BMW and M Power Owners

Voxination said:
Mainly aimed at Fox as I know he's done this but there may be others too; in May I'm planning a roadtrip with some friends and one of the stop-offs is Munich for the BMW Factory Tours. We we're planning on doing the "Premium Tour" which is all 3 attractions (Museam, Group Plant and Welt), any advice from those who have been before?
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I did Museum and Welt - Welt is free of charge, so we just paid for the Museum. It was really interesting though I was sad about the lack of E39's and vowed never to buy another BMW product again in protest.

The best bit for me was BMW Rent - I took an F10 M5 around the Autobahn for 70 euro. Awesome!
 
I suspect it's covered under the EU 'Block Exemption' thing whereby they cannot penalise you warranty wise for work done elsewhere as long as it is done with approved parts by a VAT registered garage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_Exemption_Regulation

That said there is simply no way I'd let anyone other than a BMW Approved body-centre touch a 6 month old 5 Series. I'm not saying you'll get a guarantee of flawless work but the entire process should everything not go swimmingly well is going to be massively less complicated..
 
Thank you! Yeah that's what I'm thinking :( urgh this is such a pain. Direct Line can't get an engineer out to BMW until end of next week so even if I go with BMW the work isn't even going to start for 2 weeks and that's if BMW give me the first available slot which of course they can't until the engineer has been. I can see me being without my car for 4-6 weeks.

Hire car from a non Direct Line body shop is only available for 2 weeks as well

****
 
Steedie said:
Thank you! Yeah that's what I'm thinking :( urgh this is such a pain. Direct Line can't get an engineer out to BMW until end of next week so even if I go with BMW the work isn't even going to start for 2 weeks and that's if BMW give me the first available slot which of course they can't until the engineer has been. I can see me being without my car for 4-6 weeks.

Hire car from a non Direct Line body shop is only available for 2 weeks as well

****
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Could you not use a third-party company to sort this all out for you?
 
[TW]Fox;30366164 said:
Fronts more expensive, as expected?

LOL at the hilarious cost though.
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nope it says based on my car (W11LGL - 29,000 miles)

Front brake pads and discs.
£292

Rear brake pads and discs.
£449

this is why I'm confused :) - fair enough i got the difference wrong by £100 :p
 
Will Gill said:
nope it says based on my car (W11LGL - 29,000 miles)

Front brake pads and discs.
£292

Rear brake pads and discs.
£449

this is why I'm confused :) - fair enough i got the difference wrong by £100 :p
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You have a 35iS, yeah?

I want to know why mine, which is white and 3 years younger, is more?! :confused:

£387 front and £449 rear. I wasn't aware the brakes had changed at all at the LCI.
 
Will Gill said:
nope it says based on my car (W11LGL - 29,000 miles)

Front brake pads and discs.
£292

Rear brake pads and discs.
£449

this is why I'm confused :) - fair enough i got the difference wrong by £100 :p
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dk345 said:
You have a 35iS, yeah?

I want to know why mine, which is white and 3 years younger, is more?! :confused:

£387 front and £449 rear. I wasn't aware the brakes had changed at all at the LCI.
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If it helps at all my 2010 35iS is quoted as being the same as Will Gill's, £292 for front brake pads and discs and £449 for rear brake pads and discs.

Seems odd the rears are more, assuming it must be the ebrake as was mentioned previously?
 
Told them not to bother with a second opinion and just stick with BMW.

I've now got an Aygo for the next 3 weeks as a hire car. So much for giving you a like for like courtesy car... :(
 
Steedie said:
Told them not to bother with a second opinion and just stick with BMW.

I've now got an Aygo for the next 3 weeks as a hire car. So much for giving you a like for like courtesy car... :(
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It would be very unusual to get a like for like hire car on a fault claim. Even the upgraded hire car options on some policies are not like for like.
 
[TW]Fox;30366168 said:
I did Museum and Welt - Welt is free of charge, so we just paid for the Museum. It was really interesting though I was sad about the lack of E39's and vowed never to buy another BMW product again in protest.

The best bit for me was BMW Rent - I took an F10 M5 around the Autobahn for 70 euro. Awesome!
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Awesome thanks for the info, going to have to check out BMW Rent!

Edit: Scratch that, due to being under 25 my options are basically an i3.
 
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High all, just running some basic maths on my E39 following a visit from the insurance assessor today.

Is there anywhere online that gives OEM part costs? Currently looking like:

Wing
F sport Bumper
Grilles
Fog
Headlight
Undertray
Slam panel
Possible bonnet
Arch liner

Or an approximate bodyshop cost for similar damage?



Beyond this the assessor said that they use glass's for the pricing (if write off, he is near 100% it will be unless I can agree a cash in lieu)...the free glass's thing on the auto trader website says £1,600 which is a country mile off...(03, 540i sport). Have given him a bundle of comparable cars with prices £5-24k (high miles, rusty and low spec vs. Low mile minters). Only issue being that the £10k plus cars typically had 40k+ less miles but were a year older...

Have said I'd take £6-7k as an opening gambit knowing he'd try to haggle down...anyway to bridge this valuation gap?
 
Try Schmiedmann.co.uk - I buy most of my BMW parts from them rather than UK dealers as they're usually cheaper (they're Danish, but within the EU so VAT is already paid :)).

They have most stuff listed or searchable with the part number, only some more obscure stuff is missing, but you can email them for a quote.

Edit: just had a look on Autotrader for E39 540is - it's a bit thin on the ground isn't it? Might be best to try Ebay's completed listing function for actual sale prices, and IIRC Pistonheads has something similar.

Also noted that Hexagon are (trying to anyway) selling a 75k mile 540i Touring with M5 wheels as "M5 Visuals" for £24k. They are surely off their heads? I mean, I know it's Hexagon, but:

Hexagon "M5 Visuals" 540i Touring

Alternatively, actual E39 M5s are available with similar miles for about £6-10k less.
 
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