$38,000 repair

[650idriver]

No clickbait whatsoever. I have a fuel pump type issue with my 650i thats causing it to hesitate during acceleration. It needed to be looked at.

In my city there is a European car mechanic who's a 15 year bmw service veteran. Their shop has access to the same software, code reader etc. Diagnosed it it was $800 for the repair but we found that it was under warranty. He already told me he doesn't trust bmw service departments and I actually already KNEW they would love to see my car because they could pay their building payment for the month.

Just for pure test and to see what would happen, decided to take it to there and see if it would qualify and sure enough they call me with a long list of extra stuff totaling 38,000 to repair it.

They must think I'm stupid. It was honestly pretty funny hearing them justify it. I'm laughing under my breath writing about this right now. I wouldn't be surprised if they offered to buy my car make some minor repair and sell it for 4-5k in profit. Haha. Anyway, just wanted to let y'all know I was right about going to a dealer.

[Opie55]

Despite your click bait disclaimer, this post is a bit suspect without the details of what they said the car needed. $38,000 is a whole lot, even for a dealer. Why not post the estimate they gave you. Did they deny your warranty for the pump? If not, did you have them do it since it was free?

[Walt White Coupe]

Not possible. You should bark up another tree.

[SanDiego640]

Originally Posted by Opie55

Despite your click bait disclaimer, this post is a bit suspect without the details of what they said the car needed. $38,000 is a whole lot, even for a dealer. Why not post the estimate they gave you. Did they deny your warranty for the pump? If not, did you have them do it since it was free?

Spot on. $38,000? Even a complete engine and transmission replacement would not cost this much. You can prove your post isn't clickbait by posting the repair estimate.

[Alpine650]

Is your GoFundMe page live yet?

[iamvanja]

When it comes to stealers, absolutely nothing surprises me.
If they wanted a $50k for a repair on a $25k car, I'd keep it in the realm of possibilities.

[Wanwansuii]

Originally Posted by SanDiego640

Spot on. $38,000? Even a complete engine and transmission replacement would not cost this much. You can prove your post isn't clickbait by posting the repair estimate.

You’d be surprised. I heard about a guy with a F10 M5 who blew his engine (bad rod bearings), and the dealership charged $25,000

[Walt White Coupe]

For you to believe the OP, you'd have to be one of the most gullible people on the planet.

[iamvanja]

Originally Posted by Walt White Coupe

For you to believe the OP, you'd have to be one of the most gullible people on the planet.

I think you are underestimating the BS power of stealerships 😎

[thebmw]

I went to the stealership earlier this year to get an AC recharge (parts cost $20). They proceeded to charge me about $500 for the recharge (which takes 10 minutes...maybe 15 on a bad day) and told me I urgently needed almost $14,000 in other repairs. Went to an independent and he said it was all BS. Never going to that dealership again.

So, while $38K is a crazy estimate, it is absolutely believable. And some schmuck who thinks that there is status in overpaying and thinks that he/she is cool because they can "afford" to pay $38K, will end up falling for the dealership's scam.

[Frederic]

really expensive

[Billyperks]

I went in for an oil change and decided I also wanted to change the air filters-the service rep told me $200 plus for each-I declined.
Does that sound correct for a 650 XI GC?

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by Billyperks

I went in for an oil change and decided I also wanted to change the air filters-the service rep told me $200 plus for each-I declined.
Does that sound correct for a 650 XI GC?

Check out the link below…input your zip code and see if there are any BMW dealerships near you that are involved in the BMW Value Service promotions: https://bmwusaservice.com/valueservi...SAAEgKBHfD_BwE

Remember that a dealership has all of those employees to pay as well as the overhead for the dealership…there pricing will ultimately be higher than an independent wrench with their own shop. What is the hourly labor rate at that dealership?

I do my own oil changes and that takes about an hour from setting up the ramps to pouring the old oil in jugs to cart off to be recycled. Changing the filters would probably take another 30 minutes (if it was the first time I did it vs knowing what I have to do). Then when you add in the cost of material (approx $50 for two 5 quart jugs of Pennzoil Euro 5w-40 from Walmart +$18-$20 for an oil filter kit)…the engine air filters were approx $25 ea…when all that is considered…it appears to be inline.

Do I wish that hourly labor rates were closer to $25 an hour? Yes…but that is not inline with the current cost of living or the cost of doing business where you’re paying employee salaries & health insurance etc.

Although it sounds like I’m defending the gouging that can occur at a dealership…I’m just trying to look at it from a different perspective. And also make light of how you can save some costs by doing some of the simple maintenance stuff yourself. As well as using the internet to possibly save some costs on parts by price shoping online. Many dealership’s parts departments will work with you if you bring in data from online price shoppipng. They may not match it totally (sometimes they can)…but they may reduce the price where their cost + local taxes will be inline with buying online and paying S&H.

[Opie55]

Originally Posted by Billyperks

I went in for an oil change and decided I also wanted to change the air filters-the service rep told me $200 plus for each-I declined.
Does that sound correct for a 650 XI GC?

It's unclear whether you mean $200 for each of the 2 air filters ($400 total), or $200 for the oil change and $200 for the filters. If the former, that's crazy. If the latter, it's probably in line with most dealership inflated prices.

As QSilver said, you can buy the same oil for about $5 per quart in a 5 gallon jug. The dealer will charge $10 - $11 per quart. Same kind of markup on the filters. Then you have labor at not only high rates per hour, but labor that bears little relationship to to the actual time spent. They charge a "book rate" for most jobs, which is the time the job is allotted to take, and they will charge that book rate even if it takes 1/4 of the allotted time. Dealer service is a "luxury" that you may be willing to pay for, but just realize what you are buying.

[dagoo98]

Originally Posted by thebmw

I went to the stealership earlier this year to get an AC recharge (parts cost $20). They proceeded to charge me about $500 for the recharge (which takes 10 minutes...maybe 15 on a bad day) and told me I urgently needed almost $14,000 in other repairs. Went to an independent and he said it was all BS. Never going to that dealership again.

Parts for A/C Service for our cars is actually less than $20 but to say it takes 15 minutes to properly vacuum and recharge an A/C System is very misleading. There is doing a job properly and then there is guessing and getting lucky that it worked out.

Figure 5-10 minutes to set up and log current low and high side pressures to determine the best course of action. If you decide to vacuum and recharge, initial recovery can be anywhere where 2-5 minutes depending on how much refrigerant is in the system and any decent machine will do a second stage recovery to ensure the system is empty which is another 3-6 minutes. Next stage is to vacuum which depending on system capacity could be anywhere from 5-15 minutes. Finally you would charge to spec and then log the new low and high side pressures which should take another 2-5 minutes.

I've tallied 17-41 minutes (median is 29 minutes) for a process you described as 15 minutes on a bad day. Guess that's how the 19 year old kid working on your car at jiffy lube does it.

My thing is why would you want someone rushing through a service on your 100k car that you will only be doing every 4-5 years anyway? If anyone completes your vacuum and recharge service in 10 minutes you might as well buy a can at autozone and let one the parking lot mechanics do it for you

[Billyperks]

Actually-its $170 per hour at my dealership.
To be a bit more clear- the oil change was $130 and both filters would have ran me $400 plus.
Total $530 plus- not included our 6.35% sales tax.
My buddy has the same car but his is a 2013- he went in for a oil change and ended up spending $945- what a shame.