Bav Auto no more

[beeming]

Very sad to here they have closed up. Bought all the parts to completely restore my tie from them and have been a faithful customer for all my BMW needs for 25 years.

WHAT HAPPENED; and WHY. 

What is the best alternative besides ECS. I'm in the Northeast.

 

Anyone have comment about this?

 

Peter

[Ian]

Good alternatives to Bavauto are Blunttech and FCPeuro.

[adawil2002]

Bavarian Autosport Update

If you are a BMW enthusiast, BavAuto is the name you’ve known since you were old enough to begin day dreaming about your first project car. They were, and always will be, the gold standard. Anyone serving the BMW and MINI communities – including all of us at ECS – took inspiration and motivation from BavAuto’s four decades of commitment to doing things right. They approached the business of selling parts to enthusiasts with the passion it deserves, and in doing so set a high bar for every member of our industry. 

While we were shocked and disappointed to learn BavAuto was closing its doors, we are excited to play a role in helping the BavAuto name and legacy to live on in the community. 

While ECS could not provide a lifeline to save the business, we purchased certain assets from BavAuto and worked on a plan to help maintain BavAuto’s legacy. 

We also decided to assist BavAuto’s customers during the transition by:

- Honoring all BavAuto gift cards through April 30, 2019.

- Providing warranty support for Bavarian Autosport branded merchandise

- Maintaining BavAuto's longstanding support for BMW CCA chapters across the country

- Continuing to stock Bavarian Autosport branded parts on ECS Tuning.com

We’re saddened for the BavAuto team and their families. We’d welcome the opportunity to speak with any BavAuto associates about open positions in our family of brands. 

BavAuto has been a pillar of the BMW and Mini communities for years, and we extend our sincere appreciation to them for being pioneers in our industry.

Best Regards,
ECS Tuning

Edited March 21, 2019 by adawil2002

[Bibm5]

How nice of them to give all customers about a month to use their gift certificates up before they are no good...

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Mitch_M]

28 minutes ago, Ian said:

Good alternatives to Bavauto are Blunttech and FCPeuro.

 +1 on both. FCPeuro offers lifetime guarantee on parts purchased from them (https://www.fcpeuro.com/page/lifetime-guarantee). I get everything for my XC90 from FCP, and split orders between Blunt and FCP for the tii depending on pricing (and availability - Steve carries more for our cars obviously) at the time.

[Mike Self]

4 hours ago, adawil2002 said:

Honoring all BavAuto gift cards through April 30, 2019.

Hoo doggies--my gift certificate can be pulled from bookmark duties and used for its original purpose!

 

mike

[AceAndrew]

Pretty formulaic and messed up, fortunately enthusiasts are able to piece together the obvious from the start.  Pre-backruptcy "announcement" until this "announcement" has all been nothing more than a simple PR exercise planned in such a way to avoid fallout similar to the Turner and Pelican PR fiasco.  In doing so, a lot of great BavAuto employees are on the curb (and were deceptively left in the dark as to what was actually happening).

 

 

It is nice to know that the profits from my purchases go to support a small business. It's an enthusiast market and I want to buy from a company headed by a grass-roots enthusiast, NOT an investment firm and corporate CEO. I have no explicit "hate" for ECS, just a strong preference on who gets my profits.

Edited March 22, 2019 by AceAndrew

[Brandon]

14 hours ago, beeming said:

Very sad to here they have closed up. Bought all the parts to completely restore my tie from them and have been a faithful customer for all my BMW needs for 25 years.

WHAT HAPPENED; and WHY. 

What is the best alternative besides ECS. I'm in the Northeast.

 

Anyone have comment about this?

 

Peter

The guys that ran that place must be getting up there in age...probably wanted to retire but couldn’t find a buyer.  I’ll miss their Show and Shine event they had each fall...

[Vicleonardo1]

Hard to really guess what did happen. From my personal small business experience: 

Sometimes it takes a long time for a business (especially when it has been very successful) for it to realize its diminishing returns. It can take quite awhile for it to whither on the vine so to speak and it can be very hard to decide when to pull the plug. I am sure these guys had put their heart and soul, blood sweat and tears to create and maintain BavAuto. However, competition in the internet world can be brutal. Customers are more detached these days from the personal experience of dealing with excellent staff and service, because price shopping on the internet is easy. Very good businesses can suffer at no fault of their own.

The exit strategy is also tough. It is extremely hard to let dedicated, good employees go. Some choose the abrupt route...Employees show up to work one day and there is a sign posted on the door that the business is closed (actually encouraged by our counsel..but we ignored them) or you can wind things down, tell your employees and give them time to find a new job (which is tough financially if you are bleeding money) or do something in between. (severance, HR recommendations for employees etc.) 

If BavAuto was really bleeding money, they probably had to move fast to limit their liabilities. 

ECS is not evil. ( I am not a big fan) They have an established supply and service chain and seem to be doing well enough to buy up businesses. It is up to them to preserve and maintain their reputation. No one has to shop there if they don't wish to. 

It is very sad to see very good companies go. Unfortunately it happens. 

 

[Ireland Engineering]

R.I.P. Bav auto

[72ITB]

https://jalopnik.com/spying-on-employees-screwing-buyers-what-went-wrong-a-1827474482

 

+2 on Bluntech, FCP and of course Ireland Engineering

[harry6422]

Received this as a email on 3/21

 

HOME | MY ACCOUNT | TECH BLOG | 1.800.535.2002

After 45 wonderful years, Bavarian Autosport closed its doors on Friday, March 8th.  In the interest of looking after our customers and carrying on Bavarian Autosport’s proud commitment to BMW and Mini enthusiasts, we reached out to our friends at ECS Tuning to see if they could lend a hand.  ECS Tuning has agreed to honor Bav Auto gift cards, and will be helping to fulfill all open customer orders. Additionally, ECS Tuning is offering Bav Auto customers up to a 15% discount on their first order with ECS. Both of those offers are good through April 30th and are available by calling ECS Tuning at 330-331-2340.  ECS has agreed to carry on relationships with the BMW CCA chapters we’ve been proud to support. Further, they are working to maintain and continue stocking a number of the Bavarian Autosport branded parts that you’ve relied on for years.  ECS has been very supportive since we made the decision to close our doors, and we encourage you to consider them for your parts and service needs.  Thank you again for your dedication and commitment to Bavarian Autosport over all these years. We’ve loved being part of your community.