Supporting My Local BMW Dealers

141987 said:

I bought a drive on motorcycle lift and a tire changer a few years or so ago and have done all my own work on my 2011 R1200GS for the last several years. I've got the BMW repair CD and the Haynes manual, and a GS 911. If something comes up that is over my head, I would probably take it to a dealer.

Thoughts that I have had about taking it to an independent mechanic over the years include:

- I think only a BMW dealer can get the special BMW computer for servicing, but the GS 911 may have overcome this drawback
- An independent mechanic may not have all the special tools...for example a special weight gizmo for properly tensioning the rubber belt drives
- An independent mechanic may not be totally up to date on all the newest design innovations
- If the dealer screws it up, BMW will probably come good for it. If the independent mechanic screws it up, depending on the cost, it might be a battle.

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Do you do the same thing with your car/truck, or is this just for motorcycles?

Completing the Story

Just to close the loop here - I visited Flying Squirrel Motorcycle in Toronto (www.fsmotorcycle.com) this morning and had them do the tires. Amazing guys (Glen and David) and great work. I was actually invited to watch David do the work - which was very pleasant surprise and from watching closely, I could tell that he knew what he was doing and I saved $200 over the best dealer price. Would definitely recommend these guys.

BC1100S said:

Correction (and don't take this personally): In Canada YOU get hosed big time.....

I just paid $400 for a pair of Dunlop Roadsmart 3 - from my dealer. And that's competitive with US online pricing after exchange. Installation is $75.

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I wonder if the better weather in BC equates to higher volumes and lower prices? The bike business in Ontario is pretty brutal...

Dunno but here in Calgary (economy totally in the tank) my set of Michelin PR4s quoted at $610.14 CAD plus GST (5%) just yesterday.

PGlaves said:

Do you do the same thing with your car/truck, or is this just for motorcycles?

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I do some work on my own cars but to a much lesser extent and much less frequently since maintenance intervals tend to be longer (for example spark plug change intervals). And oil changes are so cheap, and it is hard to get under the vehicles, so I just let the dealer do it. I have a Haynes manual for one of our cars but no manual is available for the other car.

At least 11 BMW motorcycle dealers I have done business with since the late 1970's have closed. Most of these were excellent to deal with, a few not so great. They were in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana.

I give as much business as possible to my current dealer, Mathias BMW, New Philadelphia, Ohio. Fair prices, excellent service and great attitude for the past 20 years.

bobs_one said:

Just to close the loop here - I visited Flying Squirrel Motorcycle in Toronto (www.fsmotorcycle.com) this morning and had them do the tires. Amazing guys (Glen and David) and great work. I was actually invited to watch David do the work - which was very pleasant surprise and from watching closely, I could tell that he knew what he was doing and I saved $200 over the best dealer price. Would definitely recommend these guys.

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Is there some missing tax or bizarre shipping charge on those prices? The listed USD price on Pilot Road 3's is well below what I could get them in the US. With shipping to the US, the price is within $11 of US online retailers.

GeorgeR1200RT said:

At least 11 BMW motorcycle dealers I have done business with since the late 1970's have closed. Most of these were excellent to deal with, a few not so great. They were in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana.

I give as much business as possible to my current dealer, Mathias BMW, New Philadelphia, Ohio. Fair prices, excellent service and great attitude for the past 20 years.

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The old fashioned dealerships are going the way of the dodo and part of that is because of Motorad themselves. According to people at my dealer, which is now a corporate owner and not an independent dealer (as they used to be), BMW is actively trying to "force" out the old time dealers because their pockets weren't deep enough. They are now allowing multi-brand dealerships, which was prohibited for a while as well as other changes. All because they want owners to be better financed, but that leads to a host of other problems for us, the consumer.

With my dealer the change was NOT for the better. When the new ownership took over they brought all of the employees individually into a room and interviewed them for their current jobs. IF they didn't like what they had to say, they were fired on the spot. At the end of that process only about 3 people were retained. So long time employees who knew and loved the brand were replaced by lower wage drones who had no love of the brand and little knowledge of even their current models, let alone the history. They also split the dealership into different corporate entities. Sales was one company, the parts department was another company, and service was still yet another company. All owned by the same parent company, which is solely owned by one guy who is a car guy and not a motorcycle guy. And, to top it all off the service techs are "independent" contractors who are paid by the job and not hourly employees with no benefits from "the company". What this means/meant is that the monkey turning wrenches on your bike gets paid by the job: more jobs done in a days, the more money he gets paid. Quality of work is irrelevant, speed is everything and when asked whether or not they all were factory certified tech I got no answer.

When I had problems (too long to detail here) and I contacted Motorad all they did was forward my complaints to the general manger of the dealer I was complaining about.

Whether cars or bikes of any brand, someone eventually has to pay for that very expensive corporate-compliant location, floor tile, fixturing, and signage which is part of the modern "brand experience". Independent shops simply don't have those extra cost burdens.

Google "sears imported autos bmw lawsuit" for one dealers response.

Dealers. There's a guy at my local dealership that does all sorts of stuff for the bike community, launches, seminars, talks, ride outs etc. Love the guy. But the service and parts guys are beyond my financial means. For example. Clearwater Darla lights, $695 US plus three hours to install at $115 per hour = $1400 Canadian. Same lights in US $695 + $75 to install = $1075 Canadian. That's a $225 difference.


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36654 said:

Is there some missing tax or bizarre shipping charge on those prices? The listed USD price on Pilot Road 3's is well below what I could get them in the US. With shipping to the US, the price is within $11 of US online retailers.

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I can get Pilot 4 GT's online (in Canada) for CDN $420 plus tax (shipping included). Dealer charged $570 last Spring. Labor at Dealer was $125. With taxes, total was $795.35

FS guys charged $410 (better than online prices!) plus taxes and $120 labor. Total with taxes was $601.29

My $0.02 worth...I've never been to a BMW dealer. Never had a need to. I have ordered parts from Max & A&S and Bob's but that's as close as I've come. The only way I'll ever get a new BMW is if I win one in the Sweepstakes (and even then I'd probably take the cash instead). I buy used bikes and do 99% of my own maintenance & repairs. The couple of times I didn't have the tools to do the job I went to a local independent guy. So I don't feel any particular need for a local dealer.

For that matter, the only times I've been to a car dealer the past 10 or so years is to buy the cars (twice) and have a recall done on one of them.

As always, YMMV...

I live on the same side of the boarder as you! I just bought 2 sets of Pillot4 GT on line from your best source for tires:
Canada's Motorcycle, or FortNine, as they have changed their name. Shipping is free over $49. The tires were for rear GT
238, for the front GT 185, that is $423. To support the slimy politicians, we ad the 13% tax, so $55. Total of 478. They
even gave me a $10/pair for buying both tires!
Any motorcycle shop will replace them for $60. Even that i find as excessive! (Considering the wheels are off the bike!)
If I had the tool, would do it for$20! Takes 15 min, at the most, with balancing.
Just my two cents about this!

temesvar said:

I live on the same side of the boarder as you! I just bought 2 sets of Pillot4 GT on line from your best source for tires:
Canada's Motorcycle, or FortNine, as they have changed their name. Shipping is free over $49. The tires were for rear GT
238, for the front GT 185, that is $423. To support the slimy politicians, we ad the 13% tax, so $55. Total of 478. They
even gave me a $10/pair for buying both tires!
Any motorcycle shop will replace them for $60. Even that i find as excessive! (Considering the wheels are off the bike!)
If I had the tool, would do it for$20! Takes 15 min, at the most, with balancing.
Just my two cents about this!

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Dude, you're in Winsor.......scoot across the bridge to Harbor Freight and get a tire changer with the motocycle attachment for $70 and do it yourself. And, do your buddies bikes too for free beer. Static balance is all you require. Get one from Balance Master or a similar unit. If you take the time to mount your tires right you'd be surprised how little weight is required to get the wheels bang on.

My local dealer looked up the price for tires on Revzilla or Motorcycle Superstore and quoted that price to me. Mounting and balancing will be $40 a wheel.

It shows they are being realistic at what the consumer will do by purchasing online if they have higher prices.

Chris

daboo said:

My local dealer looked up the price for tires on Revzilla or Motorcycle Superstore and quoted that price to me. Mounting and balancing will be $40 a wheel.

It shows they are being realistic at what the consumer will do by purchasing online if they have higher prices.

Chris

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My prices were $Can. If you ride your bike to the dealer to change tires, $40 is not bad per tire. They are in business to make money.

temesvar said:

My prices were $Can. If you ride your bike to the dealer to change tires, $40 is not bad per tire. They are in business to make money.

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I thought it was a great deal. In the past when I had a Honda, I priced tires locally with the nearby dealer. His prices were much higher than I could get the tires online for. Motorcycle Superstar had a program I think they called "Preferred Installer". You could buy your tires online, drop ship them to an installer, and bring the bike in later for installation. The installers listed the cost and what they did, so there was no surprises. I found the local Ducati dealer had the best prices for installation around. (Their idea was to get you into the dealership for a tire change, and then have you come back later for other service.) I'd get the prices together and then call the Honda dealer and ask to have them match the prices. They did, very grudgingly.

To find the BMW dealer automatically quotes the same price as I can get the tires for online, was nice. To have him beat the price of the Preferred Installer by $10-20 a wheel was even better. At that price, it doesn't make sense to me to do the work myself.

Chris

temesvar said:

My prices were $Can. If you ride your bike to the dealer to change tires, $40 is not bad per tire. They are in business to make money.

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The dealer removes the wheel, mounts and balances the tire, then re-installs the wheel for 40 CDN?

flhfxd said:

Dude, you're in Winsor.......scoot across the bridge to Harbor Freight and get a tire changer with the motocycle attachment for $70 and do it yourself. And, do your buddies bikes too for free beer. Static balance is all you require. Get one from Balance Master or a similar unit. If you take the time to mount your tires right you'd be surprised how little weight is required to get the wheels bang on.

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Just to be clear, I agree with getting the equipment and doing tire changes yourself. But there is more to it than just the Harbor Freight wheel changer, and the motorcycle attachment, together about $100. You also need a special bar, either the No-Mar or Mojo, which is another $100 or so. Also needed are the special nylon inserts for the HF motorcycle wheel holder, which are around $30. If you want to balance the wheels yourself, the Marc Parnes set-up is, I think, around $120 for everything. So the investment is about $350. Now I know someone will say they do it all with a couple of $10 tire irons and a two skateboard bearings. More power to them. But for an easy, quality job, it takes some cash. I got tired of adding $80 to the cost of tires each time so I am assembling the equipment. Cost effective? That I'm not so sure of.

jconway607 said:

Just to be clear, I agree with getting the equipment and doing tire changes yourself. But there is more to it than just the Harbor Freight wheel changer, and the motorcycle attachment, together about $100. You also need a special bar, either the No-Mar or Mojo, which is another $100 or so. Also needed are the special nylon inserts for the HF motorcycle wheel holder, which are around $30. If you want to balance the wheels yourself, the Marc Parnes set-up is, I think, around $120 for everything. So the investment is about $350. Now I know someone will say they do it all with a couple of $10 tire irons and a two skateboard bearings. More power to them. But for an easy, quality job, it takes some cash. I got tired of adding $80 to the cost of tires each time so I am assembling the equipment. Cost effective? That I'm not so sure of.

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Fair enough. I did buy my gear quite a while ago (remember when the CDN dollar hit $1.05 US?) so I am not up on the current costs. As well, I generally have at least 3 motorcycles in my garage at any given time so my investment has more than paid for itself. There is also the time required to go to a bike shop and wait.......and wait.......etc vs just doing it myself.
Keep in mind this is a "manual" set up, it does take some energy (sweat gives way to technique given sufficient practice).
I feel there are many suitable choices of wheel balance gear at 1/2 of your estimate. Certainly not industrial standard but more than adequate for the home wrench.
I always do my own work. I just cannot give someone money to do a job that I am capable of doing myself. Must be the way I was raised.
Cheers, Flhfxd.