Lets_Play_Two Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 There is a BMW certified mechanic much closer to us than the dealer. Is it possible to use him for service and maintain warranty or am I stuck with the dealer for 600 mile service on F650GS? Link to comment
Joe Frickin' Friday Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 You can't be compelled to have the dealer service the bike in order to maintain warranty status, unless the service is provided free of charge. You can service it yourself, and as long as the work is done competently the warranty will not be affected; just keep all your receipts. Link to comment
DavidEBSmith Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 Yes, but I would take the bike to the dealer for the 600 mile service. Every incident I can think of in which BMWNA made a fuss about non-dealer service, it involved the initial 600 mile service. Link to comment
EffBee Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 You can't be compelled to have the dealer service the bike in order to maintain warranty status, unless the service is provided free of charge. You can service it yourself, and as long as the work is done competently the warranty will not be affected; just keep all your receipts. True. However, if you need to make a warranty claim, those MUST be made through an authorized dealer. An independent, even if a Certified BMW Mechanic, has no standing and no working relationship with BMW NA. Link to comment
BrianT Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 You can't be compelled to have the dealer service the bike in order to maintain warranty status, unless the service is provided free of charge. You can service it yourself, and as long as the work is done competently the warranty will not be affected; just keep all your receipts. Mitch, EB and Fernando are all right. There's another reason to maintain those receipts and possibly keep a log book of the service you've done. The problem I ran into was a BMW dealer that tried to screw me on a trade in because I did my own service. It didn't matter that I had receipts to document my completing the services. They tried to tell me that they could not resell the bike if it hadn't been serviced by a "certified" BMW mechanic and that they would have to reduce the already low trade in amount they offered me by an additional $1,000 so they could have their "certified" mechanic do a complete service on the bike. I don't know of any service at 27k miles that costs $1,000. Needless to say, my business went elsewhere as this was not a BMWNA policy but only a policy of that specific dealership or maybe that specific salesperson trying to pad their sales. Link to comment
E30TECH Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 You can't be compelled to have the dealer service the bike in order to maintain warranty status, unless the service is provided free of charge. You can service it yourself, and as long as the work is done competently the warranty will not be affected; just keep all your receipts. Mitch, EB and Fernando are all right. There's another reason to maintain those receipts and possibly keep a log book of the service you've done. The problem I ran into was a BMW dealer that tried to screw me on a trade in because I did my own service. It didn't matter that I had receipts to document my completing the services. They tried to tell me that they could not resell the bike if it hadn't been serviced by a "certified" BMW mechanic and that they would have to reduce the already low trade in amount they offered me by an additional $1,000 so they could have their "certified" mechanic do a complete service on the bike. I don't know of any service at 27k miles that costs $1,000. Needless to say, my business went elsewhere as this was not a BMWNA policy but only a policy of that specific dealership or maybe that specific salesperson trying to pad their sales. they would have to reduce the already low trade in amount they offered me by an additional $1,000 so they could have their "certified" mechanic do a complete service on the bike. WTF, they give you $1K less, AND charge the next buyer the presale/inspection fee? They are supposed to check the bike out before resale anyway. A case of double dipping BMW does the same BS with their cars too.... Link to comment
Paul Mihalka Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 Just to be the devil's advocate, a bike with the owner's manual full with the dealer service stampings and notes on brake fluid flushings etc. sells easier for more money than the same bike that was owner maintained with no formal official records. Link to comment
E30TECH Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 Just to be the devil's advocate, a bike with the owner's manual full with the dealer service stampings and notes on brake fluid flushings etc. sells easier for more money than the same bike that was owner maintained with no formal official records. No doubt there as I would pay a premium for that as well. The PO of my bike had its 600 and 6K done at a BMW dealership. However, I have sold several BMWs to the first 'looker' that was interested. All of them sold for what I asked. All I had were my excel file, receipts, and photos of the work being done "This picture is of me chaning the oil, this one is of me changing the fuel filter. Oh and this one, well I was rotating the tires...." Well not that bad, but all the 'real' work was documented Link to comment
Paul Mihalka Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 Yes, that works on a person to person, seller to buyer deal. Specially if the seller is obviously a enthusiast and may be showing a super neat home workshop garage. It is different if the bike was a trade-in and all the used bike sales guy/gal has to show is a bunch of hand written papers. Link to comment
tallman Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 Gotta agree with Paul. While we all advocate self maintenance, the first question asked by most prospective buyers of pre-owned beemers is, "Can I see the maintenance record?" Which translates into, show me the dealer stamps. Two equal used bikes. One with a dealer stamped book. One without that, but history of owner performed maintenance. Almost invariably, bike A will sell for more money. YMMV. Link to comment
E30TECH Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 It is different if the bike was a trade-in and all the used bike sales guy/gal has to show is a bunch of hand written papers. Hmmmm....Good point. Link to comment
BrianT Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 It is different if the bike was a trade-in and all the used bike sales guy/gal has to show is a bunch of hand written papers. Hmmmm....Good point. Funny then why didn't the other two BMW dealerships in the same area that I've used try to use the same tactic? I can see your point that there's more value in a bike with a service history at the dealer, versus the home mechanic. But if it is that important, wouldn't that already be factored in to the original quote they gave me for a trade in, versus trying to grab more dollars from me later when I'm part way thru the sale process hoping I wont back out? The salesperson I dealt with never once said it was because the value of the bike was less with me doing my own service and specifically said the $1k reduction was to cover their cost of having their "certified" mechanic service the bike. Your point however, is definitly another thing for Bill to consider when deciding on whether or not to use the dealer mechanic if resale value is important to him. Link to comment
Lets_Play_Two Posted March 2, 2007 Author Share Posted March 2, 2007 Your point however, is definitly another thing for Bill to consider when deciding on whether or not to use the dealer mechanic if resale value is important to him. She is already talking about getting a bigger bike for the road and using the 650GS off-road!! Link to comment
BrianT Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 She is already talking about getting a bigger bike for the road and using the 650GS off-road!! Sounds like a good woman Link to comment
bobbybob Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 Gotta agree with Paul. While we all advocate self maintenance, the first question asked by most prospective buyers of pre-owned beemers is, "Can I see the maintenance record?" Which translates into, show me the dealer stamps. Two equal used bikes. One with a dealer stamped book. One without that, but history of owner performed maintenance. Almost invariably, bike A will sell for more money. YMMV. If the bike in question is still under the factory warranty, I'll bet the dealer you're trading it to will take it right in, no questions asked, because when he re-sells it he doesn't worry about his OWN warranty to the buyer....that's still the factory's problem. I would think the same would apply to selling to an indvidual. I would not be concerned if the bike I was buying still had a year left on factory waranty. Gives you a year to discover any anomalies. Link to comment
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