[Ninefourteener]

At a BMW dealership, you'll most likely be fine. While the service itself will likely be accomplished by an ex-con or a high school dropout..... there should be at least 1 or 2 actual qualified mechanics on staff that should be watching him and checking his work.

If your car is still under warrantee... you'll leave without issue. If your warrantee has expired, expect an estimate of repairs that you had no idea you needed.

Downtown at Jiffy Lube / Quickie-oil (or whatever)..... you have about a 50% chance of actually getting the service you paid for. If they are busy, that chance goes down. If they "upsell" you on higher quality products or additional services??? I can almost guarantee you will be ripped off.

No matter what you pay for..... you will get the cheapest oil that money can buy. Unless you are physically "watching" them..... I'd say you have a 50/50 shot of them even bothering to change the filter at all. That chance is higher with older style filters that you can "see".... but with newer style filters that are inside a re-usable filter housing (like ours).... MUCH more often than you think, they won't change them at all.

At Walmart? Forget the service.....You'll be lucky if they don't break something on your car. Anyone dumb enough to bring their car to Walmart for service..... probably deserves what happens to them.

EDIT.... all my estimates, are assuming you are Male. If you are female, your chances of being cheated will double.

The best places to bring your car??? Are the 1 or 2-person, privately-owned, small mechanic shops (not chain places like quickie lube). They are qualified. They are experienced, and they depend on, and value their customers. 90% of the time, they will be honest and straight with you, and perform the work they are paid to do..... properly. They are also the most likely ones to be able to diagnose a problem that ISN'T identified by a check engine light (strange noises, nuances in driving, alignment issues, etc). At the BMW dealer (or any dealer)... if the computer won't tell them what's wrong... they have no idea how to diagnose or fix it.

That's why when there are instances like that.... you'll so often be given the car back with "could not duplicate"... or even worse, you'll end up posting a thread in this forum about how the dealer had your car for 2 months and couldn't diagnose a strange noise.