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Thread: BMW really screwing up parts prices for old cars...

  1. #1
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    BMW really screwing up parts prices for old cars...

    So over the course of working on various things lately, the degree to which BMW has a very clear strategy to mega-jack the prices on parts for old obsolete cars is becoming clear, and sometimes you stumble on markups that are pretty mindblowing. I mean a little of this is normal and 'fair', but some parts are crazy, like they're clearly trying to drive these cars off the road and/or just not have to carry parts for older cars by making repair costs stupid high.

    I'm sure part of the logic is "if we have to do a short run of these parts to get the vendor to make more, the per unit cost will be high and lets recover it" but these prices are far and above what the parts could possibly cost, even for a short run, given that the suppliers have all the tooling already presumably.

    Just a few items that I've been looking at lately... some of these have gotten notoriety on the forums already, like the M bumper related parts... (BTW don't get all wound up about whatever exact street price I list, if you found it for $7.32 cheaper STFU, this isn't about 'where exactly to buy these items'. I'm just giving a general indication of degree of magnitude here... by 'legacy' price I mean there's history of these being even cheaper than what RealOEM lists, which is already generally way less than current prices anyway.)
    Item Descript "Legacy" RealOEM Current
    54128202295/6 Sunroof rail kits $30 $60 $110
    51498259952 Touring hatch interior trim $99 $600
    51718159981 V8 engine undertray (non-M) $130 $148 $400
    51712498988 V8 engine undertray (M) $160 $198 $500 (and NLA?)
    51717008689/90 Front fender liners aka 'pork chops' (non-M) $18 $57
    51712498989/90 Front fender liners aka 'pork chops' (M no air duct) $50-70 $109 $300
    51712694832/899 Front fender liners aka 'pork chops' (M air duct) $110 $250

    What else is hitting the absolutely-insane markup levels on these cars? I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff sneaking its way up the price list.
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  2. #2
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    Vanos solenoids for the e60 M5:

    $160 each just a couple of years ago. $1,800 each now and there are 4 of them in the car.

    Plastic brake fluid reservoir for the e34 M5, which I believe is shared by all e34s. $180 each now!

    We can go on and on. Theory is correct, it's a strategy to get these old cars off the road to get you to buy they new pieces of shit. The vanos units for the e39 M5 went up crazy high too.

  3. #3
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    I priced the foglight trim-not the switch, not the knob, just the trim bezel and cheapest I could find it new was over $300. I'm sure it was a $5 trim piece originally. Finally found a non broke one at pic-a-part for a couple of bucks.

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    Having both a E36/8 and E39 Touring I've seen some ridiculous pricing.
    Those pork chops for MTech bumper Areca great example. I had to get some knockoffs from Eastern Europe. It sure is a way to piss off loyal followed of the brand.


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    Quote Originally Posted by dmo84556 View Post
    Having both a E36/8 and E39 Touring I've seen some ridiculous pricing.
    Those pork chops for MTech bumper Areca great example. I had to get some knockoffs from Eastern Europe. It sure is a way to piss off loyal followed of the brand.


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    Why directly support BMW unless absolutely necessary, i.e small trim? They wanted our cars off the road a very long time ago.
    Last edited by XAlt; 05-27-2017 at 10:24 AM.

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    Not sure about BMW parts price but private vendors prices are now much cheaper, considering the car is now older and they want to get rid of "old parts". Example:
    - Back in 2011 when I overhauled the front suspension using Bilstein strut and all Lemforder parts: prices were around $1,200.
    - Now in 2017, the exact same vendors, exact same parts will cost me around $800!

  7. #7
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    I'm currently trying to replace all my missing/damaged under body panels also. I ended up ordering 3rd part for the belly pan and lower fender liners(about $30 each). I thought pork chops were the rear part of the brake ducts, anyway I was missing the passenger side and found a set of the new metal ones cheap on ebay(retail $365 each).

    Driver's and passenger's side under body panels still aren't to bad for OEM so I'll just get new ones. The one that goes under the transmission the cheapest I could find is $300 and no used ones at this time.

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    At least OEM still exists. American automakers typically stop producing parts 10 years after production has ceased, leaving you with aftermarket only.
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    Quote Originally Posted by DustenA View Post
    At least OEM still exists. American automakers typically stop producing parts 10 years after production has ceased, leaving you with aftermarket only.
    ^ This. Same with Toyota in my experience; I had to use an aftermarket intake tube when the original rubber piece cracked. It's nice that BMW parts are still available as a last resort.
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    Honestly the parts and pricing for my E39 is better than for my E30 M3, so I'm not complaining.

  11. #11
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    I'm always amazed that there are still BMW parts and OES parts for the E39s. These are cars that are 14 years old at their newest and 20 years at their oldest. Are the BMW parts still available because they are still around from the "last" parts' run? That's my hypothesis. As those stocks get consumed, then price will rise due to scarcity. One sign is sudden "SALES" that are really inventory clearance because a few parts are left around for old cars, and no new ones of that type are being made - so why not clear them out? That's the key - are these parts (especially sensors) still being made or are they old inventory. maybe too many E39s died before their time and the expected consumption of many parts didn't take place.

    THE BEST THING, though, is when some creative entrepreneur comes up with an improved part for an old car that addresses premature death or early damage in those parts. Too bad that entrepreneur seems to be becoming a dirty work in the Western World's lexicon. I don't mind paying more for a part that solves a weakness in the old design - provided it's at a reasonable price that still allows a decent return for that creative entrepreneur. I suspect that someday we will be paying for custom work from those with the ability and tools to make the parts we need - if we want to keep our E39s.

    Kind of off topic, but WTH - I'm on a roll. Some E60 M5 parts are starting to get quite scarce, as M5 Jed implies. It's gotten to where I even read someone complaining about the Textar brake pads being hard to find. Whenever I find a sale on in a "consumable" part for the E60 M5, I buy it for my parts' cupboard now - just in case that part turns into a VANOS solenoid situation. (BTW - for those who do have the E60 M5, you can buy the VANOS AT Adjustment unit (#1 here) with 2 NEW VANOS solenoids for cheaper than a single VANOS solenoid. Why? Because the AT adjustment unit with the VANOS solenoids was it's own part number, and I'm sure that not a lot were sold - so there are still a lot of them floating around. I would suggest getting the LHS (cyl. 6 - 10) bank since it doesn't require special tools or timing to change out). Note that sales on Bilstein struts and shocks are starting to pop up - and the sellers are selling direct from Bilstein stock (i.e. they're not keeping any themselves). I've heard that the line is no longer being made (but I don't have any second source confirmation for this) and they are the best combo of quality and price as a replacement for the BMW shocks and struts (which are around US$1000 each).


    update: oops. forgot the link to realoem. its there now. and here.
    Last edited by gmak; 05-28-2017 at 04:36 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by gmak View Post
    Kind of off topic, but WTH - I'm on a roll. Some E60 M5 parts are starting to get quite scarce, as M5 Jed implies. It's gotten to where I even read someone complaining about the Textar brake pads being hard to find. Whenever I find a sale on in a "consumable" part for the E60 M5, I buy it for my parts' cupboard now - just in case that part turns into a VANOS solenoid situation. (BTW - for those who do have the E60 M5, you can buy the VANOS AT Adjustment unit (#1 here) with 2 NEW VANOS solenoids for cheaper than a single VANOS solenoid. Why? Because the AT adjustment unit with the VANOS solenoids was it's own part number, and I'm sure that not a lot were sold - so there are still a lot of them floating around. I would suggest getting the LHS (cyl. 6 - 10) bank since it doesn't require special tools or timing to change out). Note that sales on Bilstein struts and shocks are starting to pop up - and the sellers are selling direct from Bilstein stock (i.e. they're not keeping any themselves). I've heard that the line is no longer being made (but I don't have any second source confirmation for this) and they are the best combo of quality and price as a replacement for the BMW shocks and struts (which are around US$1000 each).
    Yeah, buddy of mine's dad has a beautiful 06 E60 M5 SMG with just over 80k miles. He needs to sell it before big stuff starts going wrong. He's been lucky and has just had to do the throttle actuators, but man, if the VANOS or SMG or con-rod bearings go... yikes.
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  13. #13
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    It'd be nice if somebody with right tooling would make and sell V8 / I6 engine undertray in aluminum or maybe some other suitable metal / material. Enough buyers would probably be able to push the price bellow $200 which is less than current plastic piece.
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  14. #14
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    Plastic belly pans are the work of the devil. Just run without one, like all the cars that came before ours.

    Seriously though, if I went any lower I'd want a nice aluminum skid plate.

  15. #15
    geargrinder's Avatar
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    Re: theories of old parts stashes and stuff being sold that's been lying aroind a long time , BMW is extremely strict about requiring date stamps on all parts. Therefore whenever you get dealer parts these days you can check the month produced.

    They are almost never ever old - these days at least. Can't remember the last time a dealer oart was.more than 18-24mos at most.

    BITD that'd have been different but now everyone from BMW to local dealerships try to practice "lean" inventory so there is really very little aged stock. And yes the times there are sales are the exceptions I think, when they have too many old parts, but that's the exception that proves the rule.

    I think the high price jacks are in fact proof of the low inventory.management as they Jack stuff up each time here's a replenish order.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Oh and agreed about belly pans. Wtf. How does that not get made cheap by somebody. I saw a rep M5 belly pan FS online once but nobody seems to have ever ordered / tried one.
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  16. #16
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    Yeah, for all the complaints I might have about OE part prices, at least they're still being made. The fact that I can still buy new parts for my 17 year old car is pretty rad. And yet E60 M5 parts are becoming quite scarce, I wonder why that is.


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  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by XAlt View Post
    Plastic belly pans are the work of the devil. Just run without one, like all the cars that came before ours.

    Seriously though, if I went any lower I'd want a nice aluminum skid plate.
    At least on the I6, the front undertray is actually a fiberglass-like material. If you puncture it, you can see the fibers. Just like the fan shroud.

    An aluminum skidplate would have to include rubber dampeners around each twist-in screw, and strips of rubber anywhere it might touch the subframe or other pieces. It would also dent, rather than flex, resonate in a not-very-nice way, and wouldn't dampen engine bay sounds. I'm happy with the fiberglass trays we have now.
    Last edited by computiNATEor; 05-28-2017 at 04:12 AM.
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  18. #18
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    AquilaBMW is offline Mad Bimmerist BMW CCA Member
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    The issue of BMW parts prices will become as heated as the issue of what oil to use in our cars. While I agree with GG's theory for the price hike on these parts for old cars, I have found out from my local dealer that the insane price hike has impacted ALL parts all the way up to new cars.



  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by AquilaBMW View Post
    The issue of BMW parts prices will become as heated as the issue of what oil to use in our cars. While I agree with GG's theory for the price hike on these parts for old cars, I have found out from my local dealer that the insane price hike has impacted ALL parts all the way up to new cars.
    It's the fault of the Orange head, he just called Germans bad for making cars we want to own and creating trade imbalances.

    "Look at the millions of cars they’re selling in the US. Terrible. We will stop this,” Trump reportedly said of the Germans.


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  20. #20
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    A lip holding the belly pan clips was snapped off my wagon when I purchased the car.
    I had been putting off replacement because it was just one more pain in the a$$ item on the list.
    Imagine my shock when I discovered 51718218346 is now $259.

    Felt as if I had just won the lottery when a $32 ebay/salvage yard replacement popped up for sale.
    Both car and owner are now doing well.....

  21. #21
    geargrinder's Avatar
    geargrinder is offline Having No Trouble Here BMW CCA Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by bostonaudi View Post
    "Look at the millions of cars they’re selling in the US. Terrible. We will stop this,” Trump reportedly said of the Germans.
    Oh what many of those German cars are actually made in the US now!? Confusing fact. Too complicated. Reject.

    Uhoh. Better not continue this topic.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by juststeve View Post
    A lip holding the belly pan clips was snapped off my wagon when I purchased the car.
    I had been putting off replacement because it was just one more pain in the a$$ item on the list.
    Imagine my shock when I discovered 51718218346 is now $259.

    Felt as if I had just won the lottery when a $32 ebay/salvage yard replacement popped up for sale.
    Both car and owner are now doing well.....
    Yeah. I didn't go into the whole list of bumper parts but clearly it's be a $3000 project to do a full dealer M bumper project these days.
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  22. #22
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    Maybe I'll hold on to the M5 1/2 shafts, diff flanges, and a few other parts I've stashed. Could be worth a fortune in 2 years......

  23. #23
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    My suggestion? Sell the E39 and buy an F10 :-D

    Seriously though.


    As these cars age order volume goes down, it only stands to reason cost per unit goes up when the order quantity goes down.
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  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by JimLev View Post
    Maybe I'll hold on to the M5 1/2 shafts, diff flanges, and a few other parts I've stashed. Could be worth a fortune in 2 years......
    Make caches now! I'm keeping anything rare / mint for later use or sale waaay down the line.

    I wish I bought fender liners though . I fear steep driveways now.
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  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by cnn View Post
    Not sure about BMW parts price but private vendors prices are now much cheaper, considering the car is now older and they want to get rid of "old parts". Example:
    - Back in 2011 when I overhauled the front suspension using Bilstein strut and all Lemforder parts: prices were around $1,200.
    - Now in 2017, the exact same vendors, exact same parts will cost me around $800!
    The trend of aftermarket upgrade prices tend to fall as the platform they support get older. Less and less people will buy them until it gets discontinued. Dinan is a good example of this.

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