Cost of first service

MilwDave said:
I had a quote emailed to me for the first service. It them 3 months to get me in and then they tried to charge me $100 more. When I pulled out the written quote they were like Elmer Fudd.
Click to expand...

Charlotte IMO is high on their break-in service costs. Nice shop, fair sales pricing and whatnot, but I've gone to other dealers in the area for years due to $. While I don't have a recent cost comparison of my own, two riding friends with recent new purchases there have shared their experiences with one getting a $500.00 bill on his Triumph Speed Twin (no extra work, but break-in) and the other with his new R1250RT that he ended up taking to another shop as the exact same break-in service was hundreds more in Charlotte. As with all things YRMV and while far from a scientific poll these examples are in line with your and @aicpjim findings as to disparate/fluctuating billing with no obvious supporting reason such as going from a "rural" shop to one in an expensive location like New York City or San Francisco, etc.
 
If you are thinking about purchasing BEFORE you buy the bike you can get a service contract which covers the break in, annual services and the 12k major service (which I hear isn't particularly cheap. The big contract is like $2k... my dealer is saying annual service is about $500, and the 12k is closer to $1300 so if you get them to throw it in, or add it to your loan, it could help...

ALSO... normal warranty is 3yr/36k - but you can get 1,2,3 year extended BMW warranty - and you DON'T need to buy it right away, you can buy it anytime you still have warranty left (so i'm told) - for me, I got them to split the service plan, and I'll do a 1yr extension next year.
 
LosAngelesBagger said:
If you are thinking about purchasing BEFORE you buy the bike you can get a service contract which covers the break in, annual services and the 12k major service (which I hear isn't particularly cheap. The big contract is like $2k... my dealer is saying annual service is about $500, and the 12k is closer to $1300 so if you get them to throw it in, or add it to your loan, it could help...

ALSO... normal warranty is 3yr/36k - but you can get 1,2,3 year extended BMW warranty - and you DON'T need to buy it right away, you can buy it anytime you still have warranty left (so i'm told) - for me, I got them to split the service plan, and I'll do a 1yr extension next year.
Click to expand...
All good points and while Cali is likely more expensive than my area your dealer quoted prices for the annual is only a bit higher, but the 12K is stupid money. On the R18 there is little difference between the 6K and other services as the valves are checked/adjusted each time and even if getting raped on needed supplies I have a hard time figuring $800.00 extra. It may be legit for Cali, but I would "measure twice and cut once" before agreeing to those price parameters. The S and K bikes have a relatively expensive 18K interval service that is in that "neighborhood", but in comparison the R18 is laughably easy to work on as to the actual servicing and lack of man hours to take off and put back on all the body panels, etc. keeps the billing low(er) too.

YRMV
 
Watched a YouTuber yesterday (Redang Revival) who had his Triumph Speedmaster twin serviced at a main dealer, (20,000 mile service so that’s valve check, oil & filter, brake pads & health check etc). £950 or thereabouts, gulp. (Roughly $1130 US). Don’t have to look far to find that main dealers are expensive no matter what the bike is.
 
Without trying to beat a dead horse, but one should be comparing apples to apples so No offense, but finding examples of very expensive service intervals between any Brand's model(s) may or may not mean a thing. Sticking with BMW, I used the example above of what man hours are reflecting in pricing a "major" service on the R18 v. K1600 or S1000 platforms that were more in line with the prices a Dealer was quoting for the R18 prepaid plan. Again, on a R18 using the $500.00 figure for a 6,000 miles service already has everything done other than FD fluid at 12,000 miles intervals, transmission gear oil at 24,000 miles and perhaps a biannual brake flush. The valve adjustment on the R18 uses a simple lock nut on a screw that is beyond easy to access giving the design of the R's opposed cylinders and the spark plugs are there too. A couple more screws allows access to the air filter. One isn't paying hours of labor to remove body panels, radiators, cam shafts and measuring-replacing shims and so on that other engine deigns and body styling requires. This basic lack of man hours required is why I mentioned I personally can't imagine how a shop could justify another $800.00 (in the package deal mentioned above), for a "major" service interval on a R18. That $$$ to me represents some incredible man hours and supplies costs being added for refreshing some gear oil and a biannual brake fluid flush? Take a look at the very inclusive parts list @Adam Chandler put together for any servicing needs and take a look at the various ewe tube videos on servicing an R18 and they may help in determining if one's shop is offering good value to their customers.

YRMV
 
BobW said:
Without trying to beat a dead horse, but one should be comparing apples to apples so No offense, but finding examples of very expensive service intervals between any Brand's model(s) may or may not mean a thing. Sticking with BMW, I used the example above of what man hours are reflecting in pricing a "major" service on the R18 v. K1600 or S1000 platforms that were more in line with the prices a Dealer was quoting for the R18 prepaid plan. Again, on a R18 using the $500.00 figure for a 6,000 miles service already has everything done other than FD fluid at 12,000 miles intervals, transmission gear oil at 24,000 miles and perhaps a biannual brake flush. The valve adjustment on the R18 uses a simple lock nut on a screw that is beyond easy to access giving the design of the R's opposed cylinders and the spark plugs are there too. A couple more screws allows access to the air filter. One isn't paying hours of labor to remove body panels, radiators, cam shafts and measuring-replacing shims and so on that other engine deigns and body styling requires. This basic lack of man hours required is why I mentioned I personally can't imagine how a shop could justify another $800.00 (in the package deal mentioned above), for a "major" service interval on a R18. That $$$ to me represents some incredible man hours and supplies costs being added for refreshing some gear oil and a biannual brake fluid flush? Take a look at the very inclusive parts list @Adam Chandler put together for any servicing needs and take a look at the various ewe tube videos on servicing an R18 and they may help in determining if one's shop is offering good value to their customers.

YRMV
Click to expand...
Yep no issue with that, the point I was making was simply that main dealer servicing can often be expensive and in that way our R18’s are not unusual or exceptional. Whether it’s a fair price is another matter of course. It’s useful to look over the fence sometimes and see what others are finding out about their bikes. Shopping around and/or doing stuff yourself (if you can) is clearly good practice.
 
Taking the day off of work tomorrow (Thursday the 9th of March) and driving an hour and a half to Wilmington, NC to the brand new BMW dealership (BMW Motorcycles of Cape Fear) that just opened there in December, for my 600 mile break in service. On the phone with them last week, the guy told me it would cost $250. Hope they don't try to pull some bait and switch on me when I get up there! There is an independent BMW technician shop up in Wilmington called Bombars Beemers, which is a service center without also being a dealer. I had taken my K1600 up to him when I had it, before the dealership came into existence, and he was very thorough and knowledgeable. I called him as well about the break in service, but he quoted me $350, so I decided to give the new dealership a shot instead. I'll update once I'm back tomorrow night.
 
So it ended up being about $350, instead of $250. That included some extra services like changing the gear oil. He said that wasn't part of the normal package, but when he showed me how black the gear oil was after 650 miles, I'm glad I did it. Bought a nice pair of BMW waterproof goretex gloves while I was there.
 
aicpjim said:
So it ended up being about $350, instead of $250. That included some extra services like changing the gear oil. He said that wasn't part of the normal package, but when he showed me how black the gear oil was after 650 miles, I'm glad I did it. Bought a nice pair of BMW waterproof goretex gloves while I was there.
Click to expand...
When I had my break in service done in Greer at D2Powersports, they quoted me $300, then when I got ready to checkout, he told me he misquoted me, I was the first R18 they had serviced and didn't know the final drive had to be changed also. So, they only charged me for the oil, not the labor, $315.

Did they do a software update? What software version do you currently have?
 
aicpjim said:
So it ended up being about $350, instead of $250. That included some extra services like changing the gear oil. He said that wasn't part of the normal package, but when he showed me how black the gear oil was after 650 miles, I'm glad I did it. Bought a nice pair of BMW waterproof goretex gloves while I was there.
Click to expand...
Are dealers finally getting the supplies for the spline lubing service bulletin?
 
Strawdiggity73 said:
When I had my break in service done in Greer at D2Powersports, they quoted me $300, then when I got ready to checkout, he told me he misquoted me, I was the first R18 they had serviced and didn't know the final drive had to be changed also. So, they only charged me for the oil, not the labor, $315.

Did they do a software update? What software version do you currently have?
Click to expand...
He checked and said my bike already had the latest version, so I didn't inquire further.
 
S/W version on my bike is 012_008_040. Just looked... I HOPE that's the latest. If it ain't, I'm gonna be pissed at the technician who told me it was.
 
If you are referring to the SW version reported by the TFT screen, I see 013_012_050 oon mine (22 R18B). I think I saw other members reported 013_013_xxx
 
aicpjim said:
S/W version on my bike is 012_008_040. Just looked... I HOPE that's the latest. If it ain't, I'm gonna be pissed at the technician who told me it was.
Click to expand...
That's is what's on mine, I got that update last April at my first service. It should be 013_012_050 now. I seen alot of post with that being the newest version.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top