A fellow co-worker has a 1997 328i. He told me that Prestige BMW in Ramsey, NJ quoted him $225 for an oil change. Enough said........
It's a dealership. 'Nuff said. I wouldn't take my car to a dealership for an oil change no matter what the cost, because it is guaranteed that it'll be more than any other shop out there. So, I learned to do it myself. Labor: $0.
It never ceases to amaze me why people take out of warranty cars to dealers for normal service and the like. One should find a good independant BMW mechanic/shop and start up the relationship with them. Usually, parts costs and hourly rates are lower, and some types of service tend to done with, um, how to say this without sounding like a jerk, a bit more care. They don't have the tons of warranty work to bill to whomever to keep the $ rolling, so they can't afford to piss off the customers as much as some dealerships can. Anyway, this guy is not alone. I got a flyer from one of the local Mini dealers wanting $125 for an oil change. About half the cost of what was quoted to the BMW owner, but then, the car costs about half as much to start! Matt
It goes to show you that the stealer, I meant dealer, doesn't care about customer satisfaction. I remembered when my 92 535i needed an A/C re-charge (was already converted to R-134) Braman Motors in Miami wanted $225 just to look at the car and they wouldn't even honor the CCA discount. No thanks!
7 Quarts BMW Approved Synthetic oil: $47 1 BMW OEM Filter: $10 1 hour on a Saturday Morning: $0 Not having to pay the dealer the extra $168: Priceless.
When I had my garage I charged (a few years ago now..) $16.95 (4-8cyl cars) and $21.95 for Trucks (larger capacity pans and filters)... and would have people waiting in the parking lot EVERY morning when I opened! Good way to get people in the door too.. It pains me to see what some people get for certain repairs! I could have too, of course, but I wasn't out to make my first million off each customer who came through the door! Call me Old Fashion... but I just don't get it!
And... Needless to say... if anyone wants to spend $225 for an oil/lube/chassis (top off fluids, check air filter, etc..)... , and being a professional (Certified) mechanic -not currently commercially operating- I'd be more than happy to give you my address and take care of it for ya! (Just Kidding) Seriously though.. I'm not knocking BMW Centers AT ALL... but $225 for an oil change?? That's pretty gutsy. It's hard to imagine the Service Advisor said that with a straight face!
Thinking about it, they probably charged the standard hourly labor rate on the oil change and dragged it on for two hours... My local dealership charges hourly for whatever they do, but if it's a 5 minute job, they will charge you an hour's worth of labor. Absolute crooks. So if it takes an hour and 1 minute, they will charge for two hours. Unfortunately, there aren't many shops like yours, Gatsby.
Brass washer They probably change the brass washer too, and you know with the cost of brass these days..... LOL. Do you at least get a kiss with the $225?
LOL... you must always change the drain plug crush washer when changing oil, or leaks will often occur. Not to change the topic too much, but the factory installed drain plug crush washer on my 535i was aluminum. The washer included with an OEM (Mann) Oil filter is copper. So why the difference? I know aluminum is a lot cheaper than copper these days.
If I was going to get charged $225 for a Sp(oil) change, I should also get the car detailed with undercarriage and engine steam cleaned (yes I know I have heard that BMW won't do that as they say it can void the warranty and/or cause damage to whatever...so I heard)....
Sounds about right for an hour's labor at a metro dealer + materials and disposal fees. My dealer is less expensive, but only because their labor rate is lower ($110/hr). Frankly, if you don't like the price of BMW oil changes you have three options: 1) Take it to an indy technician (easy, but still potentially expensive) 2) Do it yourself (harder, but much less expensive -- I do mine for about $45) 3) Don't own a BMW (well, it's an option to some people) -Doug
That's just silly... It doesn't take an hour to change the oil, unless your billing full rates for allowing the oil to drain while working on another car. Should be about 10 min to start the oil draining, and about 10 min to fill it up. All the rest is just letting gravity have it's way. I do agree with your options though... Matt
oil change Spoke with my local BMW authorized service shops, $80 for oil change. but do it yourself if cool if you know how.
You may want to have an extra drain plug available when you change it. I had everything taken apart and drained when I discovered the plug had a small leak and really needed to be replaced. Too bad I as 20 miles away from a closed dealer. I will deal with the leak until next time.
Most BMW book labor quotes are roughly double what it takes a good experienced tech with the right tools to do any given job. That's part of the incentive for them to work faster, since they work piece meal and pocket the difference between the time it takes them and the time they get to do the job. My dealer tech used to say out of a 40 hour week he would typically bill out 50-55 hours. So the moral of the story is you'll always pay more for everything at a dealer. At the best dealers that's worth something to some people. -Doug
Dudes, the washer is copper because there have been cases where the alu oil pan and drain bolt will mend to each other under the heat of the engine and stuff, then they become difficult to remove. This is why copper washers are better, as it prevents this from happening.
no....copper is softer...and will mold/seal with less pressure applied. The copper washer is the actual gasket seal for the bolt/nut.
I had sticker shock when I got the first oil change for my M3 when it went out of warranty. I still think you're being ripped-off. If you consider that the oil change for my M3 was in the $180 ballpark and that is probably on the high side for most BMWs, then your dealer is pushing things a little too far. I contemplated doing it myself, as ECS has all the stuff you need: http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E90-M3...w60_Same_as_Genuine_2008_2009_2010_2011_2012/ In the end I decided that my time and the hassles of clean-up were not worth the difference in price for me, plus I'd still have the issue of not being able to reset the onboard computer. As an aside of dealer rip-offs. My dealer added a charge of $8.25 for topping up the wiper fluid. I was livid that they would charge for that, then charge 4 times what it would cost to buy a gallon of the stuff. I verbally ripped them a new one and got them to reverse the charge.
