Is BMW Extended Warranty Worth It?

Man of Honour
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For me the difficulty is finding this 'good indy'. Pretty much every one I've tried has simply offered the same generic random garage experience only with model BMW's in the waiting area.

I thought I'd found a good one until they asked if my E39 had air conditioning once...

The only thing that annoys me about the BMW warranty is the annoying price structure. It frustrates me that it's 300 quid a year more for a 520d manual over a 440i auto cabriolet with every possible option simply because one is a 5 series.
 
Caporegime
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For me the difficulty is finding this 'good indy'. Pretty much every one I've tried has simply offered the same generic random garage experience only with model BMW's in the waiting area.

I thought I'd found a good one until they asked if my E39 had air conditioning once...

The only thing that annoys me about the BMW warranty is the annoying price structure. It frustrates me that it's 300 quid a year more for a 520d manual over a 440i auto cabriolet with every possible option simply because one is a 5 series.
Absolutely, I’ve found a few independents in my area who are no cheaper than BMW themselves and generally clueless.

One I nearly took my e38 to because the rocker cover gaskets are starting to leak put me off completely when he said an oil change as part of the job wasn’t necessary (it’s vital as contamination from the job gets into the engine unavoidably) another didn’t know what an e38 was (supposedly ran by a BMW enthusiast) and a third thought my 735i was a 6 pot not a V8 (confusing the e32 with e38 I’m guessing)
So I just went with BMW.

The warranty pricing is irritating, mine is £2200 p/a despite being more or less identical to an e39 535i for which they want a lot less for.

We’re it not for the exorbitant “it’s a 7 therefore expensive” price I’d have gladly taken one out.
 
Associate
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Holy thread revival:

To the OP.
I have a 35is too. And the extended warranty at £50 per month. 2013 post LCI and 58000 miles. I have developed an oil leak this last few weeks and 2-3 drops of oil on the garage floor every night. I have had no issues in my two years of ownership of this car before now.
Booked it into BMW dealer - who can see it is under extended warranty as soon as I made the appointment. They cannot get the car in until next week. I will let you know how I get on.

There are several common issue with these (generally reliable) Z4 35is cars and some to the Z4 E89 generally:

DCT sump plate gasket oil leak. I think this is the issue I have. This is a £2500 fix. It is a well known issue with the DCT gear box.
DCT gasket failure - again a well known issue.
Cracked cylinder head, depending on how much the car has / or hasn't been thrashed.
Rear light cluster ingress with water (less of an issue on post LCI).
Roof issues and Hall sensor failures < previous owner had this fixed (also under extended warranty)
High pressure fuel pump failures < previous owner had this fixed
electronic shock absorber failures < previous owner had this fixed. £1000 for part alone (per corner)

Most of these issues are into the £1000's to fix. IMO you would be mental not to get the extended warranty on this complex, flagship Z4 for a mere £50 a month outlay.
 
Associate
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Absolutely, I’ve found a few independents in my area who are no cheaper than BMW themselves and generally clueless.

One I nearly took my e38 to because the rocker cover gaskets are starting to leak put me off completely when he said an oil change as part of the job wasn’t necessary (it’s vital as contamination from the job gets into the engine unavoidably) another didn’t know what an e38 was (supposedly ran by a BMW enthusiast) and a third thought my 735i was a 6 pot not a V8 (confusing the e32 with e38 I’m guessing)
So I just went with BMW.

The warranty pricing is irritating, mine is £2200 p/a despite being more or less identical to an e39 535i for which they want a lot less for.

We’re it not for the exorbitant “it’s a 7 therefore expensive” price I’d have gladly taken one out.
I could not agree more. I'd have had a 7 series myself were it not for the eye-watering cost of the extended warranty. You can pick up a 3 year old AUC 735/740 with a ton of options for reasonable money. It's the upkeep - and hence the warranty costs - that rule it out for me and probably for most people.
 
Soldato
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I'm being quoted the below for a 3 year old 320i msport - I'd really welcome the view of the OCUK brigade on this one? Is it worth a warranty on a 3 year old car, or should I be waiting till its 5 years old before looking into the warranty?


ANNUAL PAYMENT
Comprehensive Warranty with Emergency Service
Excess: £100
£522.00 per year
 

DRZ

DRZ

Soldato
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I'm being quoted the below for a 3 year old 320i msport - I'd really welcome the view of the OCUK brigade on this one? Is it worth a warranty on a 3 year old car, or should I be waiting till its 5 years old before looking into the warranty?


ANNUAL PAYMENT
Comprehensive Warranty with Emergency Service
Excess: £100
£522.00 per year

Depends on the mileage as to if you want to wait or not (the cost goes up past 60k) but letting it lapse and then taking it out again is more expensive I think. I’d keep it in personally, it isn’t that expensive.
 
Associate
OP
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An update to this thread:

I opted not to go for the BMW extended warranty in the end, for a couple of reasons.

1. My local BMW dealers are not very pleasant. I would rather not have to deal with them
2. I doubt they would do the work properly, probably just shove an apprentice on it, to get it done as fast as possible but charge book time
3. The prices they quote are massively inflated.
4. I would rather do the work my self, as it is a second car, a labour of love, and I feel good knowing everything has been done to spec.
5. If anything needs doing that I do not fancy / is to much effort, I use Darren Woods.

Thanks
 
Soldato
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Thread Bump:

The Mrs' X3 x35d's warranty is up next month, and just had the quote from BMW's extended warranty.

Prices aren't ridiculous, but just want to sanity check things

1. Is there some advantage to paying monthly that I can't spot? It's just the per month price is eye raising.. e.g. £834 for the year vs £625 if paid annually for 'comprehensive'.
2. In terms of level of cover, excess etc, is there a sensible sweet spot?


Prices are (for Comprehensive (no roadside assistance))
£0 Excess = £625 / £69pm
£100 Excess = £440 / £50pm
£350 Excess = £339 / £41pm

Then Named Components
£0 Excess = £513/ £57pm
£100 Excess = £384/ £45pm
£350 Excess = £303 / £37pm

It would seem that erring on the side of caution, the comprehensive with £100 excess @ £440 is reasonable VFM.

For reference, 3rd party warranties are coming in £580 - £960 for their top cover levels and her previous Nissan X-Trail was £435 for nissans extended warranty.
 
Associate
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Agreed. Monthly with £100 excess so that you don't have to worry too much if you get a fault. When you go over 60000 then they won't up the charge if you are on monthly before 60000. If you take the warranty after you have gone over 60000 it is truly eye watering.

On my 535D I had £2000 work done when the parking sensor module blew. The oil filter housing cracked - £650. Paid for from warranty with £100 excess. I now have a new fault "Emergency SOS none functional". So another trip when workshops are back open.

These cars can spit out big repair bills. Everything is electronic and needs to be programmed so that the standard multi-car part is programmed to fit your model of car. All at £160 per hour + VAT. It gets pricey.....
 
Soldato
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I had the extended warranty on my 35iS, only used it once but it's worth it for the level of service alone. Came and picked up from my driveway, brand new 4GC courtesy car which I had for 2 weeks and all sorted with no input from me at all. The issue was only minor, but took a lot of investigation (hence the 2 weeks courtesy) which would cost a lot on its own.

On a sidenote, I had MHD Stage 1+ map on it at various times in it's life and BMW saw no signs of it. The chap did a very long scan on the car from his van and was moaning at the time about an M4 he'd just been to see which 'had a dodgy map on it', so it seems that MHD may be harder to notice. Anecdotal but there you go.
 
Soldato
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Had this in mine, it was the battery apparently and only covered as the car was less than 3 years old.
Agreed. Monthly with £100 excess so that you don't have to worry too much if you get a fault. When you go over 60000 then they won't up the charge if you are on monthly before 60000. If you take the warranty after you have gone over 60000 it is truly eye watering.

On my 535D I had £2000 work done when the parking sensor module blew. The oil filter housing cracked - £650. Paid for from warranty with £100 excess. I now have a new fault "Emergency SOS none functional". So another trip when workshops are back open.

These cars can spit out big repair bills. Everything is electronic and needs to be programmed so that the standard multi-car part is programmed to fit your model of car. All at £160 per hour + VAT. It gets pricey.....

Perfect, that's just the reassurance I needed :)
 
Associate
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Had this in mine, it was the battery apparently and only covered as the car was less than 3 years old.
Good to know. I will do a battery recondition from my CTEK and see if that helps. It is an intermittent problem. The car has not been doing much other than short trips because of lockdown so the battery could be low. Will see if a recondition sorts it.
Sorry to hijack thread.
 
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