rorschach76

Sorry was 190 but only charged if it was not the turbo..

Kbc

this just gets better...

BMW Seattle:
Initial diagnosis is about $166.00, That being said sometimes we have to remove the turbo to confirm failure which could be 15 hours or more at $166.00 an hour

so there's a 50/50 chance that it could cost $2500 to confirm the failure. way to go BMW !

KyleB

Kbc, I'm not sure if you know how BMW dealers figure out their labor charges, but just in case here goes nothing:

BMW dealers do not use ALLDATA, or Mitchell, or any other labor guides. BMW AG has produced its own labor time guide called "KSD" for nearly all repair situations on its cars. The techs look up whatever they are about to do in KSD, which is BMWs internal labor guide. Repair operations, diagnoses, etc are listed in 'Flat Rate Units', or FRUs for short.

For example, lets say replacing the turbo in your car is listed in KSD as paying 100 FRU. Currently, BMW states that 10 FRU equals one labor hour. That means BMW recommends that the dealer should charge 100 FRU, or 10 hours at whatever the dealer hourly rate is. So just to use nice whole figures in this example, assuming a dealer rate of $100 per hour:

turbo replacement - 100 FRU = 10 hours at $100 per hour = $1000 in labor.

Now, most dealers take that FRU number and calculate 'time and a half', because the times listed in KSD are considered warranty time. I've heard of dealers doubling it, but most do time and a half, since they want to charge outside customers more than they would charge back to BMW AG for warranty work.

So now that above example goes like this:

turbo replacement listed in KSD as 100 FRU, muliplied by dealer 'time and a half' factor now is 150 FRU. 150 FRU times dealer rate of $100 per hour = $1500 in labor.

BMW AG sets the labor guide in KSD, and lets the dealer use that as a starting point. What happens from that point on is completely up to the dealer, BMW AG doesn't care if they triple or quadruple what's listed in KSD.

What you could do is ask what KSD is listing turbo replacement as. They probably won't like that you know about KSD, but whatever...knowledge is power. EVERYTHING is negotiable, even labor times at the dealer. I have no idea what KSD will list for turbo removal on your car, but before I gave any kind of go ahead I would want to know.

Or, you could use an independent.

Good luck.

Cpalacay

Go to BMW Seattle and ask for Susan Fox. She's familiar with the issue and helped get my turbos replaced under warranty within 2-3 days. This was after Bellevue had the car for 3 weeks and couldn't figure it out.

-Christian

Kbc

Christian - awesome. thanks for the info!

Kbc

kudos to BMW Seattle. They worked with BMWNA and got the turbos replaced free of charge. the car now sounds like it should....

also, the SA was flexible and willing to match service prices on other work that i had done while there. exhaust install and a few other minor things. i was very pleased with their willingness to work with me.

so...no brainer when having big work done. go to Seattle and stay away from the Bellevue location.

later!

KyleB

Awesome news, good on you BMW Seattle...THAT is how you treat a customer.

Cpalacay

Glad it worked out for you!