I don't think luck came into it to be honest. Warranty work needs to be approved by BMW in advance before the dealer will go ahead with it. If it's not approved then either the dealer pays for it out of their own pocket or the customer has to pay for it. I didn't buy the car from the dealer in question nor was the car serviced by dealer so I couldn't see how the dealer would offer any goodwill to me in paying for it out of their own pocket. In saying that this was about 10 years ago so things may have changed since then regarding the 3rd year of the warranty but BMW Ireland and BMW UK are still the same company.