Discount Parts

Hello out there - I'm a new member -this is my first post. Just purchased a 2007 328xi coupe. Questions: who is the most reasonable online seller of BMW parts? Is the Bentley Service and Repair Manual worthwhile, or is there a better manual out there? Please advise. Thanks.

Welcome and congratulations on your 328xi.

http://www.autohausaz.com/ is usually the place from which I order parts. The Bentley manuals are worthwhile; I've not seen any better.

Have fun and good luck.

Welcome aboard and congrats!

Bavarian Autosport is another well-regarded BMW-centric retailer. As for the Bentley manuals, indeed there are none better.

Welcome to the club. Bentley FTW!!

Don't forget www.bmpdesign.com

Good call! Bav Auto and BMPDesign will sometimes send you junk Chinese made parts. I never had a problem with this until about a year or so ago. I now have sent parts back to them numerous times and then got the correct euro made part at my local dealer. What is this world coming to!!!! LOL

It is has also been my experience that while the initial charge may be cheaper, you pay a lot for shipping so any "savings" may be non-existent. I typically get a price from my local BMW dealer to include the Car Club discount and compare on-line prices.

And you know that the BMW dealer has the real-OEM stuff, not the cheap knock-offs too.

Well the subject did say, "discount."

But yes, add my voice to those recommending your first choice be a local BMW dealer who offers a decent CCA member discount. It's also worth mentioning that genuine BMW parts, bought from a dealer, are covered by a parts warranty even if not installed by the dealer, and making a claim only entails bringing the part back to the dealer. It's not always that easy to obtain warranty replacements through a discount supplier (if at all).

If you buy a certain amount, shipping is usually free with Bav Auto and BMP. But at this point I do prefer the dealer, I know what I am getting that way and then they help me out when I need something unique. Gosh I am there almost weekly!

I use Tischer's online site all the time also.

If you like to search for parts using www.realoem.com, then (assuming you use Firefox), getting this greasemonkey script installed is really nice. It integrates direct links to getbmwparts.com and a few other places directly into the realoem display of the part numbers.

Regards,

Another good parts search which I actually like better than realoem.com is http://www.penskeparts.com/. One of our forum brethren here brought it to our attention.

Told the guys at our dealership about it and they like it better than their in-house OEM system.

The interface does look nice. However, one price check I did showed that they are charging BMWNA MSRP, so it's not a discount parts source apparently.

I typically have used it as a parts number look-up and then trot down to my local dealer with the parts information (I have done the same on realoem.com) and purchase it from them. Those guys are typically grateful to have someone show up with a part number actually.

I've developed a good relationship with them over the past 10 or so years and there has been a few times that have given me BMW wholesale prices (better than CCA) on some bigger items and, in come cases, given me small items such as trim fasteners and such for free.

Just a note...many dealers have now fallen prey to pricing algorithms that mark-up BMWNA MSRP. In many cases (like both my local dealers), you still can pay way above MSRP even after their 15% CCA discount.

These dealers use a pricing algorithm that marks up parts prices as a function of their price. A low cost part might be marked up over 100% (i.e. a $1.50 part = $3), mid-cost parts in the $30-40 range get marked up in the 40-50% range, while expensive parts like a $300 one get marked up something like 8%.

I'm not saying your dealer per se has such a scheme...just pointing out that many dealers around the country do this now, and many have ramped up their mark-ups since the economy turned down. Note BMWNA also hugely increased parts prices after the economy went south in 2008. Some parts, like an E39 M5 flywheel for example, are now more than 100% higher than just three years ago as an example. Hence BMWNA and dealers both have tried to take advantage of parts sales, to make up for dismal business conditions, by raising prices significantly. Milk the customer while you can I guess.

Very interesting, Chuck. I may start watching those prices a bit closer. Thanks....

That's not too surprising. When I was a member of Sam's Club (several years ago) I would often price-compare to Walmart (Walmart owns Sam's), and it wasn't unusual to find the prices cheaper at Walmart....though Sam's required an annual membership fee to get the "lowest" prices....

The lesson (at least, for me) here is ... IF its more than a few $$$, take a moment or two to shop around. In the same thought, though, remember that price isn't everything, It may be worth extra $$$ if the part(s) come with a little valuable advise/expertise from the dealer's personnel.

I use two sources: http://www.partsgeek.com/ and http://www.bavauto.com/ .... Hope this helps!

Skip

We generally look up part numbers at http://www.bmwmercedesparts.com/ and then to Bav Auto to math the price. Make sure the Bav Auto part is OEM. Ask fr Drew, he is very helpful!

It's a shame that BavAuto is selling inferior stuff now. Their phone reps are still helpful though. Pelican Parts usually sells quality merchandise, only complaint is they're in California and it took over a week to receive the order as I live on the East coast. If you do not have an aversion to used items you may want to try Bavarian Auto Recyling also in California. They buy wrecked Bimmers and salvage the useful parts from them. They have almost everything you could need and their prices are way below dealer's list prices. Only caveat is they will not except returns on electical items. Cheers