Hi all Due to the recent economic issues I had to drop my membership for a few years. It's good to be back. I have a 2010 328 with 25,000 miles on it it just went out of warranty and my BMW Service Advisor offered me the new vehicle maintenance warranty. The biggest question I have is about the brakes. He told me that new brakes and rotors all the way around would be 1800 dollars or more. When I look at parts stores I see even performance sets of 2 for about $400. Is this just a function of the dealer price being so high? what do you think? Warranty package is about $2200 it seems like alot of money for a few visits to the dealership of which most of the services offered are relativly minor- oil changes and the like. Insight would be appreciated Thanks, Mike 2010 328 XDrive 1990 325IS-"DA BABY"
My guess based on MSRP Don't quote me on the part numbers. (2) front rotors 34 11 6 855 006 $116.58ea $233.16 (1) front brakes 34 11 6 790 759 $148.22set $148.22 (1) sensor 34 35 6 779 356 $1.08ea $1.08 (2) rear rotors 34 21 6 855 007 $107.09ea $214.18 (1) pads 34 21 6 790 761 $93.20set $93.20 (1) sensor 34 35 6 792 564 $25.67ez $25.67 total $715.51 if pads come in a set. If not $965.93 I doubt the dealer is charging more than MSRP for the parts, but who knows how many hours they charge and extra fees they tack on? Aftermarket warranties are a crap shoot. The one they offered seems very low.
It covers a lot of other things on that plan all oil changes, brake fluid flush, microfilters, air filters, spark plugs. So those services can add up fast of course the brakes are the most expensive but depends on how much and how you drive if you will need brakes.. Another plan to look into is CPO it covers over 10,000 items on the vehicle that are not maintenance related. Welcome back to the club!
Welcome back! You'll have to gauge your usage and expected mileage - paying for coverage doesn't do you much good if you won't accumulate the mileage to need the covered services. If you will and then some, maybe you come out ahead. Labor rates these days are expensive (to me, anyway, since I recall when dealer labor rates were $30/hr), dealer or otherwise, labor costs are the other part of service quotes. It's easy enough to get parts, d-i-ying things, you have to think about what you know how to do, what time you have (& workspace), and figure in tools costs - the recent crop of bimmers may require tools beyond what's needed for that E30 of yours. Doing brakes yourself, for instance, takes things like a floor jack, jack stands, maybe a wheel chock, level & hard work surface, a breaker bar, torque wrenches (for both the lug bolts and caliper bolts), brake caliper piston tool or largest-size channel-locks, the right wrenches/sockets (E9X brakes I think might use torx-head bolts, not sure), and I'm sure more; plus, you need to know what to do, how to do it, how to do it safely (having a car fall on you tends to complicate anyone's day), and so on. Things like that should factor into your decision if you're thinking you might tackle the covered maintenance tasks yourself; also, whether there are indy-shop alternatives to the dealer (that know BMW's & what they're doing). Oh, and - the safety factor of flubbing anything you do yourself - brakes, for instance, are not something you want to mess up!
From my experience with brakes and rotors I can say that it's a lot cheaper to do that somewhere else. Parts prices are pretty much the same everywhere but the labor costs as twice as much as the parts at the dealer. So, if you know professional shop that works with BMWs then it may be a good alternative. For example I do all minor repairs and fixes at my friends shop.
Did the dealer offer WARRANTY or MAINTENANCE? IMHO (and others here), the Warranty is a money-maker for the dealer. BMW also now offers a pre-paid Maintenance plan, which would cover brakes and other wear items. The two are separate; you can usually beat the Maintenance plan by using an independent or DIY.
I had the same issue come up with my car. Really the brakes aren't incredibly hard to do yourself (provided you have a little bit of background and a helper). If you've got enthusiasm enough, you can easily complete the task in the span of a couple of hours. Then again, I'm the biggest cheap skate ever, so I tend to find ways around spending money any way I can. The only severe complication I encountered was getting the rotors off. Other than that it was pretty easy. Don't forget, most of the dealerships offer a discount on parts purchased there. If you go shopping online for parts, well, let us know how that goes.
