My 2008 328xi is hitting the 40,000 mile mark. I need to decide if I should purchase the extended maint and extened warranty plans. The extened main. plans seem to run about $2145 for an additional 2 yrs or 100,000 miles. The extended warranty seems to run between $5,500-$3090 depending on the dealer. Not sure why there is such a big price difference considering they are all suppose to be through BMW. The higheset price seems to be from the dealer where I actually bought the car and the same dealer in 2 different locations is quoting me two different prices, with a difference of about $2000. Looking to see what othere have paid and what questions I should be asking about the coverage. thanks for any feedback
My own humble opinion is that the extended maintenance is a ripoff. The reason I say that is because BMW's maintenance schedule is so ridiculous that I'd rather just take it to my favorite independent BMW shop and have them do it the right way for a fraction of what BMW charges and at the proper intervals - not every 15K miles. When it's all said and done I will have more oil changes + everything else the maintenance plan covers and still have change left over from $2,145. I plan on keeping my 330Ci for a long time so I've been doing the oil changes every 7,500 miles (synthetic of course) and plan on doing all the other stuff that BMW won't even touch under their maintenance plan (such as the "lifetime" fill for transmission). It'll still cost me less than what they quoted you for 2 years or an additional 60K miles (4 service visits at best). Hope that helps!
+1 on what eam3 said Spend $120 or so instead on a Bentley manual for your car, and buy a quality tool set from Snap-On or Craftsman (Sears brand). Much better investment on your vehicle IMHO.
Thanks Ed- this is really good, sound advice. I agree completely regarding the Extended Maint plans. If I may ask, how do you (or others) feel about the Extended Warranties? I know there have been many threads about this question- but probably won't hurt to discuss it a little more here as well..I am still debating the Ext. Warranty question myself. TIA!
Man, extended warranties are so hit or miss that I hate to give advice regarding them. My own personal experience has been mixed: '90 Corrado: I got a warranty that bumped it up to 100K miles and let me tell you, I got my money's worth and then some! I believe they ended up paying for repairs that cost about 3 times what I paid for the warranty. Worth every penny with that one. '98 Mustang GT: Never used it, damn car was so reliable that all it ever needed was scheduled maintenance. Nothing broke so that was wasted money. Learned my lesson and skipped the warranty with my '01 Mustang GT. I saved some money and nothing broke on that car either. '02 Volvo S60 T5 (wife's car): had one also until 100K miles but, surprisingly, I broke even with that one. They ended up paying about the same as what I paid for the warranty. Still have the car though and, knock on wood, it's running beautifully. If I were buying a car today, unless it's a car that's known to be problematic (but then why buy said car?) I would rather skip the warranty and put the money aside for future repairs.
I agree that an extended/after-market warranty is hit or miss. When I picked up my '02 M3 a couple years back, I payed for an after-market warranty because I wanted more than the 90-day used car warranty from the dealership. In my case, it payed off. My M3 had been sitting on the lot for over a year, and after I started driving it, it was leaking oil quite badly. Warranty covered $2500 worth of rear main seal, valve cover gaskets, vanos lines, oil pan gasket and a couple other minor things such as belts. This spring, it covered another $700 as the tranny-driveshaft "guibo" was torn. Now I've got an annoying rattle coming from the right-rear... and hoping it's nothing major. But if it is... thank you Mr. Warranty.
True. But that doesn't mean they are not a good deal for the buyer. The whole theory behind insurance is to avoid being hit with a huge expense that would impose a hardship. As Dirty Harry said, "Are you feeling lucky, punk?"
extended main and extended warranty thanks for all the feedback, definitely gives me something to think about where can I find a maint. schedule? I am thinking that soon I will need brakes, tires etc. -no idea how long the run flats last
extended warranty issue anyone have names to look up on extended warraties companies ??? I've heard of a few with problems submitting claims ?? anynames from either experience or heard of ???
Depends... I had both on my 06 750li and feel it was well worth the price... paid $4500 for both. It depends upon a lot of things... if you will come close to the 100K miles then it has some advantages... you should get a full brake service before you hit the 100k mark. Technically the O2 sensors need to be replaced at 100k as well and should be covered under that service. I loved knowing that I could take my car into the shop any time for any reasonable complaint and all it was going to cost me was $50... all the way out for 6 years from the "in service" date (important item to know) or 100k miles whichever comes first. The average person will not hit the 100k mark since the average mileage is about 13K per year... or 78K over the 6 year period. I was on track to hit about 93K with mine before I hit the time limit... I was considering a cross country trip just to push it over the top since it wasn't all that expensive and we could see a few things we've been wanting to... but when the transmission started to act up I decided to trade it in for a new ride instead. The 750 has a strong service history, so this made sense. I have to think a lot harder concerning the extended warranty for the 09 335d. I purchased the extended service warranty with the car since I will easily hit 100k with this one (assuming I hold onto it for the next 4 years). They must make money on it on average or they would up the price to make sure they do. I had a few questionable service items which were covered without question and sometimes "gratis" by the dealer. I easily got my $4500 worth in the 50K miles I put on the car... A typical repair was north of $1000. On one occasion they had my car in for 2 weeks trying to iron out a rough running and lousy shifting issue. I had a 328 loaner for the entire period. They found it and fixed it to my satisfaction. A private shop is going to push you out the door at some point... with that warranty that is simply not an option. Chuck
