medik13

I took my car to South Motors BMW today in Miami, FL. because my battery was dead last night. It took a charge but subsequential starts appreared to be a bit sluggish. I told the S/A that the battery was dead. BTW, the car is CPO with its warranty in effect. Anyway, The car sat there all day and at 3:00 pm, the S/A calls me to tell me the battery is dead and it will cost $620. I am like WTF!!! I hung up and called Braman BMW and I asked how much a battery install costs. They quoted me $465. So I call back to South Motors and told them I had just got off the phone with Braman BMW and informed him of their price. I asked him if he would match the price and he said no. He said I can pick up the car and take it over there but I would have to pay a $152 diagnostic fee. He furthermore expained that the diagnostic fee is added on to the total of the battery even if they do the work and that Bramans price was with me already diagnosing the problem??? WTF, is that??? I will never buy another car from them again or a BMW for that matter. $620 for a battery is disgusting!

Turns out I have a 15% coupon and the total will be around $527...Still a joke! :thumbsdown:

mookish

RAPE!

jgt

Buy the battery and just install it yourself right in their lot.

Persian_535i

Dealer wanted to also charge me $250-300 for a new battery when my car was still under warranty and claimed it was do to me not driving the car enough (which was total BS). I ended up taking the car to a different BMW/Mini dealer and they changed the battery no questions asked for free, so it depends where you take it. As far as a $600+ quote for a new battery that is just ridiculous. If your car is no longer under warranty or if you don't want to spend that exuberant amount then just buy a non OEM battery from AutoZone or some other location, though some people claim that if you don't reprogram the car after installing a new battery there may be issues. That however has also been debated and no real answer has been found.

vroomvroom

just paid 470 total @ for install, battery & to have it registered. i got ripped off too but he hooked me up w/ some free labor on other issues.

TAJARO

You'd think BMW-NA would get ahead of this. I think it's INSANE that a $175 battery ends up being $450 or even $600! BMW should be ashamed for tolerating this- it is just not ethical to take this much money for something so straight forward. I can believe the new battery needs to be registered- it's a clever intelligent charging system that they've designed but unlike the ridiculous "lifetime" fluids that anyone with common sense should not believe, the car is designed for a life greater than 4-5 years, so registering a new battery should be "normal" maintenance that should be designed to be performed from the iDrive. Instead it's a chance for greedy dealers to take more $.

I'm contemplating my 5th 5-series (in 21 years) right now, but this is one more crappy issue that may finally move me from the marque.

Also- my local independent (great guys) quoted me $208 for the Interstate battery when we discussed this in anticipation last week.

mookish

Since when has a battery instal required a visit to the dealer and several hundred dollars? I know of and have read of plenty of e60 owners who have just went to their local auto parts center, bought a battery (of course the recommended model) and changed batteries right in their driveway in minutes and have not reported one single problem. The idea of registering a battery is debatable.

And EVEN if you subscribe to the idea that it should be done, why not get the battery. tackle the labor, then just let BMW to the "registration"? To rely on the dealer for a task as simple as changing a battery is only asking to get hosed. May as well let them change your tire when you get a flat too, I wonder how much they charge for that? Do your wheels need to be registered lol

See my signature....

John@Motorcepts

Many dealerships...ahem...stealerships are ridiculous. 08white had an incident of them voiding his battery due to him NOT driving for 7500 miles. Guys, if you have a garage, do yourself a favor and buy a battery tender from amazon for less than $45. SAME as OEM except that the OEM has a BMW logo.
If you guys are local near NY, call us at 347-644-5363. We can get the OEM batteries installed and registered it to your car for a mere $220. Registration is necessary. Some people have no issues is because the battery is brand new but will not last as long as it should if it's not registered properly.

mookish

Exactly! There ya go...

And with regard to registration, it may be true that the battery may not last as long, but my friend told me, even if the battery life is halved (extreme) by not registering, he'd rather replace the battery twice over time for under $200 than pay $600 once to the dealer. Now if you got a guy like John in your area, then I'd say get it done the way they say it should be done.

John@Motorcepts

That's DEFINITELY true. Registering it will last twice or three times longer since it knows to draw the proper current. If they charge $600, I would just buy a regular myself and pay cheaper.