Advice needed for Service quote £800 !!

[newperson1]

Dear all (newbie here acting on my father’s behalf - I drive a bm)

Just wanted to enquire about servicing costs and wondering if anyone could clarify the following for me.

My dad has booked his 320CLK 54reg for a service at Birmingham MB and have been quoted £800 for the service!

I have phoned them up and the servie dept has quoted the following:
1. Service A (standard oil + filter) = £240
2. Brake fluid change = £56
3. Spark plug change (x12) = £272 !! [1 half hours labour apparently!]
4. Aircleaner = £75 [what is the air cleaner??]
5. Fuel Filter = £132

Obviously I am not clued up the MB service schedule but according to the MB computer - the car is due a service A with additional maintenance. I would be grateful if someone could explain the schedule i.e. bmw goes inspection 1 - oil service - inspection 2 (big one) - oil service - inspection 1 etc. How can this be the big one if it's still a service A?


I can understand the brake fluid price but £272 to change the sparks and 1 and half hour job - I can't get my head round this. Aren't sparks changed in the normal service anyhow?

Also what is the air cleaner? and does the fuel filter cost this much to change?

Any advice much appreciated and I thought BMW prices were expensive!

Many thanks in anticipation

 

[Alex M Grieve]

I bought my wife a "pre-owned" 190 back in 1991. Soon after purchase it required a 36,000 service (the big one).

When I collected the car I was presented with a bill for £626 and I burst out laughing. This was clearly not a reaction the service department experienced on a regular basis, if at all. They asked why I was laughing.

I explained that the cost of their expertise was precisely 26 times the cost of buying and insuring my first car (1965)! I have not had routine work done at a franchised dealer since.

 

[simon_wall69]

Find an independent or ask for a discount, there are many other threads about servicing.

 

[coxyhog]

Spark plugs on modern sophisticated cars are not that easy to change.

 

[Rory]

I would be grateful if someone could explain the schedule i.e. bmw goes inspection 1 - oil service - inspection 2 (big one) - oil service - inspection 1 etc. How can this be the big one if it's still a service A?

It's all explained in the sevice book, although it isn't easy to follow.

The services alternate A and B, but both are little more than oil changes - allegedly the inspection is a bit more thorough on the B service and they change the pollen filter.

In addition, there is a whole raft of work which is done on time and/or mileage basis - ie brake fluid every 2 yrs, spark plugs, air and fuel filters etc etc.

When you take the car in, the dealer puts the car's VIN number and mileage into a system which produces an ESS - Electronic Service Sheet - and this tells them what needs to be done to complete the service. The ESS also shows recalls and other service advisory work.

I can understand the brake fluid price but £272 to change the sparks and 1 and half hour job - I can't get my head round this. Aren't sparks changed in the normal service anyhow?

I have a diesel, so not sure about this, but I think there are 12 plugs and some are hard to get at. Maybe a petrolhead could advise further?

 

[star]

Dear all (newbie here acting on my father’s behalf - I drive a bm)

My dad has booked his 320CLK 54reg for a service at Birmingham MB and have been quoted £800 for the service!

I have phoned them up and the servie dept has quoted the following:
1. Service A (standard oil + filter) = £240
2. Brake fluid change = £56
3. Spark plug change (x12) = £272 !! [1 half hours labour apparently!]
4. Aircleaner = £75 [what is the air cleaner??]
5. Fuel Filter = £132


Many thanks in anticipation

We see this all the time, what do they do for the "A" service, suck the oil out and level check?? £75 to change an air filter says it all. No wonder independants are busy. and no mention of any brake work, that will usually follow during the day.

 

[jibcl500]

the plugs are £100 just about and the rest labour, swapping the plugs is time consuming on the V6, fuel filter seems a little expensive as does the air filter.

jib

 

[jberks]

The very first thing is to remind them that the car is over 3 years old and most dealers now offer substantial discounts for 54 reg and earlier. I was immediately offered the best part of 30% off.
The second thing is that you can negotiate with dealers. We got a substantial discount over the 30% just by haggling and threatening that we'd go to the indie. Times are hard for dealers so there are deals to be had.

If your dad insists on main dealer history (no real reason why he should these days aside from Mobilio renewal but many do) then he should know that the only part of that list that is mandatory is the A service (my dealer quotes around £160 for this with the 3 year old discount). The rest is optional and refusal doesn't affect Mobilio or the service history - he still gets the all important stamp. So, there is no harm is having the A done at the dealer, then taking it to an indie to do the rest.

The plugs - yes there are 12 and yes they are around £100 worth. They aren't the easiest of things to change but as a fairly amateur DIYer I did the ones on my 240 myself. (The 240 engine block is basically identical to the 320). Took me 2 hours and scraped knuckles but saved me £150 too.
Plugs used to be changed at 60k though they seem to have moved it to 4 years now. That said, when I asked my indie about it at 60k he said that if it was running OK, leave well alone. He had cars with 90k on the original plugs and no issues. I changed them at 70k/6 years and they were still performing well even then (misfire turned out to be a lead) so he can probably ignore this one altogether if he chose - with no ill effect.