I have a second hand car which was offloaded to me last year. Haven't own a BMW before and I've been told it will cost me a fortune to get the car service at BMW. There are some squeaking noise from steering wheel and break so I think some parts will need to be replace.
The car is 2006 model but only done 80K. Can anyone suggest where I can take the car to service? Europe car specialist? (Hopefully near Doncaster area)
Thank you in advance.
I thought the idea of been an Ozbargainer is to get the best bang for our dollar. So I should shop around and look for the best deal including to get my car service.
Sure, I can afford to maintain it but I want to save some money to buy more eneloop batteries.
There is no rocket science involved into building or maintaining BMW. Any reputable car service will be able to perform basic maintenance and most repairs.
Only a handful of complex operations has to be done by BMW service.
More of that, BMW is very well engeneered so many repairs are even simplier compared to cheaper vehicles.
I've been to a few really good independent BMW specialists and would definitely recommend them over the dealership basically on price alone!
I get annoyed when people say BMW's are expensive to own. It's true of any car regardless of make. If there is a problem, it's going to take money and time to fix. The parts are where most of the difference in price compared to say a Toyota, will come in. However if you take the time to properly maintain and learn about your car, you can reduce your chances of problems occurring.
I have saved myself quite a bit of money by learning how to maintain/change oils, brakes and general maintenance. Not to mention these skills are basically universal, so my girlfriend also saves money on her car!
With a model as popular as the 325i and an 06 model at that, there is already a massive pool of knowledge in online forums that would have been discussed once over. This is the community for you, e90post.
For your original question: If you're willing to travel to Burwood, ask for Jin at Active Motorwerke. Best on prices, service is great, and their garage M5 is some great eye candy while waiting for your car.
Please, please do not take your car to Ultra Tune, or Repco or somewhere like that unless you really must. I don't doubt their expertise as a mechanic, but a BMW specialist is a specialist for a reason. This is especially true if you need coding, fault codes diagnosed, or parts sourced!
Thanks CMichael, will check out Active Motorwerke and also the E90post.
Bare in mind though, where/how you service your car will affect the value of the car. We are on our 6th BMW now, we've tried both independent European specialist and dealership, we found that the ones with all the BMW stamps on the service log books do have a much better resell/trade in price. Just imagine if you were the buyer of a second hand BMW, what would you prefer to see in the service log book.
Having said that, you don't have to have everything done at the dealership. For example, we get our new tyres and wheel balance/alignment done at Bob Jane. New windscreen wipers from Repco. And the dealership loves to charge you $$$$$$$ for things like windscreen cleaner fluid, air con filter ….just tell them no thanks. Ask them give you a call to give you an exact quote first before they perform any work, so you won't get 'bill shock' when you pick up the car.
All good points, but OP's car is now second owner, and over 8 years old.
It makes sense to have full BMW service history if you own the car from new and are selling within a short period to maximise resale value, but in this case, it's money out the window.
The market that would be interested in this car if OP wanted to sell in future, would probably be less interested in stamps on a book, than if the car was well maintained and running nicely.
Basically the way I look at it for my own 06 BMW:
Extra money spent on BMW Dealer Service as opposed to BMW Specialist < Any influence on resale value the older the car gets.
Thanks again, couldn't' agreed with you more.
Second hand 8 yo car, I don't expect the resell value to change significantly. Every dollar I saved up now can go towards my next car in a few years time.
Yeah…fair enough.
We need to replace our X5's 'diesel particulate filter' (warning lights on every now and then), and the brake pads soon (no warning lights yet) I want to try Active Motorwerke…but we are in the city…hummm
When you say you "need to" replace your DPF, who was it who told you this?
The service guy at BMW at the last check-up (2 months ago). Probably bulls*hit, so we told them to leave it. Now the warning light & sound keeps popping up, warning message on the screen… so annoying. My husband is thinking to Goggle search to DIY clean the filter, and/or disable those damn warning lights. Car is driving ok, thinking to sell/trade-in within 12 months…or 6…very soon. Any suggestion?
@NancyCat: yes short trips are the ideal conditions that kill DPFs. Do you know if they forced a regen the last time you were in? Or if they showed you a printout of the ash level in the DPF?
There is a difference between ash and soot loading. A regen will get rid and burn off soot - dealers do this by accessing your cars electronics via a scan tool to first eliminate any other possible causes of the DPF malfunction indicator light coming on (a faulty or blocked exhaust pressure sensor or hoses can cause this, as can DPF temp senders),then forcing the DPF to "regenerate" by introducing extra amounts of diesel fuel to force temps in the DPF to rise and hence burn off soot.
If the ash loading has exceeded a predefined threshold then the dealer is right. You cannot "repair" this and will need a replacement DPF as ash which has accumulated in the DPF cannot be burnt or flushed out.
If you're up for a new DPF and brakes (pads, rotors and wear sensors) then you will be looking at a couple of grand at least. My advise to you is to talk to the dealer again to find out if it is possible to force a regen, if they are able to then you're in luck. Get them to check the ash load while you're in there. From memory somewhere around 90grams is the upper limit - if it's near capacity then you may want to consider getting rid of the car asap as a new DPF is costly!
@highon2str: Thanks for the advice. No, they just told us it needs replacement, no report. DPF & brake pads (down to 3mm at the moment) will be way more than a couple of grand. We had the intercooler replaced (apparently something was leaking) that was around $2,000. On top of that, we've just got new tyres, from BobJane, but still cost a fortune as they are the 'fat tyres'. Already spend over 4 grand on this beast in the last 3 months, I think it's time to say good bye.
How much is the average servicing cost (minor/major) for the X5? Thinking of getting an X6 but I've been vary of BMW reliability.
@maybeamacy: For our last service (2 months ago), the actual service part (vehicle check, engine oil, oil filter, engine flush…) was about $500. The bulk of the total was the intercooler replacement $2,500. We bought our X5 2nd hand from the dealer in 2011. We needed to replace the battery at the end of 2013 approx $800.
We do think BMWs are good reliable cars (hence this X5 is our 6th BMWs) we don't think the cost of maintaining a new-ish BMW is expensive, it's reasonable. Given our X5 is now almost 7 y.o. I think it is inevitable that it has some wear and tear and needs parts replacement. We're thinking to trade-in for a newer 2nd hand/ex-demo X5.
As for the X6…they are soooo ugly, they look like a distorted X5 in a very bad way, the proportion is all weird…my husband wants one, but there's no way I would be driving in that weird looking thing…yikes! But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and they are very good cars…I'm sure you'll like the X6.
http://www.kurrlemotors.com.au/
my parents use to use them when they were around the corner in Hartwell (corner of Gelcairn avenue and Toorak road) this was back in the day when Mr Kurrle was a young independent mechanic (25 years ago). He moved to Hawthorn (still on Toorak Rd but the city side of Bourke Rd) and has ventured into euro and prestige cars. I've previously heard good things about him but haven't lived in Melbourne for 15 years.
A few that spring to mind are BM Tech, Worx Automotive and Active Motorwerke. All are BMW specialists.
I haven't been to any of them myself as my car is still fairly new and has dealership scheduled servicing included but my friends have had good experiences with these 3.
Not all BMW trained mechanics work at BMW, my brothers mate did his apprenticeship with BMW and he serviced my dads BMW V8 730L until it was written off (some things they cant do/fix - LOL)… In 5 years it never cost as much in total as its first genuine BMW visit of over $1k (they replaced everything non genuine, even if it was new; but never fixed the intermittent wiring fault that was the problem, so WOFT&$!)
Beware BMW deals service departments unless your cars under factory warranty!
Outside they OZB advice and find a decent BMW trained mechanic, or one thats clever enough and does most euro cars… AND BE NICE TO THEM!!!
I'd check whether your local Midas does European car services. I was pleasantly surprised to find ours does.
I used to use an independent specialist but found that, although cheaper than the dealer, they seemed to find more things to do.
I don't know whether Midas workshops are independently owned, in which case it just depends on the guys at your shop, or whether you can expect similar joy.
Really bad idea.
They are they original couldn't give a fugg cowboys an employ many unskilled "workers".
Sounds like the must be independent franchises then, coz the Albion one has been really good.
In particular, they don't try to find tricky electrical faults, but send me straight to an specialist down the road.
Sure it's possible to have a "good" franchisee.
Thanks for all the comments. I end up taking my car to Active Motorwerke as its only 15 min from where I am.
Good service and reasonable price. Very happy with it!
Take it to Doncaster BMW. If you can't afford to maintain it, you can't afford to keep it - sell it and buy something else?
If you're set on keeping it and want to service it on the cheap, try BM Tech or any other Ultra Tune/Independent. YMMV and a lot of the time you get what you pay for.