S2KRAY

You got that right. I take my bimmers the to the dealer for the first 4 years, 50K since service and loaner are free. After that I have a friend who specializes in German cars and his prices are lower than the dealer and he is only a few miles away.

hecash

FWIW
For special work I take my S2000 to a shop whose clientele are high-end to exotic. In the course of conversation one day the question arose as to what brand of car that they most like to work on the most. To my surprise, Mercedes-Benz won out unanimously because they were the easiest to work on for most projects.

boltonblue

Harry this is only true if you know the secret handshake to get into the club.
You ABSOLUTELY must have the full shop manual and drawings.
They love doing clever things. There is always a release for something somewhere.
example: on my GL I had to pull the interior door panel to get to the wiring.
there was a bolt in the upper middle section I just couldn't get to.
BUUuuuut, if you pushed in the door lock and unlock buttons at the same time it exposed a little divider piece that when pulled released the door control assembly exposing the hidden bolt.
very slick but without that secret guidance you wouldn't find it in a million jillion years.
RULE 2. never pull a door panel without a handful of replacement tabs which hold the door panel on.

S2KRAY

Just like the secret compartment on the S2000 right.

cosmomiller

BMW is making it very difficult to work on the cars outside of the dealer, even changing the oil or other fluids. It makes my idea of purchasing one very difficult to the point of "I will pass".

S2KRAY

My garage can do everything BMW can do at a lower price. Also, he can service Porsche, Mercedes and Audi. He specializes in German cars but can work on most anything. He can even install BMW authorized performance parts from Dinan which do not effect the original 4 year warranty. I am getting a Dinan CAI and exhaust system installed when I get back from Florida.