Mechanic’s Bill
 

We just bought a 2012 BMW X5 with 100,000 miles. We put 1,000 miles on it to make sure we liked the vehicle. I decided to have a lot of maintenance items done: Having my mechanic perform the following:
Replace transmission pan w/filter, mechatronic seals & fluid.
Flush power steering , replacing reservoir and new fluid.
Flush brake system.
Replace serp belt, tensioner, and idler pulley.
Service transfer case, new fluid.
Service differential, new fluid.
Replace spark plugs.

I provided all the materials, with the mechanic charging me 800 bucks. I have had this mechanic do all my work for the last 18 years.

My question, just the Mechanic’s bill sound reasonable?

Thanks,
Bob

I’d say you’re good +\- a wee bit, yes.

If he truly pulled the mech and did the seals, pickup tubes, etc, that’s a bit of work for sure.

Not to mention a full brake flush and fill, not super labor intensive but definitely a bit of know how required and to put tensioner pulleys and a belt on the entire air intake path just about has to come off.

You definitely didn’t get ripped off [emoji106]

Thanks for the reply, Purplefade. For whatever reason I was thinking 500-600 dollars and then got hit with 800.
Glad to hear 800 was appropriate for the amount of work, like I said this guy has done all our mechanic work for 18 and has always been fair. Sounds like that still the case!
Sounds like dropping off some donuts at his shop tomorrow would be in order.....

It’s kind of a shit load of work. Could take a tech a full work day. Incidentals and knowing wtf you doing, especially a bmw, your price is decent.

Very decent price. Definitely worth some donuts. Nice to have a long time relationship with a shop. I guarantee you a new customer doesn't get that price and maybe not be able to provide own parts. The shop I was at only did that for the longest and most familiar of customers.

very good price IMO

Thanks for the responses. I haven’t ask how much something costs when I take something in for service for a long time. Not because my ship came in, but because if I take it in, it needs to be done and I feel confident it will be done right at a fair price!
Thanks so much for confirming I can continue the way my shop and I do business!!!

I wouldn't complain about that price. I would have charged $1K+ to do just the labor... The fact that he's willing to use the parts & fluids you bought without jacking up to premium dealership labor rates in yuppyville is pretty honorable as well.

I absolutely LOATH pulling the transmission pans & dropping valve bodies... Something about laying in a bunch ATF & having it slowly trickle down my arms while trying to finagle the valve body back into place without damaging any of the precision machined surface seals, is quite aggravating to me... It's not a hard job to do, but it is annoyingly tedious / frustrating in my opinion...

Congrats on the purchase, it's a great car IF you maintain them properly with preventative maintenance.

SPL15, thanks for the response.
Rest assured I really, really appreciate the relationship I have with this shop and his mechanics.
I was in Texas visiting with family when we came across this 2012, it appeared to be in great shape, but with a few more miles than we liked. We wouldn’t think of buying it without talking to our mechanic. So after calling and talking to Mark, confirming he worked on BMW’s and his thoughts on them, we made the deal.
And he voiced pretty much what you said SPL15....great car, but maintenance has to be at the forefront and don’t get alarmed at an oil spot on the garage floor.....leaks around seals are a common issue!
If you don’t mind, can you think of anything we should have done to the vehicle?
Thanks...

Harmonic balancer should've been done too