BMW vs MB

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Nik_Endeavour

Active Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2007
Messages
591
Location
Bristol
Car
Mercedes-less at the moment
Having decided to complete the German treble after owning a MB and an AUDI I purchased an e65 7 Series BMW :ban:.

I wanted to ask the people in the friendly MBClub why oh why parts are so expensive for parts compared to MB? Surely they are both premium German ubercruisers but the different prices for parts are astonishing.

Being a bit of an anorak and wanting to have a tip top car I set about replacing some of the missing bits that inevitably happen on older cars:

i.e Sticker for tyre pressure

- BMW £10.10
- MB £0.24

i.e Coolant Sticker

- BMW £10.21
- MB £1.23

Battery cover for car phone (a 2 inch by half inch plastic)

- BMW £14.21

Rear brake pads

- BMW £87 plus vat
- MB £17 plus vat

Am I missing something here? Not moaning and understand dealerships are expensive but experiences with MB, Audi (through VW TAP) and Lexus have been quite pleasant in prices, slightly more than ECP or GSF but still reasonable whereas BMW seem like charging extortionate prices.
 
BMW parts are expensive ! I realised this coming the other way from BMW to Mercedes
 
BMW 320i brand new car, needed standart low beam bulb replacing, £57!!!!!! @ dealership :fail
 
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BMW parts are expensive ! I realised this coming the other way from BMW to Mercedes

And you're saying that as a CL63 owner! :D
 
But yet I always found BMW service bills lower cost than MB

Me too, shows with MB it's the dealers that take the piss not the company, whereas with BM it's the dealers that are more reasonable.
 
One of our service guys earn around £12 an hour, yet the company charges £75 an hour for his service.

I'm getting confused with all these BM and MB references. :D
 
One of our service guys earn around £12 an hour, yet the company charges £75 an hour for his service.

I'm getting confused with all these BM and MB references. :D

The £75 has to cover other overheads too besides his time.

Building
Power
VAT
NI
Pension
etc etc

(profit)
 
Plus you have to pay for booking it in, scheduling the job, time for the fitter to go to the stores and get the part, find the car, get it into the workshop if it is raining, test after fitting (headlamp aim), re-parking the vehicle, getting the job card signed off, and booking out.
Then if the bulb were to fail, you wouldn't expect to pay for fitting another.

Not saying it is good value, but if you have to pay someone to fit a bulb at a franchised garage, it's going to cost.
 
For BMW parts try Cotswold BMW. The will offer discounts and free postage. I use the when I need parts for my E36 M3.
 
And you're saying that as a CL63 owner! :D

Yes, but to put into context my last two Bmws where both m5's which all came with m-tax, quite similar to amg-tax
 

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