Topic: BMW Dealership Service...

[rockford]

i have had my 2004 330ci for just over a year now and i have a great mechanic here in Sudbury...

however, i am thinking about taking it to a dealer in the toronto area for a bumper to bumper servicing....

for those of you have experienced BMW servicing, which dealership do you recommend and why??

thanks for your opinions....

[tpl]

I had good luck with Town and Country. The service manager Derek, there is ( was... he may have retired)  very experienced... used to service Jaguars and SAABs at Ashley motors years ago.

However I would go to Autotrend. The owner has been servicing BMWs since the days of Beach Auto in the 70's.     http://www.autotrend.net/

[Ex-airbalancer]

Sometimes the dealerships have a special price  inspection for $49 besides that I would keep going to the indy guy

[TopGun]

Well, you know what people say about opinions...and everyone having one!   

I would NOT recommend Budds in Oakville...although the service we've experienced has been from a Mini perspective.

They may be competent technically...but I've had much better experiences from Saturn (oddly a Budds company) and Mazda.

[von_khan]

Town and Country for the win.

[APSCORADIALES]

BMW Durham (in Whitby - next to the BMW HQ) has the best dealer service in the GTA.
Whatever you do, don't take it to Downtown BMW; they're awful. Unless you have the most expensive 7 Series (and fully loaded too), you will be treated like a pile of shiet.

[Ex-airbalancer]

BMW Durham (in Whitby - next to the BMW HQ) has the best dealer service in the GTA.
Whatever you do, don't take it to Downtown BMW; they're awful. Unless you have the most expensive 7 Series (and fully loaded too), you will be treated like a pile of shiet.

Really, they want me to spend $3000.00 to replace the liner in my  top, all it need was $100 repair
By the way Parkview & Durham are owned by the same person

[APSCORADIALES]

BMW Durham (in Whitby - next to the BMW HQ) has the best dealer service in the GTA.
Whatever you do, don't take it to Downtown BMW; they're awful. Unless you have the most expensive 7 Series (and fully loaded too), you will be treated like a pile of shiet.

Really, they want me to spend $3000.00 to replace the liner in my  top, all it need was $100 repair
By the way Parkview & Durham are owned by the same person

Could be.
I don't talk to the owners; I speak to service people.
I can tell you you I waited weeks for a new M3 tranny (under warranty) from Downtown BMW. Finally blew up at the service advisor, called the Whitby dealer, and they got a brand new tranny for me in two days...no checking with the "head mechanic" neccessary.
That's what I call no BS service.

[rockford]

hmmm..... driving from sudbury to whitby is still worth it if i am going to get superior service....

thanks people...

[von_khan]

Let us know how it goes. 

[Ex-airbalancer]

I would be more inclined to go to RPM , http://www.rmpmotors.com/1024x768/index.htm
Or Autobahn East
Another happy customer
Thanks..

I've actually had both cars to Mark now for some work. I dropped by the shop to check it out and chatted with Mark for a bit before I setup the appointments. He knows his stuff! So far I've been really happy with his work and his prices. Its an added bonus that he is so close to home!

The wife's car needed the moon roof fixed as well. The dealer quoted $950+tax.. Mark fixed it for a little over $200..

Joe

[ArticSteve]

however, i am thinking about taking it to a dealer in the toronto area for a bumper to bumper servicing....

for those of you have experienced BMW servicing, which dealership do you recommend and why??

You are seriously out of your mind    ANY Bimmer dealer is going to throw everything they can into that car.

As TPL says, go to AutoTrend.  The owner is loath to sell anything that is not required.  Should phone 3 weeks prior to arrival.

[APSCORADIALES]

however, i am thinking about taking it to a dealer in the toronto area for a bumper to bumper servicing....

for those of you have experienced BMW servicing, which dealership do you recommend and why??

You are seriously out of your mind    ANY Bimmer dealer is going to throw everything they can into that car.

As TPL says, go to AutoTrend.  The owner is loath to sell anything that is not required.  Should phone 3 weeks prior to arrival.

I agree with you about AutoTrend; I take my M3 there.
But, his car may still be under warranty; so as long as it is, let them fix any problems at their own cost.

[Bad Mechancial Warranty]

I live in Whitby and strongly do not recommend the Whitby Dealership.  Originally this dealership was a corporate store called the BMW Experience Center.  It was than sold and became Whitby Durham.  It is now being moved to Ajax this November.  They are strictly 8:00am to 5:00pm service.  They are not open Saturdays, and they are not open late any night of the week.  This has been a major issue for those living in Whitby who commuate.  Of course this dealership is open on Saturdays to sell cars, but don't expect service on a Saturday or after hours.  This dealership draws service customers from a very large Geographic area as many customers traveling from miles away for service due to a lack of dealers in rural areas.  They are always short of mechanics and appointments are hard to schedule and work never seems to get done in the alloted appointment or they never have the right parts in stock.  I am always being told that really common parts are not in stock.  Have had some very poor diagnostics on my car here, and some very questionable service.  For instance it took $2000 of service and parts and 9 months before they realized my vibration was comming from a bent rim.  In the past 6 months have spent $8500 of parts and service on my car at this dealership.  Some of that was under warranty so thats why I kept going there.  Now that my warranty is up, I wouldn't let them touch my car.  My advice to anyone wanting to buy a BMW or wanting to service a BMW is this:  Buy the longest extended warranty you can, sell it as soon as the warranty is up or find a local garage.  Another criticsm I have of BMW Durham is that they have far to many service advisors and far too few good mechanics.  The last time I had my car in for service I counted at least 1 service advisor walking around aimlessly for every 1 service bay.  Before becomming a BMW customer I had always owned Honda or Acura products.  Have been completely underwhelmed with my 325xi and would never buy another one of their products.  Have been underwhelmed with performance, service, warranty, parts, reliability, functionality, and dealership.

[tpl]

if you are in or near Whitby then why not just zoom upto Pickering  and along the 407 to Town and Country.  If Derrick/Derek is still the service manager and has not yet retired  he is ok. He has been doing service since the days of Ashley Motors ( British-Leyland (Triumph),Jaguar,Saab)


As for Autotrend, they diagnosed a "noise" in my car without charge and told me exactly what to say to the dealer ( I was under warranty)  to get the right fix done right first time. I was going there for oil changes between "official" changes.  I might well have kept the BMW longer had I still lived close to Autotrend.

[DriverJeff]

I guess experiences vary.  I always had really good service at Budds' BMW in Oakville, but still, the best BMW dealership I dealt with was the one I purchased my car at:  B-K BMW (now BMW Waterloo).

Anyone with experiences at BMW Toronto.  Is it still a corporate-owned store?  Might be better service there if so. 

[Bad Mechancial Warranty]

Thanks TPL for the tip.  If my car was under warranty I would definately give them a try.  Currently my extended warranty to 160,000 km is over.  After warranty it is simply a matter of economics.  Regardless of which BMW dealership you choose I think you will find a heavy amount of parts being changed as opposed to good old fashioned mechanics.  A good mechanic doesn't simply change parts, because it is easier to fix or diagnose.  My next car will probably be a Toyata Prius hybrid.  One thing that attacted me to Toyata is their extended warranty to 200,000 km.  I did not like my Coverage One third party warranty I bought with my BMW.  My BMW was purchased new.  The last time I needed a warranty repair it took Coverage One 7 days to send an adjuster to BMW to get approval.  BMW has one of the worst warranties in the industry.  It speaks volumes that they use a third party to insure their extended warranties.  Honda, Acura, Toyato, have their own warranties.  I felt sorry for Coverage One as I paid $3000 for the warranty and they paid out around $9000 of repairs on my 2005 325XI.  My car was well maintained and I even had all the transmission/differential fluids changed as a preventative measure/oil was changed every 15-20k as opposed to the recommend 25K.  In my opinion these cars are designed to be driven 20,000 km per year for 4 years, and than traded.  I do not recommend BMW's for people who do heavy commuting.  Have had very fair and honest service from a garage called Nellos in woodbridge.  I always take my cars to Nello's when they are out of warranty.  BMW's are very popular in Vaughan and their are many independent garages in this area.

[ArticSteve]

Between 120k-150k all hell breaks loose with BMWs.   So if you buy a used Bimmer at 80k you've got on average 40K of peace left before .... and it's not getting any better. 

[Ex-airbalancer]

Try AutoBahn East for BMW work
Parkview and Durham BMW have the same owner

[kago]

Stick with your mechanic in Sudbury.  I would not bring it to a GTA dealer.
Dealers are only good for checking codes and changing parts.

Although Budd's Oakville did take back my friends new Mini after it spent more time in the shop than on the road