Hey everybody,

Has anybody been able to negotiate a lower price on service from their dealer?

I'd would really like to have the OEM iPod adapter put in by my dealer (no warranty issues, etc), but he's quoting a rip-off price. In addition the price of the part, he wants $225 for labor, saying it's a two-hour job. Having seen the installation manual from MINI, I know it's about a half-hour job. Armed with this info, $225 seems fair for the adapter AND the install labor.

Based on everybody's experiences with their dealers, does $225 seem reasonable for this part/install?

 

What does the manual say is estimated install time? If it says 30 min in the manual and many dealers charge for an hour's worth of labor right off the bat, then $100 is reasonable for labor. But if the manual say more than 30 min, all you can really do is hold them to the fire on the manual's estimated installation time...

 

I would imagine that unless there was something else being done, that it's non-negotiable. If you get a deal, it might get posted somewhere, and then the dealer would be put in a position of giving out varying prices for the same service.

 

The manual (at least the one posted on line) clearly states that the install takes a half hour. Even at BMW/MINI's inflated rates, I think $75 for a half hour is plenty. Even if it takes a bit longer (say 45 minutes), this amount still seems fair.

I'll let you all know what I find out; although I get the feeling the "negotiation" will go nowhere.

Thanks for the input!

 

Do you have any local MINI tech types that can do it?

$225 is a lot. They wanted $150 to install my aux, I said "I'll do it". 10 minute job.

 

You could buy yourself a nice starter set of basic tools, learn to do it yourself, and still have plenty of money for beer and the satisfaction of doing something yourself.

I'm no skilled mechanic, but I do enjoy doing the simple basic stuff that I am comfortable with or know is simple enough for me to learn how to do myself.