[TIMMO]

JUST GOT A SHOCK WHEN I WENT TO PICK UP MY BLACK HARTGE COOPER S FROM COOPER BMW SOUTH BANK, LONDON. THE CAR HAD BEEN IN TO HAVE 2 AUXILIARY DRIVING LIGHTS FITTED. THE COST OF MATERIALS INCLUDING THE BONNET DAMPENERS WAS £132.43, NO PROBS THERE. THE COST OF THE LABOUR WAS AN UNBELIEVABLE £221.76, WITH VAT ADDING ANOTHER £61.98 THE TOTAL CAME TO £416.17.

IF ANYONE CAN LET ME KNOW HOW MUCH THEY HAVE PAID TO HAVE THE LIGHTS FITTED BY AN OFFICIAL BMW DEALER I'D BE GRATEFUL.
I KNOW THE DEALER STRUGGLED TO FIT THE LIGHTS BECAUSE THEY HAD THE CAR FOR A FULL DAY AND CALLED ME IN THE AFTERNOON TO ASK WHETHER THEY COULD KEEP IT FOR A 2ND DAY AS THE LIGHTS WERE PROVING DIFFICULT TO INSTALL.

IF THAT'S THE CASE I'M NOT HAPPY PAYING EXTORTIONATE AND EXCESS LABOUR DUE TO THE POSSIBLE INEPTITUDE OF A DEALER'S SERVICE DEPARTMENT.

[spod]

My dealer told me they would fit 2 lights for £250 all in.

[TIMMO]

Neil,

Thanks, which dealer is that please??

[PortRhombus]

Wow thats alot. Brought mine for £145, was gonna fit them myself but I dont trust drilling holes in my bonnet.

My dealer reckons bout two hours labour (£120) making a grand total of £265.

£416 is harsh. I couldn't be able to afford it.

[spod]

My local dealer is Bridgegate Derby - www.bridgegatederbymini.co.uk

I bought mine from them and fitted myself, got them for £116 a set (20% discount!)

They were a bit funny about me putting 4 on but when activated I only had 2 wired up, will do the others this weekend.

[bkwalker]

yes.. i asked my dealer the same thing...
i cant remember the figures.. but i specifically remember the labour was near double the price of the lights

the reason is because they have to take apart of a lot of the car.. not really too sure what parts. but they have to earth some wires to the chassis and it invloves removing interior bits such as the seat,
cant really remember anything else..

but, i think its the standard prodedure from my knowledge and u aren't in a one off case

good luck

[TFP]

I bought my Mini from Cooper South Bank but have since defected to Park West and the service has been a whole lot better.

I'm pretty sure Part West quote £250 for driving lights fitted, all in.

Don't stand for it, they have instructions and training to install these lights, its their fault if they can't employ people competent enough to fit them.

[moorlockx]

I've seen dealer quotes here in the US going between $600 and $800. Of course the US light kit is more expensive, but even taking that into account, the labor end is still running $200 to $400.

I've done the wiring myself and would say 2 hours for a complete install is a bit optimistic, unless it's easier to wire on right-hand steering cars....

[stokey]

Timmo
They are taking the p***
I had two sets of official driving lights fitted for £398 about 3 months ago by Knights of Newcastle-under-lyme Staffs. Whats more I hadn't bought the car off them but their main rivals Bluebell of crewe!

Stokey

[sugster]

That price isn't too far off the mark. Before I fitted mine, I rang all the local dealers (six within thirty mile radius) and they all quoted £350-400. I checked that this was a fixed price job, so it wouldn't have mattered if it had taken two days.
I'm always shocked at the labour prices, you've been charged the going rate of approx £70 an hour.
The estimated time to fit given in the instructions is 2.5 hours. If you are a trained BMW/ MINI tech and have done it quite a few times then its no problem, if its the first set they've fitted it would take them a few more hours.

Stokey: You got a cracking deal there!

[RVW]

My dealer has just offered to fit Lights /Roof Decal and bonnet stripes for just over 500 inc vat. Don`t need them though as they fitted them all weeks ago.

When they fitted the lights they charged 275 inc vat

[perl]

Quote:

Originally posted by moorlockx
I've seen dealer quotes here in the US going between $600 and $800. Of course the US light kit is more expensive, but even taking that into account, the labor end is still running $200 to $400.

Mini of Concord (California) wanted $450 for the lights and another $450 to mount them. We declined their offer

perl

[Shamster]

I think mine were 300 but it varies from place to place due to different labour charges.

[Razor]

Mine were £250 fitted (as part of my MINI order, I didn't have them fitted after I'd taken delivery).

However I enquired about having the Cooper S alloy pedals fitted into my Cooper - the dealer wanted £160 for the job - it took me less than 30 minutes!

[R1]

I had the bonnet stripes and driving lights supplied and fitted free from MINI as a sorry for having to have a new gearbox fitted!

[mancjimmy]

hi there i oredered my front lamps the other weekend when mini where celebrating their 2nd b'day.i also ordered the chrome front grille.when i went to pay for it all the guy..charged me £285.for the full monty business!i thought this was pretty reasonable.

[Lorri]

We paid £240 for two driving lights fitted at Sytners, Sheffield a couple of weeks ago!
Parts: £119.19
Labour: £85
Total with VAT: £239.92

Steve was quoted £10 less by a dealer in Birmingham and he was told that BMW labour charges are £100 an hour. Certain dealers recognise that MINI owners can't or won't pay that much so the technicians get paid less for working on MINI's

[Shorty]

I also paid £250 all in.

Mine were done by Robert Stern in Evesham

[TREBALZ]

Official Auxiliary Driving Lights

are these the lights that fit onto the grill if so how do you switch them on at nite..where is the switch situated in the car??

[Shorty]

Only come on when headlights are on full beam, so no need for new switch.