Sid’s European Motors

Sid’s European Motors saved our butts on a recent cross-​country roadtrip. We’d flown down to pick up a beautiful BMW E30 we’d bought in Houston and were on our way home to DC when the car, that had run nicely at the start, started to lose power while crossing the narrow and fast Lake Ponchartrain Causeway. Not so fun — especially as it was just before 5pm on Friday, while we were hoping to be back at work Monday morning in Washington. Calls to specialty shops around New Orleans suggested folks were going home now and at any rate parts could not be had before Tuesday. Sid’s awesome receptionist Maryam (Mary Ann? we’re sorry we didn’t get it right) said Come on down, we’ll help you. Sid’s shop fields a race team and often works all weekend (although they try not to tell anybody), such is the passion of these guys for their BMWs. When we arrived on the flatbed, Sid and two assistants came right out and rapidly identified a faulty relay (duplicating with the tap of a wrench exactly the stumble we had experienced), replaced a second cracked old relay for good measure, and we were back on our way. Sid delayed his and his daughter’s departure to a game expressly to help us – clients he’d never met. That’s dedication.
When it turned out later that evening the car was showing electrical faults on two levels — the second in a ‘famously’ underengineered wiring harness — Sid remembered that one from a BMW service bulletin from 1988. Electrical faults are very hard things to diagnose, especially ones that appear sporadically, especially on a sunny Sunday in Louisiana with no spare parts and thousands of miles still to drive, which we covered without a hitch, thanks to Sid and his team. Five stars.

I’ve only brought my car here one time, but I was very pleased with Sid. He’s a great guy who takes time explaining what is wrong with your car, the charges etc. And his prices are better than most. The only problem is the location which is a little out of the way for me.