Support your local dealer

jforgo said:

I do not use my local dealer for service thus far. As it has dawned on them I have more than 1 or 2 BMW's, I can see them wince when I come in, but once again my visit is just for parts. Word of mouth locally the service department is excellent, but co$tly - $125/hr last I heard! But I would not hesitate to use them, if I had to.

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I am sure that Sierra is under $85. Not $125.
Its posted above the service desk.

widebmw said:

I am sure that Sierra is under $85. Not $125.
Its posted above the service desk.

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So I had heard - along with the excellence. Never back there to experience either...

Sometimes, I feel like the theme in threads like this are a mutual shame-induced patronage.

Although I've made friends at the local dealer (because of mutual personalities, not because I come in with a wad of cash), I have no real reason to go out of my way to shop there. I have charts and figures of every cent I've spent on BMW related things, and off the top of my head, I'd say <3% of all money I've spent has been at a local dealer, <20% has been at a local independent shop, and the rest were initial purchase prices, orders from MAXBMW, and orders from other internet-based dealers.

A while ago, I was meaning to start a thread in the Campfire about the idea of supporting local car dealerships instead of motorcycle dealerships, or the contrast in opinions thereof. I can say with confidence (no need to look at my charts/figures) that I have never once bought a single item from a car dealer. The only dealership I've ever been in was an abandoned/vacant one that I was taking pictures of. When it comes to 4-wheeled vehicle parts, I'd say <5% has been spent at local repair shops, with the remainder from hardware stores, AutoZone, O'Reilly's, and the like. I try to support the local ones as much as possible, but even at those, I feel like the person behind the counter has less of an idea of whats going on than I do (more so the case at AutoZone; I think they just hire anyone off the street).

crazydrummerdude said:

Sometimes, I feel like the theme in threads like this are a mutual shame-induced patronage.

A while ago, I was meaning to start a thread in the Campfire about the idea of supporting local car dealerships instead of motorcycle dealerships, or the contrast in opinions thereof. I can say with confidence (no need to look at my charts/figures) that I have never once bought a single item from a car dealer....

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Only time I purchased anything from a car dealership was a Buick Skylark for $1000. One of those dingy places on south 51 outside of Pittsburgh.

Come to think about it, the used Beemer I bought for $2,800 is the most money I've ever spent on a motorized vehicle.

crazydrummerdude said:

Sometimes, I feel like the theme in threads like this are a mutual shame-induced patronage.

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+1 A 'local' (hours away) private BMW mechanic once tried to lecture me about not supporting our 'local' dealer (the only one in the state, also hours away).

I explained to him that we had spent over $22,000 there on two bikes, neither of which was a good deal, but of course they were the only ones to be had, and he knew it. No after-sale discount on gear, parts or accessories with him. If BMW isn't footing the bill for promotional offers, there is no customer appreciation. Try to trade in a bike you bought there, and you'll be given 'we don't want to insult you with an ungenerous offer, but we'd be willing to put it on consignment for you'... They like their used inventory, but don't like to pay for it.

I told him about our attempts to buy parts from the same dealer, who never had anything in stock that isn't a consumable or an accessory. Free shipping only happens if you can pick it up at the counter, a 360 mile round trip discourages that. So he would mail them to the house for an extra fee (disproportionately extra). Three times in five orders, he sent the wrong part. It was inevitably cheaper and faster to order it myself, and I always managed to get the right part.

I informed him about the service department that takes three to four weeks to get into. If you need parts, odds are they won't have them on hand, necessitating a return trip, or planning to go bikeless for a while.

Or the traveller's who called local BMW club friends on the fourth of July weekend last year. The dealer was open for sales when they called but not service, and 'had nobody who could' take in their overheating K bike (it must not be an emergency in July in the Rockies until the bike goes kaput). The anonymous book and our local club was more help.

I let him know how I felt about my wife arranging to purchase a demo that they had put over 350 miles on. When we went to pick it up as scheduled, a week later, they not only had not serviced it, but did not carry out the recall work BMW had required for that model either. We tried to get it done before leaving, and the salesman abandoned us to the service manager, who managed to be on the phone without ever making eye contact with us until we had to leave, at least half an hour later, with an empty tank, I might ad. We called back the next day about it, and got "the earliest possible opening", one month later. When we brought them the bike and the battery we had to replace a week after we bought it, they offered us another BMW battery, BMW's policy. I explained I had to buy a battery just to get it home that day (a Sunday, in the mountains), and didn't need another battery. So what's their policy? 'Umm, we'll discount what you paid off of your next service.' What about this one instead? 'Nope, we can't do that.'

My local BMW dealer has received all the support from me he's ever going to get.
My local Honda / Kawasaki dealer has raised the bar to a level he fails to compete with in every manner.

criminaldesign said:

Only time I purchased anything from a car dealership was a Buick Skylark for $1000.

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I bought a cool BMW hat with a TX flag embroidered on the side from the BMW car dealer

ooops..wrong thread