Full service or save money

Herzlos

castle96 said:

and I dont want to sell it is fine for a run around. I am 70

You don't want to sell it YET, you never know what'll happen in the future. 
How much are you going to save by just doing oil/filter? £100?

Iceweasel

Herzlos said:

Grey_Critic said:

Supply your own parts and save money.

Very few places will do a service with customer supplied parts, it's just not worth the hassle.

Most BMW dealerships will accept customer supplied parts and oil if same quality / spec as OE parts. They know that if they refuse they get no business at all from that customer. No hassle and no questions asked.

Herzlos

Iceweasel said:

Herzlos said:

Grey_Critic said:

Supply your own parts and save money.

Very few places will do a service with customer supplied parts, it's just not worth the hassle.

Most BMW dealerships will accept customer supplied parts and oil if same quality / spec as OE parts. They know that if they refuse they get no business at all from that customer. No hassle and no questions asked.

I'm not convinced. Google tells me it's almost certainly no, but that some of them might do it with upgraded parts, and others will do it but provide no warranty.

Given how busy most garages seem to be, I don't think they'd be afraid to turn down what's likely to be a high demand cheapskate customer.

That said, if you're already buying the parts yourself, then you'd be better looking for an independent garage to fit them for you or have a go yourself.

castle96

Given the few additional parts (to oil/filterr) that would be fitted.. back to original Q

dipsomaniac

Always get a quote for the parts and labour.  If you can get the parts cheaper you would be crazy not to supply the parts and just pay labour.  A cam belt or similar critical part may be an exception, you obviously need to know a little about cars and parts.

In my experience a lot of garages will charge full retail price or add a margin on top for the parts they supply. Someone I know was overcharged over £150 by a well known chain when they charged full retail price instead of the discounted price for discs and pads

It's not about being a cheapskate it's about not being exploited

Ibrahim5

The hardest decisions are when it's evenly balanced. You probably won't gain any improvement with a new air and fuel filter and with your mileage they will probably be OK for another 3 years. On the other hand at some time in the future you may be trying to sell your car as a first class, well looked after regardless of expense motor car. Someone may not be impressed that they were missed.

Iceweasel

Herzlos said:

Iceweasel said:

Herzlos said:

Grey_Critic said:

Supply your own parts and save money.

Very few places will do a service with customer supplied parts, it's just not worth the hassle.

Most BMW dealerships will accept customer supplied parts and oil if same quality / spec as OE parts. They know that if they refuse they get no business at all from that customer. No hassle and no questions asked.

I'm not convinced. Google tells me it's almost certainly no, but that some of them might do it with upgraded parts, and others will do it but provide no warranty.

Given how busy most garages seem to be, I don't think they'd be afraid to turn down what's likely to be a high demand cheapskate customer.

That said, if you're already buying the parts yourself, then you'd be better looking for an independent garage to fit them for you or have a go yourself.

Many people on one of the most popular BMW UK forums - bmwland.org.uk  - up and down the country are doing exactly this. - they are NOT cheapskates - they are simply seeking to save on the inflated prices of BMW service parts. 

chrisw

I recently sold my car to one of those we buy any car type places. It had a full main dealer history apart from the last one where rather than pay £500, I had a chainstore 'interim' service which was essentially an oil and filter change and stamped in the book as such.

The buyer said as long as it had a garage stamp at the right interval it constituted a full history. He did say that without that complete history he would have knocked £1000 off.

Herzlos

There's definitely value in a full history, less so for a full manufacturers history.
I'd only stick with the main dealers for cars in warranty (in case it helps with a claim) or prestige/performance cars, but even then a specialist is probably fine.

Maybe do a main dealer service once in a while to catch any updates/recalls.

RogerBareford

Ibrahim5 said:

The hardest decisions are when it's evenly balanced. You probably won't gain any improvement with a new air and fuel filter and with your mileage they will probably be OK for another 3 years. On the other hand at some time in the future you may be trying to sell your car as a first class, well looked after regardless of expense motor car. Someone may not be impressed that they were missed.

If any kind of service on a car results in an improvement then something has definetly been left too long as servicing is all about maintaining the car and it's operation and not leaving items until they cause a degredation and then service them.

Each year i would always change Oil, Oil Filter, Air Filter, Fuel Filter and Pollen Filter no matter what as it's not exactly expensive.