Is it time to send my ageing E46 to an indie rather than BMW?

Sanchez

Sanchez

Sanchez

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My car is due an Inspection 1 service right about now and I'm undecided about whether there is any value in carrying on taking it to BMW. It's always been serviced at the main dealer (with the exception of one service when it was sold) but the car is now 12 years old and essentially 'just an old Beemer'.

Obviously, as the car gets older it seems less important to carry on with the main dealer history as by the time I come to sell it in a couple of years time the car will likely be worth next to nothing. The main dealer history will only count as a selling point rather than have any monetary value.

Even with the most expensive parts I can find I think my local indie would come in at about half the price of my local Statstone dealership and the extra money saved could go towards getting the OMG swirl flaps of doom finally sorted.

Don't get me wrong, each time I've been to BMW it's been a really pleasant experience. People call you sir and give you a nice new car to drive for the day. I just wonder of there's something else I'm missing that I would get from carrying on the dealer service history.
 
Buy the service parts from BMW and take it to an independent garage to get it serviced. Should save you a couple quid and you will still get a stamp in your service book.
 
Sanchez said:
Which part?
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Your routine services...

I wouldn't be using BMW for any other work, but if the car has a full dealer history and the delta between BMW vlaue servicing and a good indy isn't too excessive (which it usually isn't) then I'd be tempted to keep it up
 
Newhall in Sheffield is a recommended BMW specialist and they charge £204 for the Inspection 1. BMW charge £249 so there is a small amount not worth bothing about there. My local indie in the town where I live would probably come in a fair bit cheaper than that I would imagine, say about £160. The £90 saving (over BMW's price) would go towards the cost of the swirl flaps.

Maybe I'm just being tight and should take it to BMW anyway.
 
Are you going to sell it at a point where a full BMW SH is going to pay for itself?

I bought a 12 year old e46 last year and to be honest, a full SH is good enough. I was looking more for condition, trim, features and MOT history than if it had a full set of roundels in the book...

Mine mostly has dealers, but I took mine to an indy to get the inspection II it needed. I saved about £100 which I spent on new OEM mats and some PIAA silicone wipers.
 
inogen said:
Are you going to sell it at a point where a full BMW SH is going to pay for itself?

I bought a 12 year old e46 last year and to be honest, a full SH is good enough. I was looking more for condition, trim, features and MOT history than if it had a full set of roundels in the book...
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I'll probably be keeping the car for the next few year so it's doubtful I'd see any return on the extra I've paid out for a BMWSH. The money saved through an indie could go towards making the overall condition of the car better, ie the swirl flaps.

Voxination said:
Tried Main Dealer Discount? They claim to get me an Inspection 1 on my E46 for the Stephen James round the corner from me for £200ish, so might be worth a shot.
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That could be very tempting actually. At that price it's not a big enough saving to really make it worth going anywhere else. I'll get on that and see what price they come back with.
 
I was in this same dilemma last month. 2003 E46 and i needed an inspection 2 @ 120k. FBMWSH up until this point, but a local BMW Specialist was over £100 cheaper, and had a great website with past case studies working on cars, real professional, rang them up and was a case of owner and head mechanic remains head of house, real personal and good service with genuine bmw parts.

What swung it for me on the service book side of things, when i come to sell the car (12 years old by then), i put myself in the shoes of a buyer who would be shelling out then probably 3-4k for an otherwise well looked after car, and whether i would be bothered that at 120k a bmw specialist was used. The answer was no so i saved myself the money. I fully intend upon when selling to still justify the reasons for switching over and provide website address for the indy so prospective buyers can see for themselves and have confidence in the decision.

At this age for a well kept run of the mill bmw i think there is negligable financial value in a fully stamped bmw book, maybe like you say a slight selling point given the stigma attached to fbmwsh cars, but bank the cash and put it towards keeping the car in even further good shape IMO, as that will give you just as many future selling points.
 
Doesn't seem like a massive difference between the indie and main dealer from what you wrote, so I would personally continue with the dealer, especially if I loved the car, thing with indies is you don't know how good they are, they could be outright cowboys or attention to detail freaks, saying that dealers can be shockingly bad.
 
Xplo said:
I was in this same dilemma last month. 2003 E46 and i needed an inspection 2 @ 120k. FBMWSH up until this point, but a local BMW Specialist was over £100 cheaper, and had a great website with past case studies working on cars, real professional, rang them up and was a case of owner and head mechanic remains head of house, real personal and good service with genuine bmw parts.

What swung it for me on the service book side of things, when i come to sell the car (12 years old by then), i put myself in the shoes of a buyer who would be shelling out then probably 3-4k for an otherwise well looked after car, and whether i would be bothered that at 120k a bmw specialist was used. The answer was no so i saved myself the money. I fully intend upon when selling to still justify the reasons for switching over and provide website address for the indy so prospective buyers can see for themselves and have confidence in the decision.

At this age for a well kept run of the mill bmw i think there is negligable financial value in a fully stamped bmw book, maybe like you say a slight selling point given the stigma attached to fbmwsh cars, but bank the cash and put it towards keeping the car in even further good shape IMO, as that will give you just as many future selling points.
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This is very similar to my thoughts, although I suspect that due to the age and mileage of the car when I come to sell it (14 years old and around 130k) it won't be worth anything like 3-4k regardless of service history. It'll be an old BMW and they'll probably be after a well maintained car that's in good overall condition.

lemonade said:
Doesn't seem like a massive difference between the indie and main dealer from what you wrote, so I would personally continue with the dealer, especially if I loved the car, thing with indies is you don't know how good they are, they could be outright cowboys or attention to detail freaks, saying that dealers can be shockingly bad.
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It's a fair point. I have other financial pressures at the moment like a wedding and house to save for and saving some money on things like a service (lets be honest, the Inspection 1 is little more than a oil change and a quick once over and under the car) allows me to sort other things on the car (like the alloy wheel I curbed today :().

The indie I'll be taking it to are a friend of the family and they've done work on this car and my fiancée's car before. I've never had any problems with them and I trust them to do a good job.

Voxination said:
Let me know how you get on, am also due an Insp 1 at the end of the month.
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The price they quoted me was £239 and the nearest dealership was Bradford, unfortunately so it's a no go for me.
 
At 10-15 years old, I'd just be interested that's is has some kind of service history Wouldn't bother me if it wasn't BMW.
I'd spend more money on the car that looks I'm better condition with less faults then one that had a BMW service.
 
Save your money and find a decent local BMW specialist that uses genuine parts but charges a lot less for servicing and labour. That's what I do with my E90, full oil 'service' including micro filter change for £140 vs £200+ at BMW' and these boys use mechanics that used to work for BMW.
 
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