Who is the best shop for ///M cars in NOVA or Richmond?
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Who is the best shop for ///M cars in NOVA or Richmond?
Who amongst us has had enough work done at every shop in the area to be in a position to give an informed opinion? All you can do is sort through the various recommendations, make some direct phone calls to ask the right questions, pick one, and most important, cross your fingers.
Thumb's up for Autowerke/Autoy. I took my car in for an estimate to have the front strut/spring assemblies pulled and new assemblies put in (E39). I told them what stymied me (unable to pop tierod end loose from knuckle) and they told me that contrary to intenet how-to info, no need to remove tierod end. Saved me big bucks and I did the work yesterday afternoon. It was easy as taking candy from babies, not that I recommend that or even giving candy to babies :rolleyes:
Seriously, who is the best of the best as far as working on ///M engines in NOVA? I'm really not into throwing darts at board when it comes to my M3?
Chicane,
You will not get a better answer than that from WoodyM3 in comment #42. You have gotten plenty of advice (and Woody's is usually pretty good), and nobody can guarantee that the service you will receive - even at the BMW factory - will be the best.
It is now up to you to do your duty and make your considered choice.
Best of luck!
Alan :tongue:
You don't even say which M3 you have. The E36 with S52 engine is pretty much the same engine as any 325 or 328 of the same era and any competent shop can handle that. The E30 and E46 engines are a little more unique. James at RRT near Dulles has tons of experience working on both. Bill Shook at Kraftwagon in Alexandria has worked on the E30's S14 for many years, including more re-builds than he desired. I don't know if he's taking on new customers now or not.
Thanks.
we don't charge extra on parts, we discount all parts installed 15%, sometimes more depending on the part. we do not charge list price on any part. we only use oem parts or equivalent i.e. mann filters, ate rotors, pagid pads, etc. if you bring your own parts we don't jack up the labor rates either. we, as most shops, do not warranty the parts you bring in. our shop is Deutsch American, we've been in business for about 15 years, and our website is being updated/created. hopefuly, we will get the website up very soon. we are located off of 270 5 minutes south of frederick.
I feel the need to add AT Speed Motorsports to the list of repair shops, off Coca Cola drive in Hanover,Md. convenient to 295 and 95, just off rte.100. The only non dealer, authorized DINAN service center in the area! www.atspeedmotorsports.com. For Porsche, Audi, BMW and Mercedes repair as well as your other cars.
Does anyone have experience with Ashburn European Service Center & Glen Jensen? A local E28 owner mentioned the place, but I'm not familiar with the shop.
TIA!
I've used fairfax motors off main street for about 5 years now. They are convenient to my home, prices are comparable, loaner car and honor most aftermarket warranty repair. They have worked on my 01 325ci when i had it and my current car (04 m3 cabrio) since the factory warranty ran out in March of this year.
Brian is the shop manager and Charlie is the service writer.
Good people there and any indy shop is better than the stealership!
I just wanted to give major props to RRT:
http://www.roadracetech.com/
They fixed a problem on my M3 that no one else could and for that I am eternally grateful. Well worth the trip from Richmond, but if I was a local I would use them exclusively.
I couldn't open them. Could you please list them on the thread?
The following is Dan's List reference in this tread's first post.
The shops that I am personally familiar with are first, followed by some that I've heard about. Labor rates are indicated when known.
Dan Martin's Auto Service
8100 H Beechcraft Avenue
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
(301) 926-8977
Small shop but the work is excellent; he knows BMW's very well and his prices are very good. One year warranty. Frequented by the more 'performance-driven' club members. Well-acquianted with older BMW's and M-cars. ($75/hr)
J & F Motors
4064 S. Four Mile Run Dr.
Arlington, VA 22206
(703) 671-7757
Excellent service and workmanship. One year warranty. Prices are higher than some other independents and management attitude can be a bit 'snooty.' Well-suited to cutomers who want to be pampered or those who don't 'know' their Bimmer. Unfortunately, their best wrench, Bill Brochu has moved on to Virginia Beach, but the rest of the staff is quite competent. ($90/hr, $110/hr if you supply parts)
Alexandria Bavarian Service
Grant Randall
416 East Raymond Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22301
(703) 836-2002
Superb work. Two year warranty. These guys live and breathe Bimmers. Blunt with their opinions, but very passionate and relatively thorough. Well-acquianted with 6er's, older/newer BMW's. TireRack direct sales & service, too. ($90/hr)
London Auto Services, Ltd.
Tom Baruch
7718 Lee Highway
Falls Church, VA 22042
(703) 560 - 6975
Widely considered to be the 'coupe-king' of the D.C. metropolitan area. Lots of experience with 1st Generation M-Cars, E30's, E28's, E24's, E12's and E9's. I've been pleased with Tom's professionalism and expertise. ($85/hr)
Road Race Technologies, Inc.
Barry Battle
23700 Overland Drive
Dulles, VA 20166
(703) 661-4222 (service)
A full-service shop of BMW racing fanatics who can do everything you need, be it oil changes to fuel cell installations. Formerly of Bimmerworld, Battle carries quality OEM and performance parts, some of which RRT has custom machined to spec. ($85/hr)
(The shops below have come up in discussion or searches, but I've never used them, personally.)
Martin Motorsports, Inc. (not affiliated with Dan Martin)
460a S Pickett St
Alexandria, VA 22304
(703) 823-9735
Well-regarded by club members. Personal experience with M6's, E24's and E28's. ($80/hr)
Sigy's Service Center
Siegfried Krause
110 Crabb Ave
Rockville MD 20850
(301) 881-6725
Some laud the service, others loathe the attitude. Krause is legendary/notorious amongst local service departments.
BMW Excluservice
12224 Parklawn Drive
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 231-5400
A little pricey and getting more expensive; it used to be one of the best shops in the mid-Atlantic region, but now is looking to be sold to new owners, while customers bear the expense of making the profit margin look appetizing. Few service techs/mechanics stay in Lothar's employ for very long these days.
Autoy / Autowerke
11848 Coakley Circle
Rockville, MD 20852
(301)-770-0700
Used as a 'secondary-shop' by a friend who otherwise patronizes Dan Martin's shop. Well considered amongst Maryland-area club members.
Curry's Auto Service
4003A Westfax Drive
Chantilly, VA 20151
(703) 502-0400
1510 Moran Road
Sterling, VA 20166
(571) 522-1002
Rumor has it that their prices are high, though the service is acceptable. Quite often, the recommendations err on the side of caution... and the bottom line.
Advantage Certified
8503 Euclid Avenue
Suite 5
Manassas Park, VA 20111
(703) 361-3335
Recommended by a handful of BMW CCA members from the National Capital Chapter. According to another member, “My general impression was that they were competent, honest, and repaired the car correctly in a timely manner. The prices were only slightly cheaper than going to the dealership however. If you need a loaner, they only have a couple of loaner cars that you need to reserve in advance.†($99/hr)
Fairfax Service Center
Reese Sherbaf
2850 Prosperity Avenue
Fairfax, VA. 22031
(703) 560-1700
A certified Dinan dealer and service shop, the reviews have been mixed, especially when dealing with older, non-OBD cars that need to be diagnosed, rather than downloaded.
AutoThority
3769-B Pickett Road
Fairfax, VA 22031
(703) 323-7830
German Autoworks
Dennis Burke
Rockville, MD
(301) 424-7463
Autodynamics
Don Andrews
15862 Somrvle Dr
Rockville, MD
(301) 948-4744
Or better yet, buy some tools and get your fingers dirty, then you can only blame yourself for shoddy work. These older models aren't magical to work on ,actually a lot simpler than some japanese stuff. I would be happy to charge $50 /hr. doing some of these simple maintenance jobs.
At Speed Motorsports; in Hanover, Maryland is outstanding.
I am new to the CCA. I have owned three BMWs over the years and currently own a 1997 528i. It has been a great car. Currently, I am in the market for a e 39 m5. I have looked at several over the last two months, two by private owners and two by dealers. My question is this. Has anyone had any dealings with EEE Luxury Automobiles located next to Pallone Chevrolet? They have plenty of BMWs for sale on their website. They currently have an Avus blue 2000 m5. I drove it yesterday. The salesman says they are taking business away from the various dealers due to their quality vehicles and maintenance. They advertise a 12 month 12,000 mile free maintenace warranty. He said they work on everything. They have been there for two years having moved from Arlington. No mention of the in Washington Consumers Checkbook. Also, I would be interested in any comments/ suggestions on e39 m5s.
Thanks, Bill Goss
For what it's worth (probably not much actually) I live in Arlington and have never heard of them. There are lots of used car lots in the Clarendon - Ballston corridor that seem to come and go all the time.
Is there a shop you recommend for MD inspection?
I had my Miata pre-purchase inspection in VA at Convenience Car Center, and while they woul have passed the car for VA inspection, they can't do MD.
It's 16 years old with 175k miles, so I am afraid of bringing it to a shop without knowing anyone there.
I'm still relatively new to this area, so I don't have a regular mechanic yet (my '07 335 will keep me in that position for at least a few more years, I hope!)
Any shop near Columbia is a plus, but I will certainly travel to a good shop to avoid complications.
Thanks!
Dan's labor rate is 99/hr. I was just there yesterday to get some estimate. I am getting estimates for the coil over kit and the front wheel bearing work, labor for which largely overlap, but they are quoting the work separately.
Martin Motorsports rate is $98.50
As a follow up, I've been going to Road Race Technologies in Dulles for about a year now. They are a racing shop and do good work. There is also Curry's Auto service that does general repairs. They do decent work but they charge you 120 as opposed to 95, and they aren't BMW centric.
All in all the RRT guys are pretty straight forward and will back up their work. The only mild gripe I have is that they push their motul oil's quite a bit. I know BMW uses castrol, and all the BMW owners I've met use mobil one/amsoil/lubromoly and more recently redline. So it's kinda odd. But besides that quirk, they are good folks that you can have a beer with.
I ended up using Ed York at York Automotive in Mt. Airy.
Can't say enough good things about Ed's shop, his work is excellent, his rates are reasonable, and he knows what he's doing.
My 2002 325xit is up for Inspection 2. Great info here on finding independent shops.
The question I have is how many of the items on the Inspection 2 list are actually performed? While the car was under warranty I noticed that every dealer would check the boxes for oil and other fundamentals on Inspections 1 and 2, but 75% of the list was left unchecked. The stealers (Sterling and Arlington) always told me that "of course it was all done" but frankly I figured they were lying.
Just curious if anyone knows if Curry's bought out J&F....
Interesting. A few months ago, before I opted for an M3 off eBay, I looked at some Perf Package 3 series for sale at J&F's front lot, and the cars seemed unattended to...dirty, low tire pressures, expired safety stickers. Drove by not long ago and a quick glance seemed to show the cars still there. Not the way to stay in business. A few months ago we took our 2000 328Ci to J&F and they professed no knowledge about Vanos seal problems...even if they did agree that after a cold start the engine surged and even quit.
The Bimmer Sales office that operated out of J & F's building was not under the same ownership as far as I know.
Just took possession of a 1994 530i sport wagon. Overall in good shape, however, I need a shop I will be able to work with on a long term basis.
I bought my 1999 BMW 528i from Advantage Certified in Manassas and have had them do repair work for me. I like them and Convenience Car Care Center. Tim, the owner of CCCC, has been the host of several DIY events and is very helpful. If you subscribe to Checkbook Magazine or can find it in your local library, their review of local repair shops is extremely useful. Another source is the Car Talk site. Look for the MechanX section, put in your information and find the names of good shops in your neighborhood.
A quick set of comments on three independents in NoVA- Advantage Certified, Alexandria Bavarian, & RRT. I can provide details on each upon request. Context - I expect a lot out of a repair shop, both customer service and quality car care and am willing to pay for that service. That said:
Advantage Certified - Took my car there for a little more than a year, major and minor service. They do offer loaners, customer service is only OK (can be really nice or really nasty), but I am convinced they were recommending expensive work ($2k+) that did not need to be done. They did fix what I asked but two later mechanics told me some of their recommended work was unnecessary. For work you know needs done, they are OK. However, wrt their recommendations and dedication to customer service, caveat emptor. I won't go back.
ABS - They know BMWs and their repairs, thoroughness, and work was outstanding. I'd recommend them without reservation except that they can take some time to get to your car (like a week plus once and then only after I had called multiple times to see what was going on and to explain repeatedly what the problem was) and, as others have noted, their customer relations are, well, a bit rough around the edges. If you can afford to give up your car for a while (like overnight for an oil service - I cannot) and can spar with them about it, they do excellent work.
RRT - Excellent service, car and customer. I've been going there for about two years and have been very satisfied. They recommend what needs to be done and not more, offer advice and suggestions, and are just nice to hang out with and talk about cars. Highly recommended shop. The only downside might be their location, on the far side of Dulles. For me (western Fairfax) it is fine but for those further in towards DC, it could be a bit far. For those guys, I'd recommend ABS but just be ready to be snarled at...
My .02
I've started going to RRT when I needed coilover kit installed. I have since been back there multiple times. They sometimes miss things if you don't talk to them in person vs. writing it on a overnight drop. Their labor rate is reasonable and about the only downside is their location. I, too, agree about them only using Motul fluids for everything, but I doubt they will mind if you brought your own. I typically bring my own parts even though they have a sign that says that they do not allow it, or something to that effect.
All I can say is that Dan is a great guy.
Took my 5 series (545) in for an oil/filter change and had them look at a wheel that had a slow leak based on recommendations from this forum. When I called to make the appointment and a price quote my quote was $150 w/ a 10% CCA discount. Cool. So they do the oil change and I guess they didn't have the filter for my car because I see a parts guy from BMW of Sterling show up w/ an oil filter.
One of the techs came out and told me my wheel is slightly bent but should be ok and shouldn't need to be replaced (appreciated the honest assessment) but that the tire has a bulge in the sidewall most likely from a pothole. Nice, just bought the Conti DWS's in December w/ no road-hazard insurance of course!:frown: Then they present me the bill. Total came to $179 and change. On one hand they were thorough and showed me what was wrong and didn't charge me for the wheel inspection, on the other hand the 10% club discount was only on the $17.60 oil filter ($1.76). Really!?!? And the oil is motul at $12+ per quart (I need 8.5 quarts). Their rate is $95 per hour, and it only took .5 hours but the oil worked out to over $110 (used 8.5 of 9 quarts) plus the oil filter.
My first reaction was where was the $150 oil/filter change w/ a 10% club discount? My expectation is that when I call a BMW specialist, tell them my model type, and ask for a quote I expect a fairly accurate quote. I was expecting $135 plus whatever they would have charged for the wheel/tire inspection (which the tire didn't come off the wheel). Maybe it would've worked out to be the same had they charged me? I don't know but while they were friendly I'm not sure I'll go back. For that kind of money I could go to Sterling. Maybe next time I'll try CCC in Manassas. I like to support businesses that support the CCA whenever I can.
Anyways, that was my experience.
$12 a quart seems outrageous, synthetics are down to $4/$6 at chain stores.
Anyone have any experience with Einstein's Auto Repair in College Park, MD? I sort of just ran across them, saw they have a GT-1 in the shop (seems pretty rare to find that).