Me too! (Another disappointing BMW dealer)

Apr 01, 2005 4 Replies

I rarely go to dealerships for service as I do most service and repairs myself. However, the cat. converter on my 7 year- old car recently went south (made lots of noise) and, since I was barely squeaking inside the 8-year-or-80k-warranty on that item, I had a fairly new satellite location for an old dealership I'd done business with before do the work. I'd never been there before. Well, of course they'd "eat" the $1700 or so for the cat., but "found" $1500 or so in additional "needed" work in the car.



It was not a total lie on their part, as I am aware of the slight leak with my power steering hoses, but the parts and labor was laughable. As far as the universal joint, bushings, etc., I have some doubt that this is so urgent. And I know damw well that the two belts they wanted to replace (for $255!) are still good, as I changed them myself (for around $60) less than two years ago, and they still look good of course. Okay, I know that dealerships have lots and lots of overhead, but I shouldn't feel obligated to fund their needs and wants. I should only be expected to pay fair market prices for *necessary* repairs.


-- Cliff



You went to the dealership for a CAT? Why not just go to the local muffler shop where all they do all day long is install CATs?

To collect on the warranty. Re-read the paragraph.

-Russ.

It's because they look at their service records and see that they haven't been replaced in the last however many years, rather than looking to see if the work has been done elsewhere.

So they check their records and see that the drive belts (along with, in my case, the spark plugs, oil&filter, coolant, brakes, etc.) haven't been changed at their dealership, therefore the car needs new drive belts...makes perfect sense to me.....

-- Cliff

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