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      02-03-2019, 10:06 PM   #1
EstorilM240
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Drives: 2017 M240i 6MT
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: California

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I love driving BMWs but the service and dealerships are absolutely ridiculous

Is there any way to bypass these experiences if I want relatively new BMWs? TLDR service at dealerships is super-aggravating compared to the indie mechanics I'm used to.

I currently drive a car that I love dearly, but I'm strongly considering another brand for my next car.

Every time I'm gone in for service has been a major pain. It's ridiculous that there's layers upon layers of non-value add people, the fact that you have to go through several layers of communication in order for someone to play telephone and potentially lose your message.

I drive a M240i and I took over the lease, so they didn't transfer my service warranty over (the warranty stopped being transferred over for MY201+ https://www.autoblog.com/2014/08/12/...-to-2nd-owner/). This is probably the beginning of all my troubles.

Experience 1: Quoted $99 for an oil change (the other dealerships in the area were all $200+). Get there, it still turns out to be $200. Try and buy the 36K mile maintenance/refresh/transfer for second owners, and the service advisor says it's $700 - after I reviewed the paperwork during lunch (had to rush out) I notice he sold me two separate $100 (maintenance refresh)+$600 (wear and tear items/Ultimate Care +) packages. Luckily CA has a 30 day cancellation period, so after more hassling when I was back I finally got my oil changed after 3+ hours and only did the $100 maintenance refresh.

Experience 2 (different dealer): I have the refresh, it should be easy, right? Make appointment. It takes nearly 2 hours for the entire oil change process, quoted 1.5h, and I checked in several times and tried to skip things like the "body shop quote" and eventually the car wash to save time. The volunteered a "free body shop quote" for some minor dents devolved into a sales pitch where the body shop person tried to get me to file a claim to repair some damage, and I told him even if you had comprehensive/collision, filing a claim and upping your deductible is not worth it.

Finally, at the checkout counter, they wanted me to sign a huge stack of papers. The front desk cashier kept accosting me and at some point called for the manager (said "it was the property of BMW and I couldn't read the papers), because I wanted to make sure I read through everything I was about to sign. I saw all sorts of vehicle history details in there such as exactly when various lights were tripped and the actual history of what codes of warranty were added, etc. I'm very tempted to make them cite the exact piece of the contract I signed that says I won't look at papers they hand me to sign? Which is insane in the face of consumer protection regulations. I was screwed once by signing contracts that I didn't want, so I'm going to read everything through again. The link to "track status" on my order led to a broken webpage, and when I walked into the service area entrance to check in I was given an eye roll when I didn't know the name of my service advisor. They were already discussing another situation where they lost a different customer's keys.

Experience 3 (my relatives, same as dealer 1): Took the car in for a 49.5K service, nothing said about brakes. Less than 2,000 miles later, brakes start squealing. When I look at the computer it now claims "45K miles until front brakes/50K miles until rear brakes". Ridiculous. I strongly suspect they measured and got 2 or 3mm of brake pad left but just said nothing.

I would have done the oil changes NOT at a BMW dealership if it weren't for concerns on lease return. I guess it won't matter if I start as first owner next time. The experience on trying to get the warranty refreshes was also ridiculous - multiple layers of calls, phone tag, transfers, and it is all gate kept by the finance department - assuming it has to do with sales commissions and all.

All I see are value leeches and bureaucracy everywhere (service "advisors", sales people, etc.) - that's why service is the biggest profit center for dealers. They quoted $1200+ for front brakes alone. It makes the model of Tesla look so appealing. Order a car, no BS, no games, do everything on an app. But I want that M4 convertible so badly...

BTW, someone will probably chime in and say "you are a nightmare customer". Possibly. But I am 99% satisfied in nearly all other service areas (restaurants, hotels, airlines, etc.)

The problem is, I can't find that many other cars in the same category, so I may be indeed stuck with BMW stealership experiences. There's the RS3/C43 (no manaul), Mustang/Camaro (is the ride quality significantly worse?) I'm also looking at numbers for future BMWs and it it seems daunting to get anything like my current deal, plus the nightmare game process of "negotiating" with a dealer too.

Maybe those of you who have longtime experiences with luxury brands overcharging will just think it's par for the course (I come from a long line of used Hondas). For the option of just buying a car and going indie after the warranty period, that's quite appealing, but if you have free maintenance, there's no reason to not take it clearly, it just seems you just have to constantly be on the lookout to avoid being screwed over. I guess the lessons learned are: Only do maintenance on Saturdays and leave half a day open, just accept it and deal with the once a year aggravation and minimize conflict.

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. A couple of drives later and the smile will be back on my face.

[Edited for brevity and to add TLDR]

Last edited by EstorilM240; 02-05-2019 at 03:55 AM..