what happened to dealer hookups?

[Dave]

When I needed the spec sheet for the caroliner to verify my frame was good I called the dealer we bought this and several other BMWs from (Beverly Hills BMW) they had an attitude like I was asking for their personal bank account information. I finally got it from a bodyshop I had dealt with once in 1984 who could not have been nicer (Beverly Hills Body Shop)

Point here: people are either dicks or nice, depends on the person not how much money you send their way. For the record we will not be buying from any of the Beverly Hills family of dealers (Lexus, BMW, Rolls, etc)

I didn't go to boarding school,
my automobile is a piece of crap . . .

[Jarvis]

Keep in mind that the parts department at a BMW dealership is basically a separate business within the business. Management's salary usually depends upon how profitable the parts are - when sold to in-house customers/service dept., walk-in DIYers and local independent shops. If the guy that decides the prices is giving too many people breaks and the overall profit of the dept. goes down, well then so does his paycheck.

This all varies from dealership to dealership of course. A big dealership that moves a lot of parts can get away with selling parts relatively cheap. But don't expect a tiny parts department that relies on people needing parts ASAP to cut E30 owners a break on some little part that they normally wouldn't waste their time keeping in stock. If you're driving to a dealer to pick up a specific part, it's probably because you need it faster than most online companies can ship it out. The dealership parts guys know this and will try to get as much profit out of the sale as possible. If you're only coming in a couple times a year for <$100 parts they don't really stand to gain anything from cutting you a deal.

Basically, always order online unless you need something immediately. Besides just being cheaper 98% of the time anyways, I like to give people like Patrick at BMA my business because he's gone out of his way to provide our greedy little community a good deal.

[hamann318is]

I use a local BMW shop or BMA. I don't need to save money on car parts. That seems like very poor logic to me.

[Dave]

My dealership is kind of schizo. They gave me my code for a replacement key for the cabrio for free upon proof of ownership. But they want $$ for the radio code for my 4 door.

Some parts are priced fairly with CCA discount, others are kind of high. But, when I needed some dealer only items for the cabby - they were fair, and they shipped them to me for free - which was nice as they are about 20 miles from me.

I buy from BMA, FAP and FCP Groton because they are cheap and all of them have given good service. I bought from Flying Brick for a mod part, and service excelled there as well.

I'll pay a little more for service. If you are beating yourself up to save 20 on a 400 purchase, you ought not to be spending the money.

[hamann318is]

I'll pay a little more for service. If you are beating yourself up to save 20 on a 400 purchase, you ought not to be spending the money.

Exactly. Patrick at BMW as always been nice and on top of my orders, and it saves me a trip to the dealer (which I will be waiting the same amount of time for a part - they never carry E30 parts). If I need it ASAP, the shop can get it the next day for no extra cost.

[Digitalwave]

When Patrick saved me almost $200 on my tranny swap, all my business during that definately went to him. But when it came to buying a part like my Momo hub, Nopi had it $10 cheaper but I still bought it from Flying Brick just to support small business, as I am an entrepreneur myself.

[StereoInstaller1]

as I am an entrepreneur myself.

Hey TJ, Pimping does NOT count.

[Dave]

Hey TJ, Pimping does NOT count.

Pimpin' ain't easy, but its necessary . .
and TJ's chases bitches, like Tom chases Jerry . . .

[Dave]

Went to my dealer, picked up 10 IS lip clips (40 cents each) and all new plug/clips to hold my rocker/carpet trim pieces in place (24 cents each). Total with tax $7.33. Bavauto price on all these is .95 each, and I have 22 pieces, so it'd have been 22.00 plus shipping from them.