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Originally Posted by Hawkshaw
Hey all,
My dealership says the bluetooth snap-in adapter for my model of cell phone is $732 CDN including taxes and installation. The bluetooth technology works without the adapter, but the adapter will charge the phone and (supposedly) provide better reception through the antenna (in the shark fin).
My question - who out there has the snap-in adapter for their phones, and is it really necessary? Is it worth $700+?
Thanks!
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My U.S. vehicle came without the cradle. When the dealer did the PDI they found this out. They said it would cost £575 plus installation which would have been almost $1000. Thought this was way, way, WAY too much!
But I found that the adapter is useful because the cell phone laying in the tray would move around and get turned off. It also ran down the battery since there wasn't any charger. So, I researched the problem.
It turns out that the £575 cost is for a Bluetooth retrofit and included the two electronic modules, the cabling, the antenna, and the cradle and trim; it didn't include the adapter.
If you have the Bluetooth option already, you only need three parts: the cradle, the trim, and the adapter. The cradle and the trim are the same for all phones but the adapter is phone specific. For me all of the parts came to £122 plus 45 minutes of installation. I priced the U.S. parts and they came to something like $228.
The part numbers are: 84 21 6 946 075 for the eject box (cradle) and 51 16 7 118 054 for the trim. The installation involves removing the boot from around the parking brake, removing the rubber tray from inside the armrest, assembling the trim and ejector tray together, feeding the two cables towards the brake handle and connecting them to the plugs that are clipped beneath the console, and replacing the boot. BMW recommends a 30 minute installation.
Don't know the exchange rate for US$ vs. CAN$ but $700+ is absolutely assinine. It sounds as if your dealer is as confused about it as mine.
One other thing to check. Make sure your cell phone has an external antenna jack. Mine (Nokia 6230i) doesn't and the adapter uses an electronic pickup for connecting to the car's antenna.