[leftoverture]

Having read some of your dealer experiences, I thought I'd post mine. We bought our 2016 228i convertible exactly 11 months ago. In that time we put less than 7000 miles on it. That's the lowest mileage of any daily driver we've owned but my wife works at home now most days and it's her primary car, so this is the end result I guess. In that same time I've probably driven 18,000 miles in our other car. I drive 35 miles each way to work.

All we needed was an oil change and I scheduled it at Motorwerks BMW in Bloomington, MN. They are very close to home and open Saturdays so that was perfect. They have a gorgeous facility and treated me well from the moment I pulled in. But I guess from reading others stories I had to expect the "complimentary" vehicle inspection. So the service took an hour. While they did find the rear brakes to be getting thin, they did not recommend any immediate extra services.

They provided a video of the vehicle inspection which documents the condition of the car and I like that use of technology. Everything seemed on the level and I could see the rear pads are, in fact, getting thin. They provided a quote for performing the rear brake service, and I choked a bit on their estimate, $945.00. Yikes. I no longer have the facilities and tools to do my own work, but I have done a hundred or more brake jobs and feel confident saying that estimate is ridiculously high. I'll have to find another option when the time comes.

Lastly, I asked what they would charge to replace the battery. $487.00! That's not going to happen either. The car is 5 years old and being in Minnesota, I would normally change the battery about now as a preventive measure, but I think I'll ride the original one more season. They did tell me if I replaced the battery myself it would be $90 to program it.

Overall, however, my dealership service experience was very positive and I feel they were straight up with me. I would use them again for an oil change, but I'll probably seek out another service facility for repairs. But one way or another, it seems our little 2 is going to be expensive to keep on the road.

[jzeiler4]

If that was for rotors and pads not a bad deal. Also the battery is over $250 even at an Auto Parts big box store and then you have to register it to the cars battery monitoring system so it knows you have a new battery.

[Vitacura]

Another option to register the new battery is using the Bimmerlink app which runs about $32.

Our X2 recently had a dead battery one morning, I was going to change it myself, but what a pain to get to. I thought it would be in the trunk like most BMW's, nope. Under several pieces of trim and bars under the hood. Once I calculated the cost of the battery and the hassle of getting to the battery in the X2, I was willing to pay the extra $150 for the dealer to do it. Turns out they did a goodwill replacement, couldn't have been happier. One of those instances where it might have benefited to have a good relationship with your SA.

[dradernh]

I think those amounts are in the normal range for a BMW being serviced at a dealership. Independents can be expected to charge somewhat less, generally due to a lower hourly labor rate.

Both types of service facilities are using the 'flat rate book'. If you're not familiar with it, it's worth looking it up to see why a major portion of automotive repair costs (i.e., labor) is what it is. This was the first hit I got and it's a useful introduction: https://www.klassikats.com/2020/06/2...e-labor-guide/. Note that the author of that blog post decided to focus on Porsches!

As far as brake jobs go, they pay the utility bill, they pay for the gofers running around the dealership, they pay for the towels used to dry your car after it's been washed, and they pay for...yada...yada...yada. Read: dealers and independents rely upon brake jobs to help keep the place running, and if you've got a car whose brakes are not welded together by rust, you are going to pay a remarkable real-world hourly rate to have brake work done.

As an example, in 2004 I paid over $200/hour in labor for brake work. That was on a Tundra at a Toyota dealership in Nashua, NH (so, not one of the country's high-rent districts). Compared to BMW dealerships, Toyota dealerships are not known for expensive repair costs. Brake jobs, though, given the flat rate book...

Another example: I once bought a front brake kit consisting of rotors and pads and watched the installing mechanic start by lifting my BMW and end by dropping the car back onto the shop floor. Due to the parts coming off the car being clean and the mechanic being well-trained, the entire exercise took 45 minutes. This was at a shop that charged by the hour - there was no flat rate book nonsense going on there. My labor charge was $90 * 0.75 to have the kit installed. The labor charge at a dealership or a typical independent would have been significantly more.

Speaking of independents, my take is they offer two benefits: their lower hourly rates, even though they still charge for labor using the flat rate book; and that, generally, you're welcome to interact with anyone in the shop, including hanging around while the work on your car is being done. The latter is most important to me, and I understand that almost all owners won't take advantage of that opportunity. Most of what I've learned about my cars has come from interacting with the people working on them; I value that highly.

Independents tend to have more in the way of old-style mechanics, while dealer technicians are generally parts replacement specialists. I think this distinction is more important the older your car is. I don't believe it would make sense to take an E36 or an E46 to the average dealer, as the parts replacement specialist working on the car has likely never seen one before. And due to their being paid by how fast they can get a job done, the incentive structure becomes a mismatch.

I gotta stop here; I could go on and on, but I still need to get a leaf blower this evening.

[leftoverture]

Originally Posted by jzeiler4

If that was for rotors and pads not a bad deal. Also the battery is over $250 even at an Auto Parts big box store and then you have to register it to the cars battery monitoring system so it knows you have a new battery.

You are correct the battery is expensive, I did find one at Advance Auto for $219. As for the brakes, if I were to do it myself I would probably not change the rotors. I'd be willing to bet they are perfectly fine. I have done lots of brake work in my years and I have found if you change the pads before they get too thin the rotors will generally be fine to re-use, at least in the rear. I have located an independent shop near me and I plan to get a quote from them. But for what the dealer wants, I could buy all the tools I need, including a quality floor jack, and still do them for less. And that's a plain fact.

[leftoverture]

Originally Posted by Vitacura

Another option to register the new battery is using the Bimmerlink app which runs about $32.

I'm still fairly new to BMWs, tell me more about this option. How does this work? Sounds like something I'd like to look into.

[jzeiler4]

Bimmerlink is an app for your phone and then you need a Blue tooth OBD dongle to connect to the car. There is a lot you can do with it, configure parameters on functions of the car.

[leftoverture]

Originally Posted by jzeiler4

Bimmerlink is an app for your phone and then you need a Blue tooth OBD dongle to connect to the car. There is a lot you can do with it, configure parameters on functions of the car.

Thanks. I got the app installed, just need to order the dongle.

[harma24]

Originally Posted by leftoverture

They provided a quote for performing the rear brake service, and I choked a bit on their estimate, $945.00. Yikes.

I got a similar quote from a dealer for fronts. I went to the parts department to price out parts and they quoted $600 - $700 (front rotors, pads & sensor). I passed on that too and went to a site like getbmwparts and had everything shipped to me for less than half the cost.

If you can't do it yourself, find a good indi shop.

[leftoverture]

Originally Posted by harma24

I got a similar quote from a dealer for fronts. I went to the parts department to price out parts and they quoted $600 - $700 (front rotors, pads & sensor). I passed on that too and went to a site like getbmwparts and had everything shipped to me for less than half the cost.

If you can't do it yourself, find a good indi shop.

$236.00 at Advance Auto for all the parts I would need, assuming I need rotors, which I probably don't. The other thing I have to point out is it's kind of sad that at 39k miles my rear brake pads are this thin already. This thing is no race car, I guess I would've expected better.

[leftoverture]

When I gave up doing my own work I knew I was going to struggle with the high cost of shop labor.

[Ajowhan]

I too was shocked when I bought my car used and the stealership was trying to sell me the maintenance package for thousands and he quoted 2500ish to do the brake job. Luckily I did not take it as service wise, the brake is still good and will most likely last till after the maintenance package went out. I would have been paying the whole maintenance package for what is likely only a single oil change.

Back to the topic. Luckily for me, I found out that the brake job service on our car is actually fairly easy and looks pretty simple. I also found a friend with a jack and jack stand that is willing to not only lend his equipment but also his time and we agree that we can probably do the brake job on any parking lot fast.

What I am trying to say is that facility or tools is usually pretty easy to solve if you have the time, energy and knowledge to do it.

[jzeiler4]

Originally Posted by leftoverture

$236.00 at Advance Auto for all the parts I would need, assuming I need rotors, which I probably don't. The other thing I have to point out is it's kind of sad that at 39k miles my rear brake pads are this thin already. This thing is no race car, I guess I would've expected better.

The PO could be one of those people that use the left foot for the brake and always have it on it, that will eat pads pretty quickly. I see people all the time with the brake lights on as they are pulling away from a red light.

[leftoverture]

Originally Posted by Ajowhan

What I am trying to say is that facility or tools is usually pretty easy to solve if you have the time, energy and knowledge to do it.

Agreed. But for me the issue is more a bad hip that's not so easy to overcome. Pretty hard for me to get down that low and do the work these days (more accurately, pretty hard to get back up after!).

[leftoverture]

Originally Posted by jzeiler4

The PO could be one of those people that use the left foot for the brake and always have it on it, that will eat pads pretty quickly. I see people all the time with the brake lights on as they are pulling away from a red light.

That could be or it could be a sticky caliper, or something similar. The one advantage I always enjoyed when I did these things myself was knowing I could usually find the root cause and correct it.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by leftoverture

...it's kind of sad that at 39k miles my rear brake pads are this thin already. This thing is no race car, I guess I would've expected better.

I'm no expert in our cars' advanced driving dynamics systems, but I think I've read elsewhere that both Electronic Brake-Force Distribution (EBD) and Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) use the rear brakes and may do so in ways and at times not obvious to the driver.

For example, I came across a comment on another forum where the poster said that EBD will use the rear brakes exclusively if a driver is only lightly engaging the brakes. The idea is that using only the rear brakes makes for a more stable car under braking. As a former motorcycle rider, that makes sense to me. I would guess that EBD considers a number of inputs to determine when rears only are sufficient and when the front brakes are also required.

[Rocky58]

What I have done in the past is find an installer that has an agreement with TireRack to install tires and wheels that they can ship directly to. They have installed rotors and pads that I ordered, either from TireRack or elsewhere. Their prices are usually very reasonable.

[leftoverture]

Originally Posted by Rocky58

What I have done in the past is find an installer that has an agreement with TireRack to install tires and wheels that they can ship directly to. They have installed rotors and pads that I ordered, either from TireRack or elsewhere. Their prices are usually very reasonable.

That's a good idea. Thanks.