Dealership estimates

[ShoeDog]

Hi all -

So I took my '02 X5 in to the dealer for it's 3rd window regulator fix. I have now had the front two and the back left (this one) fixed. The first two were still covered on CPO, this one was not.

I dropped the car at 7:30 and said I would wait. The mechanics don't start until 8 am, but apparently were in so they supposedly started around 7:45 am. I was told it would be about 2 hours (9:45 am).

At 8:55 am the car was done, washed, vacuumed and I was ready to go. I was quoted and estimated of $450. It turned out to be $415.

As I had to get to work, I didn't look over the bill thoroughly until I got to work around 15 mins later. The billing had 2 hour of labor. Hmm, considering I wasnt' even in the dealer for 2 hours TOTAL from drop-off to pick up, I thought this odd.

I called the service advisor and told him that I didn't believe I should have been billed for 2 hours of labor since it was really an hour (7:45 - 8:45, and that giving them only an additional 10 mins to wash/vacuum). He said that they go by the "book" on what the estimated time is and if it's less, well too bad.

I know the BMW service books state the expected repair times. I'd be willing to bet that most every mechanic beats those times.

So I told him that was wrong and they should credit me an hours labor. He even said they had to wait 20-25 mins for a part to arrive (so now actual labor time really was no more than 25-30 mins tops).

He wouldn't change it and I told him I would take it higher up - first the Service Mgr and then to BMW North America.

So am I wasting my time to try that? Has anyone ever been able to get credit because they took less time?

I'm sure the mechanic was on to another job immediately, so he got paid an hour for my job (doing nothing) and was already making money on the next job in the cue.

I told them I was going to head to an independent shop because I'm out of warranty and there is no reason to keep using them.

ShoeDog