The BMW car had its beginnings in Munich, Germany in the year 1913. The Bavarian Motors Works company (BMW) was the brainchild of Karl Friedrich Rapp who wanted to build a solid, luxury vehicle that was unsurpassed in performance. As each year passed, the BMW experienced a bevy of design changes; but the principles fundamental to the company’s reputation remained the same –superlative craftsmanship and high quality materials.

Thought of in the same class as such fine vehicles as Mercedes Benz, Porsche, and Jaguar, the BMW car speaks volumes about luxury, elegance, and comfort. It’s no wonder that its place in the industry has lasted nearly 95 years. The modern BMW car continues to project the same high-quality image and, even today, nearly a century after its inception, BMW continues to be the pinnacle of car ownership for many people.

But the BMW car is not exclusive to those with limitless budgets; with a number of designs on the market at varying prices, owning a BMW car is well within the realm of possibility for many buyers.

Today’s BMW car offers a full line of vehicles that vary in features and price – everything from the compact I series and the classic 3 series, to the luxurious 5, 6, and 7 series.  The modern BMW design has even been incorporated into an SUV model – bringing convenience and comfort along with the luxury and elegance BMW customers have comes to expect.

There are some things that never go out of style. The BMW car has a classic quality that transcends time; chances are that even far off in the future the BMW car will still be one of the most desired vehicles on the road.

I’ve been buying my BMW Car Parts online for nearly two and a half years now. On average, I believe I have cut my repair and maintenance bills down by 40%. There are great savings to be made out there!

Now, I have to admit, that I have also been let down badly on at least two occasions by what I would describe as ‘suspect’ online suppliers. On one occasion by a company that turned out to actually be one individual selling BMW parts straight from their bedroom! I don’t have any problem with anyone looking to start out in business from home, provided the service is there. The part in question here was actually supplied fine, it was simply six weeks late! Not a good thing when your brake lights need new bulbs prior to an annual MOT! If said ‘individual’ had told me about his extended delivery schedules everything would have been fine, I would have simply gone elsewhere, yet my online payment receipt promised  ‘All BMW accessories delivered within 48 hours’.

The second occasion that really springs to mind for me is when I never received any parts at all, despite the supplier being convinced I had done and that I was trying to swindle him instead of the other way round! On this occasion I had dealt with a fully staffed company with a web sales helpline…yet despite this we never managed to resolve our disagreement and I simply went elsewhere £85 out of pocket.

On hindsight, both of these breakdowns in order were good lessons. I was angry at the time, but after some reflection, I came to believe that these breakdowns were really the fault of the individual & company involved and not the internet. I persevered, learnt from these events and began to formulate how I would take measures to minimise the chances of this happening again. I’m glad I did, my savings to date more than make up for my said losses by over 10 times in relative savings. Later on, I’ll let you know about my favourite supplier. For now, here are the steps I used to eventually find my source.

1. Always search on google.co.uk with ‘search pages from the UK’ selected. This will filter your results to show only websites and companies based here in the UK.

2. Search google.co.uk for ’bmw car parts’, ‘bmw car accessories’, even ‘bmw brake  pads’ and see who ranks within the top ten for your searches. Companies who have invested in achieving good Google rankings tend to have also invested in their online service.

3. When you find a potential supplier, browse to their website contact page and note down their postcode. Now go to Google Maps type in their postcode and change your map view to ‘satellite’.  Zoom in on their postcode address, what can you see? A business park is good, a semi-detached council house is bad!

4. Now search for the website business name in Google Maps, does it show a Local Business listing? If so, that’s good – this means that the local business listing must have been verified by Google .

5. Finally, do they have a telephone number? If so, call. Ask for your desired part, ask if it is available from their website. How do they sound? Do the same on email form any address provided. How quickly and politely does the company respond? Does their response give you confidence? If so, you’re good to go!

One more tip I’d like to give you is to consider buying in bulk the car parts and accessories you go through relatively quickly. I usually order my light bulbs, fuses, wipers and even cleaner fluid and de-icer in bulk. It’s much cheaper, you just need to remember where you stored them when needed!

So that’s it, I hope the above has offered you some insight into how you can use the web to drive down the costs of maintaining your car. BMW’s are wonderful vehicles, I wish you many years of happy driving and happy online car parts hunting!

So, first off – did you know that there are many simple car maintenance tasks that most of us can do, albeit with a little instructional help? I know this is true and I’ve learnt how to do many maintenance repairs to my BMW, all with help of YouTube and similar video sharing websites!

The next best thing to having a qualified mechanic right there with you in your garage is to have a video of him at work on fixing the exact repair you need to make. The internet offers exactly this. For example, search google.co.uk for ‘simple car repairs‘ .

On your results page, click on ‘show options’  and select ‘video’s’. You should now have a results page full of online videos showing you how to make simple car repairs. You can also search in the same way for a video solution to the exact problem you need to fix on your BMW.

Now, should the above solution not be enough and you’re in need of more expert help, I can wholeheartedly recommend Google Maps as a great way to find a range of mechanics in your area. There are a number of car maintenance jobs I would never recommend you attempt yourself, unless highly experienced – this would include anything related to your brakes, emissions or clutch. Type ‘car mechanic’ into the search box and Google Maps should detect your local area from your broadband connection – if not, simply add your town/city to the end of your search keyphrase.

Google Maps I’ve found often offers better results than google.co.uk. This is down to the fact that many smaller businesses are able to rank alongside their bigger (and more expensive) competitors. You can also see where any potential mechanics are based in relation to yourself on the map. Remember, if you have sourced your BMW parts and accessories online, then you may not need an approved BMW garage to fit them – especially as your parts should come with at least a 12 month guarantee from a good online supplier. So, look out for the most cost effective mechanic based locally and insist on sourcing the parts yourself!