[goodmaj]

Unless you know everything there is to know about your car and you have a ramp and you have tools, you have to trust someone. It could be an indy, it could be a dealer, it could be someone else. However, if you're trying to get BMW NA to buck up for a goodwill repair, or even just goodwill parts, I haven't seen a scenario where that doesn't involve a dealer. Therefore, if the OP wants to continue down the road of getting BMW to pick up part of the tab and the OP doesn't trust his/her dealer, it's time to find a new dealer, if only for this particular transaction.