Servicing

B

bjd

Member
So, it's that again and I'm due a Insp1 and a brake fluid change. I would appreciate if anyone could give any indication on pricing with a BMW dealership (I want to retain the FBMWSH).

I go to my usual dealer and I'm being quoted £1200 for a Insp1 and £200 for a brake fluid change. The service pricing sounds more like an Insp2? Anyhow I go and phone up another dealer and I'm being quoted £269 and £90 respectively.

I'm starting to despair with the lack of clue in servicing depts, can anyone indicate what pricing I should be expecting to pay for an Insp1 and brakefluid change? I'm based in Herts / North London if there's any recommendations.
 
As regards to the inspection service pricing I'd point your dealer towards their own website. Can't find any info on there about brake fluid change pricing though. Inspection II price from them is crazy these days, £1272!
https://www.bmw-service.co.uk/##your-vehicle
insp1.png
 
Paid about £60 at a main dealer recently for brake fluid change on the 330d. Can't see why a Z4M should be different.
 
99ron said:
Paid about £60 at a main dealer recently for brake fluid change on the 330d. Can't see why a Z4M should be different.
Click to expand...
It's due to the special brake fluid they use in an ///M.

Unicorn sperm I believe :P
 
99ron said:
Paid about £60 at a main dealer recently for brake fluid change on the 330d. Can't see why a Z4M should be different.
Click to expand...

For an oil service and brake fluid change at my main dealer last year on my ///M I paid £66.22 for Oil and £70.60 for brake fluid after a bit of haggling (£136.82 all in) and supplying my own oil.

I would expect a inspection 1 to be around the £700 mark. If it's around £1,200 I really would look at using a good Indi as it's not going to make £500 difference to the value of the car.

Edited to include filter/brake fluid.
 
At these prices might it be worth the forum having an index of garages (both Maindealer and Indies) where people have got a good deal/price on servicing with prices is listed?

At least through precedent one would know what to expect and one could quote garages on their own preceding jobs? Kind of take the lottery out of things?

This a small country and if by means of a bit of a drive and a day (or even an overnight stay somewhere!) one could save £Hundreds, I for one would certainly be willing to travel pretty much anywhere!

For example, if the OP is in the Nth London/Herts area, would be so terrible to have to drive down to srhutch's place in East Sussex?
 
bjd said:
So, it's that again and I'm due a Insp1 and a brake fluid change. I would appreciate if anyone could give any indication on pricing with a BMW dealership (I want to retain the FBMWSH).

I go to my usual dealer and I'm being quoted £1200 for a Insp1 and £200 for a brake fluid change. The service pricing sounds more like an Insp2? Anyhow I go and phone up another dealer and I'm being quoted £269 and £90 respectively.

I'm starting to despair with the lack of clue in servicing depts, can anyone indicate what pricing I should be expecting to pay for an Insp1 and brakefluid change? I'm based in Herts / North London if there's any recommendations.
Click to expand...

With a 10 year old out of warranty car, if it were me instead of paying BMW prices I would go Indi and with the cash saved get a professional polish.

This is who I use and very happy with them.

http://www.technosport.co.uk/index.html

You are better off calling rather than emailing.
 
The more i look into modern gaages and modern servicing, the more i believe it has changed beyond comparison to services as we remember in the old days. In ten years plus of zz3 and z4 ownership I have long thought and stated on here that a fully main dealer stamped service book is absolutely no guarantee of superior maintainence: Inspections are mainly exactly that, inspections! ie , Looking at something and checking if it is broken. Gone are the days of servicing where brake mechanisms are stripped, cleaned adjusted and put back knowing that they will work satisfactorily till the next due service date. Same of wheel bearings , steering systems etc . You are basically paying for a rediculously priced oil change . I would never again take my car to a main dealer, if you can find a good indy who knows the vehicles at least you wont pay so much . But you still need to do a lot of fettling yourself , many hours of learning about the workings of your car and spending the time to do the proper checking and maintenance that thedealers dont have the time or inclination to do. Your inspection is just another job to them to be got through the workshop as quickly and as cheaply as possible if it is a fixed price job , or if you ar not mechanically savvy , then to extract as much cash off you as possible by scare tactics such as your brake discs are below bmw minimum thickness , when in effect you have many many miles of safe motoring left on them. They are only interested in doing easy profitable jobs. Or lucrative warranty work . Imo an m owner would do better to invest the mass of money he would have paid to main dealers for inspections, in buying quality tools and get down and dirty doing interim oil changes, gearbox oil which bmw rarely change ( they would rather sell you a new gearbox later ) diff oils and additives, plugs. Air filters etc etc plus a good indy doing the scheduled inspections to keep the history stamped. Your precious M car will benefit greatly, as will your pocket and your peace of mind that maintenance has actually been done and that you havent paid bmw to do actually very little for a very lot of money. When you start to do things on your own car , you realise the little things that dealers dont do , like copperslip on bolts so you know they wont seize, and cleaning things properly after working, not just a wham bam thank you maam mentality rush job. I Never forget the bmw tech who stated how many minutes he was allowed to collect the customers car from the car park do the oil change and put it back, which convinced me you will rarely get a proper job done. They gloss over the poor maintenance by paying a young lad on holiday from college to give the car a courtesy jet wash and splash around a bit of interior cockpit shine to keep the lady that lunches,( or bloke to be pc correct) coming back for their exemplary service ! Sorry if this comes across as negative but it is sadly more often than not the case in this age of profit targets, balance sheets and time constraints in the motor trade. Do what you can yourself , it is fun , satisfying and I can assure you your car will be one of the better ones around and when you show a prospective purchaser the amount of love the car has had , it will hold as much weight to a savvy buyer than a pretty meaningless dealer history. Good luck ,happy new year and enjoy getting under you bonnet in 2018👍
 
TomK said:
As regards to the inspection service pricing I'd point your dealer towards their own website. Can't find any info on there about brake fluid change pricing though. Inspection II price from them is crazy these days, £1272!
https://www.bmw-service.co.uk/##your-vehicle
insp1.png
Click to expand...

That's changed since I looked last year, as it used to take you to a M specific service schedule when you entered your reg and the inspection 1 had gone up to around £1200

Now there is no mention anywhere of it being an M service with shim measurements. I'd be vary wary of what sort of service they where doing.
 
no fit state said:
TomK said:
As regards to the inspection service pricing I'd point your dealer towards their own website. Can't find any info on there about brake fluid change pricing though. Inspection II price from them is crazy these days, £1272!
https://www.bmw-service.co.uk/##your-vehicle
insp1.png
Click to expand...

That's changed since I looked last year, as it used to take you to a M specific service schedule when you entered your reg and the inspection 1 had gone up to around £1200

Now there is no mention anywhere of it being an M service with shim measurements. I'd be vary wary of what sort of service they where doing.
Click to expand...

Lol. I've no idea either. They seem to make it up as they go along nowadays :dizzy:
Wouldn't catch me taking my car anywhere near them anyway even if it was a remotely sensible price.
 
The last ins1 for my MR was £1100 including the oil change. It was all so the last time I used the main dealer. The car came back dirtier than when I dropped it off. Always use an indie now. Saves a chunk of money and is better serviced in my experiance . :)
 
Mad4 is spot on....large parts of the Inspection I and II are ridiculous. I'd suggest £300 of the £1200 cost is for a bloke to test not even half the stuff they do on a £30 MOT....it's a joke and rip off!

I do wonder what the cost of an oil change, pollen/air filter clean and measure/replace shims would come to.....£400 all in...?
 
OP, I'd recommend Clive/Stuart from Highams Park BMW specialists....always very busy, but excellent reputation and in my experience genuinely honest when it comes to saving customers money.
 
All main dealers are the same now , no longer are there experienced mechanics , they have techs instead . Anything beyond the laptop telling them exactly whats wrong with something and they just bin the entire unit and replace . My company car is in ford right now . ABS and Traction control lights on , now it takes no genius to figure out thats going to be wheel speed sensors no sending info to the box . 48 hours later I speak to them on the phone , non of the speed sensors are working and they may have to change the entire underside loom !!!! Now once again anyone with basic rudimentary knowledge would know thats gonna be the volt feed wire thats common to them all broken at some point behind the multipin plug or indeed in the multipin plug . so I know whats gonna happen , I will take bets on this .. They are gonna replace everything infront of that plug , sensors , feeds return the lot .. And its still not gonna work . 3 days they had it now .. its almost a comedy show . Glad I ain't paying .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom