Little Germany — Local services in Tucson

I came in on September 30th to replace the heat management unit, intake gaskets, and oil filter housing gaskets, which were a $1763 repair. And the job was not done properly.

About a week after the repair, I got a drivetrain malfunction warning while driving on Speedway. The car completely shut down in the middle of the road, and I had to call a tow truck and wait almost three hours to be picked up in the middle of the road during Friday traffic in Tucson. I called Little Germany to report the issue, but realized that they were closed for the weekend. Since I needed the car to drive to Phoenix the next day, I had to tow it to another BMW indy shop that was open on Saturday. That shop charges $150 an hour for diagnostics, and when we scanned the car, we found 95 error codes. They said it would take about 1-2 hours to find the exact problem. Their original words were “if you are lucky enough, we just need to find the faulty connector/sensor; if you aren’t lucky enough, you will need to go to the dealership for a new ECU. A new ECU would cost $4000 for your car.” The next morning, after spending an hour and half going through the codes with the technician, we discovered the PCM module wasn’t responding and that certain codes couldn’t be cleared. Eventually, we found the problem: two connectors on the DME hadn’t been reattached properly during the original repair. Because of that, they were coming loose on bumpy roads, which caused the ECU to throw false codes and completely shut the car down. Their mistake cost me $250 for towing and extra diagnostic fees. All of this could’ve been avoided if the work had been checked properly before Little Germany gave the car back to me.

The second issue was that before dropping off my vehicle, I explicitly asked twice if the repair could be completed by the end of the day on 9/30, as this is my only vehicle and I rely on it for commuting to classes and running errands. Chris assured me that the work would be finished by 5:30 PM. However, according to the My BMW app, no work on my car was started until around 1:00 PM, despite the job requiring 6.5–7 hours. At 4:30 PM, I received a call from Chris stating that the gaskets would not arrive until the following morning, meaning I could not pick up my car until the end of 10/1, directly contradicting their original promise, which was the main reason why I chose them for this repair in the beginning.

I usually do basic maintenance myself and only bring my car to a shop for complicated mechanical or electrical work. Unfortunately, this experience was really disappointing. Not only did the repair cause a dangerous situation for me on the road, but it also cost me time, money, and a lot of stress...

I wanted to leave a good review but I feel like I was somewhat taken advantage of. They did the work as promised and probably did it right. My only gripe with them is that they told me to look over and diagnose my issue that it would be $150. I stressed over the phone and before dropping off the car to not charge me more than $150. Upon picking up the car I was told it would be about 315 with taxes since they had to commit 2 hours in labor.

My guy, that’s just kinda scummy overall. I’m financially struggling and we talked numerous times about it being 150. I didn’t choose to argue with you then Chris, because I just had a feeling you wouldn’t be kind and receptive to me feeling taken advantage of, and I really didn’t want to argue with you. I also didn’t take kindly to you just laughing off the extra money and putting your hand on my shoulder as a way to kinda say “well this is how it is”. Even if you did spend 2 hours on labor, we talked about it before on the phone as I said and when I dropped it off about how important the $150 price was, you then dedicating 2 hours of labor to give me an answer is not my problem.

We also all know you don’t pay your techs $150/hour. Realistically you pay them 15-25$/hour so it’s ridiculous. Even with the 150$ service fee to diagnose and look over the car, that is massively overpriced by itself, and something you likely profit over 100$/service on. Don’t even get me started on the 300+ dollar charge and how unfair that is.

Regardless, I appreciate the work and it wasn’t a terrible experience. I do definitely feel taken advantage of. Also I understand you are upset I didn’t choose your shop to spend my money at for the work, but i definitely noticed a change in tone when I said I couldn’t afford the repair through you guys. Kinda felt like you wanted me gone the second I told you I wasn’t going to be able to afford your prices for the work and that I would...

My BMW 440i needed an oil change service. This was the first required maintenance since the factory warranty expired. I wanted to try something different than the Dealership. I had forgotten what genuine customer service was like! The owners, Curtis and Kelly, were in the front of the office and involved in the business. They are not afraid to introduce themselves and say hello. The service manager, Chris is personable and listens attentively to your requests.

The shop was busy, all bays full and lots of stuff going on. I had an appointment, so work began at the time scheduled. Which was very important to me.

My car was repaired out of town after a rear-end collision 2 and ½ years ago. When I got the car back to town, I took it to the dealership for an inspection to ensure all repairs were satisfactory. The report was all good. I took the car in for scheduled maintenance two more times during the factory warranty, and the dealership signed off on the vehicle inspection each time.

The technician at Little Germany gave the car an overall vehicle check and immediately noticed that the left rear control arm had not been reconnected after the collision repair! I had noticed a clunking noise, but I couldn’t identify the source, and I just got used to hearing the noise after two years. Now the noise is gone, and the car handles better. I don’t think this was a safety issue, but WOW!. That should have been spotted years ago!

Little Germany is a great find, and I am relieved to have found a place I will be taking my BMW for any maintenance, while I own it!

Thank you to everyone at Little Germany and sincere thanks to the technician who spotted and repaired the...