I am a 3rd year college student attending UVA.
I just took my BMW to the dealership today for an upper radiator hose leak to be replaced. The labor to change the hose was $444. I talked to my father who owns a mechanic shop in the west coast, and he indicated to me the labor is .5 hrs to change the hose according to the UNIVERSAL MITCHELL PROGRAM, that is nationwide used by all mechanic shops.
I asked the service advisor what their hourly labor rate is; and she indicated $185 per hour. I told her this is a half an hour job, the labor should’ve been $92.50, not $444. She informed me that they go by the BMW rate of 2.4 HRS for a 30min job. I said “okay.” Then I found out that they charged me $33 for ONE gallon of concentrated BMW antifreeze, which in reality when mixed 50/50, it makes 2 gallons. Knowingly from what my father told me, by removing the upper radiator hose, it will probably take 1/2 a gallon to fill up the reservoir and radiator. I asked the service adviser, since I paid for 1 gallon, I want my 1/2 gallon back.
They looked for it in the shop and could not find it. (Since my dad is in the mechanic business, he informed me what probably happened was I paid for 1 GALLON, and the remaining 1/2 a gallon was used on someone else’s vehicle, and another customer paid $33 for the other 1/2 gallon. This is theft to customers.)
UPDATE as of 8/18/2024:
As you all know, a couple days ago I left a bad review for Charlottesville BMW. The following the day at approx 11:30am, Danielle Turner who is the service manager contacted me via text. She indicated she wanted to make it better for us. Since my father was with me, he talked to her and we made an appointment to speak with her in person. Prior to us going to see Ms. Turner my father contacted BMW Sacramento CA and BMW Bend OR.
It was brought to our attention that BMW does use their own BMW hourly rate book. However, both BMW from two different states informed us to change the upper radiator hose, it was only 1hr labor, not 2.4 like Ms. Turner indicated to us when the job was done. My father also contacted EuroMotive a local owned business in Charlottesville that specializes in European cars. They also said their labor rate is 1hr to change the upper radiator hose. Their labor rate is $139. BMW Charlottesville is $185.
Upon arrival to BMW Charlottesville, we sat in Ms. Turner’s office and my dad once again went over the MISC $50 dollar charge. Since the day we picked up the car, she indicated the misc charge was for cleaning supplies. Upon returning home we opened the hood and noticed all the antifreeze spilled was over the car. If I’m paying for so called “cleaning supplies” why wasn’t my engine bay cleaned? My father explained this issue to Ms. Turner. This time Ms. Turner indicated misc was for hazmat. My father said to her “we are going to agree to disagree, please reimburse my $50.” Ms. Turner did not hesitate to reimburse me the $50, furthermore she offered to have my engine bay cleaned. I declined to have the engine bay cleaned due to the fact the engine was hot, the cold water used to clean it would lead to a crack in my heads.
After informing Ms. Turner that not only 2 BMW dealerships who uses “BMW hourly rate” from two different states, and 1 local privately owned shop from Charlottesville that the labor was in fact 1hr.
Ms. Turner very professionally apologized and didn’t question my sayings, and was willing to refund the 1.4hr difference. Ms. Turner was very apologetic for the misunderstanding and she behaved in a very professional manner.
I highly recommend to any future customers that have their vehicle serviced at BMW Charlottesville to get their ducks in a row as far as costs for repair. If any discrepancy for those customers that have little automotive knowledge I highly recommend to speak with Ms. Turner because I felt she wants to do the right thing.
July 2024 by C Truslow
Fantastic service center! Everyone is polite, Gary is very knowledgeable and friendly. I really enjoy the new waiting area.
July 2024 by Chris Fyfe
Such an easy 5 Star review to write. Drove up on a whim. Greeted by Malik Salisbury. Malik showed my wife her new X3 before we even got inside the dealership. Even though BMW's purchasing system was down, all of the dealership's staff involved pushed through to complete the sale. As happy as I was with Malik's knowledge of the product and great attitude, the wife is ten times happier with her new ride. Happy wife ... Happy life!!
July 2024 by Andrew Long
Great buying experience! Highly recommend this dealership. Exceptional customer service and our car was perfect! Ask for David Valcich, he's great!
July 2024 by El y
How do you miss an issue with control arm before performing an alignment?
May 2024 by Megan Miller
I had an amazing experience at this bmw! I had just arrived in town and my caliper had gotten stuck which completely wore down my brake pads. Gary was able to get this covered under warranty instead of me paying out of pocket. He had great customer service and made sure I was taken care of the entire time from start to finish! Some of the best service I had compared to other bmw dealerships I’ve been to!
May 2024 by Marcus Steppe
Thank you guys for always making things right I was upset about personal other things and I said some false statement that won’t true about your company, which is not true you guys are definitely awesome. Always coming through to make things right I do appreciate you again. I hope we can always do good business and thank you to Gary and I want to thank you Stewart Drake. Very professional
May 2024 by Trevor Richardson
I ordered a 2024 BMW M3 Competiton Xdrive from them, everything was great, Donte kept me in the loop throughout the 3-month production time.
After the sale however, there were a few issues that came up that didn't get addressed in a timely fashion. So, I reached out to the General Manager Stuart Drake. He replied within a few minutes of sending him an email late in the evening. Didn't expect that fast of a response. The next morning, he took care of everything that needed to be done. Him stepping in definitely made me feel at ease and I will not hesitate to order my next M car from them in the future!
May 2024 by Jacob Via
I had to schedule routine maintenance in February of 2024. Gary worked with my schedule and was able to schedule a date that worked with me. The battery in my key was low and the parts department changed it for me quickly. When I came in for service, Raven checked me in. The service team texted me with updates during the service. When the service was complete, I received a video in a text message from the technician explaining and showing everything done during the maintenance. I absolutely love that they do this. This service team is always top notch. Well done BMW of Charlottesville!
May 2024 by Andrew Dean
Had horrible experiences with this service center, they recently damaged my car during an oil change and refused to acknowledge it until I contacted flow HQ. Have 0 confidence they can repair a car at this point, seek out another bmw mechanic
May 2024 by AnneCarter Thomas
It's our 5th BMW from BMW (formerly Crown) of Charlottesville, and the sales team did not disappoint! Donte Thomas is equal parts charming and a skilled negotiator, leaning into his sales managers to close the sale. He found me exactly what we wanted, and he deserves a 10+++++ rating!
May 2024 by Vivian Harris
Service dept: second visit here and Im done. The sales department is terrible at customer service (exception to pleasant Morgan). No greeting with an an attitude of annoyance upon entry on my past two initial visits. My box of personal items in the back seat were moved and looked like someone went through it. The service guy does not show reliability to perform BMW quality services. Both of my visits had upcharging from his rough handed mistakes (not to mention wasting my time watching videos with an attempt to justify his carelessness). I have absolutely no problem paying for quality work but that is not what Im seeing here. Advice: STAY AWAY from the service department. There are two (higher star rated) quality BMW repair shops nearby with good customer service and quality repair work. There has to be a reason for that! A BMW location should exemplify excellence and no matter how hard the sales floor works to offer that at this location the service department will ruin it here. Btw BMW: No need to respond with a comment because based on your previous reviews you have some work to do at the business not leave a comment when you cant get it right the first time to new customers.
March 2024 by Bilal Srour
Very unprofessional and sketchy BMW dealership. I contacted them to get a quote for an M340i. A representative named Donate Thomas emailed me back with a quote of the price of the car which he straight up said it’s nonnegotiable and a forced $999 protection coating for the car plus a $749 DOC FEE!! And when I requested that these fees be removed he replied with “numbers are numbers a lot of people are interested in the car.
This is absolutely sketchy and unprofessional. Do yourself a favor and shop at a different dealer.
March 2024 by Anthony Cellini
Have had a relationship with this dealership for the last few years. They’ve always treated me right but recently I took my car in for service and I got it back with all of my stuff stolen out of it. When I first alerted the service desk, they were very apologetic And that’s when the communication stopped I even talked to Flow corporate and they said they would get back to me, still nothing. Stuff is only stuff and I can get that back, but the way that this was handled just ignoring the problem and not communicating a solution, or even offering one is the reason I will never use this dealership again. I don’t write reviews normally but had to write this one because of how poor a theft claim has been treated with a client and how violated it makes you feel.
March 2024 by jessica hartman
I've worked in customer service my working life and this dealership is in desperate need of training. The customer care/service is severely lacking, and honestly the place is dirty. I will NEVER go back to this place to purchase/sell/service a vehicle.
