Palmo

My car has now covered 19.5k miles and began to flash up 'service due' when starting the car. A quick trawl through the service menu showed the only item requiring attention to be the oil, although this could go for another 1500 miles.

Being me, I promptly booked the car in for service and inquired the cost of an 'oil service'. I was told this would be ?234.61 - outrageous I know, but I had expected this from reading posts on here in the past.

Anyway, this morning I took the car into the dealers for this service (car is still there as we speak). The lady at the service desk promptly plugs my key to obtain all the details. She confirms that it needs an oil service + plus a few items I requested when booking the car in including an initial inspection on the suspension / geometry due to crosswind issues / uneven tyre wear (I have another thread on this) and to check why the Microfilter option is not present in my iDrive Service Menu. She then announces it also needs a Fuel Filter, Intake Silencer and Microfilters.

I then question each of these last 3 items as non of them are shown in the Service Menu in iDrive. Obviously disbelieving my ability to operate iDrive she promptly goes to the car to check. Embarrassingly for her she tries to start the car (which is a manual) and doesn't know that you need to depress the clutch in order for the car to start - this instills a lot of confidence I must say. She then agrees the items are not listed and will get this looked at.

Back in the service department I then ask the cost for the additional items (Fuel Filter, Intake Silencer and Microfilter) and .....wait for it..... the price has now risen to ?501. The car has done 19.5k miles from new (since April last year) and it's going to cost me ?501 in servicing already.......hhhhhmmmmm! So I express my MAJOR concern and question why doesn't the car show these items are needed in iDrive and that I want confirmation that these items are actually needed. The last thing I want is for my car not to have the full necessary service, but at the same time I don't want unnecessary work doing.

She eventually comes back and then tells me that these are not actually needed until the third service and it's because of the type of driving I do - How can she tell that? (this is despite being absolutely adamant at first these items were needed). I then ask for a quote on the service now to make sure, and am told ?191.06 (a bit of difference there - even from the first 'oil service' quote), oh and she then adds ?11.75 environmental charge (for the disposal of the old engine oil). So summary is that I think she just added these items to the list as a matter of course - wonder how many people have just paid this in the past without questioning this?

BMW cars are great..... BUT..... to date the levels of service I have received has been very average to poor by my standards, but taking the outrageous pricing into account this becomes absolutely pathetic on reflection - ?114 p/h labour and they then have the cheek to charge ?11.75 to dispose of the oil...........

QUESTIONS
1. What are other peoples experiences at the first service - were these items replaced (Fuel Filter, Intake Silencer and Microfilter)?
2. What exactly is an 'Intake Silencer'?
3. What is the average price (in the UK) for the first oil service that people are paying.

bruce_miranda

I happen to know the answer to this quite well because my car just came back from its 1st service too. Simply shop around and you will find that prices are quite a lot different. My local BMW dealer quoted me ?350 for the oil service but then the dealer I finally chose charged me ?324 for oil, brake and microfilter too. I then checked with my local dealer how much a similar service would cost me and they quotes ?573!!

So shop around. It doesn't hurt you at all because most decent dealers will pick and drop off too saving you the longer trip.

simba

My first service was the oil service and cost me ?138 inc VAT. It's advisable to get a couple of quotes from different dealers - I emailed a couple of them, got quotes and used the cheapest quote to negotiate a price at my local one(which, by the way, were the highest at ?161!).

As you say, the cars are great but the dealers leave a lot to be desired... I have yet to come across a dealer that impresses... mind you I havent had a Beemer before so my experience is limited

megablade

Palmo,

I had my first service on Monday, you were lucky mine had only done 14763 miles!

Admittedly mine is a 4 pot 520d, but at two years old the bill was as follows. (all plus vat!)

Service - standard scope (whatever that is!) ?16.40
Engine oil service ?24.60
Oil ?72.82
Enviromental Charge ?11.21

Microfilter service ?16.40
Microfilter ?35.94

Brake fluid change (2 years old!) ?98.40
Brake fluid ?9.38

Total ?295.02
Vat ?51.63

Grand Total ?346.55

I have no idea what the intake silencer is!

HTH

megablade

Hawkwing

1. What are other peoples experiences at the first service - were these items replaced (Fuel Filter, Intake Silencer and Microfilter)?
2. What exactly is an 'Intake Silencer'?
3. What is the average price (in the UK) for the first oil service that people are paying?

Ummmm ?.
Point 1 ? Fuel filter/intake silencer, I?ve never had these raised, microfilter has another 12k miles to go ? car presently has 65k miles, my dealer?s service reps are competent IMO and like Palmo I always question detail costs.

Point 2 ? Haven?t a clue, suspect this is not all of the detail for whatever it relates to ? service operator error perhaps?

Point 3 - From the service invoice that I?ve recently paid:

Std. scope service plus oil service ?155+VAT

Brake fluid service ?47.39+VAT

The Rip off Britain issue I have is I originally paid for the full 60,000 miles service pack up front believing, blindingly stupidly and something I will not repeat, that with the mileage I cover this would work out ok e.g. brake pads/disks/filters etc. and the ?piece on mind, it?s all paid for ? we?ll my e60 has had only ?two? oil and std scope services within the 60,000 miles (the third oil /std. service was at 63.5k) all with no parts replaced except wiper blades, great that?s nice! Couldn?t be happier you?d think and I am in many respects, that is if you ignore the other 15 visits to cure mainly software related problems and two recalls that is - the rider here, and the real pain, is the service pack cost was circa ?1,450 that?s equates to circa ?700 for each service, nice business if you can get it eh! It's not so much the money that hurts, its the fact that I fell for this one............

Consider very carefully when buying service packs though - from my experiences do not buy service packs with these cars if you?re driving is mainly over longer distances, it?s unlikely you?ll see a return - to put in mildly they're not value.

As to BMW dealers I believe I'm able to use one of the better ones in then UK, from my experiences that is to-date, hence I've no grumbles there on costs.

Megablade, you may have been had on the brake fluid service; mine was as stated above, ?47.39+VAT, around half the cost you had to pay.

Palmo

Thanks for the replies so far guy's!

Why oh why is there such a difference in prices being charged for doing the same things, surely it is in BMW's best interests to set, or at least stipulate within certain bands, what can be charged. This is giving BMW a bad name IMHO.

Update
Got a call a little while ago from the dealers.

1. Oil Service completed.

2. They cannot find anything wrong with the suspension / geometry that would cause the crosswind issue (surprise, surprise) although I doubt they have actually done a geometry check despite me complaining of a feathered edge on the left rear tyre.

3. Regarding the iDrive Service Menu, it appears several items are in fact missing (not just Microfilter option) and the car will need reprogramming. Does that mean I will get a CIP upgrade as part of this?

They tried to fob me off with "collect the car and re-book it in at a later date sir". They must thing all people have to do is reschedule work / pleasure around keep going back to the dealers. I managed to persuade them to keep the car for the rest of today and re-programme today / tomorrow. This will hopefully resolve the issue.

I hate my car being there though. Whilst it is not being worked on, it will simply be left in the customer car park, leaving it to anyone to open a door on it & ding a panel etc - the car park is real tight! Oh well.....

jonno_

Interesting - I knew the ?/hour rates differed signifigicantly, but the cst of the "add-ons" is quite a surprise.
Might be useful to post-up the dealers concerned so we can build-up a picture of rates - either here or in a separate thread.

Just called my local dealer (North Oxford BMW) to get a price for an oil service (535d) - ?186.48

megablade

It certainly looks that way

I used Dick Lovett in Bristol.

nextelbuddy

I thought oil changes were covered by the maintence program, are they not? i have a 50k mile maintence warranty on my CPO car and oil changes are covered under this according to the sales advise that sold me my car and the finance manager during signing of papers.

Hawkwing

This would be market dependent - in the UK oil services are covered under a maintenance program or 'pack' as it is referend to here; this is a separate additional purchase item - I believe in the US 'new' BMW's are covered by a 50k maintenace/service program included within the purchase price.