How we count prices
Every price on BimmerQuote links to its source. Not every price we list is counted in a range. These are the rules the site is built with, and the numbers below are counted from the data each time the site is built.
Last updated
Counted and listed prices
A price is counted when it is a real price someone paid or was quoted, it is not an estimate, and it is not excluded for one of the reasons below. Only counted prices go into the dealer, independent and DIY ranges, the medians, the price counts, page titles and descriptions, and the quote checker.
Every other figure is still listed on its page with its source, so you can see it, but it does not move any range.
- 723 cited figures are listed across 88 repair pages.
- 668 of them are counted.
- 34 are estimates, listed but not counted.
- 21 are real prices kept out of the ranges for one of the reasons below.
Estimates
These are labelled “Estimate” and never counted:
- Published estimates from sites such as RepairPal.
- Typical price bands a shop advertises on its blog rather than a price for a specific car.
- Rough figures given in how-to articles.
Real prices kept out of the ranges
A real, cited price stays on the page under “Not counted in the ranges”, with its reason, when:
- Different engine: the post is about an engine the page does not cover (8 on the site now).
- Engine not confirmed: the post does not say which engine the car has (9 on the site now).
- Not in USD: the price is not in US dollars (ranges are US dollars only) (2 on the site now).
- Likely duplicate: it is very likely the same quote as another price on the page (none right now).
- Combined quote: it is one combined quote covering this job and other work, so no price for this job alone can be read from it (2 on the site now).
The two-price minimum
We only show a price range when a page has at least 2 counted prices. A repair page with fewer still lists every figure with its source. It shows no range and puts no price in its title or description. It is also kept out of search results (noindex) and out of the sitemap until it has 2 counted prices. The build applies this rule automatically.
- 4 repair pages are under the minimum right now.
- The same rule applies to the model-specific repair pages, using only that model’s counted prices. 2 of them are under the minimum.
A model page (for example /models/e90/) is indexed when it has a priced repair of its own. The main page for a generation is also indexed when at least two priced repairs list that chassis. Other model pages stay available but are not indexed.
How a page describes its prices
- Each range is the lowest and highest counted price in that group. The middle value (median) and the number of prices it is based on are shown next to it.
- A page only says a repair “typically costs” a range when every group in that sentence has at least 3 counted prices. Otherwise it says the repair “has been priced at” that range.
- Ranges and medians are rounded to whole dollars. A single price in a table is shown exactly as the source gave it, cents included.
Dealer, independent and DIY
- Dealer: a price from a BMW dealer, paid or quoted.
- Independent: a price from an independent shop. When a post doesn’t say what kind of shop it was, we mark it “shop type not stated”. It usually goes in this group, and sometimes it’s kept in the notes instead.
- DIY: what an owner spent on parts and tools to do the job themselves, with no labor.
Written shop quotes
Some prices are written quotes that shops sent BimmerQuote for a specific car and job. They are listed on the shop quotes page and in the matching repair page’s table.
- We publish only the price, what it covers, the car, the date, the shop type and a general area. We never publish the shop’s name, address or contact details, and never a VIN.
- When a shop says its price is a rough ballpark, the quote is still counted, because it is a real written quote, and it is labelled “(ballpark)”. 5 of the 17 shop quotes are ballparks, and 4 ballpark prices are counted on the repair pages.
- A quote that covers several jobs at once is shown as a combined quote and not counted (2 now).
Which cars a page names
Model-specific pages name only US trims that had one of the repair’s engines, using our cited trim table. Repairs that only exist on all-wheel-drive cars, such as the transfer case and front differential, never list sDrive trims.
“Last updated” dates
A page’s “Last updated” date, the date in its structured data and its sitemap date are the same date. It is the last time the page’s visible content changed: its title, description or main text. A site-wide layout change, such as a new menu link, does not change it.
What we never do
- We don’t make up prices or publish an average or estimate of our own.
- We don’t fill a missing group with a guess. If we have no counted price for one, the page says so.
See our sources for every site we cite, and about BimmerQuote for who runs it.