Book rates: the saga continues

[RobPatt]

Quote:
"1. The service rep at BMW claims that all dealers charge identical prices for the same job.

2. My research condraticted her statement, suggesting some sort of wrongdoing or incompetence on her part."

You're right at #2 and thanks for the research. You and I know more about our E34s than the girl who gave you the quote. The lesson learned for me is do it yourself and spend the money saved on labor for more parts. Just fact of life if you want to run a nice E34 on a reasonable budget. Your research supports this. We're in to drive a nice car for minimal unnecessary expense, they're out to maximize profits on the lastest models in all their glory and complexity. For 17 max year old cars now, I do think our problems are pretty simple and there's no way I would pay maint costs on a new bimmer... (thus again, we appreciate what we have in the E34).
Cheers,
Rob.

[Gayle]

I get it Jay. You were told "They charge what's in the book, regardless of other factors." There should not be any variance if there is one book and no other factors are involved. And no you are not stupid, just pissed. And I appreciate your research. And I appreciate Bill R.'s report of his sisters construction.

[Jon K]

I get it Jay. You were told "They charge what's in the book, regardless of other factors." There should not be any variance if there is one book and no other factors are involved. And no you are not stupid, just pissed. And I appreciate your research. And I appreciate Bill R.'s report of his sisters construction.

There's a huge difference between calling dealerships and getting a quote versus driving the car through the service department and getting an RO written. Many dealers (ous, scecifically), differs customers by doing high phone quotes. the reason? Because half the cars that come in for rotors/pads/tires need one or more of those items in addition, and if the person is a huge stickler on the inital cost, there is a good chance they're not going to be open to additional costs. This is not to say I agree with dealer prices, but it's not accurate to call, you should go drive your car into 5 dealerships and get quotes that way - if you are really that interested.