Dealer just charged me $400 to change a bulb, what are my options...

rmani · #1 06-02-2010, 09:59 PM

I never go to the dealer, but I had an emergency as my headlight burned out at night and I had to stop by to ask them to fix it. Little did I know what I was walking in to. They charged me $400 to change my passenger side headlight, and now I'm out not only a bunch of money, but the two headlights look different colors. The older headlight looks a lot more purpleish, which I'm guessing is just because the bulb is old, but do I have any recourse? Just how badly did I get ripped off? Where can I get a new bulb to replace the driver's side so the beams at least match again.

Thanks

wullaby · #2 06-02-2010, 10:04 PM

how many hours labor did they charge you and how much for the parts? You could have bought two halogen front headlights thru ECS special along w/ tailights and side markers for like $267! the other day...haha, you always ask for an estimate. I had battery changed in 530i...almost $300 at dealership, but i knew the battery was over $100 and labor is over 100/hr...so it wasn't unreasonable.

mysweetx5 · #3 06-12-2010, 07:10 PM

[QUOTE=wullaby;746043]how many hours labor did they charge you and how much for the parts? You could have bought two halogen front headlights thru ECS special along w/ tailights and side markers for like $267! the other day...haha, you always ask for an estimate. I had battery changed in 530i...almost $300 at dealership, but i knew the battery was over $100 and labor is over 100/hr...so it wasn't unreasonable.

I'm referring to you *Wullaby* (BMW) Dealers dont make any sence, they even make me sick! This is why I always encourage good folks like you to be welcome to this forum, so they can learn something. However people can say (BMW PARTS) are better than after market, but people 4get sometime you could get the same good part from another source too which is way cheaper than going 2 dealer. I remember having my battery so bad where I could even get-up one day without drunping the car from a booster cable. When I called BMW, they want $249. without tax, to intall the battery is additional $15.00.
I just went to sears and got me a New battery related with my car for only:$152.00 including tax and I installed it with no problem once I'm pretty much not bad at all when it comes to mecanic. Every since, my engine starts less than 1 second and be able to play radio now for hours/hours without interrupted my battery power for future start.

Peace out brother!!! ]01 BMW X5 4.4i [Blue COLOR]

LightWerkz · #4 06-02-2010, 10:06 PM

$400 to change a headlight bulb? Thats about 4 hours of dealer labor time, ridiculous. Was the price of the bulb included? If so they can be pricey from dealer. Should of came north to visit me

Always replace xenon bulbs in pairs so they match in color and intensity.

If you need a replacement set let me know.

petener999 · #5 06-02-2010, 10:45 PM

I think $400 included part and labor..

TwinsPoppa · #6 06-02-2010, 10:55 PM

I don't think you have any recourse. Didn't you ask for a quote before they did the work? Mind telling us how the $400 invoice breaks down?

I'm guessing $175 -$200 of that was for the bulb alone.

rmani · #7 06-02-2010, 10:56 PM

$400 did include parts and labor, after my cca discount I got it down to $360 to be exact but still I feel robbed. lightwerkz i had no idea you existed and relatively close to me. If I bring the car up there can you swap the other one and get them to match for a good price? I'm also having issues with the rear tail lamp. On the driver's side the connections are pretty corroded resulting in a slightly dimmer output. I looked into getting a used lamp on ebay but if you have something at a good price I'd like to do that as well. BTW this really set me back so I need to wait a few weeks until I'm on my next billing cycle for the car. Thanks guy

Hit Redline · #8 06-03-2010, 12:23 AM

Sorry to say but you feel robbed, because you were robbed. Did you get an estimate before the repair? Not sure if the law is the same in all states but in Cali you are to receive a written estimate that requires your authorization before the work is done.

It was an emergency for you to have it done right away and it was a dealer so maybe that is on par for pricing. At the dealer I take my wife's 7 (its under warranty) to it takes weeks to get an appointment, even if it is safety issue.

Chalk this up to a learning lesson.

Lesson 1: Ask questions about a repair on the forum before having work done.

Engz · #9 06-03-2010, 01:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmani

$400 did include parts and labor, after my cca discount I got it down to $360 to be exact but still I feel robbed. lightwerkz i had no idea you existed and relatively close to me. If I bring the car up there can you swap the other one and get them to match for a good price? I'm also having issues with the rear tail lamp. On the driver's side the connections are pretty corroded resulting in a slightly dimmer output. I looked into getting a used lamp on ebay but if you have something at a good price I'd like to do that as well. BTW this really set me back so I need to wait a few weeks until I'm on my next billing cycle for the car. Thanks guy

Oh that really sucks man. The stealership is always my last resort. I'd try to give it a try myself first then if I can't handle the work, I'd just bring it to a indy shop.

About the tails, I know what you mean about it being corroded and causes the lights to be dim. I bought new socket connector (the piece you put your bulbs in) from the dealers and cleaned the metal bracket that powers all the lights in the tail lamp and still, I had issues with it. I then bought a set of non LED tail lamps from ebay for $80 + shipping. With these lamps, instead of using that metal bracket to power all the lights, it uses wires to power them.

This is the tails I bought. They have many different ones. If you want to spend more, you can get LED ones which look a lot better. Ever since I bought these, I never had that issue ever again.

Oh about the different color head lights. Maybe your old ones are just a different color and the dealer didn't match them. Maybe you could go back and let them know that you're not happy with the results. I'm pretty sure they will be kind enough to change them for you.

What color light comes out from the dealer's bulb?

rmani · #10 06-03-2010, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Engz

Oh that really sucks man. The stealership is always my last resort. I'd try to give it a try myself first then if I can't handle the work, I'd just bring it to a indy shop.

About the tails, I know what you mean about it being corroded and causes the lights to be dim. I bought new socket connector (the piece you put your bulbs in) from the dealers and cleaned the metal bracket that powers all the lights in the tail lamp and still, I had issues with it. I then bought a set of non LED tail lamps from ebay for $80 + shipping. With these lamps, instead of using that metal bracket to power all the lights, it uses wires to power them.

This is the tails I bought. They have many different ones. If you want to spend more, you can get LED ones which look a lot better. Ever since I bought these, I never had that issue ever again.

Oh about the different color head lights. Maybe your old ones are just a different color and the dealer didn't match them. Maybe you could go back and let them know that you're not happy with the results. I'm pretty sure they will be kind enough to change them for you.

What color light comes out from the dealer's bulb?

can you provide me a link to LED tails? Sounds cool I'll definitely consider a set assuming it doesn't look too aftermarket.