BMW E60 woes

Wicksta · 4 May 2011 at 11:21

I know quite a few people here have suffered with fairly large issues (Fox's dad etc) so I thought I'd add my little repair that I'm having to get done. I'd noticed a small clunk on my 530i when starting the car, especially when hot and with my BMW warranty running out next week I decided to book the car in (it is three years old with 25,000 miles).

Well the long and short of it is thank **** I did! The dealer just called to inform me a I need a new automatic gearbox. :eek:

So had I been lazy and not bothered going into the dealer over something relatively minor (so I thought) I might have ended up with a 3k bill, or at least a fight with Warranty Direct who I'm about to take out a warranty with.

But anyway, I wanted to post a thread about it because older E60s are definitely falling into the 'very affordable' bracket but to anyone considering buying one as a cheapish luxobarge should maybe think again if you can't get a decent warranty on the car. I'm hearing so many horror stories lately and I'm shocked that something so major has failed on my car so quickly when I don't really rag it at all.

DM · 4 May 2011 at 11:23

Cant you get the BMW warranty extended rather than warranty direct?

Wicksta · 4 May 2011 at 11:26

DM said:
Cant you get the BMW warranty extended rather than warranty direct?

It's £750 vs £300-and-something, what could possibly go wrong?

DM · 4 May 2011 at 11:27

Wicksta said:
It's £750 vs £300-and-something, what could possibly go wrong?

I can think of a few things, get the proper warranty you nutter

You just had a close encounter of the 3k kind too, nutter

Wicksta · 4 May 2011 at 11:29

DM said:
I can think of a few things, get the proper warranty you nutter

I've got about a week to decide, I'm just in the middle of Warranty Direct negotiations but today's problem has worried me a bit so I might go for the BMW option. I can't see that WD wouldn't have covered this with any issues though, it's a pretty fundamental problem.

Will Gill · 4 May 2011 at 11:30

I let the warranty lapse on my porsche, worst thing I've ever done, as a result the BMW it has the belt and braces BMW warranty, one lemon is quite enough!!

DM · 4 May 2011 at 11:35

Its just the difference between drama arguing, 20 phone calls and just drop the thing off to be fixed though.

Django x2 · 4 May 2011 at 11:37

What box do you have? SAT auto or normal auto? Did they say what was actually wrong with it?

Noticed mine slipping a small bit lately in 1st/2nd but really only when cold.

Dandle · 4 May 2011 at 11:45

Those 3.0i petrol engined cars seem loads of trouble.

Will Gill · 4 May 2011 at 11:46

4 pot is where it's at at at at at at at at at at at at at at at

Wicksta · 4 May 2011 at 11:55

Lucero said:
What box do you have? SAT auto or normal auto? Did they say what was actually wrong with it?

Noticed mine slipping a small bit lately in 1st/2nd but really only when cold.

Normal auto, no mention of exact problem yet but it was a very quick diagnosis so I'm guess it could be something that turned up on a TSB. I'll ask them for more details.

Dandle said:
Those 3.0i petrol engined cars seem loads of trouble.

Post RTM'd for trolling.

Wicksta · 4 May 2011 at 11:55

Will Gill said:
4 pot is where it's at at at at at at at at at at at at at at at

more like Dag dag dag dag dag dag dag dag dandle

Will Gill · 4 May 2011 at 12:01

Wicksta said:
more like Dag dag dag dag dag dag dag dag dandle

I know but that would'nt have made any sense in that sentence!

[TW]Fox · 4 May 2011 at 12:02

Wicksta, I'll speak to you about warranties this evening - so don't take one out just yet.

Will Gill · 4 May 2011 at 12:07

[TW]Fox;19051070 said:
Wicksta, I'll speak to you about warranties this evening - so don't take one out just yet.

sigh, typical fox, he will try and get you to take out a mondeo warranty

we have seen it all before, ignore his obvious trolling!!!

:confused:

5tephen · 4 May 2011 at 12:12

To be fair, BMW would probably have stood over a large percentage of the cost even after the warranty had expired, they are well known for this - even up to maybe a year after the warranty expired.

They covered 75% of the cost of my replacement turbo/cat/exhaust/silencer/particulate filter 10 months after my warranty expired and I had a turbo failure. I'm sure all that didn't need replaced, but they probably have procedures for these things. Not only that but the parts they fitted came with 2 years warranty, and when I complained a year later that my replacement turbo was making weird screeching sounds for 1-2 minutes from startup, it was just replaced without hassle (or cost to myself). A couple of customers have told me similar stories; they definitely carry a good reputation in this respect.

This was a couple of years ago now, and every case will be different obviously, and I'd say would depend on the dealer as well. There's another dealer in N Ireland here who, based on my past experience with them, I'm pretty sure wouldn't have given a fart's arse about fighting my corner with BMW about getting costs covered under such circumstances.

Peerzy · 4 May 2011 at 12:16

Makes me think for any sort of car that could throw up expensive bills do whatever you can to get a proper warranty.

[TW]Fox · 4 May 2011 at 12:19

You don't get something for nothing with cars and there is no such thing as a cheap prestige car.

You just choose the way you pay for it.

Low purchase price + high repair costs or high purchase price with warranty and no repair costs...

People don't seem to think like this though - purchase price appears to be king, even though you will often end up spending more than you paid for the car in servicing, maintenance and repairs over your ownership period..

Peerzy · 4 May 2011 at 12:23

So buy new yeah?

[TW]Fox · 4 May 2011 at 12:24

Where did I say that?

Buy used and maintain warranty.