A. When you call up a shop with specific tasks. They know you had it diagnosed someplace else and are totally shopping price. Furthermore - they are at a disadvantage becuase they don't know who made the diagnosis and what the root problems are.

B. There is a program called KSD. Its what the dealers use to look up labor operations. Its based on a measure of time called a FRU. The translation into labor hours varies a bit - as BMW's labor rates is on a sliding scale of difficulty. Rewiring an E65 pays more per hour than a shift knob replacement on an e34.

c. This is customer pay work. There is no standard. The dealer can quote what they want. They may know that its a 15 year old car and to pad the time becuase stuff is going to break. Maybe the guys in the shop aren't familiar with the older cars. Regardless - they can charge what they want.

d. Providing your own parts is another way that the dealer says - this is not worth our time to pursue. Did the guy by the right parts? are they going to break on us? If a part fails do we need to cover is under our warranty? Am I going to marry this job if it goes sideways?

e. The by the book rate has nothing to do with how long a tech can perform an operation. My buddy holds the record at a dealership. He billed 38 hours of labor in one day. He is good, is organized and has the real estate to perform he makes money. If the guys takes 10 hours to do a job that pays two - that is all he gets paid for. Its a simple system.

The press has no interest in this its just the way the business runs. A BMW dealer is out there to make money - and a DIY'er on a 15 year old car just doesn't spell money.

Hope this helps.

D.-