There's a good middle ground solution to use an independent brand (or multi-brand) specialist mechanic. Several BMW or MB independents in most major cities/suburbs thereof and they're often quite a bit cheaper than the dealers.
I had excellent service from the one MB I owned (granted I did turn all the wrenches on it, so the costs were extremely low). One nice thing about the luxury German cars is that they are generally designed for a long service life. Things that need to come apart for servicing are generally threaded fittings (rather than push/snap fit plastic crap).
Agreed. Have a 2010 and 2015 Porsche both out of warranty. Use a local shop that is focused on Porsche (BRRacing). Not cheap but not outrageous. Lucky besides breaks and tires the 2010 has had no major issues. I am religious about having it serviced, however. I did have a pump got out, it was like 800 installed.
I had an Audi. To do the timing belt and water pump change myself cost $400 in parts and a full day. To have an independent shop do it was asking $900. Audi dealer was asking $1500.
No the VW was more because the engines are transverse in those cars. But the parts are shipped from Europe and the labor is up charged because foreign car. Thanks to Denso, a lot of these parts are cheaper today but labor is still stupid.
Also Audi/VW had a stupid tensioner design which made timing belt replacements a requirement at 30k miles until they changed it. I think this is still a grand example of how luxury brands up charge everything because luxury. It costs 450 for the dealer to do the same job on my transverse Ford engine.
I had excellent service from the one MB I owned (granted I did turn all the wrenches on it, so the costs were extremely low). One nice thing about the luxury German cars is that they are generally designed for a long service life. Things that need to come apart for servicing are generally threaded fittings (rather than push/snap fit plastic crap).