My first E30 I brought to an independent mostly BMW shop to solve a wiring nightmare. I bought it as an I motor into an eta swap project that was abandoned 2 owners ago. I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't run so I talked to the owner of the local shop and he said yeah I will fix it. Well probably 7 weeks and multiple "yeah I'll get to it" conversations later I had the car towed back home. I finally figured out the harness had several burned ground wires. I also realized the shop owner didnt really want to deal with the problem. Once I soldered in some repair wires the car ran strong. I have never brought a BMW to a shop since (except for exhaust welding). It's a good feeling learning and being able to work on these cars yourself not to mention a hell of a lot cheaper.
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Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. -Mark Twain -
Those prices are too high. If you can find a local shop that is E30 friendly, they can do those tasks for much less. I'm not sure where La Quinta is, but there's lots of shops with customers active on this forum who will charge more reasonable fees. Try posting a "what E30-friendly mechanic is near me?" thread in the California sub-forum. BTW I have no problem farming out work to a pro mechanic, but these guys like working on E30's, know everything you could want done by heart, and don't charge flat-rate (book) labor units.
Also, your guy charges $99 per hour shop rate. Some mechs charge as little as $65 for vintage BMW's that they enjoy working on."If the sky were to fall tomorrow, the tall would die first."
-Dr. Paul Forrester
Do I LOOK like I need a psychological evaluation???Comment
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thanks funcrew. la quinta is a little east of Palm Springs. no idea if there is a better shop out here as I am pretty new around here. working a trade with this shop helps a ton so we will see if that "makes up" for the higher prices. i read a lot of reviews and this place took the cake for european service locallyComment
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they aren't high pricesOriginally posted by bendjeff View Post
a shop is going to use OEM quality parts, not ebay crap and they have to pay someone to do the work. $100 bucks an hour is standard shop rate. you may find someone to do it for half that but then again you may find someone who botches the job and then you'll have no recourse when your engine quits working.
you can get parts from wherever you want to get them from and put them on yourself or you can pay someone to do the work and guarantee the job is done correctly--but that also means you have to pay dealer prices for the parts because that's what they're doing. shops don't get that much shaved from the parts they purchase.
call the local dealer parts desk and ask them how much it'd be for those parts and you'll see that they aren't quoting you crazy prices. and if you really want to get those prices down you could ask the tech if he'd be willing to let you source the parts from a *reputable* shop. like I said, they don't make much off the parts so it's not usually a problem but what is a problem is they won't likely want to warranty the work on parts when they can't vouch for the quality.Das ist nicht nur nicht richtig, es ist nicht einmal falsch!Comment
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On point for where you are shopping. Try checking out a shop in Cathedral City, or even the dealer on 111. Being as the desert is my hometown, I am not at all surprised at those numbers. And for those saying, you can find X for less online, a shop doesn't work that way, they call their supplier, or check WorldPac and then go about placing their own markup on the parts. Just don't try to save money by going to Indio or Mecca or something.Comment
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