[tony20009]

I would hope this would be come a "sticky" as I'm sure many owners of E9x cars are out, of or about to be out of, the free maintenance period and would like to find qualified shops that can aptly handle the routine maintenance tasks on our cars. So.....the questions...

• Where do you take your car to have it serviced and what service do permit them to perform on your car?

• Where have you taken your car and, because of the poor quality of their work, you would not take it there again?
  
  If you are going to cite a business as performing sub-par work, you must provide specific details and facts, not your opinion. Specific details will allow others to make their own decision about the merit of your assertion and its applicability to their situation.

Note:
The second question above is not about the customer service aspect of your experience with a shop. The reasons for that are several:

• If the price is right, and the work is performed well, many folks will endure lame customer service.
• You may have caught someone on a "bad day."
• You may have been having a "bad day."
• You maybe/ have been a pain in the ass and/or a jerk, and the so-called "lame" customer service may have had to do with you, not the service provider or the shop.

Myself:
I take my cars to Passport BMW, mostly because the independent mechanic to whom I used to give my business retired and went out of business and I haven't found anyone else.

All the best.

Edit:
If you don't like the work performed at one of our local BMW dealers, please refrain from mentioning that. There's nothing to be gained by ragging on a BMW store's work, personnel or policies. They have all the tools, resources, training programs, etc. needed to perform first rate work. Your/our ragging on them is pointless to this thread and will be nothing more than "noise" seeing as the point of this thread is to help people find places other than BMW stores that are capable of servicing our cars.

[135Pats]

When my E90 was under warranty I took it to Carlos at Rockville/VOB, I didn't modify the car at all so that was straightforward. Recently sold the car so that's that.

For the E8x I take it to Adam, and Adam only (Clem on the forums). There's nothing I wouldn't trust him to do with my car, bottom line.

[PSUSMU]

I took my E90 to BMW of Arlington/Alexandria when I first moved here for routine maintenance under warranty. No issues.
I've since been going to BMW of Fairfax, because I live a mile away and they can shuttle me to the metro. They are hit or miss. Sometimes they quote me $ for maintenance items even though I have extended maintenance. They are not cheap of course, but quick, reliable, and accommodating. They just replaced my brakes (rotors/pads) under extended maintenance, which was nice.
I do anything I can, repair-wise, myself. 2009 328i xDrive sitting at 76k miles.

[Eugeinus]

I've been taking my car to BMW Alexandria for several years. Recently out of warranty, but still have extended maintenance. No issue, work always performed well, and I have a slightly modified car.

Ditto on Clem for any work that would otherwise cost an arm and leg at the dealership. Part of the reason I opted not to pay $3K+ for extended warranty - so many helpful members in the area.

[Eat.Sleep.Race]

Used to love taking my BMW's to Rich at BMW fairfax, he was a very good skilled mechanic but now is the shop foreman and doesn't work on the cars unless its something one of the techs under him can't solve. I am looking to find a new tech there when i need service done and will post my thoughts.

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by 135Pats

...
For the E8x I take it to Adam, and Adam only (Clem on the forums). There's nothing I wouldn't trust him to do with my car, bottom line.

Originally Posted by Eugeinus

...
Ditto on Clem for any work that would otherwise cost an arm and leg at the dealership. Part of the reason I opted not to pay $3K+ for extended warranty - so many helpful members in the area.

TY for mentioning Clem. I'll mention him to others, as well as contact him myself when I'm ready, on the basis of seeing you both say positive things.

All the best.

[bimmer32five]

I take my car to either Clem or Dan Hong at BMW of Silver Spring, depending on the nature of work. Warranty work def Dan for obvious reasons, as well as tires, alignments.

[PSUSMU]

Originally Posted by bimmer32five

I take my car to either Clem or Dan Hong at BMW of Silver Spring, depending on the nature of work. Warranty work def Dan for obvious reasons, as well as tires, alignments.

Tires & alignment are things you should not be going to a dealer for.

[pseto]

Originally Posted by PSUSMU

Tires & alignment are things you should not be going to a dealer for.

Not always true. BMW of Silver Spring actually had good pricing last year when I needed a new set of PSS, mounted and balanced. Technically, it was like $25 more all in, but when you factor in not having to wait 2-3 days for delivery and them giving me a BMW loaner car for the day, it was a no-brainer.

[PSUSMU]

If you're paying >$100 for an alignment, you're getting ripped off.

[flip4335]

I take my car to Shane at BMW Sterling because he is the only one I trust to treat my car like his own.

[tony20009]

Wow...I'm surprised at how many folks take their out-of-warranty/free maintenance cars to a BMW facility for routine service. I thought I would be one of few who are willing to pay a very hefty premium in that way.

All the best.