E30s and the main dealer

[Cloggy Saint]

What's people's opinion/experience of taking their car to the dealer for repairs? Are they more adept at working on modern cars that just need plugging in to a computer or do they really know their stuff about older models?

[pacerpete]

It depends on the tech / fitter that gets assigned to your car. Taking it to a main dealer is NO GUARANTEE that the person doing the job knows what they are doing or will do it correctly . As the unfortunate owner of a very unfortunate Sport recently discovered after spending several thousand pounds at a main dealer to have the privilege of having their 'master technician' foook it up

[Grrrmachine]

It's very rare that a BMW dealer will have someone on site that remembers working on E30s, so if you're looking for the personal touch then there's no reason a dealer would be any better than some other mechanic.

What dealers DO have is lots of official BMW resources to help them solve their issues, such as documented repair procedures and shelves of proper tools. There's also the big parts inventory to back things up. So if you know exactly what the issue is, and you're prepared to pay the price for the repair, then a dealer will do a proper job, and their systems are set up in a way that even a mechanic unfamiliar with that model should be able to consult their tech sheets and find the repair procedure. That's no guarantee of a proper job, of course, but it's those sorts of systems that make a dealer reputable... or not.

However, a bit of googling could find a local mechanic with exactly the same experience and knowledge but without the dealer prices. You just have to go on reputation.

[gooner1]

I'd say that was entirely dependent on the people working at any given Dealer.
Stands to reason that Technicians will be trained on more modern stuff, as this will
be the Dealers bread and butter.
At the end of the day, we are talking about cars that are fast approaching 30 years of production, so techs that are up on E30's may well be getting a bit thin on the ground now.


Barry may know different.

[B7]

Depends on the staff more than the dealer.

Barry still see's lots of the older stuff coming through. At Chandlers they had a regular motorsport convertible, an e3 2500 saloon went through the workshop and a lovely low miles e24 highline.
At Hexagon, a couple of weeks ago, he sent me a shot of the most gorgeous e9 3.0csi (may have been a csl) and he did shed loads (amounting to a substantial bill) on an e30 convertible that was a dead ringer for my car. It also helps that the owner of Hexagon, I believe, is a collector. When my 530 went in for paint, I had the privalige of parking it next to an M1 in the workshop. Si's B10 also got the same spot

So many dealers do still cover them off but really, you need an enthusiast technician to take the job on IMO

[Topblag]

I'm lucky in that the guy who looks after my daily is about 45-50 and did his apprenticeship on E30s and E34s. He was a BMW master technician before he set up on his own about 15 years ago.

He's less than half the price of dealer techs and buys in OEM parts for much less than dealer (not just BMW) prices. I couldn't be happier.

In saying that, he only ever sees the E30s for MOTs as I can generally do most things myself these days, thanks to this place and the wiki.

[pony]

It depends on the tech / fitter that gets assigned to your car. Taking it to a main dealer is NO GUARANTEE that the person doing the job knows what they are doing or will do it correctly . As the unfortunate owner of a very unfortunate Sport recently discovered after spending several thousand pounds at a main dealer to have the privilege of having their 'master technician' foook it up

Which BMW Dealer fucked it up ? Spill all ?

[pony]

It's very rare that a BMW dealer will have someone on site that remembers working on E30s, so if you're looking for the personal touch then there's no reason a dealer would be any better than some other mechanic.

What dealers DO have is lots of official BMW resources to help them solve their issues, such as documented repair procedures and shelves of proper tools. There's also the big parts inventory to back things up. So if you know exactly what the issue is, and you're prepared to pay the price for the repair, then a dealer will do a proper job, and their systems are set up in a way that even a mechanic unfamiliar with that model should be able to consult their tech sheets and find the repair procedure. That's no guarantee of a proper job, of course, but it's those sorts of systems that make a dealer reputable... or not.

However, a bit of googling could find a local mechanic with exactly the same experience and knowledge but without the dealer prices. You just have to go on reputation.

Also isn't there the excellent BMW Classic service nowadays with their extensive parts resources ?
I know BMW Park Lane do full on restorations which are top quality but big money.
They had a D reg E28 M5 there. I think from memory the restoration quote was £XX XXX. Their E21 320 is BMW Car Club concours champion.

Surely given the numbers of E30s made a fair number still remain through the dealer network in all likelihood (given Barry also sees older BMWs at Hexagon) ?

[Morat]

Most E30s are not owned by people prepared to pay main dealer prices, mine included!
It doesn't help that our local dealer is a bit of a tit, and tried to charge us £1100 to replace the rear glass in the E46 touring. Now sorted for £65 worth of ebay breaker action and an hour's labour at our local indie.

[jon-m42]

who really needs to pay more then they can afford when firstly you have the zone and secondly you have google

[pony]

I take mine to PacerPete, I get fooooked around like at the dealers but at about the third of the price. I'm happy he's happy

As you have mentioned enough times Diable.

PacerPete knows his onions but he is very very difficult to contact unless you are about to hand him a wad of cash.

[Cloggy Saint]

Well my poor touring has a load of electrical niggles. I gave it to a garage that's close to my work and I've used before with decent results. After having it for 10 days they told me they couldn't figure out any of the problems but still presented me with a 350 euro bill for trying. I figure I may as well take it somewhere that will (hopefully) know their stuff and even though it will cost me at least it will get sorted.

[Fastroad]

Fo0k the dealer, do it yourself for w**k appeal.

[Fastroad]

I take mine to PacerPete, I get fooooked around like at the dealers but at about the third of the price. I'm happy he's happy

Sounds like a Pete's special back passage deal. No way has the dealer got a tech with experience on E30 like Pete

[Cloggy Saint]

Fo0k the dealer, do it yourself for w**k appeal.

Don't have the time or know-how.

[Nobby_N]

Fucking Hell another "Diable Money Thread" Did you pool up all your Giros with your mates down job club for that pic? Plus you better get those old school 50s traded in for new ones!

[Fastroad]

Fo0k the dealer, do it yourself for w**k appeal.

Don't have the time or know-how.

E30's = have a go we are all experts here

[Fastroad]

I take mine to PacerPete, I get fooooked around like at the dealers but at about the third of the price. I'm happy he's happy

As you have mentioned enough times Diable.

PacerPete knows his onions but he is very very difficult to contact unless you are about to hand him a wad of cash.

Yep

Is that from the sofa??

[Jesus325iTouring]

I take it that's a photo of the money you saved to buy your christmas tree

[gooner1]

Na the hidden safe............

....... where's it hidden?

[Andyboy]

I recently fettled a 1985 325i that the local main dealer quoted £1700 to get through an MOT. After finding half of the fails were simply made up, it passed after spending around a quarter of that. Old cars need time spending that dealers rarely have the time for. During the time it takes to properly service an E30 they could do about 5 E90 inspection 1's.

[pacerpete]

I recently fettled a 1985 325i that the local main dealer quoted £1700 to get through an MOT. After finding half of the fails were simply made up, it passed after spending around a quarter of that. Old cars need time spending that dealers rarely have the time for. During the time it takes to properly service an E30 they could do about 5 E90 inspection 1's.

I won't mention your 318i bad boy that the dealer fitterz done a cambelt on and it threw its foooked fanbelt off on the way home from collecting it ! Hard shoulder FTW

[hennabm]

My old 323i has BMW FSH from day 1 and still visits once a year for its service and MOT.

I agree with B7 that it is more about the staff rather than the dealer. The lads that do my car are younger than it and are not converse with the car fully. But in fairness all they do is a service and MOT. All the other repairs I carry out

[capri_rob]

During the time it takes to properly service an E30 they could do about 5 E90 inspection 1's.

Thats because any main dealer service on a modern car basically comprises a sh1tload of "checking" and virtually no actual "doing"

A main dealer "service" appears now to be a box ticking excersize that you pay through the nose for used to find/make up other ( chargeable ) work - £100+ a pop for a brake fluid or coolant change for example

Great when someone else is paying or if you're rich/stupid ( delete as appropriate ) enough to buy something still within warranty. An utter ripoff for normal people running their own cars from net disposable after-tax income.

Even if I had the shekels I wouldnt take my E30 to a main dealer - the Techs are clueless about anything that cant be plugged in and would probably shat themselves when presented with an engine bay full of metal rather than plastic parts

[Cloggy Saint]

The temperature in Surrey just rose a few degrees!

[kieran325]

My 325 spent 4 weeks in a BMW bodyshop, the old guy working on it used to work on em first time round and it was a treat working on the E30 than the mundane E60/90's etc.

I was going to treat the M3 to a Insp 2 but at £870 I thought not

[pacerpete]

The temperature in Surrey just rose a few degrees!

Fooooking GRRRRR !


As has been said many times before, it all depends on who you get working on your car. The downside is the lottery whether you get the 47 year old paedo type who has been around E30s since they were new or the 20 year old inked up angry youth . No matter who works on your car, you will still be paying for the serious overheads that a main dealer operation incurs. In London, some dealers are knocking on £200 PER HOUR !

Many dealers do a discount rate for old turds, I am not sure if this applies in Holland. If it does and you maybe make a couple of calls and ask the service receptionist straight out whether they have any dead cooonts that are familiar with E30s who can specifically work on your car, the bumming might not be so harsh.

On the other hand, surely there are some known paedo type specialists in Holland that get involved in older BMWs ? this would be my preferred course of action in your situation.

[Andyboy]

Dealer mechs don't get the time to spend hours cleaning and greasing brake pipes, chipping off loose underseal etc. That's what these shitters need now, preventative maintenance. Fwiw, I had an oil service done on my E32 at the service garage at the Dingolfing plant in April 2009 for its 20th birthday. It was FOC to me but would only have been 55 quid retail. Looks good in the service book - may get it done again next year.

[capri_rob]

They used to run a "4 plus" scheme aimed at keeping cars over 4 years old in the dealer network by giving a bit of discount - I fell for it a couple of times in the late 90's but it was still hideously expensive.

The last main dealer service I had done was my E36 Touring in around 2009 - basic oil and filter change just to keep up the stamps in the book - cost well over £100, they knocked it out whilst I waited in about 25 minutes, tried to get me to agree to coolant and brake fluid changes that it didnt need at over £100 a pop and when I said no they gave me the car back without even washing it.

Whilst I was there the sharp suit and bluetooth brigade rocking up in new 320d's on lease for service work were treated like royalty with open chequebooks - it was sickening. Never again.

The only older cars dealers are interested in are those with rich dumb owners.

[B7]

Some also do a 6+ and a 10+.

Certainly when my e30 goes into Vines for it's MOT it gets very positive comments.

You have to understand, they are main dealers. They are there to make money and of course they will try to upsell. Or is it upselling? Or following the correct service schedule and therefore you are compromising by not doing it?

No they won't chip rust off a brake line and grease it. They'll want to replace it with the correct part and that will incur labour.

But then for every BMW dealer I've heard of trying to pull peoples strides down, I've heard of probably 10 back street bodger types trying it on.

So called specialists? Theres 2 near me, one near Guildford and the other near Horsham. Put one in for a service and I've yet to see much of a saving over a main dealer. They seem to deal on the fact the customer "believes" he's geting a cheaper deal. "oh that was expensive, imaging what it would have been at BMW's!" well actually, in my experience, not a lot more mate!

We've all heard of the specialist in the Ashdown Forest area. I've seen some downright RUDE invoices from them that I know full well Vines would have possibly been cheaper!

[capri_rob]

Cars like yours are the exception though Trev - you look after them well yourself so they will be a pleasure to work on regardless of who does it.

Specialists have their place - I had some work done on my Volvo daily turd recently - an indy specialist was about 1/3 cheaper than my normal local garage who didnt seem that sure about what I was asking them to do - I kind of got the impression the local garage gave me a "fookoff" price as they didnt really want the job

I dont doubt there are some good main dealers out there - unfortunately finding out the good ones from the bad is just too much of an expensive gamble for me - plus I despise people trying to sell me stuff I dont want and dont need - it just adds insult to injury when you're already getting dryfooked for the work you've actually asked them to do.

Thankfully danthe's rates are very fair, he absolutely knows what he's doing and he's never ripped me off