I am going to preface this by saying that this may be a little controversial / skewed on my sample size (# of shops called), but it would seem like that the price difference between independent shops and dealership prices are almost equivalent.
Dealerships: BMW Herb Chambers of Medford, Boston, Sudbury
Cost for labour: $179.95 / hr
Initial Diagnostic: $199.95
Independent Mechanic Shops:
German Perform Service Inc.
Cost for Labour: $175 / hr (Please note price on website of $114/ hr, is not true any more)
Bavarian Performance Group
Cost for labour: $175 / hr
Initial Diagnostic: $300
Wile Motorsport
Cost for labour: $150 / hr (normal street cars)
Cost for race / m-performance $200 - $300 (Depends on model / service)
*Prioritizes fixing race / performance car to make ends meet / break even
Ultimate Bimmer Services
Cost for labour: $175 / hr
Initial Diagnostic: $300
Again - these are just shops I felt were more reputable in my own opinion that I sampled compared to the dealership. It would seem that at this time, depending on what kind of service you are looking to do you should prioritize where to go.
For me.. I was inquiring about AC smell issues, Wile Motorsport immediately suggested to go to the dealer, GPS suggested to deal with it (nothing you can do about it), BPG and UBS required an initial diagnostic which are both $100 more than the dealership diagnostic.
At this point I've made an appointment with a dealership's service dept to see what they'll say ..
