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      10-25-2020, 03:08 AM   #1
john76
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Own servicing after warranty?

I wonder what people’s thoughts are on doing your own servicing once the car is out of warranty?

I own my F31 and plan to keep it for 10 years. I’ve no problem with doing the servicing as I’ve always serviced my own cars.

Clearly it’ll reduce the trade-in/resale value at 10 years old, but probably not by the amount I’ll save by servicing it myself?

Getting hold of the service schedules may be an issue too!
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      10-25-2020, 05:14 AM   #2
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How much will you be saving, opposed to DIY, if you go through an Indy or other garage for servicing ?

Prior to trading the boys Fiesta it was due for a service , it realistically only cost him £60 more to have a local garage carry out the service which saved me lying under the car and faffing around with parts but more importantly it got the book stamped so in theory it did have a FSH when we were selling it , always a plus point and less of a lever to drive the trade-in price down.

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      10-25-2020, 05:15 AM   #3
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As long as you keep a comprehensive organised record of receipts I doubt it'll make that much difference at that age once you factor in the amount saved.

What engine do you have?
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      10-25-2020, 11:04 AM   #4
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i'm all for diy servicing, it's the only way to guarantee that the work has been done right.
for me any money saving is an added bonus. doubt it will make any difference to cars value when 10+ years old, as has been said, keep all receipts and buy a generic service book from ebay for a few quid and stamp it up every service yourself.
if i was buying your car ar 10+ years old , i'd be more confident with a diy history than a dealer history.
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      10-25-2020, 11:39 AM   #5
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I've recently bought the consumables for the next couple of services on my car based on what BMW have previously claimed to have done.

In all parts wise it is a little less than £250, which covers oil and filters for two services and a full set of spark plugs. Add in a brake fluid change at some point and it'll be another £10 in dot 4 fluid.

All this would comfortably set me back about a grand at a dealer, plus the hassle of getting the car booked in, having to deal with them on the day and inevitably (given my previous experiences) of finding something that they didn't do properly.

At some point I'm fairly sure there will be non service items that will need replacing but again I'm fairly confident of being able to do all those at a significant saving.
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      10-25-2020, 05:50 PM   #6
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My Impreza hasn't seen a garage in 7 years other than to my mate for an MOT every year. I dread to think how much this would have cost in garage bills as I've done a huge amount of stuff with it. That said it has also seen significant modification too, all of which has been by myself (including paint). I have no intention of selling this, ever, and therefore it's not about money but instead knowing the job's been done right.

The previous main car was an Octavia vRS mk1 which I bought at 50k miles and ran to 150k miles. I could have given that car away when I sold it and still have saved money over paying a garage to maintain it.

With the BMW I want a simple life. I have so much stuff going on, the Impreza is now a (rough around the edges) pampered garage queen and thus no daily, and I just want a reliable car. So I've committed to the extortionate service plan (£350+ for a fricking oil change?!) and paid for a BMW warranty. It's not exactly cheap and over 5 years I would probably be better self servicing and putting the money into savings in case of a big bang, but it's just easy this way. And for that it's worth it at with where I am in life.

For every car I have a folder with all the receipts, notes and dates+mileages for everything done. That definitely helped when selling the Octavia. If someone has done a single oil change out of cheapness and only kept it for a year then that's a bit dubious but if you've done 100k miles and had 5 years out of it, all with self servicing, then the chances are you've done a proper job.
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      10-26-2020, 02:44 AM   #7
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Monetary wise, I don't think its going to make much difference at the 10 year point.

My only concern would be 'sell-ability' (probably not a word) in terms of limiting your target audience when selling. Personally, I wouldn't buy a car without FSH purely because I couldn't be bothered with the potential drama of having to move it on when I am done with it but perhaps that is just me and others would be fine with it.

The cost of servicing parts is often dirt cheap if you go via ECP when they have a 50% offer on so there are decent savings.

Our F30 has full dealer SH and I will keep it up, likely because I am going to extend the warranty and I don't want a row if something breaks and they try to say anything about servicing outside the dealer network, I can't be arsed with the drama.

Personally I tend to get the servicing done as per the iDrive schedule at a garage, whether dealer or independent and then change the oil and filter on the opposite year myself as I don't trust 2 year 18k servicing, I feel its not frequent enough.
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      10-26-2020, 03:03 AM   #8
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Aside from the fact I simply can't be arsed to do my own servicing these days, I don't particularly like the idea of the iDrive service history being pretty much blank (unless you're doing a reasonable mileage a year).

Back in the day when you had physical service history books, you could at least record what you'd done and when - and if you were really organised, reference the relevant receipts.
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      10-26-2020, 03:18 AM   #9
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I do my own as I've never found a garage I trust or will fit the parts I've bought/request.

I keep the receipts in chronological order with mileage and I update the iDrive to reflect. I do oil services every 10k or year whichever is sooner, my change in September was after 8.5k with the iDrive showing a further 11k until the official interval.

It's major service items where this really mounts up. I changed the gearbox oil for less than £200 with genuine ZF kit which included a drain, fill, drain, fill and filter change procedure.

I changed the front discs and pads with EBC pads and TRW 2 piece discs for less than £300. An Indy wanted £700 and BMW were over £1,000 and none would have fitted the pads I wanted.

It's a bit of bind getting on your back every now and again but I save a fortune and know it's been done right.
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      10-26-2020, 03:54 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Len_Beach View Post
I do my own as I've never found a garage I trust or will fit the parts I've bought/request.

I keep the receipts in chronological order with mileage and I update the iDrive to reflect. I do oil services every 10k or year whichever is sooner, my change in September was after 8.5k with the iDrive showing a further 11k until the official interval.
How are you updating the iDrive , out of interest? I didn't think that was a DIY-able thing?
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      10-26-2020, 05:05 AM   #11
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Idrive is easy to update however there are a few caveats

When the car is serviced at BMW or an indy with the subscription to use their system, they will update the service details on the BMW system. The idrive will then be wiped and reloaded with whatever is on the central system. Therefore any changes made 'locally' will be lost and have to be re-added.

I have the utility to do this on my laptop so if anyone wants it done I can help (needs an ethernet cable, same as you'd use with esys)

I had all my own services loaded on the idrive of my old 3 series (I had receipts to back it all up if required), the salesman looked at these when I was trading in at a BMW dealer but nothing was mentioned and to be honest I'd think that once the car is more than a few years old it would make no difference if it was DIY or non main dealer. certainly the likes of WBAC wouldn't care less

The main advantage of dealer service in the early years is to ensure anything warranty related is done and also to ensure software updates are done when required.

But with an oil change costing well north of £200 that you can do yourself using the correct oil and a genuine filter for £50 and 30 minutes I would always rather so the servicing myself. But I don't mind (even enjoy) working on my car and am also very tight.
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      10-26-2020, 06:23 AM   #12
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LAgree no garage seems to take the same pride and care in comparison to doing it yourself. I now have had 2 cars come back from a cabin filter change whereby they havent screwed the 10mm bolts under the glovebox back on. No big deal but makes you think would they do that to their own car. In 10 yrs you would have had your depreciation anyway.

Like recommended Id keep all receipts meticulously as I would be suspicious myself of buying a car unless I could see that myself. I wouldn't buy a car worth more than 2/3 k without some or all history as would be a pig to sell. But guessing you will have some history already logged on anyway. I personally cba messing with oil changes and then needing to properly dispose of it. One of the big chains (who I normally wouldn't trust with a barge pole - think national) do a really decent deal re oil changes with decent ll spec oil and you get a fancy receipt for around 50. Obvioulsy id watch them and ignore any advice re urgent 'life saving' work they recommend ( but check it later yourself) .Not much dearer than changing oil by yourself by time you factor the time in.
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      10-26-2020, 09:04 AM   #13
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DIY it. 100%. Unless you have a really trusted independent who you've worked with for many years, and don't enjoy spending some time with the car. If you do, and it sounds like you do as you've said you have serviced your previous cars, then all service aspects of the F3x are really straightforward and easy to do.
And as others have said above, knowing you've done it by the book and that it's been done correctly with everything torqued properly....i wouldn't have it any other way.
I too would prefer a 10 year old car that had been DIY maintained than something sat on the forecourt with 'full dealer service history'.
also i cannot believe people are happy to spend £500 changing front discs and pads.


my hot tips for DIY...
- definitely get ISTA - that'll tell you the service schedules and all the technical workshop manual needed to service any aspect of the car, and what everything needs torquing back to. I'd be surprised if the schedules are much different across the range, petrol vs diesel aside. I'll do an oil service every 10k/1 yr, brake fluid, every 20k/2 yr, air filter cabin filter spark plugs every 40k/4 yr, ZF transmisson oil every 60k. Pads/discs as and when.

Can download it via bimmerfest (google 'beginners guide ISTA bimmerfest).
unfortunately the free web version newtis got taken down by BMW. Ba*tards.

- the central jack points front and rear are rather deep in the car, so unless you spend £400+ on those really loooooong jacks, just get some plastic ramps first then you have the room to put a normal jack underneath. Still helps to find the longest and lowest jack you can - Halfords 3 tonne low profile was by far the best for the money. Long and girthy with enough height to easily raise high enough for axle stands.

- for brake fluid you need a pressure bleeder kit to make life easy, sealey vs820 worked perfectly for me.

- just keep a spreadsheet and document everything if you're worried about future resale.

- sometimes the dealers will have oil change offers on for £120 and at that price you're only paying maybe £30 for labour. But hey...thats £30 saved to spend on a takeaway (for me anyway)

Last edited by gippy; 10-26-2020 at 09:29 AM..
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      10-26-2020, 10:28 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gippy View Post
I too would prefer a 10 year old car that had been DIY maintained than something sat on the forecourt with 'full dealer service history'.
That is to be expected perhaps from a BMW enthusiast but the average Joe will want to see FSH and the average Joe makes up most of buyers out there.

I am just playing devils advocate here and providing an alternative opinion but I would not buy a car with DIY history, unless it was just the odd one out of the whole lot. If you bought one, you would have the arse of selling it on in the future, unless you were happy to WeBuyAny car it and then agreed, it matters little.

However if you had a car worth say £20k and you were looking to flog it on in a few years for say £15k, having DIY service history is going to put off a huge part of your target audience.

If the car is worth a few grand, sure who gives a monkeys as you probably don't care anyway but there is absolutely no way on earth I would drop £15k on a car with DIY history, receipts or not. Its not just me, most of my family and friends wouldn't either.
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      10-26-2020, 10:48 AM   #15
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After ten years, the depreciation has levelled to a point where there would be little difference between a car with a FBMWSH and one that has been serviced DIY. However, would I buy a car where the owner has done all servicing? No. The owner may well know what he/she is doing and be far more consciencious than a BMW dealership or and independent specialist, but I don't know whether the owner knows what he's doing or thinks he does, or even takes shortcuts because he/she is expecting to sell the car anyway and it won't be their problem any more.
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      10-26-2020, 10:57 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jenshb View Post
After ten years, the depreciation has levelled to a point where there would be little difference between a car with a FBMWSH and one that has been serviced DIY. However, would I buy a car where the owner has done all servicing? No. The owner may well know what he/she is doing and be far more consciencious than a BMW dealership or and independent specialist, but I don't know whether the owner knows what he's doing or thinks he does, or even takes shortcuts because he/she is expecting to sell the car anyway and it won't be their problem any more.
I think after ten years of self servicing it would be pretty apparent whether the owner had done a good job or not!
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      10-26-2020, 11:24 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ArthurKing View Post
That is to be expected perhaps from a BMW enthusiast but the average Joe will want to see FSH and the average Joe makes up most of buyers out there.

I am just playing devils advocate here and providing an alternative opinion but I would not buy a car with DIY history, unless it was just the odd one out of the whole lot. If you bought one, you would have the arse of selling it on in the future, unless you were happy to WeBuyAny car it and then agreed, it matters little.

However if you had a car worth say £20k and you were looking to flog it on in a few years for say £15k, having DIY service history is going to put off a huge part of your target audience.

If the car is worth a few grand, sure who gives a monkeys as you probably don't care anyway but there is absolutely no way on earth I would drop £15k on a car with DIY history, receipts or not. Its not just me, most of my family and friends wouldn't either.
OP says he plans to keep it for 10 years.
Resale value really is not coming into this equation. At that point, i'm assuming the OP's car is already nearing the end of it's warranty period.......it'd be say a 12 year old car.

that is why, in this case, the 'assurance' of a 'proper' service history ain't gona be a factor, almost all the depreciation would have occurred.
Plus after 10 years of DIY servicing.......i think it'd be pretty obvious whether the car is a lemon or not.
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      10-27-2020, 03:13 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gippy View Post
OP says he plans to keep it for 10 years.
Resale value really is not coming into this equation. At that point, i'm assuming the OP's car is already nearing the end of it's warranty period.......it'd be say a 12 year old car.

that is why, in this case, the 'assurance' of a 'proper' service history ain't gona be a factor, almost all the depreciation would have occurred.
Plus after 10 years of DIY servicing.......i think it'd be pretty obvious whether the car is a lemon or not.
Like I said, it depends on the car in terms of resale and being 10+ years old it likely won't make a difference.

My concern would be trying to sell a car with DIY history. Granted, at 10-12 years you could bang it to WBAC and even stating no history, its not going to make much difference to a £3-4k car.

However, circumstances change and if you bought a car which was say 3 years old with FBMWSH and decided to DIY it moving forward thinking you were keeping it 10 years anyway but you needed to change it in 3 for whatever reason, you may find a DIY service was not a smart move. Every time I have sold or traded a car, they wanted to see history.

Its personal choice but the ease of moving a car on with garage history is going to be far easier than DIY.
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      10-27-2020, 03:29 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Russbmw View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Len_Beach View Post
I do my own as I've never found a garage I trust or will fit the parts I've bought/request.

I keep the receipts in chronological order with mileage and I update the iDrive to reflect. I do oil services every 10k or year whichever is sooner, my change in September was after 8.5k with the iDrive showing a further 11k until the official interval.
How are you updating the iDrive , out of interest? I didn't think that was a DIY-able thing?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russbmw View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Len_Beach View Post
I do my own as I've never found a garage I trust or will fit the parts I've bought/request.

I keep the receipts in chronological order with mileage and I update the iDrive to reflect. I do oil services every 10k or year whichever is sooner, my change in September was after 8.5k with the iDrive showing a further 11k until the official interval.
How are you updating the iDrive , out of interest? I didn't think that was a DIY-able thing?
I use HUServiceManager buddy. It's free software you can find on various forums.

My two tips would be to convert your mileage to KM's as the tool works in KM's but reflects in miles. I found that knocking 2km off of the KM figure converted perfectly to mileage.

I'd also suggest taking a picture of each of your services, deleting then reinstating starting newest to oldest as the tool will add the new services to the bottom of the list otherwise.
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      10-27-2020, 04:29 AM   #20
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Or maybe do best of both worlds get the oil service, microfilter etc done at the Indy/ BMW and do the brakes/ gearbox diff yourself.

That way the Idrive gets updated with the service but you save a little on the other bits. If you do ever come to sell technically its still has a full BMW service history and just keep paperwork for all the other bits ?
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      10-28-2020, 04:22 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gippy View Post
DIY it. 100%. Unless you have a really trusted independent who you've worked with for many years, and don't enjoy spending some time with the car. If you do, and it sounds like you do as you've said you have serviced your previous cars, then all service aspects of the F3x are really straightforward and easy to do.
And as others have said above, knowing you've done it by the book and that it's been done correctly with everything torqued properly....i wouldn't have it any other way.
I too would prefer a 10 year old car that had been DIY maintained than something sat on the forecourt with 'full dealer service history'.
also i cannot believe people are happy to spend £500 changing front discs and pads.


my hot tips for DIY...
- definitely get ISTA - that'll tell you the service schedules and all the technical workshop manual needed to service any aspect of the car, and what everything needs torquing back to. I'd be surprised if the schedules are much different across the range, petrol vs diesel aside. I'll do an oil service every 10k/1 yr, brake fluid, every 20k/2 yr, air filter cabin filter spark plugs every 40k/4 yr, ZF transmisson oil every 60k. Pads/discs as and when.

Can download it via bimmerfest (google 'beginners guide ISTA bimmerfest).
unfortunately the free web version newtis got taken down by BMW. Ba*tards.

- the central jack points front and rear are rather deep in the car, so unless you spend £400+ on those really loooooong jacks, just get some plastic ramps first then you have the room to put a normal jack underneath. Still helps to find the longest and lowest jack you can - Halfords 3 tonne low profile was by far the best for the money. Long and girthy with enough height to easily raise high enough for axle stands.

- for brake fluid you need a pressure bleeder kit to make life easy, sealey vs820 worked perfectly for me.

- just keep a spreadsheet and document everything if you're worried about future resale.

- sometimes the dealers will have oil change offers on for £120 and at that price you're only paying maybe £30 for labour. But hey...thats £30 saved to spend on a takeaway (for me anyway)
Thanks for excellent input everyone!

Getting ISTA sounds essential so I'll do that!

I reckon I'll crack on and service it myself... I have a 320d and 118d, both approaching 3 years old so I reckon I'll save a decent amount servicing them both once they're out of warranty.

Glad to see that people are doing it themselves.

Final question... I assume the condition based servicing indicator all still works OK if I service it myself, as long as I reset it when the car is serviced?

Thanks again!
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      10-29-2020, 02:50 AM   #22
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