I don't trust dealers. Anyone else?

[NewM3driver]

Originally Posted by BhamDavid

I have a great relationship with my dealer. They have one tech that is assigned all the M cars that come in. The guy does great work.

There are only 2 guys at Bridgeport that work on the M cars, and as a customer you have the same service adviser every time you go in with any of your cars. This way your SA knows you and your car before you even walk in the door.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by Alpine300zhp

I assume you are using Braman Audi for service. If so, your comments are not a shock.

We were using Braman Audi until they tried to sell tires to my wife that aren't close to being needed. We now use Coral Springs for the Audi although they also always try to sell extra stuff. I'm ok with selling add ons I can decline. I don't like being told maintenance-type items need replacing when they don't, while implying there is a safety concern or expecting BS when my wife takes the car in instead of me.

I bought my car out of area, but use Vista for my M4 - no issues so far with standard maintenance as car is only 2 years old.

[IB M]

If you care, i.e. It's not a lease then ...

Know ur SA. Ask for a trusted mechanic that has been at the dealership for the long term. Never let them test drive car without you. Never let them wash car.

Simple strategy above will avoid 95% of the pitfalls.

[GMWNashville]

Just build a relationship with your SA and possibly meet the technician working on your car. The SA can usually control what tech gets your car and can make suggestions to you based on you talking to them and requesting someone who's familiar with M cars.

[Mr. Big]

I've been taking my car to the dealer for service the past 3 years and no issues. If they screw up, I'll make them fix it.

[dzvero]

You need to go see a psychiatrist

[04RC51]

Originally Posted by dzvero

You need to go see a psychiatrist

Haha! Exactly! And all the people suggesting to be "That Guy" when they go to their local dealership for service are equally as bad. To walk in and act like every Tech is begging to get our service sheet and hoon our car is just stupid. They don't care about them! They see them all day long! They are everywhere! It's just another car to them!

This is why people laugh at us!

[CanAutM3]

The first dealer near my home I went to with my E46 was realy bad. The name stealer realy applied to their service department. I had so many bad experiences with them, I now travel across the city to go to another dealer that I realy like dealing with.

Tidbits of my E46 experience with this dealer:

They nicked a mag and tire when I brought the car in for tire replacement and then claimed the wheel and tire were like that when I brought the car in. They even showed me the vehicle ststus inspection form. That borders on fraud. They never fixed nor replaced the damaged wheel.

When I brought the car in for front brake pad replacement after the first summer (the car was tracked), they said the pads and rotors at all 4 corners were shot and needed to be replaced at the cost of several thousand dollars. I told them to stick with the front pads only. After almost seven years of ownership, the rear original rotors were still on and I replaced the front rotors only once.

When I brought the car in for the rod bearing recall after 2 years of ownership, they told me the drive belts needed to be replaced and charged me a few hundred dollars. They said the belts were a wear item not coverd by warranty. How can the drive belts need replacement after only two years?

Driving back to work after an oil change, I heard a large bang and a plume of smoke was coming from the back of the car. I pressed the clutch and shutdown the engine to pull over. When I opened the hood, the whole engine bay was full of oil. I checked the oil level and it was well over the max mark. Had the car towed to the dealer. Turns out they overfilled the oil which led to a pressure relief plug to pop out of the head. They replaced the plug. After that, I swore I could hear the car pinging and felt it was down on power. After close to a year of multiple visits only to be told nothing was wrong, I insisted they give me their most experienced tech and that I go in the shop with the car. The tech was a nice gentleman from Germany and he accepted to do a leakdown test. Turns out the head gasket between two cylinders got blown by the oil sump over pressure. Car ran fan after the gasket replacement.

I moved my business to another dealer when I got my E92. So no, all dealers cannot be trusted.

[Alpine300zhp]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

We were using Braman Audi until they tried to sell tires to my wife that aren't close to being needed. We now use Coral Springs for the Audi although they also always try to sell extra stuff. I'm ok with selling add ons I can decline. I don't like being told maintenance-type items need replacing when they don't, while implying there is a safety concern or expecting BS when my wife takes the car in instead of me.

I bought my car out of area, but use Vista for my M4 - no issues so far with standard maintenance as car is only 2 years old.

It is a shame that two people like us, who live within 10-20 minutes of a Braman franchise, will not buy or service with Braman. I don't blame you for using Vista and Coral Springs and we both have swapped stories about how bad Braman stores are. It's telling when Vista does a better job than Braman. Remember when Vista had a reputation that was beyond bad?

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by Alpine300zhp

It is a shame that two people like us, who live within 10-20 minutes of a Braman franchise, will not buy or service with Braman. I don't blame you for using Vista and Coral Springs and we both have swapped stories about how bad Braman stores are. It's telling when Vista does a better job than Braman. Remember when Vista had a reputation that was beyond bad?

This is my first BMW so I'm not that familiar with service histories. Vista has been ok - no complaints, at least so far.

I have had a bad time dealing with sales people from local BMW dealers from Miami to WPB and could never get myself to pull the trigger on one for the past 20+ years. I still haven't bought one locally as I went to Melbourne for my M4. There must be enough people locally / seasonally to just pay whatever to buy nearby so Braman doesn't need to give a shit about trying to get the rest of us as customers. Sucks that they own BMW, Audi and Porsche closest to me.

[Msmall143]

Originally Posted by Stryder

I basically don't trust the dealers to touch my car. I have a theory that every single time the car goes into the dealer, it will come out more broken and with more problems than when it went in, either due to sheer incompetence, or because it's better business to have the car be serviced more times and milk BMWNA for the backpay.

I'm probably going to keep doing all maintenance work myself.

Anyone else?

its a bmw not a land cruiser/range rover. there isnt a plot to get you

[JMD]

I suspect the question is,..what kind of relationship do you have with "the people" at the dealership?

I've been a 'client' of Passport BMW for many years,...since coming to the DMV area around 2000. Although I use to have a bit of trust reservation with dealers,...I let it be known upfront that I know my way around cars,...and in particular BMWs! They have never tried to hoodwink me nor have I tried to know more than they do about BMWs. I don't go in with a thought of,...it's making some kind of noise,...I tell them what the noise is,...its frequency and pitch, etc., and where it's coming from. The more I get this right,....the better they are able to determine the cause of the noise and repair my vehicle. Also,..I don't ask the the price of the repair,...I ask, "what's it gonna cost me"! My SA hits the ballpark everytime,....and even applies a discount, etc. Just like that.

Here's a good short story,...my X5M went in for scheduled service and the service called for the air filters to be replaced. The tech replaced the air filters and in the process, he discovered that K&N air filters were installed. My SA informed me that he had placed them in the rear of the vehicle. Now, had I known this, I would have removed/cleaned/treated and reinstalled the K&Ns myself. Now, some will say that it would have also been nice for the Tech to just inform me and not replaced them with new filters. True,...possibly.

As you already may have guessed,...the K&Ns will be reinstalled!,...that is, after being cleaned and treated properly!

[MalibuBimmer]

I won't keep a car past its manufacturer's warranty. If a dealer plays games and breaks things, I'll Lemon Law the car. I have done so 3 times so far.

[Ric in RVA]

OFHG change at dealer....4 miles later....seized engine.

3 weeks later newer engine installed gratis.

So at least they got that right.

New motor had OFHG done already. I made them refund that cost since they didn't actually DO that work...

[pz619]

I really don't have a problem with the service department or the techs. I trust them more in fact than the normal mechanic and they are more familiar with the cars since they work on them all the time. I also appreciate that most dealerships backed by manufacturers have "standard work" which often can't be said about independent places. To me the benefit of independent places is price.

Sales department is a different story. I don't trust anyone there and I assume that everything that is said is a half truth at best or an outright lie at worst. Even if it isn't, it's a mentality that has served me well so far. I would much rather buy direct from the manufacturer than any dealership.

[ORIGIN M.]

Absolutely. Free dents just for stopping by... Stupidity.

That is why only the master tech is allowed to have my keys.

Originally Posted by Stryder

I basically don't trust the dealers to touch my car. I have a theory that every single time the car goes into the dealer, it will come out more broken and with more problems than when it went in, either due to sheer incompetence, or because it's better business to have the car be serviced more times and milk BMWNA for the backpay.

I'm probably going to keep doing all maintenance work myself.

Anyone else?

[Maynard]

Meanwhile in a different galaxy, BMW techs post to their forums, s/t like:

I just don't trust customers - they say they just drive around town, but I find mounting holes for their JB4 and timing slips in the glove box, and why are these brakes wearing out every 9 months? And then that guy who see's swirl marks that nobody else can see, who thinks that now his hood is misaligned by a half a mm.

[tdott]

Originally Posted by MalibuBimmer

I won't keep a car past its manufacturer's warranty.

I'm the opposite, I enjoy that my car is out of warranty and I don't have to deal with dealers. Except for that stupid airbag recall.

For me it's not worth the hassle, prefer to do everything myself, and what I can't I take it to people who can be trusted.

[MFNATIK]

Don't use Winslow BMW in Colorado Springs. Biggest liars I've ever met. I paid for a PPI on an E46 and they billed me for 1.5hrs labor to do a 10 min cursory visual inspection. Told me it needed all kinds of services and maintenance and ended being more than the value of the car...then they did the airbag recall and broke some of the dash trim pieces and didn't even replace or fix it. I had trim hanging loose and vents all crooked. What a joke! Bought the car anyways after test driving it since it felt strong and SMG shifted fine after a reset. Drove it all the way back to CA and had my tech inspect it and refuted most of the stuff they called out other than overdue maintnence.

[brytom]

Good, honest, reliable techs are hard to come by. Doesn't matter if it's at the dealer or independent.
I'm a dealer tech. My fixed right first time CSI score was at 100% for 2016. My other score was at 97.8%. Won tech awards at my dealership two years in a row. Booking over 2800 hrs last year and nearly 3k in 2015, I work on a lot of cars. Started as a tech in late 2012.
How many customers return asking for me? Zero.
Guy next to me has to "fix" things four times before it finally leaves. I am pretty sure we can't fire him cause we can't get anyone to take his place.
My buddy took is low mileage '15 Sonata to an aftermarket shop for brakes. They told him it was $800 for a caliper and pads. I told him it was probably BS and if it was a caliper, I would be free under warranty. $100 at the dealer for a pad slap.
There are crap techs everywhere.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by brytom

Good, honest, reliable techs are hard to come by. Doesn't matter if it's at the dealer or independent.
I'm a dealer tech. My fixed right first time CSI score was at 100% for 2016. My other score was at 97.8%. Won tech awards at my dealership two years in a row. Booking over 2800 hrs last year and nearly 3k in 2015, I work on a lot of cars. Started as a tech in late 2012.
How many customers return asking for me? Zero.
Guy next to me has to "fix" things four times before it finally leaves. I am pretty sure we can't fire him cause we can't get anyone to take his place.
My buddy took is low mileage '15 Sonata to an aftermarket shop for brakes. They told him it was $800 for a caliper and pads. I told him it was probably BS and if it was a caliper, I would be free under warranty. $100 at the dealer for a pad slap.
There are crap techs everywhere.

You should consider relocating to South Florida. It's really nice here and no state income tax.

[steve zzr]

I don't trust any of them, 4 different dealers for Service and repairs, and every time my car came back with a scratch or mark, last time it went in for rear lights lens to be replaced because they fell out! Common problem on F30.
They had ground the paint down to bare metal on boot trunk lid were the lens fit and just left it.
When I complained they said their master technician had done the job and it was ok? So I replied I wouldn't trust him with a pedal car!
They wasn't impressed that comment and said my warranty was now void because I removed the lights to check were all the dust had come from?
and it was my fault because I told them not to clean the car.