A trip to the dealer

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lsquaredb

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I went to the dealer to get a few parts. It went like this:

Parts Guy: Hello, can I help you?
Me: I need some parts for an E9.
Parts Guy: There's no such thing as an E9. Do you mean E91?
Me: No, it really is an E9.
Parts Guy: No such thing. What's the VIN?
Me: 2280254
Parts Guy: You have an E12!
Me: No, it's an E9. It's a 1970 2800 CS.
Parts Guy does a long blank stare and says nothing.
Parts Guy: What was the VIN again?
I tell him again.
Parts Guy: It's an E28.
Me: I have the parts numbers.
He looked up the parts. Most of the bulbs I needed were in stock; I had to go next door to the Mini dealer to get blinker bulbs. The stuff I really needed (window brushes) was NLA. :mad:

I guess the moral of the story is to look everything up in RealOEM first.
 
lsquaredb said:
I went to the dealer to get a few parts. It went like this:

Parts Guy: Hello, can I help you?
Me: I need some parts for an E9.
Parts Guy: There's no such thing as an E9. Do you mean E91?
Me: No, it really is an E9.
Parts Guy: No such thing. What's the VIN?
Me: 2280254
Parts Guy: You have an E12!
Me: No, it's an E9. It's a 1970 2800 CS.
Parts Guy does a long blank stare and says nothing.
Parts Guy: What was the VIN again?
I tell him again.
Parts Guy: It's an E28.
Me: I have the parts numbers.
He looked up the parts. Most of the bulbs I needed were in stock; I had to go next door to the Mini dealer to get blinker bulbs. The stuff I really needed (window brushes) was NLA. :mad:

I guess the moral of the story is to look everything up in RealOEM first.
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i had exactly the same first visit to my dealer, point by point, but they said: "a 3000 ? that must be wrong, it should be a threehundred something...you know a three series, right ?"

now they behave well, they know where to look for, but yes, it is better to give them the part numbers
 
aearch said:
the bmw dealers these days are complete idiots.
esp concord ca
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Our local one is not. They even have gigantic poster of a fjord E9 hanging in their showroom, which just had a remodel mandated by BMWNA.

The problem is that the OEM parts computer system is not all that backwards compatible. I've gone through the same struggles as DQ before with the parts guys, but then they would swing the monitor around and show me what they were seeing.

When I bought a new 2005 330xi from them, the salesman (who was a worse BMW nut then me) had me bring in my coupe so he could get a photo of my wife and I and the two cars.

It ain't like the old days when Hoffman ran things in the US, but then what is?
 
Another odd thing that happened on that trip to the dealer was they had no record of me as a customer even though I've bought a lot from them, like almost all of the front sheetmetal. They had changed their database so that customers were indexed by service records. I've never taken the car there for service since it hasn't been on the road in 27 years.

I mostly use W+N these days. I can get an order in a weeks, and it takes the dealer three weeks if the part has to come from Germany which is usually the case.
 
lsquaredb said:
Another odd thing that happened on that trip to the dealer was they had no record of me as a customer even though I've bought a lot from them, like almost all of the front sheetmetal. They had changed their database so that customers were indexed by service records. I've never taken the car there for service since it hasn't been on the road in 27 years.
Click to expand...

I think you were at a Mercedes dealer. :D
 
lsquaredb said:
I went to the dealer to get a few parts. It went like this:

Parts Guy: Hello, can I help you?
Me: I need some parts for an E9.
Parts Guy: There's no such thing as an E9. Do you mean E91?
Me: No, it really is an E9.
Parts Guy: No such thing. What's the VIN?
Me: 2280254
Parts Guy: You have an E12!
Me: No, it's an E9. It's a 1970 2800 CS.
Parts Guy does a long blank stare and says nothing.
Parts Guy: What was the VIN again?
I tell him again.
Parts Guy: It's an E28.
Me: I have the parts numbers.
He looked up the parts. Most of the bulbs I needed were in stock; I had to go next door to the Mini dealer to get blinker bulbs. The stuff I really needed (window brushes) was NLA. :mad:

I guess the moral of the story is to look everything up in RealOEM first.
Click to expand...

I've had the EXACT same experience, literally word for word.

You Cant Fix Stupid.
 
TodB said:
I've had the EXACT same experience, literally word for word.

You Cant Fix Stupid.
Click to expand...
Twenty-five years ago I won an oil change at my local dealer for my coupe. It took the mechanic three tries to get it right. I won the oil change the night our local chapter had a meeting at this dealer. It had been less than 20 years since they stopped making our coupes. I was running late and pulled up in front of the showroom with a couple of sales people and members inside. They stampeded out the door like a herd of buffalo. Gives you some idea of what people must think today when they see one of our coupes for the first time.

My favorite example. Pulled up to the stop sign at a " T " in a small river town along the Delaware. An old inn facing us with outdoor dining. As I came to a stop a guy stood up and applauded.
Steve
 
TodB said:
I've had the EXACT same experience, literally word for word.

You Cant Fix Stupid.
Click to expand...

I feel bad for the poor parts counter guys that are looked down upon because they don't know every vehicle in the BMW lineup. Especially models that you never see on the road and were last produced 40+ years ago. I'm sure that the car was nearly twice as old as the counter clerk...
 
Having been a BMW parts manager in a past life I can tell you that most of the countermen today will just plug your vin the the computer and hope it does the rest (problem is the computer is looking for the last 5 digits of the current long vin which is why your vin will pull up a different car....mine pulled up a Z3). Once the microfiche went away and the countermen of the 70's sand 80's started retiring a big void was left and managers started hiring former Pep boys and autozone employees.. There are some great countermen still out there that are enthusiasts and will know what a E9 is but they are becoming fewer and fewer. I always take part numbers with me.
 
Take part numbers, while they look them up go outside and see the swarm of employees with quizzical expressions around your coupe.
 
Markos said:
I feel bad for the poor parts counter guys that are looked down upon because they don't know every vehicle in the BMW lineup. Especially models that you never see on the road and were last produced 40+ years ago. I'm sure that the car was nearly twice as old as the counter clerk...
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This is true to a large extent. I was lucky enough on my first trip to my local dealer to accidentally find the parts manager running the counter on a Saturday. He is old enough to have sold parts for our cars when they were new. He even remembered the part number for those fiddily little plastic caps that go on the door closure clips. He showed me how he had to shift the system to Europe because I had a CSi (not available in the U.S.) Later I got a young guy, and since I knew their system by then, I was able to "train" him on how to use his system. He seemed to be very appreciative and became quite good looking up obscure stuff. However, I'm afraid he's rare and not the norm. Just be pacient and bring your own P/N's (and don't have a CSi in the U.S.!)
 
Can't blame the faceless corporate "dealer". The kids at the parts counters - I can call them that since I'm near old enough to be their grandpa - can't be expected to recall (having in most cases never seen) the E9. Remember too that some major percentage of the money to be made comes from much newer models. Ya gots ta face it, running coupes are a very small minority of Bimmers on the road today.

But I'm trying to sell a 2013 328i for my doctor neighbor. What a confusing car to operate, with an engine that shuts off at stop lights, then shudders to life when you take your foot off the brake, add to that two buttons on the shifter that control whether you can get from one gear to another (and don't forget to have your foot on the brake)! The turbo 2-liter fourbanger does get up and go, though.
 
lsquaredb said:
I went to the dealer to get a few parts. It went like this:

Parts Guy: Hello, can I help you?
Me: I need some parts for an E9.
Parts Guy: There's no such thing as an E9. Do you mean E91?
.......
Click to expand...

Funny story. Equally if I call the dealer for parts I have realoem open and am reading out the parts numbers to them. Admittedly the rarity of these cars means many working at the dealerships have possibly never seen one.
 
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