Dealer Servicing

[Dave Price]

After the 6000 mile service completed by the dealer, I found the seat not located at the front (even an idiot could have spotted it) and one of the HT leads crimped between the cylinder and the plastic guard. Makes you wonder how close they got the tappet adjustment?
I hate having to take a new bike to a dealer, just for BM to honour the warranty.

 

[john wells]

come on then who was the dealer.....I promise not to tell anyone else.

 

[Marty Hill]

Do you really have to have dealer service and the attending stamp in order to have a warranty? I see this mentioned all the time. In the US, most/many of us do all of our own svc. after the initial service. We save all reciepts and I have never heard of anyone having a problem getting warranty work done.

Is this something you hear or would a dealer be willing to put it in writing and make it official? We have gatherings all over the country where some of us teach others the various tasks. We have even had visitors from Ireland and Spain (here on business) attend these days.

If this is just a scare tactic, you guys could safe a fortune.

 

[Dave Price]

Point taken Marty,however, you still need the dealer to make and carry out warranty claims. If you've not used them for the most lucrative part of their business, they can be quite ostructive when it comes to dealing with BMW.
The other problem occurs when you come to sell/PX the bike, the first thing your asked, is there a service history? I've always found it a 'catch 22 situation'.

 

[Marty Hill]

Dave,

Both very good points you make. I am sure there are some dealers here that would be unhappy if all we did was come in for warranty work. They do get well paid for that work tho. We tend to be a bit more casual here/sometimes good/sometimes not. As to svc. records, we keep our own and use other members on our site to vouch for our honesty and skills. Not perfect mind you, but it seems to work on most occaisions. I would guess that if you saved $2-3,000 or equiv. over several years of ownership, the value of a bike would not drop enough to negate the savings.

Oh well...no perfect answer.

Cheers,