (and its not just price.. my Indy charges £650 for an inspection II so isn't a huge amount cheaper than dealer prices, i just know the car is well looked after with him and I trust him).

Hamza
 
hamza said:
I think with M cars, and especially the Z4M, the buyers tend to be enthusiasts and are well aware of the benefits of an Indy looking after the car and its not so much of problem come resale time. (and its not just price.. my Indy charges £650 for an inspection II so isn't a huge amount cheaper than dealer prices, i just know the car is well looked after with him and I trust him).

Hamza
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My last quote for and Inspection 2 was £1200, not due for another 10k but I've started to shop around now.
 
hamza said:
I'd far far prefer the same indy to work on my Z4MC but I suspect that in order to maintain the BMW Warranty I have to take it into a dealership, where they will ruin it :(
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Aftermarket warranties perhaps, but not for the initial 3-yr BMW warranty on the car from new. EU law dictated this, that as long as genuine parts are used and procedures followed, any registered garage can service a car without affecting the warranty.

See here: http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/consumer_leaflets/cars/oft707.pdf


I'd feel in the same boat as others if I owned an ///M version: the amount saved by using an indy would probably be offset by the benefits of having a full BMW service history come resale time. Hence if I owned an ///M then I'd probably maintain a FBMWSH. An independent could (and probably does) a far better job, but most folk won't know much about an independent's reputation, however good they are. I'm at the opposite end of the scale, owning a 5.5yr old 3.0i Z4 that cost me just over £10k. I intend keeping this a few years so it'll be faily old and probably worth less than £7k when I come to sell it - IMO a FBMWSH isn't as valued the older a car gets.
 
hamza said:
I'm not convinced having an Indy service history does affect resale value to be honest, so long as its a good indy.

I sold my E46 M3 before buying the Z4MC and it sold about 6 hours after I put the advert up, for full asking price. Wasn't priced cheap either. BMW service history till it was 3 years old (previous owner) and Indy history from since I've owned it.

I'd far far prefer the same indy to work on my Z4MC but I suspect that in order to maintain the BMW Warranty I have to take it into a dealership, where they will ruin it :(

I think with M cars, and especially the Z4M, the buyers tend to be enthusiasts and are well aware of the benefits of an Indy looking after the car and its not so much of problem come resale time. (and its not just price.. my Indy charges £650 for an inspection II so isn't a huge amount cheaper than dealer prices, i just know the car is well looked after with him and I trust him).

Hamza
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I totally agree with you Hamza 100%. Coming from Golf VR6/R32's Nissan 350Z's a well known independent specialist is far more valuable in the "enthusiast" eyes these days than dealer stamps, primarily down to the quality work they put in as well as half the price of a main dealer. The M owner is normally going to be an enthusiast (and not in a minority of only 5%). I have personally seen the shoddy work some main dealers do on these top of the range cars and absolutely does not justify the absurd cost they charge per hour - a lot of good specialists use ex dealer engineers and speaking to them have heard plenty of stories about the "shortcuts" some dealers have (or are forced) to make due to time / money constraints. Please bear in mind there are some very good main dealers who do take the time and put in quality work. It is just unfortunately some dealers do not maintain the expected high standards where the work matches the price charged.

As long as the specialist independent is very well known in the german car scene and has a good reputation I would always take my car there rather than a main dealer and also buy a car with a full specialist service history (after doing research on that independent). Original and extended mfr warranties should remain intact as long as genuine mfr parts are used.
 
hamza said:
I'm not convinced having an Indy service history does affect resale value to be honest, so long as its a good indy.
Click to expand...
Think it may not necessarily affect the sale value, it may lower the number of potential buyers. However, I think it depends how old the car is, and the type of car (including how rare it is). BMW enthusiasts buying a less expensive but rare car (ie 5+ years old) may not be concerned about it not behing full BMW SH as they will know the benefits to using a good independent (as long as it is one they know of), but someone who likes fast cars generally (no particular brand) will want the full BMW SH on a failry expensive Z4 M. Those are my thoughts anyway, but I think to appeal to the most buyers you can't go wrong with BMW SH and to not give anyway a reason to knock more money off a car (everyone wants a bargain these days).

If I had a good independent near me I might be tempted to use them in the future, but I've had a few rubbish experiences years ago and heard conflicting stories about pretty much all of the independent M specialists. Having used a number of BMW dealers over the years, I've never personally been let down in any way. I once used an indepenent who were well recommended by some but when the next service was done at BMW I heard the words "who serviced this car last time time" - they had a few negative things to say about the work that had been carried out.

Not all Indy's will follow the service schedule either, one reason the price in some cases can be much lower. For example, air filter still looks okay, pop it back in. Yes, one actually told me this once. It may look okay, but good enough to last another 15k miles?
 
I bought my Z4M R knowing the servicing was dear ...

I intend to only use a BMW dealer for service as I know if buying an M car new 'ish then I would expect it to have full BMWSH. If older and serviced by say a well known independent then that's OK .... but not on a 3-5 year old car IMO. After say 5 years I would not be so bothered.
 
I have just been quoted £270 for an oil service at Arden BMW Maidstone. Does anyone know of cheaper in the Kent area before I start making calls?

Cheers

Jay
 
I noticed this on Sytner's website.....

http://www.sytner.co.uk/bmw/aftersales/aftersales-offers/service-price-match.aspx

It mentions indy's as well. Likely to be heavily caveated but if anyone has tried/taken advantage of this I'd be interested to know how they got on.

EDIT: Thought it was too good to be true. Right at the bottom it excludes M Power vehicles :headbang:
 
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