BMW Dealership terminates relationship with Dinan…

29 Jul

Posted by JakeC as Rumors

According to a BMW owner in Arkansas. His local BMW dealership , which was a Dinan dealership in the past, has recently terminated the relationship with Dinan.

With the Version 29.2 software and V81 DME could this be another attempt by BMW to further control or restrict the modifications made to the award winning N54 engine so many BMW enthusiasts love?

Or a stronger push to BMW’s own BMW Performance line of products?

4 Responses

Mark

July 29th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
1

This is interesting as well as scary….is BMW becoming so greedy as to stifle all of the various tuner’s business (Dinan, Hartge etc) to promote only their stuff??? I feel that BMW is more litigation fearing than many of the varied after market tuner companies and I wonder if BMW DOES stop these companies then we will get less exciting cars???

Cheers,
Jason

July 29th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
2

Sounds very similar to what happened to me in Little Rock today. Wanted the Dinan upgrade was told no, then today found out they were teminating their agreement. If they are going to continue to do this then BMW needs to get moving on the ECU upgrade that they have been talking about and that the delaership is pushing.
Horatiu B.

July 30th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
3

@Jason: I am very surprised that their agreement was terminated. I wonder what’s the reason behind it. Pushing their own Performance Part is definitely a factor, but I’m sure there are other factors as well.
David in Houston

July 31st, 2008 at 1:37 pm
4

Today I looked into this a little further as I was concerned why Dinan cars would not qualify for the CPO Program. I spoke with both Dinan and John Crispino, who handles all the mod-upgrades at Momentum. BTW here in Houston, John is very knowledgeable about a lot of different upgrades and was very helpful. Really a nice guy. Kudos John, kudos! Anyway here is the scope… Dinan mods are pushing some of the cars into what could be considered as the M range. Plus none of BMW’s M-cars are covered by the CPO Program as it is. Dinan was in agreement with BMW to drop from the program because it was costing Dinan more to be included than it was in repairs. So it appears as more of a business agreement and “win-win” situation than anything else. Also, as I understand it, Dinan mods do not prevent you from getting an extended warranty… which actually covers more than the CPO Program anyway.

As you can appreciate, once you start individualizing a car with various modifications and upgrades you start to narrow the resale market segment, but I really don’t think Dinan mods will have much of a negative impact. Those that know BMW and appreciate Dinan are still going to recognize the value of particular Dinan mods. Example: Currently Momentum has a M3 with over $15K in Dinan upgrades they are taking bids on due to the vast interest. So I have come to the conclusion I am not going to worry about this, and start going to DA… as I am a DINAHOLIC!