Dealer servicing

HeatherVP

Advice please from the knowledgeable car owners out there! I have had my series 1 BMW serviced by my local dealer since I bought it from them at 1 year old. It's recently had its 7th birthday and I now need a service: oil change, air conditioning, pollen filter, brake fluid - quote £390 all in which seems awfully expensive, surprise surprise. I'm thinking now it's no longer new, why not return to my lovely trustworthy, very local garage which I used to use before I got a fancy car, but I'm wondering about the servicing records as it seems all the servicing info is saved on my smart key fob. Will a small repair garage be able to access the computerised records and add info and if not, how much does this actually matter?  I'm not planning to change my car for another couple of years - I'm waiting for advances in hybrids that can tow my Go-Pod.

Car_54

No-one with an ounce of sense will expect a 7- or 9-year old car to have been service recently by a BMW dealer.

Just keep the invoices as proof of servicing.

tacpot12

My suggestion is that is you are planning on keeping the car for as long as possible or want to preserve its resale value, only have genuine BMW parts (or very good quality parts such as those from Bosch) fitted to the car. 

colino

Get your friendly local independent garage to do the real work and have "value servicing" from the BMW dealer to keep your FSH in impressive order for that one, future buyer who will pay over the odds for it.  A/C needs looked at when it stops working and even Kwik Fit have the idiot proof kit to drain and refill it. Don't know anything about your fancy car though. 

Grumpy_chap

colino said:

Get your friendly local independent garage to do the real work and have "value servicing" from the BMW dealer to keep your FSH in impressive order for that one, future buyer who will pay over the odds for it.  A/C needs looked at when it stops working and even Kwik Fit have the idiot proof kit to drain and refill it. Don't know anything about your fancy car though. 

That sounds like paying twice 😟

[Deleted User]

£390 doesn’t sound too bad for a main dealer prestige mark service. 

ontheroad1970

Give Fred a call.  He will tell you which youtube video to follow so you can DIY.  He will no doubt be along soon in any case as I suspect he has a subscription to a search of dealer servicing

Mickey666

HeatherVP said:

Advice please from the knowledgeable car owners out there! I have had my series 1 BMW serviced by my local dealer since I bought it from them at 1 year old. It's recently had its 7th birthday and I now need a service: oil change, air conditioning, pollen filter, brake fluid - quote £390 all in which seems awfully expensive, surprise surprise. I'm thinking now it's no longer new, why not return to my lovely trustworthy, very local garage which I used to use before I got a fancy car, but I'm wondering about the servicing records as it seems all the servicing info is saved on my smart key fob. Will a small repair garage be able to access the computerised records and add info and if not, how much does this actually matter?  I'm not planning to change my car for another couple of years - I'm waiting for advances in hybrids that can tow my Go-Pod.

I can't answer for all independent garages but when I first took my Merc to an independent for a service, they very kindly gave me a printout of it's full service history, including the one they had just carried out.  So there must be some way for independents to access the 'official' service history database.

But even if they can't, just keep a record of the service invoices.  But at 7 years old it's getting to the point where a FSH is of less importance.  My Merc is now in its 10th year and I'll likely keep it at least another five, probably more if it keeps going.  By then it won't be worth £1000 and the presence or absence of a FSH will make absolutely no difference to its value.

colino

You don't pay twice.  BMW value servicing is a stamp in the book, does virtually nothing and the actual, necessary work gets done by a real garage. 

HeatherVP

colino said:

... Don't know anything about your fancy car though. 

Believe me, when I got it it was a LOT fancier than anything I'd ever had before! I don't do "prestige" it makes me uncomfortable, but the car itself won me over despite the badge.

Grumpy_chap

colino said:

You don't pay twice.  BMW value servicing is a stamp in the book, does virtually nothing and the actual, necessary work gets done by a real garage. 

Except as far as I can tell, the cheapest BMW Value Service includes inspect all fluid levels, oil change, oil filter change, mini-valet.  I can't get a price as you need registration plate and mileage, but I can't imagine it being any less than £200.  Then you have to pay the independent garage to do a service as well.  That definitely seems like paying twice.

Rather than just accept the £390 quoted, the OP could enquire at BMW as to whether the "Value Service" is an option for them.