Many people aspire to own a European car. Often, the view ownership of a European vehicle as more that transportation. For them, ownership means high performance, luxury and status.
The first owner of these cars normally drives it for 2 to 3 years and then trades up, with money not being an issue. Then along comes the second owner who sees his “dream car” at an affordable price*. A few months later they take their dream car in for service, only to discover that the maintenance costs are much higher than they expected. Suddenly, they are presented with an entire shopping list of critical repairs that need to be completed. Here is a rule to thumb to remember if you are thinking about purchased a used European car: After 3 to 4 years, a European car enters its higher maintenance cost period.
Ideally, the new European car owner comes to us before they make a purchase so we can perform a Pre-Purchase evaluation to determine the potential repairs needed. All too often, they visit us after they have purchased the vehicle.
What should the new owner do? No worries. All is not lost. At BA Auto Care, part of our maintenance inspection is not just to list the repairs needed but also to prioritize when the work needs to be done. This let us create a maintenance plan that fits the new owner’s budget. Our technicians and service writers collaborate on the plan by prioritizing based on safety, reliability, performance and preventive care, in the order.
By using this approach, we can make sure your maintenance dollars go towards the most important items first. We can also monitor and notify you of items that are due in the future. For example, we can monitor an oil seepage and then inform you when it becomes a leak and needs to be repaired.
*European vehicles can devalue to 50% in 3 to 4 years!
European makes we service: Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Mini, Volkswagen, Volvo
