Indy Shops in the Seattle Area

BrockWed · #1 02-23-2009, 11:46 PM

My X5 broke down last week and unfortunately is about 7 months out of warranty. I was wondering if anyone can recommend me to an indy shop in the Seattle area, because the dealer will charge an arm and a leg.

jaybo12 · #2 02-24-2009, 02:12 AM

Strictly BMW, on the eastside, is a bit cheaper. I cant really recommend them because they have never done any major work for me. But you could check them out.

m5james · #3 11-13-2009, 02:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaybo12

Strictly BMW, on the eastside, is a bit cheaper. I cant really recommend them because they have never done any major work for me. But you could check them out.

Stay away from these assholes like the plague. Anyone who goes there is simply paying to support their racing team. They wanted to charge me $3k to remove my heads, test my injectors, check for carbon issue, blah blah blah for a terrible idling issue and my car not being able to rev past 2k. After I they gave me this obnoxious quote and broke my hood release handle, I demanded my keys back and hopped onto the forums. After telling my syptoms to other members, I got all kinds of suggestions. The best suggestion I got was to remove the pre-cat 02's to see if I had a clogging issue. I'd already replaced one of the original cats due to it rattling, but the other one I hadn't replaced because it had been done before via the factory recall. I pulled the precat 02 from the recalled cat and the car fired right up!!! I drove it to the exhaust shop and $200 later I had a new cat installed. These guys had absolutely NO PROBLEM asking for this obnoxious amount, and I can GUARANTEE they never would have touched the 02's or cats w/ their grocery list of "ideas".

Eastside Bavarian in Issaquah isn't much better. I had my car towed from Everett all the way to their shop because they guaranteed me they'd work w/ my warranty company. My warranty company agreed to pay for an aftermarket LSD from www.diffsonline.com for the simple fact that it was actually cheaper to get a 3.64 LSD than replacing my diff w/ a stock unit. After not getting a single return phonecall for upwards of a week from these guys, they finally call me and tell me the car is ready. I let them know that I was on my way immediately. Once I get there, my car is still on the lift, covered in a film of dust (how long has it been done for?!) w/ a dead battery (parking lights left on) and my radar detector broken from it's mount to the left of the rearview mirror (WTF did they even need to touch it for?!) After having a few choice words w/ Ken, this ass decides to break the news to me that they would only install a factory diff in order to offer any kind of warranty!! Where was my phone call asking what I wanted?! They somehow were able to get the stock diff down to the same price as the LSD (how much markup was added for them to use stock parts and make a profit, on top of the installation charge?). 3 days after I left, I had a clicking noise everytime I turned. Took it back to them and they never filled the diff to full!!!!!! God only knows how little fluid was in there beforehand.

After owning my M5 and buying parts from the stealership, I RARELY took my car to anyone else but who I trust....ME. So far I'm my best customer, and I'm sure it's been done right and cost me 1/4 what ANY Indy or stealership would have charged.

GershX5 · #4 02-24-2009, 02:32 AM

I personally know the owner of TASKAR GARAGE in seattle, and I have taken every single one of my cars there. Great guys, great prices.

jsears · #5 02-24-2009, 04:00 AM

I have heard nothing but good things about Strictly BMW up there!

BrockWed · #6 03-01-2009, 12:42 AM

Awsome thanks guys I will get quotes from both of those companies!

patholiar · #7 11-11-2009, 05:04 PM

Hi Brockwed, I am also starting to get a few bugs with the car...just a few months after warranty expired, and i just recently purchased it used.

did you get any quotes on how much it'll be hourly? and was it generally alot cheaper than the dealership?

I've gotten the quotes from the dealership, and its made me die inside a little bit

HPIA4v2 · #8 11-11-2009, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patholiar

Hi Brockwed, I am also starting to get a few bugs with the car...just a few months after warranty expired, and i just recently purchased it used.

did you get any quotes on how much it'll be hourly? and was it generally alot cheaper than the dealership?

I've gotten the quotes from the dealership, and its made me die inside a little bit

Just curios, what kinda problem.

I believe Strictly-BMW is good but their price just a tad lower than dealer(3 times I requested quote for WP, door lock actuator, window regulator etc).
I just wonder if there is any other indy shop people experience with.

FYI, any BMW dealer will guarantee part for life. So if you get alternator repaced by dealer (part is like $1200 for genuine BMW V8 4.4i) and labor 4 hour. If it breaks again as long you own your car you only pay 4 hour of labor, that's it.

jaybo12 · #9 11-11-2009, 08:09 PM

is a newer place. I've gotten some things done there and they seem to know what they are doing. Prices were reasonable as well.

LeMansX5 · #10 11-11-2009, 08:31 PM

BIMRS - Independent BMW Service on Planet Earth