Bimmer Rescue grossly overcharges for unnecessary work and maintains their good guy reputation by operating a clever customer friendly front end and offering free uber rides in case you need to leave your car there for unnecessary repairs, which happens to be every case. Richmond Virginia

Went in for a simple oil change and ended up with them telling me I need 3K worth of work on my car, including 4 new tires, even though they themselves had just replaced 2 of my tires (expensive runflats) 6 months prior (along with a bunch of other work for a total of over 4K, which in hindsight, was probably a bunch of work I didn’t need). I asked them why I need 4 new tires since 2 of them were just replaced and was met with this response “Young lady! Have you ever hit a pot hole?”

Can we not?

So, I went to a different shop, a reputable shop, and unlike Bimmer Rescue, they value transparency and skill over an overstaffed front office with somewhat pleasant aesthetics and a fridge with free beer.

This new shop did a whole car health check and told me everything is fine and my car is in great condition except there was a nail in one of my tires, which they fixed on the spot. Total cost: $80.

PS: they may not have 10 people working the front office, but they have nice leather couches and I’m sure there was a free beer somewhere in there if I asked for it or if that’s what I was there for.

Bimmer rescue, on the other hand, charges $120 for a car health check, $116 for an oil change, $200 for an alignment, and who knows what for taking a nail out of your tire. Notice that although they told me I need 4 new tires, they didn’t tell me there was a nail in one of them. So either they want me to keep a nail in my tire, they never looked at my tires to begin with, or they have too many front office people playing broken telephone with the mechanics. I can’t seem to find any other logical explanation, and if there is one, I’m sure it’s no excuse regardless.

Yes they have a “customer friendly” business model that will refer to you as “young lady” and “buddy”, which is always endearing, and yes they will pay for your uber to work. But my Uber to work is not 3K and neither is my beer, so the hospitality doesn’t make up for the ripoff.

I’m not the first person to experience this, I’ve talked to fellow mechanic friends as well as bmw owners who share my opinion on this shop.

They have great ratings on google which I’m guessing is because no one realizes they’re getting ripped off. Their customers enjoy unusually accommodating customer service, which is admittedly hard to get at most shops, and turn a blind eye to the possibility that they’re grossly overpaying for unnecessary auto repair.