BMW E92 335i Service Costs - Fair pricing?

big4000 · 8 Dec 2011 at 12:11

Hi guys,

First post!

My E92 335i has just gone in for a couple of things: first is replacement front discs/pads and second is a normal oil service.

Can anyone who has had this work done to their e92 let me know what prices they paid?

I've just got off the phone to my local dealer who is quoting me £600+ for the above work...does this seem a fair price to you?

Thanks for any help in advance!

[TW]Fox · 8 Dec 2011 at 12:12

The oil service should be £170-£200 but could be as much as £300 if its the cars third oil service as the plugs are replaced at this service.

Discs and pads £300-£350.

So whether its fair or not depends on what service the car is having.

Ricochet J · 8 Dec 2011 at 12:12

Why would someone new to a computer forum write his first post in Motors? Were you banned before?

big4000 · 8 Dec 2011 at 12:16

Ricochet J said:
Why would someone new to a computer forum write his first post in Motors? Were you banned before?

Always read the forum as a guest and know that the people on the motors forum are very knowledgable when it comes to this sort of thing!

blun · 8 Dec 2011 at 12:20

I took my own oil (£70) to BMW in Bradford who charged £42 for the oil service (it was just a standard oil service, no plugs etc..)

SS-89 · 8 Dec 2011 at 12:21

Seems about right (only if plugs need replacing) for dealer pricing but would ring around other dealers near you and see what quotes you get.

big4000 · 8 Dec 2011 at 12:21

[TW]Fox;20748555 said:
The oil service should be £170-£200 but could be as much as £300 if its the cars third oil service as the plugs are replaced at this service.

Discs and pads £300-£350.

So whether its fair or not depends on what service the car is having.

Are the prices you saying including the VAT?

It just needs an oil change, and the front discs/pads - the plugs are showing as having another 4000 miles on.

I've been quoted the exact figures (ex VAT prices):

Oil service (no plugs) - £105.27
Front brake pads - £160.21
Front brake discs - £213.02
Standard scope (??) - £16.50

Comes to £594 inc VAT total.

Reasonable to you fox?

[TW]Fox · 8 Dec 2011 at 12:25

The oil service price is very reasonable, the brake pricing seems... somewhat unreasonable.

rG-tom · 8 Dec 2011 at 12:30

My front disks and pads were £ 360 , originally the dealer price matched the parts from bmmini parts and the labour of a local indy, they wanted 600 before I price matched!

Gaygle · 8 Dec 2011 at 12:47

Pads and discs are about a half of that price for OE quality parts on Euro Car Parts.

£120 for a pair of Textar discs and £65 for a front set of Pagid pads. Plus i think there is a 25% discount on at the moment so £140 for front discs and pads from quality manufacturers, plus £40 for someone to fit them = £180.

£180 all in vs BMW's £370

Or if you can DIY brakes (and easy job) £140 vs £370

I'll take most of my car related problems to BMW, but for things like tyres and brakes i will absolutely not take to them due to their over inflated prices. My E46 was eligible for their "Value Servicing" costs which made their prices very competitive, but not now with my E92.

That said, i think i recall seeing that if you have the BMW Extended Warranty, and you take your car in for servicing and they flag up that you need the brakes done - you have to have it done by them to keep the warranty. However, any other time, it is OK to get it done elsewhere.

[TW]Fox · 8 Dec 2011 at 12:53

Unlike the e46, on the e92 brakes are a stamp item in the service book.

Gaygle · 8 Dec 2011 at 13:12

[TW]Fox;20748981 said:
Unlike the e46, on the e92 brakes are a stamp item in the service book.

Yup.

No doubt they'd try (if they even noticed, which is very, very unlikely in itself), but I can't see how fitting brake pads from an OEM can jeopardise an Extended Warranty.

[TW]Fox · 8 Dec 2011 at 13:15

It's written in black and white in your policy documentation, that's how. As its an insured product they are free to set such terms and block exemption ruling doesn't apply.

rG-tom · 8 Dec 2011 at 13:22

From BMMiniParts, the discs are £87.45 each (£110 from bmw), the pads are £76.72 (96 from bmw) for a set,plus vat, making it £302 (£380 from BMW) inc vat before labour. I was quoted £55 plus vat from BMTec to fit it, so £368.

That's about as cheap as it's going to get whilst keeping OEM parts, so £373 seems very competitive to me given thats cheaper than you can buy the parts for from a bmw parts desk? I'm assuming the discs and pads are the same as on my 335D, i can't imagine them being any different.

Gaygle · 8 Dec 2011 at 13:25

[TW]Fox;20749147 said:
It's written in black and white in your policy documentation, that's how. As its an insured product they are free to set such terms and block exemption ruling doesn't apply.

Be that as it may, fitting non BMW branded pads can not totally invalidate your Extended Warranty. Ie. If you turbo failed, they could not claim that this was due to fitting non BMW branded pads.

And since i can't think of another thing which could fail as a result of using non BMW branded pads, it can't invalidate your warranty.

It's the same thing for my exhaust, BMW Insured Warranty ensured me that the warranty still covers everything else apart from the non standard exhaust - which is fair enough. So, for instance, if my iDrive failed tomorrow - this would still be subject. to a totally valid warranty claim, despite me having a non BMW standard exhaust.

EDIT: not to mention Textar make the damn pads for BMW. These are BMW pads bought from a BMW Dealer:

Note the large "TEXTAR" stamp on the bottom left.

Gaygle · 8 Dec 2011 at 13:28

rG-tom said:
That's about as cheap as it's going to get whilst keeping OEM parts, so £373 seems very competitive to me given thats cheaper than you can buy the parts for from a bmw parts desk?

TBF, £368 is not bad for front discs and pads from a dealer. It's not competitive if you're willing to put some effort into shopping around, but it's not bad.

big4000 · 8 Dec 2011 at 13:43

Ended up paying the £594 total.

I suppose its peace of mind when it comes to warranty etc..i phoned other BMW dealers in my area who quoted 455.25+VAT for the same job, so in that respect i didn't get a bad deal!

It originally went in for dreaded 335i turbo problems and is coming out with 2 brand new turbos so i can't really complain!

Thanks for all your help guys - looking forward to driving it!

rG-tom · 8 Dec 2011 at 15:14

big4000 said:
Ended up paying the £594 total.

I suppose its peace of mind when it comes to warranty etc..i phoned other BMW dealers in my area who quoted 455.25+VAT for the same job, so in that respect i didn't get a bad deal!

It originally went in for dreaded 335i turbo problems and is coming out with 2 brand new turbos so i can't really complain!

Thanks for all your help guys - looking forward to driving it!

£455.25 is what i was quoted for my discs and pads originally.

big4000 · 8 Dec 2011 at 15:22

rG-tom said:
£455.25 is what i was quoted for my discs and pads originally.

What did you end up paying?

rG-tom · 8 Dec 2011 at 15:30

i paid £674.23 including a third oil service, which I had pre-haggled to £344, so £330.23 in the end including VAT! actually a little cheaper than they'd quoted on the phone.