On later model vehicles, service intervals specified by BMW NA have increasingly suggested fewer services per mileage accumulation. When BMW sells you a car, they are also selling you a service concept, and now a *free service package, making the car more appealing. After being in this business for thirty-five years, I have established service intervals that I recommend to my clients based on their intended years of ownership or leasing of vehicles. Mileage accumulation and type are taken into account. Those clients intent on wanting the best possible service intervals for long term ownership should ignore manufacturer service recommendations. Although metallurgy and lubricants have improved over the last decade, the basic rules for properly maintaining vehicles has not.

I recommend a full Inspection II (Major service) every fifteen thousand miles on older models, and every thirty thousand on 1998 and newer models. Although more costly in the short run for the client, this service interval insures the vehicles integrity. An Inspection I (Minor service) should be performed at a mileage split of 7,500 or 15,000 miles respectively, with oil and filter changes in between. Those clients with short-term investments need only follow factory recommendations (service the car when the interval lights tell you to). *The BMW NA free service package "only allows for a service if the interval lights have expired". We are finding that service interval lights are not expiring until between 12,000 to 23,000 miles in some cases, with the oil filters having disintegrated into bits flowing throughout the engine. This is a very dangerous service program when protecting as expensive an investment as your new BMW. Clients with either high or low mileage accumulations are advised with tailored service schedules.

Average mileage accumulation for this area is around ten thousand miles annually. Early model vehicles have manufacturer recommended Inspection I, Inspection II service intervals of approximately fifteen thousand miles, Inspection II services being at thirty, sixty, ninety, etc. The Inspection I service is little more than an "Oil", or Minor service, with the exception of the ventilation micro-filter being replaced, and depending on the dealership, the brake fluid flushed. Later model vehicle service intervals have already been discussed.

Inspection II services are the only full services in which all fluids and filters are changed, with the exception of late model  BMWs equipped with GM automatic transmissions. Although BMW NA claims that the automatic transmissions installed in these vehicles do not require servicing, most extended warranty companies will not honor transmission failure claims unless transmission services every thirty thousand miles are documented. Servicing these late model transmissions is expensive, as is replacement. We quote our clients the costs of both and follow their directive. Some clients have experienced an "excessively" rough idle with early production V8 engines. I encourage those clients to refer to the technical information page.

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