![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
I've explained my opinion quite clearly - as I said it isn't about a guarantee that the job was done properly, it's more about what it says about the owner.
Full BMWSH - How Important
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I've explained my opinion quite clearly - as I said it isn't about a guarantee that the job was done properly, it's more about what it says about the owner.
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Hasn't BMW got higher standards? my Dad took his ageing 520i to BMW after years of independent services as he had just bought it and wanted to have it checked out, they serviced it then gave him a massive list of stuff that needed replacing, he took it to the local independent who said most of it was fine for the age and mileage and they were just being picky.
Quite possibly, yes. Why pay over the odds for a service that you can pick up (often better) cheaper at an Indys?
The same way my parents spent £12k on a bathroom from Dolphin (who were shortly afterwards listed in Watchdog), when they could have got a local company to do as good a job if not better for half the price
The same way my parents spent £12k on a bathroom from Dolphin (who were shortly afterwards listed in Watchdog), when they could have got a local company to do as good a job if not better for half the price
at the end of the day fox you've got your views, which is always that anything less than best is cutting corners, and cutting corners means you've skimped on things and means you're not doing things properly, and possibly even that you shouldnt be owning the car at all.
We've had this discussion about servicing, about tyres, about your choice of car etc.. Its why you cant impulse buy stuff, because it absolutely has to be the best choice. Not necessarily the most expensive, but the best choice.
Others believe that cutting corners and getting things done cheaply is an essential part of life to avoid getting ripped.
This discussion isnt going to go anywhere because it comes down to personal oppinion on what you consider "right"
We've had this discussion about servicing, about tyres, about your choice of car etc.. Its why you cant impulse buy stuff, because it absolutely has to be the best choice. Not necessarily the most expensive, but the best choice.
Others believe that cutting corners and getting things done cheaply is an essential part of life to avoid getting ripped.
This discussion isnt going to go anywhere because it comes down to personal oppinion on what you consider "right"
[TW]Fox;17811868 said:
I know what your saying, but i think that distinction blurs a bit, its the car with no history i worry about, not the car with the history where the owner just didnt feel the need to be shafted by a main dealer.
Bloody hell, opened a can of worms here lol.
I'm pretty much set on something like this (Not specifically this one mind you) http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201045372770280
Just trying to do as much research as possible basically.
I'm pretty much set on something like this (Not specifically this one mind you) http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201045372770280
Just trying to do as much research as possible basically.
Nope your wrong on that, for a BMW extended warranty is doesn't need to be have a full BMW service history, it can be by any VAT registered garage.
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I've always held out for a car with a FBMWSH. If anything it tells me that although the previous owner was probably getting shafted on price, he wasn't displaying ***** tendancies by trying to save money.
I'm not saying its ***** to try and save money, but a FBMWSH gives me piece of mind that the owner hasn't tried to cut corners here or elsewhere. I've seen too many performance cars where owners have forked out ££££s to buy the cars, only then to run them on a shoe-string budget.
Perhaps in my case this thinking makes more sense regarding M cars, where they need more care than normal cars.
I'm not saying its ***** to try and save money, but a FBMWSH gives me piece of mind that the owner hasn't tried to cut corners here or elsewhere. I've seen too many performance cars where owners have forked out ££££s to buy the cars, only then to run them on a shoe-string budget.
Perhaps in my case this thinking makes more sense regarding M cars, where they need more care than normal cars.
so you have to be a ***** to not want to get ripped off then ?
I assume the "***** tendancies" extend to not shopping around for your car insurance either ? Likewise you buy all your electrical items from the highsteet stores and not online ?
Wanting to not be ripped off and get the best price doesnt make you a *****.
You are missing the point. It just gives you a better chance to find a car thats been owned by somebody for whom money wasn't an object, thats all. You might miss out on those cars where money wasn't an object and the owner was simply principled, but you'll also miss out on those cars where mony was an object and it got the cheapest deal each time.
Most people you'll buy this sort of car from are probably not enthusiasts. They don't make enthusiast based decisions - where to service will almost always come down to cost as the general public do beleive, rightly or wrongly, that main dealer = best.
Main dealer servicing isn't even that more expensive than an independant - I paid 30 quid more than the local indy for my Inspection 2. The experience was also much nicer. I parked up, walked inside the nice clean showroom, had a quick coffee whilst the paperwork was sorted out and then carried onto work in a brand new 120d. This beats going to the local indy, standing about in a small office on an industrial estate, and then either leaving on the bus, or if they've got a car, in a 14 year old 318i.
It's just nicer. And its hardly any more expensive. And it does your resale better (Though probably not in my case
).
Sure there is every chance somebody might mess something up but to be fair that chance exists equally if not more so at an 'indy'. There are one or two absolutely exceptional independants around but if you cant find that needle in the haystick or don't live near one you are at the mercy of the plethora of ordinary garages who decided to stick 'BMW and Audi and VAG' specialist above the door.
I do use a local independant for my repair work - and he's great - but this is because getting repairs done at BMW involves a random number generator whereas servicing is a fixed price entity. But the experience of using the indy isn't the same as that with using BMW, he never has a loan car available, etc etc. I'm happy to make that compromise for repair work because the saving to me is credible (ie not 50 quid here and there) but if I am buying a 3-4 year old BMW I want to buy it off somebody considerably more wealthy than myself and for whom that just isn't a consideration.
Doubtless further point-missing will now take place as you all describe in vivid detail the billionare who treats his 650i like a pile of crap and the unemployed guy who has the mintest M3 ever, but there we go
Most people you'll buy this sort of car from are probably not enthusiasts. They don't make enthusiast based decisions - where to service will almost always come down to cost as the general public do beleive, rightly or wrongly, that main dealer = best.
Main dealer servicing isn't even that more expensive than an independant - I paid 30 quid more than the local indy for my Inspection 2. The experience was also much nicer. I parked up, walked inside the nice clean showroom, had a quick coffee whilst the paperwork was sorted out and then carried onto work in a brand new 120d. This beats going to the local indy, standing about in a small office on an industrial estate, and then either leaving on the bus, or if they've got a car, in a 14 year old 318i.
It's just nicer. And its hardly any more expensive. And it does your resale better (Though probably not in my case
).Sure there is every chance somebody might mess something up but to be fair that chance exists equally if not more so at an 'indy'. There are one or two absolutely exceptional independants around but if you cant find that needle in the haystick or don't live near one you are at the mercy of the plethora of ordinary garages who decided to stick 'BMW and Audi and VAG' specialist above the door.
I do use a local independant for my repair work - and he's great - but this is because getting repairs done at BMW involves a random number generator whereas servicing is a fixed price entity. But the experience of using the indy isn't the same as that with using BMW, he never has a loan car available, etc etc. I'm happy to make that compromise for repair work because the saving to me is credible (ie not 50 quid here and there) but if I am buying a 3-4 year old BMW I want to buy it off somebody considerably more wealthy than myself and for whom that just isn't a consideration.
Doubtless further point-missing will now take place as you all describe in vivid detail the billionare who treats his 650i like a pile of crap and the unemployed guy who has the mintest M3 ever, but there we go
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I am totally with Fox on this one, why can others not see the point he is making? The point is not about the workmanship, as frankly you do not know the quality of the work done by anybody in the history of a car unless its a specialist that you are personally familiar with. The point is that the owner has spent out at every given opportunity, and done things by the book, with no corner cutting.
The above said, i do also agree with this.
I was a pillock in hindsight even bothering to continue my MBSH on the S, it was a total waste of money. To maintain it going forward is not something i will ever do again on any vehicle, unless the main agents can near as damnit match the next reputable specialist.
(note, specialist, not indi).
A prize pillock??
[TW]Fox;17811898 said:You think that if a car has full BMW history it tells you the owner is a prize pillock
The above said, i do also agree with this.
I was a pillock in hindsight even bothering to continue my MBSH on the S, it was a total waste of money. To maintain it going forward is not something i will ever do again on any vehicle, unless the main agents can near as damnit match the next reputable specialist.
(note, specialist, not indi).
No that just makes the previous owner stupid with money, nothing else.
Why anyone would want to give a main dealer 2k for the same repair a specialist does for 1200 for example is beyond me.
Cutting corners is doing it yourself, or getting back street Bobby on the job to do his best, not taking a car to an indy specialist.
I think if the previous owner has taken the time and trouble to find a good specialist then whats the issue? The point is the car has been maintained (as much as a service is maintaining a car) and as long as its done to spec and done on time then have a full service history is the most important thing.
[TW]Fox;17814395 said:
We'v had this discussion before, i can see the point of the service being done at the main dealer, but tell me something have you thrown in the bin every receipt for every repair that you had done to your car at your chosen specialist?
Or have you kept them in a neat folder? Well if you have gone the neat folder route, which is the way to go if you want to enhance a cars value then you no longer have a FBMWSH anyway, so you might as well have been letting the specialist do the service too because lets have it right, if you can trust a specialist to change a turbo you can trust them to change oil.
So unless you have gone the whole hog and had everything done at BMW, by your way of thinking its been scrimped on for other repairs anyway.
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