F#@king how much?....

[Bren]

Mate has an 08 plate 3 series convertible with xenon headlights.

 

One of the bulbs went - how much to supply and fit?

 

The cheapest quote was £165 - the bulb cost £90.

 

Fook me.

[sierraman]

Yes, did an X5 a while back, Sytner wanted £110 plus fitting. Got a bulb £30 on trade. Swine to fit though.

[Captain Furious]

All modernz...etc

 

Taking it that's not at a BMW dealer, otherwise £165 would be the cost of them diagnosing that the bulb was not working.

[Lukas]

If the xenon-burner really goes kaputt, you have to change the whole head-light, our Honda dealer said when I asked about the 2010 CRV my wife drives. 

 

Costs: 800€. 

 

I stick with the H4 on my Pajeros, thanks. 

[Split_Pin]

Not just BMWs before anyone starts harping on. When the DRLs on my wife's pals fiancé'a Kia something-something went it would have been £1300 for a complete light unit had it not been a warranty job.

[hpi_matrix]

Should be able to get access from the arch liner I think, bulbs can also be had cheaper: https://www.hids4u.co.uk/d1s-xenon-hid-bulbs/

[SiC]

If the xenon-burner really goes kaputt, you have to change the whole head-light, our Honda dealer said when I asked about the 2010 CRV my wife drives. 

 

Costs: 800€. 

 

I stick with the H4 on my Pajeros, thanks. 

On my 2007 Civic, the HID driver is a separate unit that attaches to the light assembly. This is the same with the majority of cars and most likely the same with your CRV. I suspect the Honda dealer just replace the whole assembly as its easier.

[Liggle]

Yep, previous owner of my old 3 series replaced the Xenon unit at £140 fitted! 

[RayMK]

All modernz...etc

 

Taking it that's not at a BMW dealer, otherwise £165 would be the cost of them diagnosing that the bulb was not working.

Brilliant comment.  Made me laugh.

 

A chap at work bought a £3-50 headlight bulb for his Avensis.  He gave up trying to fit it one lunch hour.  His friendly Toyota dealer fitted it for him : £76.  This was 10 years ago.

[Bren]

It was an independant - dealer cost over £100 more.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I changed a bulb last year on my W211 Merc , I think it was £60 from GSF. Pain in the arse to change, although the stickers warning of 25,0000 volts and certain death if an unauthorised person touched the bulb were a little bit over the top, I thought.

The new* Merc has a flickering headlight, which I think is the power pack or whatever they're called- looks like £100 at least- all modernz r shit etc.

[Asimo]

I have driven only one HID equipped car (Avantime) at night, the lights were OK but nothing extraordinary.

 

Best keep quiet about HID when selling! 

[JohnDeere]

Marketing department to designer: "the punters want blingy xenon headlights, because their next door neighbour has them"

 

Designer to manufacturing: "the only cheap way to fit xenons on the production line is with a whole unit that goes in before the engine is fitted, cost to us €39"

 

Manufacturing to dealer: "if these go wrong under warranty, you need to replace the whole unit. Parts cost €250"

 

Dealer to third owner eight years later: "your blown headlamp will cost you €750 to replace, parts and labour".

 

Third owner: "Can't be arsed. I'll just drive around with one headlamp, a price worth paying to have a German motor on my drive".

[Junkman]

What? New BMWs are expensive to buy and run?

It never used to be like this.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Complete madness. They'll be getting rid of handbrake levers and sticking buttons there instead next.

[Vince70]

I did hear that if a LED rear bulb goes on the rear cluster on a modern BMW the complete unit has to be changed and reprogrammed to the ECU so is its a main dealer job.. So I guess there's not much change out of £500 for basically a bulb change.

But I guess there must be a way around it such as sending the original unit away for repair but I would still call it extortion rather than progress.

Give me a pack of assorted bulbs from pound land anyday over that tat.

[For Fiats Sake]

So this is why they have a bulb out and drive with fogs on all the time then?

 

Last week three motors passed me all with one headlight out, travelling in convoy.

 

I'd like to see this played on the telly again:

 

https://youtu.be/_byaU4xGWFQ

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Mate has an 08 plate 3 series convertible with xenon headlights.

 

One of the bulbs went - how much to supply and fit?

 

The cheapest quote was £165 - the bulb cost £90.

 

Fook me.

 

 

Did he get a quote from the BMW specialist Darren Wood in Stockport? (IIRC you're in the North West?). We recently had a failed DSC Hydro unit on a BMW E91 325i Touring - the repair quotes varied wildly!

 

Darren Wood in Stockport quoted £495 inc VAT -

David Paul BMW specialist in Warrington wanted £865

Williams BMW quoted £2165 (IIRC +VAT) including a 10% loyalty discount since the car had a FBMWSH. They charged £98.28  to diagnose - then refused to disclose the fault codes - and incredibly also charged £12 to 'top the battery up" when they were checking the codes.

 

We took it to Darren Wood who diagnosed the car for free - and repaired the car successfully and without fuss. It has remained fixed, so will be taking the car there for servicing  now.

 

Get him to try Darren Wood - they could well be a lot cheaper and in my experience at least are better than the dealer in the way they look after the car.

 

http://www.darren-wood.com/index.php

[cort16]

I got the HID for my Cadillac for £30 quid from my local factors, which was half halfords and better than the really cheap ones I bought from Amazon that didn't work.

I think you need to drop the bumper on the BMW hence the labour. This isn't the only make that does this.

 

The total bill for replacing a headlamp on my bosses 330d was nearly 2 grand. He got the claim in a week before the warranty run out. BOOOM.

[Bren]

Our vectra's headlights are so pish night vision goggles are a requirement at night.

Jackie Chan and Richard Kiel in vectra.

[Junkman]

Complete madness. They'll be getting rid of handbrake levers and sticking buttons there instead next.

 

Yeah, and replacement will cost 3,437.68 plus VAT, because the digital doo dah enhancer needs to be replaced as well with a modified version

and a module that makes it backward compatible, then the front left window motor, sunroof and right driver's seat bolster inflator motor

have to be reentered into the can bus because they share the main link address with the handbrake button, spectacle washer and taillight wiper.

Yep, deffo main dealer stuff.

 

I really like the First World and people who think they need such shit and then go and finance it.

[garbaldy]

I did hear that if a LED rear bulb goes on the rear cluster on a modern BMW the complete unit has to be changed and reprogrammed to the ECU so is its a main dealer job.. So I guess there's not much change out of £500 for basically a bulb change.

But I guess there must be a way around it such as sending the original unit away for repair but I would still call it extortion rather than progress.

Give me a pack of assorted bulbs from pound land anyday over that tat.

 

When the LED tail light went on mine I cut it in half as they are glued together and re soldered the connections, it worked for a few months then went dead again,

I ordered a new tail light at £150 delivered and fitted it myself with no ECU shenanigans.

[sierraman]

Wait till the Electric windows pack in, then find it's the FMA(??) module. That's £600...

 

I don't really subscribe to all this bullshit about BMWs being superbly engineered. Maybe 30 years ago, but now they, similar with most German stuff apart from Merc, are just overpriced rubbish.

[John F]

This should go in the "grins" thread.

[hpi_matrix]

Wait till the Electric windows pack in, then find it's the FMA(??) module. That's £600...

 

I don't really subscribe to all this bullshit about BMWs being superbly engineered. Maybe 30 years ago, but now they, similar with most German stuff apart from Merc, are just overpriced rubbish.

 

Rover is above them on the reliability index!

 

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/manufacturer

[Hendry]

Why are these bulbs so expensive?

 

I remember being on the Vauxhall Trade Club website looking for exhaust and brakes for my Astra, and there's a section on bulbs and I'm thinking nobody seriously goes to a main dealer for bulbs at trade price, can pick them up virtually anywhere for next to nothing, then saw this D2S bulb I think for the Astras with adaptive forward lighting and it was about £50 + VAT at trade price, I nearly choked on my tea when I saw that!

 

Although that said the LED tail lamps on my Jetta are seemingly fucked and need replaced once the individual LEDs give up, Piss Easy to replace the unit, I can do it in literally 2 minutes start to finish now but I'd imagine a new light unit is £200 instead of a 50p bulb. They haven't failed yet and the cars nearly 8 years old whereas with normal bulbs they would probably have blown a couple of times by now, so if they last forever fair enough but it's VAG I doubt this.

 

I also remember looking in the owners handbook for my dads Mondeo when he first got it to see what bulb changes were like as being a taxi driver who works predominantly at night he goes through loads of bulbs, was shocked to discover the LED daytime running lights on it also require replacement if they stop working because the light unit is sealed. Probably a bumper off job to replace so also mega bucks. Same with my old 15plate Corsa, LED DRLs built into the headlights which otherwise have standard bulbs so a perfectly good headlight binned and £250-300 on a new one if the DRL ever packs in, but yet the base models had DRLs with bulbs that could be changed.

 

I'm all for progress with stuff light cruise control, climate control, heated windscreen, USB, Bluetooth, DAB, auto lights, rain sensor wipers and stuff in cars but do we really need electronic parking brakes, dual mass flywheels, LED and xenon headlights, and all this other pish. What really is the point of it, particularly EPBs, can see no reason why they are fitted when a lever works much better and nobody, not even these muppets who are all for all the fancy toys on their cars can see the point of them.

[Richard]

.

[Longblackcoat]

but do we really need....LED and xenon headlights, and all this other pish. 

 

Yeah, we really do. The HID lights on my big Merc stick out about 3200 lumens, the halogens on the little Merc put out about 1000. Plus I've had, er, zero HID bulb failures in 70k miles, versus probably three blown bulbs in 30k on the halogen-equipped car.

 

Maybe you've got catlike eyes, but I haven't!

[cros]

With a Lumax at a fiver, I hope the wife and I are able to see our way to a restaurant tonight and spend the 85 quid saved by running a sensible car on something more enjoyable than a fucking lightbulb.

[Lacquer Peel]

A friend of my mother's paid £54 for a replacement sealed beam headlight in her nearly new 1976 Honda Civic, so eye-watering prices are nothing new.

Over £400 taking inflation into account!