Dinan: Taking BMW to the Next Level! - The Downshift Ep. 78

[Chunner]

Originally Posted by ilikebmxbikes

... The only thing that matters are peoples priorities with their cars. Some people prefer dinan for the heritage and peace of mind- some people prefer other alternatives due to preferences or cost- either way- arguing peoples priorities is dumb and no one will ever be right.

You are so right. Stop the flaming and respect everybody's tune! Whether it blows up or not.

[Freon]

I believe you are essentially paying for a weak tune and an insurance policy through a third party underwriter for warranty coverage. If you think a tune will cause damage, warranty or not, you probably shouldn't buy it.

I don't buy insurance or extended warranties because I believe it is bad fiscal policy to buy insurance for things I should be able to cover with savings (i.e. almost anything but home/renters, life, or most of car insurance). So for you're paying a few hundred bucks for the tune, then the rest goes to paying the insurance company to make up for the balance of your factory warranty that BMW may not cover since you have a tune. This is evidenced by the fact you must take your car to a "Dinan authorized" dealer.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to be critical of their business model. Call it "flaming" if you like. If I thought the risk of a tune or any other aftermarket part causing damage was significant I wouldn't buy them at all, warranty or not.

"Heritage" means nothing, just like fancy promotional videos. "Peace of mind" is a red herring. Stop buying insurance and extended warranties on everything you buy and take all that money and put it in a savings account to self insure. Insurance companies in the end charge more money than they pay out to pay their overhead, so it make more sense to self insure for anything that would not be catastrophic to your finances.

[CAVU]

Originally Posted by Freon

I don't buy insurance or extended warranties because I believe it is bad fiscal policy to buy insurance for things I should be able to cover with savings (i.e. almost anything but home/renters, life, or most of car insurance). So for you're paying a few hundred bucks for the tune, then the rest goes to paying the insurance company to make up for the balance of your factory warranty that BMW may not cover since you have a tune. This is evidenced by the fact you must take your car to a "Dinan authorized" dealer.

I agree with you on insurance and extended warrantees. But the hypothesis that a significant portion of Dinan's pricing is to fund warranty claims is missing the data to prove it. Certainly there are costs related to offering this type of warranty, but at the same time, Dinan might be spending more on engineering, testing, manufacturing, etc., than their competitors. I don't know one way or another, nor am I invested in either position.

I also don't see Dinan's network of authorized dealers as evidence of anything more than ensuring their products are looked after by shops that have the technical information on Dinan products to troubleshoot issues correctly, as well as maintain the right commercial relationships necessary to handle any warranty work that does come up.

Originally Posted by Freon

I think it's perfectly reasonable to be critical of their business model.

Perhaps... if we knew for certain how they have structured their business model. Again, I don't see any evidence which allows for price alone to be used as the basis for interpolating the details of Dinan's business model. Perhaps they do replace engines all the time and that drives up their costs... that would be useful information. Or, perhaps they don't, but they spend up front instead to ensure that the products they design and build work well with the rest of the car and don't have issues down the road. I don't know either way, and I doubt anybody here does either. Price vs. performance is only one measurement of quality and value.

[ilikebmxbikes]

Originally Posted by Freon

I believe you are essentially paying for a weak tune and an insurance policy through a third party underwriter for warranty coverage. If you think a tune will cause damage, warranty or not, you probably shouldn't buy it.

I don't buy insurance or extended warranties because I believe it is bad fiscal policy to buy insurance for things I should be able to cover with savings (i.e. almost anything but home/renters, life, or most of car insurance). So for you're paying a few hundred bucks for the tune, then the rest goes to paying the insurance company to make up for the balance of your factory warranty that BMW may not cover since you have a tune. This is evidenced by the fact you must take your car to a "Dinan authorized" dealer.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to be critical of their business model. Call it "flaming" if you like. If I thought the risk of a tune or any other aftermarket part causing damage was significant I wouldn't buy them at all, warranty or not.

"Heritage" means nothing, just like fancy promotional videos. "Peace of mind" is a red herring. Stop buying insurance and extended warranties on everything you buy and take all that money and put it in a savings account to self insure. Insurance companies in the end charge more money than they pay out to pay their overhead, so it make more sense to self insure for anything that would not be catastrophic to your finances.

We don't know how their costs break down. No idea how much is actual cost of a product. Only dinan knows how much is spent on R&D, business overhead, material coat and how much goes into the warranty.

I, like you don't buy into extended warranties and whatnot but for a lot of people who have new cars, dinans warranty matching is a big deal. It not only ensures that modifying the car is safe, but it says something about the company standing behind their products.

Heritage or credibility matters a lot to most consumers. I am not saying dinan is the only credible tuner, but they are absolutely one of them. I believe Cobb to be another as well as some other brands. I actually had a Cobb before I pulled my n54. I chose a Cobb over the dinan because I think Cobb is a better tune and tool but I do not think dinan is a poor option by any means.

[PA135i]

That video was car sex.

[mikeR]

So if you had the opportunity to purchase a 2009 135i with $7000 of Dinan upgrades at mkt value on a standard 135i with 40k miles and 1 year remaining on the warranty would you get serious about the opportunity?

I would think in this case Dinan upgrades look pretty attractive.