I know nothing of reports citing BMW Classic as not being profitable, so I'm keen to read the real evidence that shows BMW are not in their classic client's corner.
It seems to me, on the surface of it, BMW are looking to better support their approved classic dealer/parts supply network. Online direct business is great in many respects, but it does leave the dealers out of pocket.
Please can someone educate me on this.
Parts availability is my primary complaint. We can't get trim parts at all. Ask Gary Beck (m5bb) about his experience trying to order a new set of front grills. More than three years on a waiting list, and in the end, BMW didn't deliver the parts.
And we have to carefully scrutinize the mechanical and electrical parts BMW sells because they no longer do quality control. As with most businesses, quality control has been reduced to a supplier "certification" that they follow ISO quality standards along with a return policy that absolves the seller from the cost of returns.
Actually with BMW, while the supplier reimburses BMW for the cost of returned parts, BMW NA charges its dealers a fee for returned parts. This is another problem with BMW, because it creates a dynamic where the BMW dealer is sometimes reluctant to sell parts. We need to convince them we know which parts we need. Even when you arrive at the Classic parts dealer with a part number, they want to check the part against your VIN. And then, of course, you discover that they actually don't know that 17 digit VINs were implemented in 1981, so that a vehicle manufactured in 1972 will not have a 17 digit VIN. And they become rather frustrated after you tell them this, but give them your 7 digit VIN anyway, and they then discover that the part you are seeking doesn't fit the car that comes up when they run your VIN in their system. "Uh, that parts doesn't fit a Euro e21." "Well, its a good thing I don't own a Euro e21. My car is a 1972 3.0 CS. Let's look up the part and see which car it fits, shall we?" And sometimes, as they are looking up the part, I produce the old one and say something like "It looks like this, right." "And the list of cars that part fits includes my car, right?"
I later learned that BMW didn't actually train the parts guys at their Classic dealers. They trained a mechanic or two, and those guys deal directly with Germany to get parts. After looking at this (including discussions with a couple of restoration guys who are household names here, and with BMWNA executives), I've concluded that their business model was to target the restoration and maintenance part of the classic car market. It seems odd to me that they thought there was a big market in the US for cars restored to their original specifications at dealer prices. I gave the BMWNA VP the example of upgrading my starter to the later fixed magnet starter. My car starts much more efficiently with this part, and it would be silly to toss away that improved function to go back to originality. But apparently that was their plan.
When I look at the people I know who own and love old BMWs, BMW's business plan for the Classic group strikes me as odd. First, if you look at the way our cars were marketed, and at the owner's manuals for our cars, it is quite clear that BMW expected their owners to take a very active role in the maintenance and care of their vehicles. The fact that the procedure for adjusting valves is set forth in the owners manual makes this plain. Moreover, it is clear from attending BMW car events and from looking through the numerous BMW related forums that there is still a large contingent of BMW owners who are interested in doing mechanical work on their cars themselves. This is actually one of the reasons I got into BMW in the first place; working on cars was a very nice escape from sitting in front of a computer and dealing with numbers all day.
It would be nice if BMW's support for our cars was more consistent with the way we as owners view them. But they will never support our efforts to modify their designs, even when we are merely taking engine parts from later cars, like the fixed magnet starters, that were evolutionary engineering changes that BMW themselves embraced.
