Buy the hitch from Crevier or Pacific and then take it to a local mechanic and he will be able to install for cheaper.
The install is not hard, but time consuming.

thanks for all the suggestions... I'll probably check on Pacific since its only a 30 min drive from my house.

Is the electrical wiring kit that comes with the OEM hitch easy to install? Will it require slicing into existing wiring and possibly screwing up BMW's touchy electrical system?

Yes, its easy to install and plug and play for the most part. No slicing.

How much additional time does adding the wiring harness take? I won't need to install that since my bikerack doesn't have brake lights. ;)

Took me about five minutes to install the wiring harness - three of which were spent trying to figure out how to remove a dummy cover off the vehicle side harness :rolleyes:

Seriously, all there is to it is removing the body plug behind the rear bumper, threading the harness thru the hole - including snapping the grommet seal into place, snapping the little control box into its slot behind the battery and connecting into the body harness(where the aforementioned dummy cover resided).

One last tip - install the harness before bolting the other hardware in place and be sure the wiring is routed properly behind the bumper before tightening it all up. Guess how I know...

The great part about DIY is that it doesn't cost more when you have to do it twice. :tsk:

Patrick

Wiring is under 5 minutes and hitch module is probably 15 minutes as you have to open the part next to battery.