Re: BMW's Smart Repair Service for smaller nicks & dents Seems to be a good initiative, but depends mainly on 2 factors for me
- Pricing, Obviously. I would be willing to pay a 1.5 to 2x premium over a good independent garage, but not more that that.
- Turn around time : If i can get my car repaired at an FNG in 1 day, I would expect BMW to also do it in the same time, and not keep it longer. (I have only one car)
- Can they do spot painting of the damage, or would they do the complete panel? At FNGs, while the paint coat needs to be applied only to the damaged area, the clearcoat is applied to the whole panel.
While i agree that these are complex cars, but not everything is complex about them. Denting and painting process is same for all cars, from a Maruti to a BMW. A good FNG can do a great job here. Even if BMW has the OEM paint shades in their workshop, they still have to do a visual match and color matching adjustments before application.
Also, for many other jobs like brake pads, rotors, suspension parts and other wear and tear items, an FNG can do a good job as long as you source good quality spares (Textar, Lemforder, ATE, Bosch etc.) and we don't have to run to ASS and pay 5x the cost.
Yes, for complex repairs, the best is the ASS, and you are covered as long as you are in warranty. After that, be ready for some eye watering bills and long downtimes if anything goes wrong with these Europeans.
Rgds |