You see it all the time - forum members telling new BMW drivers that there are many ways to save money by doing your own work like oil changes, brake pad changes, etc. Part of the reason a lot of people are turned off by luxury brands is the associated high maintenance and repair costs, but that doesn't seem to scare away forum members as they know a lot of work arounds to save money and prevent problems
Forums allow knowledge to be spread to anyone who's willing to spend enough time doing research. Your average car driver would look into purchasing an E46 coupe and be impressed at awesome looking paint only to be slapped in the face with extensive subframe damage due to the widely known (in forums) subframe issues of the E46. Forum members could avoid a huge problem by simply getting a crack welded/reinforced while your average driver would pretty much be SOL
So how much better off are forum members than your average car driver who pays $200+ for an oil change at the stealership? Let's say you have a forum member/enthusiast and an average Joe who own an E46 coupe in the same exact condition (I'm using an E46 as an example because they're well out of warranty). I know it's pretty much impossible to have cars that old in the same exact condition, but hypothetically speaking to make things a little easier to answer. In 5 years, how much money do you think the forum member/enthusiast saved over the average Joe? In 5 years how much worse do you think the average Joe's E46 will be than the forum member/enthusiast's?
I understand there are many, many variables here and a concrete answer can't be given, but I'm curious to find out if anyone can try to answer this question as detailed as possible just to get an idea of the advantage us forum members have over the general public
Last edited by Aestheticus; 08-27-2014 at 06:31 PM.
in the negative, the enthusiast takes his savings on labor and spends 3x that on track days, summer tires and shiny parts
It is a hard question to put into a quantifiable answer. You could take the standard receipts from a dealer and subtract out the labor for a decent estimate.
There are a lot of variables. I saved ~$1400 over what the dealer would of charged me by doing my clutch myself. However I would not have been able to do it if I wasn't able to borrow someones nice 2 post lift and using tools that I bought. Also if I was working instead of doing my clutch, I am sure the 16 hours it took me and my friends to install far outweighed itself in value to what a dealer labor rate would have been.
Current fleet:
1999 BMW e36 M3
1999 BMW e36 328is with rotary valve engine head
1999 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight
1990 Jeep Comanche Eliminator
1962 Austin Healey Sprite
Before I was an enthusiast wheels were called rims, and it seemed silly to have more than one set of them.
The point is you find other things to spend your money on.
Not so much a signature as a cry for help.
Hold on, saw this in a cartoon once...think I can pull it off.
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