vike987
07-27-2006, 08:26 PM
Might save you some money to just avoid Daniel BMW.
My wife was visiting friends in Bethleham when the diff bolt broke on my 97 M3. After she explained what was happening over the phone I told her this had happened before and that the rear would have to be lowered a couple of inches from its mount and the bolt tapped.After finding there was a dealer within 20 miles I told her to have the car towed there.Sure you know youre going to pay a premium price but two hours from home and not knowing any independent shops in the area , what can you do?.
Like I said, this has happened before and it cost me $110(1.5 hours labor) to have fixed at York Automotive in Mt. Airy , MD (great guy,great BMW racer and mechanic).So I figure it will be more at a dealer with higher labor rates and costs. In my mind I'm thinking $250-$300. They call to let me know the car is ready on Monday after being towed in Thurs. evening(wife rented a car and came home swearing to never drive M3 again, suits me fine :) . Final bill is $740. $1.40 in parts and $738 in labor. Book pays 3 hours to pull rear out of car completely( probably didnt have to do this, but maybe they did, fine). That leaves about 5 hours billed for tapping a single bolt. After questioning this to Ethan, my service rep., he explained the bolt was made of a very hard steel and very tough to drill. I bitch and moan for awhile and Ethan says youre wife said to fix the car and thats what we did, theres no book time to follow on tapping a broken bolt so its a time and costs thing and our mechanic spent that much time. Not a thing I can do about it but pay the bill and post my story and hope someone else makes a better choice than Daniel BMW.
Sorry for the long rant.
My wife was visiting friends in Bethleham when the diff bolt broke on my 97 M3. After she explained what was happening over the phone I told her this had happened before and that the rear would have to be lowered a couple of inches from its mount and the bolt tapped.After finding there was a dealer within 20 miles I told her to have the car towed there.Sure you know youre going to pay a premium price but two hours from home and not knowing any independent shops in the area , what can you do?.
Like I said, this has happened before and it cost me $110(1.5 hours labor) to have fixed at York Automotive in Mt. Airy , MD (great guy,great BMW racer and mechanic).So I figure it will be more at a dealer with higher labor rates and costs. In my mind I'm thinking $250-$300. They call to let me know the car is ready on Monday after being towed in Thurs. evening(wife rented a car and came home swearing to never drive M3 again, suits me fine :) . Final bill is $740. $1.40 in parts and $738 in labor. Book pays 3 hours to pull rear out of car completely( probably didnt have to do this, but maybe they did, fine). That leaves about 5 hours billed for tapping a single bolt. After questioning this to Ethan, my service rep., he explained the bolt was made of a very hard steel and very tough to drill. I bitch and moan for awhile and Ethan says youre wife said to fix the car and thats what we did, theres no book time to follow on tapping a broken bolt so its a time and costs thing and our mechanic spent that much time. Not a thing I can do about it but pay the bill and post my story and hope someone else makes a better choice than Daniel BMW.
Sorry for the long rant.