OneSeventy

So having called BMW to discuss, it seems that there is no way of them determining exactly what has been done previously by an independent garage. While they can see some details by looking up the car in their system, it depends on who did the servicing previously and they would otherwise need me to go through service records and tell them when things have been done. It seems they don't test whether a cabin filter for example needs replacing, but simply replace them at recommended intervals as mentioned by Gaz. The other thing mentioned was that some insurances like Autosure actually require servicing at yearly intervals, and so they only do the two year servicing where insurance allows it. I asked for a ballpark pricing figure for a service and was quoted $1100 - $1800 dependent on what's required. No way I'm getting that past the wife, so I'll stick to my independent.

Thanks for clarifying everything so far guys. My questions have been answered but it seems like if I do go the dealership route, I need to beware of them replacing things that don't need replacing — for example wiper blades which I replaced recently. I know they charge something like $100 for a set of blades, so I guess I need to be onto it with telling them not to bother. Given this topic has clarified that while some of it might be a salesman trying to sell me an expensive service, there is at least some truth to what he told me (even if it was dumbed down). I am going to call the dealer and clarify how they measure whether a cabin filter for example needs replacing, and hopefully they can be more specific about the service in general. In saying all of this, it does sound like the two year service is not particularly beneficial to me so I am most likely going to stick with my BMW independent.

@NZ BMWThanks for the response, that makes sense. I do plan to keep the car longterm and so I try to keep to the same servicing schedule as you do. I think I may call BMW and see what they say about rough costs and make my decision from there. Do you know what they were talking about when they said that every now and then my car requires a more expensive/extensive service than the normal yearly service?

Hey guys, I'm the current owner of an '07 BMW 130i. Last year, not long after I had my car serviced at my normal BMW specialist garage, I had some minor work done at BMW Takapuna and got talking to one of the managers about servicing. My car is coming up to its next service so thought I'd run it past you guys first. He said that while servicing with them at the BMW dealer might appear to cost more, the oils they use actually last twice as long so essentially it is more cost effective, or at least about the same to go to the dealer as my BMW specialist. The obvious benefit in what he was saying is that the BMW dealer is using official BMW approved stuff rather than the cheaper stuff used elsewhere, and I would need my car to be serviced half as often as elsewhere. So that's once every two years instead of every year, for example. He also said that once in every few services, my car requires some kind of heavier service that costs even more. He looked my car up on his computer and was able to tell that my next service would be the steeper one. Usually my bullshit meter goes up to level ten when I hear this type of thing from car dealers, and it definitely did in this case too. But after thinking about it for a while, I thought I had better check the validity of his claims before I schedule my next service. What do you guys think? Would love some explanations if what he was telling me had some truth to it! Thanks in advance!

Good tip. I'm not rushing this but I'll keep in mind the end of the month thing if I do go the car yard route!

Yeah that's my other option. Been watching the auctions for months! 130s are fairly rare in the right spec which is why I'm fairly keen to push for this one.

Thanks, so you'd say the car at $19k is covering their costs and profit and doesn't sound overly inflated? Thanks, but yes I did use the search. There's some good info on the forum but I didn't see my question completely answered. The post you linked is six years old so info might change.

Hi guys, I'm looking at an E87 130i as my next car and have come across one I like the look of, only the price is in my opinion a bit steep. Being a bit cheeky, I looked up the Japanese auction history and came across the exact car and alongside it, the price the dealer paid for it in Japanese Yen. Converting this to NZD, I know the dealer paid pretty much bang on NZD $10k, yet they're selling the car for almost twice that. So my question is, what are the rough costs for a dealer to import and comply a car and how much cut do they generally take as a minimum profit? If I know this, perhaps I can sort out a realistic bargaining price to know whether the car is worth continuing to pursue. Any information here would be appreciated.

You've got enough photos there without the stripes (or where you can't see them) to just completely remove the photos with the stripes in my opinion. Fully agree that people will go for something that looks stock. People who see a car modified in any way instantly think the car must have been driven hard and is probably rooted. Not saying it is of course - by all accounts, it sounds like the car is perfect. Good luck with your second attempt at a sale.

Wow, you make it sound like a terrible car! I would take a 1M too. I'm fortunate enough to see one near-daily and have been for a ride in it too. Such a great car.

Can't stand seeing those tail lights on E36s. Instant depreciation if you put those on your car.

Haven't seen episode 2 but I didn't think the first was so bad... I enjoyed it. I'm just going to watch it on Prime because they're only a week later than the UK and I might as well support them bringing good TV to air in NZ so they keep doing it. Prime has to be the best free to air channel right now with this, Nevermind The Buzzcocks and QI.

Saw this one parked the other day and can say it definitely looks nice in person.

"PS: the 2000cs in one of the photos is sold."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_New_Class_coup%C3%A9

You might have some luck with EuroItalian in Auckland. I bought my genuine E46 M-Sport one from them.