E60 M5 Spark plugs

The guys bought a bottom of the market M5 and is attempting to save a several hundred quid on spark plugs! I really can't blame him, as said above someone who is concerned about a spark plugs stamp is going to buy a better example to begin with so Danny isn't really going to devalue the car by that much so long as he can provide receipts with the car come sale time, I really doubt that BMW use some sort of special plug made from super duper rare materials farmed by the virgin Mary herself.

It's only changing the spark plugs and to charge £300+ to do this is royally taking the **** regardless of what car it is, it's changing plugs not rebuilding the engine.
 
What makes me laugh is the fact that most of the people here seem to think their dealers are competent, skilled, experienced mechanics. I can tell you that the person in BMW changing the spark plugs won't be the chief mechanic or foreman ;) Still, it's nice to have a stamp in the book come resale time and some comeback if things go wrong :)
 
You're forgetting he has a guaranteed exit @ 12500~ or whatever it was so as long as this plug change doesn't go severely ****, he will still be quids in lolling around in an M5 dreaming up his next thread to wind fox et al up.
 
It was more the resale angle I was going at really - I figured the drop in value would probably exceed the extra 270 quid he'd spend just getting the dealer to do it thus maintaining the history. Though I don't think they let the work experience guy touch the M power stuff :p

If the car currently has full BMW history and he presumably got it at a decent price rather than market rate there is presumably the opportunity to make all or more of his money back come resale if it's presented right? Once it's got 4 decent tyres on it and it still has full history with the main dealer it won't look like a bottom of the market example and should compare favourably with anything else up for sale when he flogs it?

Thats my only point in this thread really - whether the value loss is more than the saving. I doubt it's a particularly difficult job (just time consuming as there are 10 of them!) and I doubt he'd have problems doing it.

Also, why not shop around? For example Lloyds BMW will do the spark plug change on an E60 M5 for £246.

Thats only 130 quid more than the cost of the plugs from Ebay. For the sake of 130 quid surely you'd see that back and more at resale tmie?
 
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Django x2 said:
What makes me laugh is the fact that most of the people here seem to think their dealers are competent, skilled, experienced mechanics. I can tell you that the person in BMW changing the spark plugs won't be the chief mechanic or foreman ;) Still, it's nice to have a stamp in the book come resale time and some comeback if things go wrong :)
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Surely jobs like this are for the master techs rather than apprentices. Even Honda had master techs for S2000s.

I've never had a car serviced by a garage but the how to guide on the M5 plug change would put me off.
 
A Qualified Mechanic doesn't post on the internet or consult the internet asking what spark plugs to buy.

A dumb one however just might!
 
A BMW master tech told me I don't ever need to change the coolant in my E60 or the gearbox oil. They would rather me buy a full price gearbox which they got reconditioned for a third of the price than take it down the road to an auto specialist who diagnosed a leak and lack of oil as the actual problem. Like I said before, there are no mechanics in BMW, only fitters. As in can fit a lightbulb. I would much rather see a folder full of receipts for the correct things than a FBMWSH which means diddly squat when an oil service is just a sucking out of the old oil and replacing it with maybe Castrol, maybe something else.
 
My veiw on it is that its quibling over the value of four tanks of fuel for the sake of fullBMWsh (so its not much in terms of running an M5) and by not having that you are throwing away any chance of goodwill from BMW if the car drops any major bills. Chances are it will at some point and bill can easily ramp up into the thousands the first day BMW look at it.
 
Have you ever seen the old parts come out of your car?? And, before you scoff, years ago there was a massive Dominic Littlewood (or maybe Watchdog) on exactly that. Main dealers doing "services" and stamping the book only for a post inspection to show very little (or indeed sometimes nothing) had been changed.
 
Django x2 said:
Main dealers doing "services" and stamping the book only for a post inspection to show very little (or indeed sometimes nothing) had been changed.
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There are bad apples in every orchard but those doing this did so to pocket money they should have spent on parts. This is somewhat different from stamping a book on a car where the company has had no involvement in the work nor was even asked to do it, though :p
 
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