One of the best innovations in car buying in recent years is the rise of no-cost scheduled maintenance programs. Many people feel really anxious about taking their car in for service, and these deals help mitigate that somewhat. Obviously, it’s not free for automakers to implement the offers, and now BMW is altering the way its four-year, 50,000-mile Maintenance Program works for some owners. “To keep such an offer sustainable we had to make a change,” said Kenn Sparks, Manager of Business Communications at BMW North America, to Autoblog via email.

The original person to buy or lease the model isn’t going to see any difference, but the program is no longer transferable to a second owner, unless that person is in the owners household. Those [...]

There is always a certain sense of dread that overcomes one when the check engine light (or malfunction indicator light or service engine soon) comes on. That is sometimes followed by confusion and denial after all your BMW seems to be running just fine. That feeling can be exacerbated if, after driving for a while the light goes off only to come back on again later. BMW’s are some of the most reliable cars in the world so the assumption is that whatever is wrong must be something serious.

What Your Check Engine Light Means

Your check engine light is design to monitor and turn on when it detects a fault with your BMW’s emissions system. While the light says “check engine” the reality is that it [...]