# BMW Service and Repairs totalling €1900 - Does this sound about right?



## stefg (1 Sep 2011)

Hi All,

I have a 06 318i BMW with about 50k on the clock that I dropped in for a service and they have just called me to say the following are needed:

Standard Service to include brake fluid change - approx €130
Wireless Harness replacement (there had been an engine warning appearing intermittently on the dash in the past week) - approx €900
Brake pad and disk replacement - approx €450
Rear tyres replacement - approx €450

I'm not sure of the exact prices, she just told me over the phone but the total was a little over €1900.

Do these prices sound about right for the work being done?  I'm surprised by the amount required, the car seemed to be running fine and it was only last week that the warning appeared.  I was expecting that the tyres and brakes were due soon but that's a lot of money!

Are these prices excessive or am I just unlucky that these issues have happen all at once?

Cheers,
Stefg


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## nai (1 Sep 2011)

You don't have to get them done - tell them to complete the standard service and you will be in touch in relation to the rest.

From micksgarage.ie :
Brake pads for front/rear : 47 euro
Brake Discs (for front): 80 euro
Its a bit rich asking for 450 to replace these - thats 320 labour - shop around

Wiring harness - thats a big part to need replacing and will prob have to come from bmw but get prices off other garages. Does it have to be done today ?

Tyres - you can get anywhere - shop around.


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## stefg (1 Sep 2011)

Thanks for the response nai!

I have told them to go ahead with the service and the wiring harness.. for such an important and involved repair I think it's important to have it done by the approved garage.

Browsing around I can see the tyres (run-flat) are about €180 each so with the fitting that isn't a crazy price (but not brilliant either).

I'll do some more research into the pads and disks...


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## Leo (1 Sep 2011)

stefg said:


> Browsing around I can see the tyres (run-flat) are about €180 each so with the fitting that isn't a crazy price (but not brilliant either).


 
€90 is outrageous for labour on tyre replacement. Most places include that in the price of the tyre.


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## RonanC (1 Sep 2011)

stefg said:


> Browsing around I can see the tyres (run-flat) are about €180 each so with the fitting that isn't a crazy price (but not brilliant either)


 
You cant compare tyres by price unless you are comparing tyre brands also. You can price a really cheap chinese tyre and then a top of the range tyre, there may be 100's in the difference. You will need to know what tyre's they plan on giving you for that price.


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## stefg (1 Sep 2011)

Thanks Leo, I've decided to put the tires on hold until I investigate a bit more, but I have asked them to do the service and the wiring because I'd like that done by the more specialist garage.  I think something like the wiring is going to be quite involved so I'd be a bit more comfortable having a BMW garage looking after that.


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## stefg (1 Sep 2011)

RonanC said:


> You cant compare tyres by price unless you are comparing tyre brands also. You can price a really cheap chinese tyre and then a top of the range tyre, there may be 100's in the difference. You will need to know what tyre's they plan on giving you for that price.



That's a good point, I have always used the tires and brand recommended in the manual for the car and had assumed it would be like for like but that's a big assumption on my part.. Thanks for pointing that out!!


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## AlbacoreA (1 Sep 2011)

Why would the car need a Wireless Harness replacement? That seems a bit unusual.


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## stefg (2 Sep 2011)

AlbacoreA said:


> Why would the car need a Wireless Harness replacement? That seems a bit unusual.



Yeah I was a bit surprised too, I asked about it and they said that the warning lights on the dash were caused by the failure of this unit.  

I have some mechanical experience (basic training + a reasonable amount of spannering experience  ) with motorbikes and I assume this is equivalent of the wiring loom which should just be a bunch of wires configured to fit and connect all the devices correctly.  If this is the case you would think it would not fail or could be repaired but this is not typically the case and when it fails the best solution is to replace it.  If it is not replaced and repaired it tends to lead to other issues soon after or can very difficult to identify the exact issue because it can cause some unusual side effects.

The wiring unit is not usually excessively expensive but the main cost is fitting it.  I have done this on bikes and it can take hours to fit and test and correct any issues.  In the case of a car, especially one with so many electronic features as the BMW, I would imagine that the effort in installing is large and complicated so I would feel more at ease about it having it done in the main dealer service department.  In this case the unit costs about €380 I think and the rest is the labour.  So yes it's expensive and maybe it could be done elsewhere but given my (limited) knowledge I'm more comfortable for the main dealer to it.  To be honest I have found the main dealer to be very reasonable and even competitive for standard servicing but this bill just shocked me so I wanted to check what people thought about the bill.

I think the general gist is of the feedback is I can things done cheaper elsewhere if I choose which is fair enough.  I have asked the main dealer to do the main things discussed above and some of it will have to wait until I have done some research (pricing tyres etc)... and another paycheck!!


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## AlbacoreA (2 Sep 2011)

Not having much faith in dealers, I would be concerned you'd pay for this and it wouldn't fix the problem.


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## stefg (2 Sep 2011)

AlbacoreA said:


> Not having much faith in dealers, I would be concerned you'd pay for this and it wouldn't fix the problem.



My experience has been positive so far but if this is the case, would the dealer not be responsible for sorting out the issue?  If their fix does not fix it then surely they have to take responsibility?


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## AlbacoreA (2 Sep 2011)

In my experience theres a culture of keeping replacing bits at the customers expense until the problem is found. Perhaps that not the case with this dealer. However you should make it clear to them, that if you pay for it, you expect this repair to fix it.


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## kceire (4 Sep 2011)

stefg said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I have a 06 318i BMW with about 50k on the clock that I dropped in for a service and they have just called me to say the following are needed:
> 
> ...


 
Stefg :

*Standard Service at €130* - Sounds like its just an oil change, oil filter and new micro filter your getting at this price from BMW. 

the E90 318i works off CBS (Condition Based Servicing), so what exactly is showing in yellow/red on your dash under the service info option? When you turn the car on at first, you will get a pop up in yellow showing you what is nearly due and then in red when it is due.

What are you getting done in this _standard service_?

*Wireless Harness replacement (there had been an engine warning appearing intermittently on the dash in the past week) - approx €900 *- Is there any chance you can apply to BMW for goodwill on this part? I done it last week on our E90 and got the DSC unit FOC from BMW, i just had to pay the labour, i also asked for a discount on the labour rate and got it from 327 to 280.

*Brake pad and disk replacement - approx €450 - *Is your CBS flashing for a pad and disc replacement?


*Rear tyres replacement - approx €450 - *Shop around for definate, just make sure you compare like for like but you can get better deals from the local places such as kwik-fit/advance/alloywheels.ie/camskill/pro-parts etc etc etc


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## rustbucket (4 Sep 2011)

Would also suggest checking out weather the wiring harness has an extended warranty.
My other half has a VW Bug. Warranty for Car was out. Airbag sensor kept going and was initially told it was x to fix it. A week later they rang us back and informed us that this part (and a few others) had an extended warranty over and above the normal warranty.

BMW might do the same on some parts. If not, as above, ask for some good will.


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## stefg (4 Sep 2011)

kceire said:


> Stefg :
> 
> *Standard Service at €130* - Sounds like its just an oil change, oil filter and new micro filter your getting at this price from BMW.
> 
> ...



When starting the car the service interval displayed with the hand brake symbol (but I typically have the hand brake on when starting so this may not have been an indication of anything??).  The car was due for servicing this month but the warning lights I mentioned did not appear on starting.  The warnings were appearing intermittently when driving.  The yellow warning light that appeared was the cruise control warning for about one second followed by the engine warning light and that would stay on for anything from 1 minute to 30 mins or more.  According the manual when this warning appears the car can still be driven to complete the journey but should not be driven at speed and should be brought to a garage at the next possible opportunity.

This was not due to be a major service, it was primarily a brake fluid change and some other minor service items.  The oil change is not due until next march.  



kceire said:


> *Wireless Harness replacement (there had been an engine warning appearing intermittently on the dash in the past week) - approx €900 *- Is there any chance you can apply to BMW for goodwill on this part? I done it last week on our E90 and got the DSC unit FOC from BMW, i just had to pay the labour, i also asked for a discount on the labour rate and got it from 327 to 280.



I'm not sure that I would have any standing to this as I did not buy the car new and I did not buy it from a BMW garage.  I bought it a little over 2 years ago from a well known dealer that typically sells BMWs and Mercedes etc.



kceire said:


> *Brake pad and disk replacement - approx €450 - *Is your CBS flashing for a pad and disc replacement?



There were no warning lights about this.  When I dropped in the car I mentioned that there was some noise coming from one of the front brakes and asked them to check them - I had assumed it may just have been a bent or missing shim.
After investigation they told me that cheap non-standard brakes had been fitted on the car and that the sensors had been damaged when these were installed so the pads had worn out and had damaged the disks.   This wasn't checked during the last service because they were not marked as due by the service schedule or any of the warnings because the sensors were damaged.  The garage I bought the car off replaced the the brakes prior to me collecting the car and it looks like they installed inferior items and did a poor job of installation (the BMW garage were very critical of the condition of the work done).  
Only the front pads and disks required replacement but the garage replaced the damaged sensors on both front and back brakes for free.



kceire said:


> *Rear tyres replacement - approx €450 - *Shop around for definate, just make sure you compare like for like but you can get better deals from the local places such as kwik-fit/advance/alloywheels.ie/camskill/pro-parts etc etc etc



I got these at a local fastfit garage as they were extremely competitive on price.  They were only about €20 more expensive than the best price I could find online and included fitting and they had them in stock 


Anyway, after a very expensive week, I now have my car back and it is running exceptionally well.  Maybe it's just psychosomatic but I really think the car is running better even than when I bought it.  Recently I had noticed that the car was not taking off as expected when moving off and I was concerned that maybe the clutch would need work in the future.  However since the service that problem seems to be completely gone and the car feels very solid and, as I said before, is driving better than ever.  Also with the combination of new brakes and tyres the stopping distance and smoothness of braking is massively improved.


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