Well ... the good news is that my dealer finally bothered to respond. The bad news is the first response completely ignored the question (which was ... could they install the retrofit kit and at what cost).
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I had a chance to look into this situation and have found that yes, an alarm can be installed. However, it is very expensive to perform the retrofit as they are not pre-wired or pre-fit with many of the necessary parts. We are looking at roughly $1200 in labour and $3000 in parts and then of course taxes so were looking at just under $5000 to install the option.
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So ... I replied with specifics about the kit (including that I could provide it at about $400) and would they do the install and that I wasn't buying $1200 in labour for 5 hours).
The next reply simply set me off:
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The short answer to your customers question is no, we would not be able to install an alarm if all we are provided is a kit obtained through someone other than BMW Canada. Based on the documentation provided by your customer, there are a number of parts required that are not included as part of the kit, such as the roof lining, rear view mirror, and ceiling light. Due to the way the vehicle is assembled all of these parts are required as the vehicle is not pre-prepared to accept an alarm configuration. This is the reason why the parts cost is so high, and the 5 hour labour time listed on the documentation is a guideline which does not include programming the vehicle. Programming the vehicle adds a minimum of 2 hours additional time and giving some additional room for issues which may arise I based the $1200 quote on around 8 hours labour at $143.94. We would not be able to complete the install if we are only provided the basic kit, and if the parts are not purchased from BMW Canada, I will be unable to obtain the necessary coding to actually program the vehicle to work with an alarm as the basic software in the vehicle has to be modified by the manufacturer.
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Mostly because it's factually incorrect (esp. about headliner and ceiling light as I have an E90).
So ... I've solved one dilemma ... it's time to find a better dealer, but I'm pretty much resigned to self-install if I can find someone willing to do the programming.