Has anyone taken their coupe to the BMW dealer?

chicane

chicane

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,026
Reaction score
0
I know most guys service their own coupes, but I was wondering if any coupsters have ever rolled up to the dealer for parts or service and what kind of reaction did you get?
 
BMW Dealer Quotes

"Wow, nice car - who makes them?"

"That's a BMW?"

"What's a carburetor?"

And the best one is "That's older than our Master Technician is."
 
The local BMW dealer does work on our e39 wagon, when its above my ability. I got to know the Master Service Mechanic, and did take my coupe there once to show him my "other" BMW.

But service at the dealer? Never. I either do it myself, or its done by someone I know and at a shop where I can watch him do the work.
 
The dealer thought it was a modded 2002, even though the racing pictures of it were on the wall.

However, there was one service manager (German) that knew what it was, and showed me some of the cool pictures he had of his restored M1.

Enthusiasts know what the car is, but most BMW buyers nowadays are anything but.
 
I bought my first coupe from a dealer 15 years ago.
BMW of San Francisco. It was a trade in. When I first saw it on the lot they were asking 12k. I offered 8k and they laughed so I walked. They called my back a few weeks later desperate to sell it. I got it for 8.5k.
Needless to say I never took it back for service.
 
We don;t have a good independent shop anywhere nearby otherwise I might never have tried the dealer. As it turns out, the dealer is pretty good. Your results may vary.

Our local dealer has a couple of guys on staff who know the old cars and are willing to work on them "after hours". I am not only allowed to watch but to assist. Knowing that they have the manual on the computer and all the specialty tools is a good feeling as well. I had them do a rotary compressor replacement for the A/C and it worked out great. The price was quite reasonable and all the hoses were made up by their regular supplier.

I wouldn't dismiss the dealer option out of hand. It might be worth a look.
 
Re: BMW Dealer Quotes

decoupe said:
"Wow, nice car - who makes them?"

"That's a BMW?"

"What's a carburetor?"

And the best one is "That's older than our Master Technician is."
Click to expand...

yeah, that's about right!
I'd never take my coupe to the stealership for service, but I do take it there to pick up my wife when she gets her X3 serviced under warranty. The coupe draws more attention and compliments than the new M6 in the showroom! (and mine is not even show quality). In fact, the dealership should offer to give us coupe owners free oil changes just to be honored with the presence of an E9 on thier lot!

I haven't had the need for any heavy lifting in terms of mechanicals on the coupe, but have a good idea where to bring it when the need arises.... (Mario, I'll be coming your way :) ) In any event, I'd never let a "certified" BMW tech work on the coupe. That would be like asking a computor geek to work on a steam engine.
 
Services at the Stealers--eeeerrrr Dealers--not often

From the time I prchased the BLUMAX--February 1972--followed by two others later on--and others--always used BMW's and always out of warranty--that have followed. They have been serviced--apart from my sometime tinkering--by well qualified Independents. In 1978 I introduced my sons good friend Randy to the original Independent German MM for BMW's--and following opening his own shop--Black Forest Ind. BMW Service 20 years ago--have been with him since. I remember telling him that--someday I thought there would be a lot of BMW's. Since I've recognized that day was one of the rare ones when my overworked crystal ball was actually working and was accurate--and today here in our local area BMW's are common as fleas on a dogs back in our. Randy has and continues to prosper and enjoys a loyal following of 1,000--1,200 customers all by referral. in the Costa Mesa at the edge of Newport Beach and nearby Huntington Beach--a mile from my home--convenient to say the least!!

As I recall--it was necessary to go to a Dealer once--on Victoria Island, BC an overheat on a pleasant day signaled time to replace the early fan clutch that failed on the main drag in Victoria in 1975--just two blocks from their small BMW facility then.

Many parts have come from the local Dealers over the years--starting with Crevier BMW when they occupied a very small showroom with a separate small stand alone parts Department just around the corner back in 1972 or so--today they are the largest BMW Dealer in the Western US. BTW--In their showroom on display is likely the lowest mileage CS in existence--a 1974 3.0CSA with 4,300 miles--that is not a misprint. However--when I pull in to park directly at the entrance of Crevier in their blue parking spot--yes I do have one of those specisl permits--usually 4 or 5 of their staff will come out to look at BLUMAX--and I casually comment I'm soon to have 100 times the mileage of the one on their showroom floor--usually blank looks appear. In 2004 I convinced Don Crevier it would be a good idea to display that low mile showroom Queen at OctoberFest when it was held in Pasadena, CA--50 miles away--well--we also displayed the Blumax standing nose to nose with the youngster--and had a poster asking the question as to


Also bought parts from Saddleback BMW, then in Misssion Viejo, now Irvine BMW, also large, from Roy Carver BMW & Rolls Royce ( one of the very earliest in Orange County--some will rememeber my story of his Daughter in recent years seeing the BLUMAX in my garage and hugging the trunk of same--Carver is now Sterling BMW in Newport Bea--I also buy from La Jolla Independent, Mesa Performnce and through my mechanic--at his costs--maybe the best deal!

Enough for now.
 
Service--etc continued

Next to last paragraph--forgot to add:

[i]"and which one has been around the earth over 16 times"?[/i][/i]
 
I have a small, very friendly dealership, near where I live in Switzerland. They order remanufactured parts from Munich, and have done work once or twice for me. The main benefit I had with them, was that their workshop manager suggested I talk to a friend of his, who runs a small garage, servicing and repairing most cars, BUT his main interest are the E9 and 2002 of which he has several and races them.

This guy has rebuilt and upgraded several final drives, he has silenced squeaking clutch pedals, set my Webers on the CSL, and many more special jobs. He knows where to get jobs done that he cannot do, such as shortening and balancing prop shafts, refurbishing wheels, planing cyl heads etc etc.

So my experience with the current BMW dealerships is very good. And I do park right outside the main entrance, even at the huge operation in Stockholm. It´s good for the current, young staff to see what a stylish BMW looks like (compared to the modern space ships they peddle today).
 
About a year ago, my hazard switch failed so I went to the parts counter at the local BMW dealer. The young man insisted that my car's vin was from a 320i. Although there was a huge poster of an E9 on the wall, he had no idea what one was. I ended up leaving and ordering my switch from Max.
 
The same :?: happend in Austria a while ago . I went to a local BMW-dealer, the boy behind the desk much younger than my Orange.

"Hello, i have an E9 and need a spare part ..."
"You mean you have an E90...?"
"No, it´s a 3 Liter CSI...."
"A Z4, 3 Liter si....?"

On my mobile phone i had a photo, "cool colour"..... :D :lol:

Finally i bought the parts from Walloth & Nesch ...
 
wjtesquire said:
About a year ago, my hazard switch failed so I went to the parts counter at the local BMW dealer. The young man insisted that my car's vin was from a 320i. Although there was a huge poster of an E9 on the wall, he had no idea what one was. I ended up leaving and ordering my switch from Max.
Click to expand...

You'll be surprise how many ignorant workers that work at Bmw dealers. They know nothing about past models other than what's selling on the showroom floors at the present moment.

Bmw's old 7 digit VIN numbers were superceded by the later multiple letters/numbers system which ends with 7 numbers started around 76/77. So yes, most of the 7 digit VINs that started with 22xxxxx were assigned to the later E30 3 series.

To avoid possible confusions and mixups on CS parts purchases in the future, do not use the CS VINs when ordering. Some astute parts guys will know the CS and the older Bmw's but most younger parts guys will just punch in the last 7 VIN digits and guess what will appear on his computer screen, an E30 3 series.
 
I always...

I "ALWAYS" stop the show. Whether in my 6shooter or e9mm. (And my cars "STILL" need help-got my mechanicals great, but, my car's bodies still have a long way to go). "Looking good"!, "Nice colour"!, "I see you getting it together, good luck"!, "You wanna sell?", "What kind of BMW is that?", "We don't service that car here!", bla, bla, bla. Oh, I forgot the most common one, "Hello Ephriam... what's wrong with her"? Everyone knows me. I always get great customer service but I never get my classics serviced at the dealership. I highly recommend using a spcialist unless you are doing the work yourself. And I highly recommend using BMW OEM parts unless it's an obvious upgrade part.
Regards,
 
My local dealer used to do state inspections for free, so I brought in the 3.0CS. The service manager had it on the lift and showed me how loose the lower ball joints were and said that it was not safe to drive home. I suggested that he follow the procedure in the shop manual to test the ball joints. He knew at that point he wan't going to get a bunch of business and sent me home with a free inspection sticker. He is long gone now. The mechanic who drive the CS said that it was older than he was.

There are some young enthustiastic sales guys there now. They know what an E9 is and go nuts when I stop by.
 
dealer

I wouldn't take my E28 5er to the dealer for service let alone the coupe. (Lack of) service knowledge aside, the prices are just frightening. It was very handy, however, when we took my wife's X5 in for service when it was under CPO warranty. The free rental car was nice and the service was generally good.

I did go by the dealer last Fall in the coupe to look at the 1s. The younger sales guys seemed to know more and be interested in the coupe than the older guys.
 
I realize that this is slightly off-topic from the original thread, but I have to mention this.
Just dropped the wife's X3 off for service today and realized that their hourly rate is $135/hour! Shouldn't matter to me because we're well within factory warranty, but it got me thinking of how much of a racket all car franchises have become. There are so many proprietary tools and software for all new cars that the dealer has a captive market. i.e. where else are you going to take it?

All the more reason to own and drive old technology like our coupes. I like being able to an old-school knowledgable independent shop when something is beyond my scope. There is a reason why coupes and '02s are still used as drivers even when they're 35+ years old.

Regardless of how much money you may or may not have, when a dealership charges an hourly rate approaching what a junior associate at a law firm makes...or a dentist, it is ridiculous. So, we're essentially being asked to subsidize these ridiculous state-of-the-art dealership/service facilities costing millions of dollars....and for what, shitty service and very little breadth of knowledge when it comes to the BMW marque.

If I weren't an admitted car junkie, I'd love the idea of NEVER buying a new car or going to a franchise dealer ever again. Unfortunately, the reality is that I will most likely get sucked in an buy the latest 'go-fast' car/suv made by BMW or Porsche because these things are my biggest weakness.
 
Not to start a huge discussion on this, I agree that $135.00/hr seems overly excessive; but knowing the inner workings of a dealer and how the manufacturer plays a roll in the dealer's profit margin is important as well. There's no doubt that dealers almost always come across as being more expensive than an independent mechanic but there are several factors that attribute to the added expense. Dealers have different standards, they cannot put band aids or quick fixes when there are other issues looming. They can't use secondary parts or source them from a different vendor and they have tremendous costs in training their mechanics albeit only on the contemporary cars. The other factors are that the manufacturer pays ridiculously low times for warranty repairs. The manufacturer establishes how many hours they will pay for a power steering pump replacement. What might be a 4 hour job only pays 2.5 hours. When it comes to scheduled maintenance, which BMW covers for the first 4 years of ownership, they pay a fraction of what it takes a mechanic to perform the job. Oil changes typically take 45 minutes if you include greasing the zirc fittings and the inspection that is required by the manufacturer. The manufacturer might pay as little as .25 of an hour to do the job. The dealer has to eat this and of course they try to make it up by charging a high hourly rate at the shop. A local independent that I have used in the past charges $100.00 an hour for his work and I don't have the recourse that I would have with a dealer. Then there is the loaner car, the manufacturer does not cover the complete cost of providing the customer with a loaner, they only cover about 60%, the dealer eats the rest. When it comes to diagnosing electronics on the contemporary cars, I would undoubtedly trust the dealers as they tend to be more up to date with the equipment and training. Sometimes it helps to know both sides, it sometimes makes it more palatable. By the way, I just drive through the dealer from time to time and usually bring the service department to a standstill.

Cheers!
Mike
 
All good points OC!

We could go on for hours debating the "industry" but I suppose we'd get chided for being too far off topic for this thread/forum.

As it relates to Coupes though, I'd simply sum it up by saying that it is nice to be able to options when repairing older cars.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top