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This thread has yielded a lot of healthy discussion about an important topic.
I said I didn't like the change and I don't. From a business perspective I totally understand it. BMW's real competition is not offering 4 years free maintenance. BMWs sell real well in countries where BMW does not offer free maintenance so they know that people buy BMWs regardless.
Some of the posts say the bean counters are at work or the executives will get extra profits or BMW is cost cutting. I mentioned that it is the BMW executives' duty to maximize shareholder profit. I'm not being a blind pro-BMW loyalist here. BMW is a company Its their job to do these things. BMW knows there are some that will be pissed over this move. It's part of their job to figure out how many they will lose and if that risk is worth taking. They know exactly what they are doing.
I suppose out of the emotion of it all, a bit of misinformation is being thrown around. Someone mentioned that BMW is a private company so there are no shareholders. This is not true.
Others are mixing up warranty coverage with maintenance. So far as I now, the warranty coverage has not changed.
In the end of the day, you will make your next car choice based on many factors; free maintenance is a factor, not the only factor. For those who make it the only factor and show BMW the door over this change, every day you can get in your new non-BMW, put a smile on your face and say "I showed them."
When I shop next, I will cross shop too. Each time I've done that over the past 25 years, I bought a BMW because they offer the best product for what I want. I bought them when there was no free maintenance at all. So, for me, I'm not going to let a one-year reduction in maintenance, by itself, influence my next buying decision. If I move from BMW, it will be because another brand beat BMW on the factors that matter to me. To date, that hasn't happened.
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