Too long away from the dealership

[TriangleRider]

I've been doing my own maintenance on my '20 RS for years now.  I want to get the inspection done on the driveshaft, so I called my local dealer to schedule this work, which is covered under warranty.  Other than buying my parts there, I like to throw some business their way every now and then, so I asked about getting an oil/filter change at the same time.  They quoted me $407.  I asked to confirm that an oil/filter change now costs over $400.  I was told "that it encompasses the parts and labor for an oil change, as well as going through a multipoint inspection checklist to make sure there are no other issues that need to be addressed such as tire wear, brake pads, topping off the coolant level, etc." 

I know this post puts me squarely into "old guy griping about dealership prices", but is this an outlier, or is this what dealerships are charging these days?  This dealer was recently purchased by Sonic Automotive, so maybe the service writer is fresh from a Land Rover dealership?

[Grumpy Goat]

That is excessive and is BS. I paid a little over than for the 600-mile service on my Tiger (same dealership same rates) which - I would like to think - is a little more but not by much. Video here.

I too like to give them a little business occasionally but costs like this do not encourage that practice.

[NormR]

This is a bit off the original topic but I also complete most of my own maintenance (mostly because I really enjoy working on bikes and to save a bit of $$) but at the 20,000 mark I brought my bike into the dealer to do the valve check. At the same time I asked them to do the rear shaft verification. I remember I received a "look" from the service guy when I didn't authorize all the other work. In the end, my valves were all in spec and I received a $400 cdn charge which I remember thinking was high because the valve train didn't require to be touched. I imagine swapping any shims out would probably bring it up to an easy $1,000. What ticked me most off was they never completed the drive shaft inspection. This summer I went to a different dealer and asked about the rear drive inspection because I'm now at 34,000kms and they wouldn't do it unless I got a complete inspection on the bike. My take on this is the bmw dealership network are all a bunch of money grabbers and ignore any customer loyalty unless your wallet is wide open.........

[TriangleRider]

To this shop's credit, I was able to schedule only the drive shaft inspection without any additional work.

[Grumpy Goat]

This is a bit off the original topic but I also complete most of my own maintenance (mostly because I really enjoy working on bikes and to save a bit of $$) but at the 20,000 mark I brought my bike into the dealer to do the valve check. ... and I received a $400 cdn charge which I remember thinking was high because the valve train didn't require to be touched. ... What ticked me most off was they never completed the drive shaft inspection.

I suppose Can$400 was OK for a valve check, given the typical prices around here. You did not mention whether you had engine cover protection which they had to deal with which would make the cost slightly better. The fact that they "forgot" to do the requested shaft inspection and did not tell you why is not a good look for them. The updated maintenance check says that at 20,000 km an inspection should be done.

This summer I went to a different dealer and asked about the rear drive inspection because I'm now at 34,000kms and they wouldn't do it unless I got a complete inspection on the bike. My take on this is the bmw dealership network are all a bunch of money grabbers and ignore any customer loyalty unless your wallet is wide open.........

This dealer is even worse than the first one since they sound like extortionists. They are refusing to do work that is covered by the updated maintenance schedule, which I assume would be covered by BMW.

In my case I called and arranged for them do the shaft replacement as soon as I got my letter from BMW Motorrad and they agreed, ordered the shaft and when it came in they called me and arranged a date at which time it was replaced and no money was exchanged. I will admit that was at over 62k miles (IIRC), but yours should have been inspected.

I would give both of them a chance to make things right and if they don't complain to BMW.

[mojoguzzi]

My 60K service (no air filter, since they said it was clean enough to eat off): $715: $205.88 in parts and $510 in labor. Seems a fair price for me

[Lee]

To this shop's credit, I was able to schedule only the drive shaft inspection without any additional work.

Same for us at the Kansas City dealer.

[NormR]

In my case I called and arranged for them do the shaft replacement as soon as I got my letter from BMW Motorrad and they agreed, ordered the shaft and when it came in they called me and arranged a date at which time it was replaced and no money was exchanged. I will admit that was at over 62k miles (IIRC), but yours should have been inspected.

I would give both of them a chance to make things right and if they don't complain to BMW.

GG,

I actually haven't received any letter yet from BMW for the driveshaft. I'm actually in Canada and the 2nd owner (2020 RS) but don't think that should stop them from reaching out to me.

[Grumpy Goat]

GG,

I actually haven't received any letter yet from BMW for the driveshaft. I'm actually in Canada and the 2nd owner (2020 RS) but don't think that should stop them from reaching out to me.

I know you are in Canada, and I would expect that owners in Canada would also be receiving letters. But I wondered about how BMW Motorrad would know if you are not the original owner and say that secondary owner never visited a BMW dealership or anything like that. If the sale was simply done via a transfer of title and there was no other record of a change of ownership then BMW Motorrad would be none the wiser about sending the letter to that secondary owner. The letter could well be sent to the original owner who neglected to forward it on.

[NormR]

GG,

I actually haven't received any letter yet from BMW for the driveshaft. I'm actually in Canada and the 2nd owner (2020 RS) but don't think that should stop them from reaching out to me.

I know you are in Canada, and I would expect that owners in Canada would also be receiving letters. But I wondered about how BMW Motorrad would know if you are not the original owner and say that secondary owner never visited a BMW dealership or anything like that. If the sale was simply done via a transfer of title and there was no other record of a change of  ownership then BMW Motorrad would be none the wiser about sending the letter to that secondary owner. The letter could well be sent to the original owner who neglected to forward it on.

I actually went thru a dealership (Triumph) to complete the sale between myself and the seller and I've had 2 (mini) services completed as well. I will contact the original owner just in case something slipped thru the cracks

[Grumpy Goat]

I actually went thru a dealership (Triumph) to complete the sale between myself and the seller and I've had 2 (mini) services completed as well. I will contact the original owner just in case something slipped thru the cracks

I did a little search about the situation in Canada, and it might be a little different than here in the US. For instance, there is mention of a Transport Canada recall whereas in the US there was never any NHTSA recall, just the BMW Motorrad USA letter and service bulletin with mailout of updated schedule pages for the User Manual, etc.

Good luck in getting this resolved. At least they should have checked your shaft at 20k km.

[Lee]

 I will contact the original owner just in case something slipped thru the cracks

I doubt you would need to provide the letter to the dealer.