2002 BMW M3: A New Door Lock Motor and a Leaky Hose

Man, you guys got reamed by that dealer. The RETAIL LIST from BMW on those parts is $131 for the hose and $151 for the door actuator! The marked them up over 100% on top of the retail price which is alread a 20% markup or so!!! Both parts can be had online for 20% less than this too. Please post the name of the dealer. And the labor was crazy high too, especially for the hose. Glad I can work on my own M3, though nothing has gone wrong yet anyhow.

I can't remember if you post the cost of repairs during the LT stay when you do the final wrap-up. I hope you do because this one will be interesting to see.

The big question is whether taking this to the dealer is worth $1300 in resale value versus doing it yourself for $250 in parts. I'd say definitely no.

WOW! Are there any ind. BMW shops around the area?

A Santa Monica dealership perhaps? It seems to me that no matter the brand, they like to stick it to ya in Santa Monica. Fer realz, who was the dealer?
Anyway, for an indie BMW shop I can recommend Summit Automotive on Washington Blvd in Marina Del Rey.
p.s. they are claiming almost 4 hours labour charge to replace the hose? Why don't you take a look for yourself or give Summit a call and ask them how much to replace the hose...(310) 823-0569

I'm guessing the car went back to Long Beach BMW.
 
http://66.160.188.111/roadtests/1992
 
Ed, I think Brian would've wanted to rack up more JetBlue miles. You should've let him foot the bill. Would you still consider purchasing this car after its tour of duty is up? Just trade in the Aston Martin you got last year. j/k =Þ
 
http://66.160.188.111/roadtests/1878

Dude. I'm pretty sure most, if not all, BMW dealerships operate like that.
  
It's ridiculous--when I had my '87 325i serviced at the local dealership for the first (and last) time last summer, they charged me $100 to keep it overnight for evaluation (no repairs), and then slapped me in the face with a $1100 bill (0.o) to replace three gaskets (transmission seal, oil pan, and another...I forget). That's it. It was, like, $400 for parts (ABSURD) and $700 for labor (LUDICROUS).
  
Keep in mind, I paid $3k for the car last summer. Needless to say, I'm sticking to DIY for now.

This is why I'd prefer a Genesis over a 335i.

GT International on Colby (just south of Olympic) in West L.A.
 
Great guys, great work.

bmw jeff nailed it. I hope that the dealer kissed you and sent flowers the next morning. My 2004 X3 just returned from the dealer and the bill was $380 to perform an Inspection II, flush the brake fluid, and repair a wheel that had been curbed by my wife. I did provide my own Mobil 1, but that only added an additional $42, making the grand total just $424.
Here's another example; A few years ago I had put off changing a noisy idler pulley on my wife's 128K 1997 528i, and my procrastination was rewarded by the pulley bearing disintegrating and taking out both serpentine belts and the fan shroud. I decided to let my independent BMW tech handle the repairs. While he had the car we decided to replace the radiator, the water pump, and the remaining idler pulley as a precaution. My tech also found and replaced a bad tie rod and had the car aligned. The total repair cost?
$1161.
A good independent BMW shop would have replaced the hose and actuator for around $500, and an honest dealer might have charged $750. A BMW CCA discount would have saved another 10-20 percent in either case. And one more thing; if that leaky hose was on the low pressure side, I'd be willing to bet that the leak was due to a crimped-on clamp starting to loosen up. In most cases a 75 cent worm gear clamp fixes the problem.

This is why I tell people to stay away from BMW for the long haul. Although it isn't exclusive to BMW, pretty much all current German cars are expensive to maintain after the warranty expires.
 
It's sad, how incredulous and audacious the dealers are.

chrishs2000 Why would it matter where it was fixed?
 
if it was fixed right, I wouldn't even mention it when selling a car.
 
I still want to i know what motors bmw uses to unlock/lock the door.
 
My sunfire didn't come with power door locks, but a simple install kit, cost me 40 dollars shipped, included 2 actuators, and a control module.
 
And while the parts are probably cheap and more prone to break. I can almost 8 kits for just the price of your one motor, and that would include 16 acutators.

thank god that you did't have to replace a fuse. I can image the bill: $100 for the China's finest fuse and $400 for the labor.

BMW dealers definitely know their customers, don't they?
 
BTW, that photo is great. It's definitely better looking than the 1-series photo a few posts up. I want to like the new BMW style. I think the Z4 is gorgeous. But that 1-series just looks awkward somehow.

This is one of the reasons I decided to purchase a poor man's luxury brand (Infiniti) rather than more upscale brands like BMW or Mercedes.

"This is why I tell people to stay away from BMW for the long haul."
 
You obviously haven't owned one for the long haul.
 
I have a 2002 M5 with 165000 miles (bought it with 10000 on it) and it's been extremely inexpensive to maintain. The article has it right - once the car's out of warranty, just find a local, experienced independent to do the work and you'll save about 75% under what the Stealers charge. One of the best in California is in Escondido.
 
It is a myth that BMWs "cost a lot to maintain after the warranty expires." It all depends on who does your maintenance, and whether or not you take care of the car. In the entire time I've owned my M5, I've had about $2000 worth of "unplanned" service - a blown radiator hose, a valve under the engine that needed to be replaced, and a new driveshaft.
 
I've been so happy with the M5 that I just bought a 2006 M3 convertible, and I wouldn't trade either one for anything.

I put myself most of the way through college as a BMW tech and service advisor.
 
You guys got seriously screwed on parts and labor.

Remember that Edmunds now has a review feature where you can rate your dealership experiences for both sales and repair. Tell your friends about it! Here's the searched list of Santa Monica BMW dealers (HTML edited for length). -- Brent

You guys should try the Midas shop on 5th & Colorado for your out-of-warranty service. They do everything and their prices are very reasonable. They are good, honest people who operate it too. They'd have done this whole job for $600 bucks probably, depending on the price of the parts, which they get a lot cheaper from SM BMW, and don't mark them up too much. Give them a shot.
 
BTW, $400 labor for the door lock, maybe but it's a stretch, assuming their labor rate is less than $200!. $400 for PS Hose? No way, it's about a 1 hr job.

At cartester16- the E46 lock actuator is a 2 hour job, and that's if you're being careful not to rip the door liner during removal.
 
Even at $100-$120 an hour the labor shouldn't have been more than about $200-$250. $400 is inexcusable.
 
At opfreak- the actuator is actually both a motor and part of the security system. When you lock the car it disengages the opening handle from the lock assembly so you can't slim-jim the door. As the motor gets older it fails to push hard enough to re-engage the two assemblies. It's a common problem on both E36 and E46 three series, but it's much less common on fives and sevens.

I'm not clear on why you had them perform the service after they came back with the quote?
 
I would have said thanks and headed for my nearest independant for a 2nd opinion.

zxcasd, your E39 M5 experience mirrored mine with an E24 M6. It wasn't all that expensive to run either. In fact, I'm ditching the Mazdaspeed for either an E36 or E46 M3. The Mazda is OK, but between the FWD and unpredictable power delivery I'm just sick of it. That's what I get for wanting to try something "different".

None of this surprising. This is why I would stay away from a used European car. even though you save money by buying used you have to deal with the repair costs that are commensurate to the initial high cost of the car. For IL $1500 may not be a lot of money for for the average person that is a significant chunk of money.

"None of this surprising. This is why I would stay away from a used European car. even though you save money by buying used you have to deal with the repair costs that are commensurate to the initial high cost of the car."
  
Tha is true- If the owner is either lazy or an idiot. OTOH, it's not the case if you are a BMW CCA member who does a little research concerning which local dealers and independents shops offer quality service at reasonable prices. Of course, if you are willing to-horror of horrors!-get your hands dirty and do some of the minor maintenance and repairs yourself you'll save even more money. As I said on another CarSpace forum:
  
"I also see lots of folks on the BMW boards who lease one new Bimmer after another at $450-$600 per month because they don't want to risk paying those "expensive BMW maintenance and repair costs". The last time I checked my maintenance records the maintenance costs for my 113K mile 1995 3er were averaging $50/month while my wife's 62K mile 2004 X3 was averaging $90/month. Since I own both vehicles free and clear, can someone explain how paying an additional $300-$500 per month per car would save me money?
(I sure hope someone can; I need a rational justification to buy a new M3... ;)"

zxcasd - I'm curious what you base your assumption on (me not have owning one for the long haul) - enlighten me. It seems that most people in this blog have the same sentiment; BMW service is outrageous after the warranty. You and I might be savvy or lucky enough to find that perfect independant shop, but the majority of the population is not. My statements are based on the experiences of the majority - not the minority.
 
Regardless, like I have said, this is NOT exclusive to BMW. Mercedes and VW/Audi can be equally a pain to the wallet.

In my town there are two MB indie shops (and they do a roaring business), but I'd have to drive 90 miles (past 3 BMW dealerships!) to find one that knows its way around a BMW. I shudder at what it would take to find someone good enough to tackle a Jag.

so, the moral of the story is that its not a BMW cost of ownership issue, its a owner laziness issue. Just shop around until you find an "affordable" place that does BMW repairs. I assure you that a significant portion of luxury car owners take their cars to a dealer for repairs because they trust the dealers to do quality work. You will save with an independent shop but there is no getting around the fact that the parts are going to be high. Even when you have a European car under warranty you have to deal with shortage of parts and long lead times for parts. I think IL had this issue when they got the sunroof repaired on the C class.

OK, my BMW ownership experience only goes back to 1983. What evidence do you base your statements on? Tall tales from the Saturn service lounge, I'd bet.

Gotta love 3 BMWs in the long term fleet. The love affair continues...