[MalibuBimmer]

When I was a newly minted lawyer in 1972 I took my 3.0CS to BMW-Porsche Specialists on Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica even though I bought the car just a couple miles away at Ocean View Motors (predecessor to Santa Monica BMW). I liked the idea of convenience and the cost for service was much less than at Ocean View Motors.

Over a period of time I became friendly with the owners of the shop (two German immigrants) and became their lawyer. They eventually moved to Lincoln Blvd. in Santa Monica.

I thought back then I'd keep the 3.0CS forever. (I only kept it for 29 years.) And when a friendly young weightlifter I'd met, using the name Arnholt Strong, who brought his 3.0S in for repairs told me he was going to get a tour of the BMW factory in Munich, I asked him to buy me new leather seat covers for the front seats, because some day I would use them.

He did and I sent him a check for $550. I kept the covers in the plastic bags in which they came, removing them twice a year to treat them with Lexol. When it came time, years later, to replace the front seat leather, I brought the bags to my upholsterer. He told me that he thought the leather was going to be all dried out but it was in perfect condition. The new leather looked and felt great. (The car was Malaga, or maroon, and the leather was tan and looked like pigskin. BMW knew how to make cars back then!)

The young weightlifter went on to bigger and better things. He switched his name, again, Anglicizing "Arnholt" to "Arnold." And instead of "Strong" he reverted to his original Austrian family name. Something like Schwarzenegger.

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by MalibuBimmer

When I was a newly minted lawyer in 1972 I took my 3.0CS to BMW-Porsche Specialists on Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica even though I bought the car just a couple miles away at Ocean View Motors (predecessor to Santa Monica BMW). I liked the idea of convenience and the cost for service was much less than at Ocean View Motors.

Over a period of time I became friendly with the owners of the shop (two German immigrants) and became their lawyer. They eventually moved to Lincoln Blvd. in Santa Monica.

I thought back then I'd keep the 3.0CS forever. (I only kept it for 29 years.) And when a friendly young weightlifter I'd met, using the name Arnholt Strong, who brought his 3.0S in for repairs told me he was going to get a tour of the BMW factory in Munich, I asked him to buy me new leather seat covers for the front seats, because some day I would use them.

He did and I sent him a check for $550. I kept the covers in the plastic bags in which they came, removing them twice a year to treat them with Lexol. When it came time, years later, to replace the front seat leather, I brought the bags to my upholsterer. He told me that he thought the leather was going to be all dried out but it was in perfect condition. The new leather looked and felt great. (The car was Malaga, or maroon, and the leather was tan and looked like pigskin. BMW knew how to make cars back then!)

The young weightlifter went on to bigger and better things. He switched his name, again, Anglicizing "Arnholt" to "Arnold." And instead of "Strong" he reverted to his original Austrian family name. Something like Schwarzenegger.

This is probably the coolest story I've read on a BMW forum!

[brytom]

Originally Posted by steve zzr

I don't trust any of them, 4 different dealers for Service and repairs, and every time my car came back with a scratch or mark, last time it went in for rear lights lens to be replaced because they fell out! Common problem on F30.

Yeah, there's a bulletin for this issue. First repair was re-install. Second was add windshield adhesive at the body clip and re-install. Third time was replace the whole assembly. Took forever for BMW to make a good part for that repair.
Don't know why they did what they did. That is unfortunate. But please look at it from their perspective too. If they fixed it right, obviously, no issue. But I've seen the handy work of people who have no business taking apart their own cars try to put them together, it usually ends up a much bigger mess. I am not say that is you. I obviously don't know you. But if you were to have broken something, that wouldn't be a warranty matter. Maybe that's what they meant when they were being really rude?
A couple weeks ago, a man stopped by my bay asking where the tow truck driver couple drop off his vehicle and how to manually release the parking brake. I went over to help out. I asked what the issue was. The man said he removed the front fuse panel on E70 because there was a water leak under the dash. He wanted to clean the water out and make sure everything was OK. He asked me why it didn't start anymore like I would know without even looking at his car (I did have a sneaking suspicion which turned out to be correct.) He said the guys on the forums said it just needed to be programmed, I am thinking maybe that meant aligning the DME and the CAS again, something no longer relevant with that vehicle. I did not work on the vehicle but found out the guy lost four fuses, one being for the transmission module. There is a tiny card that tells you where every fuse goes, he didn't use it. Car fired right up after the four fuses were replaced.
Forum people get it wrong too. No one is perfect. It's unfortunate that we have to rely on others to fix things we cannot do ourselves. I'd love to be able to fix things in my house and get super agitated when I cannot and have to spend money to get someone else to do it. Sort of why I became a tech. I can now fix my car and know it is done right.
I definitely need to unsubscribe from this thread. There are a lot of bad techs. There are a lot of clueless car owners that think they're getting screwed over cause they can't even change a flat but need to tell the world about how the stealerahip stole their money.

[Maynard]

Hope you stick around on the forum in general - we need more genuine experience, and less overdramatic hyperbole. And don't take the tech-hating personally, last week it was griping about the police who were unfair and out to scam us, next week will probably be home contractors or the guys at the parts store.

[m_thompson]

Our 328i was just in for some minor body repairs. The body shop replaced one of the tires that was cut for $151. We asked them to replace the tire on the other side, so the service department charged $214 for the same tire.

[MalibuBimmer]

Years ago, when I had my first 650i, I brought it in to my dealer, who will remain nameless (located in Calabasas, CA). I needed some some minor warranty repair. My service advisor upsold me getting some small scratches touched up.

When I came to pick up the car everything had been touched up. But there was also deep 14 inch long, 1/8th inch wide scratch on the hood that was new -- and it had been touched up as well! When I pointed out that the scratch hadn't been there before I brought the car in I was asked why I wanted everything touched up.

Enough of this nonsense. I went over the intake sheet with my service advisor and the general manager and insisted they fix the hood and loan me a car until it was properly repainted. They agreed to do so. But you have to watch dealers like hawks.