Is BMW Extended Warranty Worth It?

Dominic-Toretto · 31 Dec 2018 at 16:03

Hey all,

I am going to be getting back in to a BMW again soon, and I am not sure whether to buy the official BMW insured warranty. The car is a BMW Z4 35is with the N54 engine, the warranty is around £500 for the year.

I am tempted, but I am weary that they just put everything down to wear and tear and try to wiggle out. Additionally the cost of having the car serviced at BMW (To stay inline with the warranty stipulation) opposed to a reputable independent will add up as well.

What are your guys thoughts, should I bother with the warranty or just put the cash to the side for a slush fund?

Thanks!

Dangerous Dave · 31 Dec 2018 at 16:13

For £500 I would say it is as your engine has a few common faults that can be expensive to fix. The warranty has a clear wear and rear policy, wear and tear is covered up to 100k.

I've generally found dealer servicing to be the same price or even less than independents. Most dealers will knock 20-30% off without much bargaining.

Dandle · 31 Dec 2018 at 16:25

I wouldn't bother with the BMW warranty again. Its to much of a faf dealing with the dealers when they don't want to claim on it and to be fair anything that has gone wrong on my car I would have fixed myself if I didn't have the warranty. On top of that the standard of work that the dealer actually carries out is normally a fairly shocking standard and not what you would expect it to be. The next BMW if I buy one will have the money put aside into a car fund for repairs.

Scania · 31 Dec 2018 at 17:04

Commonly regarded as one of the best warranties out there, for £500 I’d say it’s a no brainier a relatively simple failure - at BMW dealer prices - will easily be north of £500 to fix!

You have to be prepared to get a tad pushy with regard to getting claims honoured but from what I’ve heard via friends and family who’ve used it it’s very much down to your particular dealer, some treat you like a premium brand customer some don’t.

My sister has just had her 1 Series clutch replaced without quibble after it started juddering and a mate of mine got a new gearbox when his e60 started crunching going into 3rd and 4th gears it has 95k on the clock and was not bought as approved used - he just added the warranty when he bought the car at 57k and continued paying monthly thinking it was a waste of money until his ‘box started playing up at which point he was very glad he kept it going!

It’s prohibitively expensive on some models (£2200 p/a for my e38) but very good value for others.

Some may disagree but I’d highly recommend it.

Basher · 31 Dec 2018 at 17:21

Definitely yes. Clue yourself up on what's included (and what's not) and claiming within the dealer network is dead easy.

Dis86 · 31 Dec 2018 at 17:56

The bmw warranty is fantastic. It's strangely cheap on the z4 too

DarrenM343 · 31 Dec 2018 at 18:32

I'd not bother personally. Depends on your tolerance of repair bills. Personally, I'd rather have a slush fund for the car.
Warranties are like any other insurance type policy. The unluckly few will gain from it, the rest wont. The warranty cost is calculated with that in mind.
In 2004 I had a 320 TD compact. I didn't extend the warranty. A few months later the car broke down and repair bill was about the same as the annual warranty cost. However, for the next 80k miles the car had zero issues.
As far as I know the cars I've had that I have not extended the warranty on have saved me money. Even on a Z4 M Coupe I only had to replace a couple of springs in 70k miles of ownership, oh, and some disks but those wouldn't have been claimable anyway and was right at the end of my years with the car.

IAmATeaf · 31 Dec 2018 at 19:36

I took out the extended warranty for my f30, think it was just under 550 for the year, my thinking being that it’s a small amount for some peace of mind.

Nasher · 31 Dec 2018 at 21:43

The main reason for extending a warranty is the engine (and probably the gearbox if it's an auto), since if that blows up it can break the bank.

I'm about to extend the warranty on a Toyota but it's literally half the price of BMW and includes free MOTs, repairs for anything which fails on an MOT, and breakdown cover. I guess they are pretty confident it's never going to break

balls · 3 Jan 2019 at 13:13

Had it on my former E92 335i with the same N54 and it would have cost me >£5k in the first year of ownership. Subsequently sold it to a friend who didn't renew and hasn't had any issues in the past 3 years

Scania · 3 Jan 2019 at 13:19

balls said:
Had it on my former E92 335i with the same N54 and it would have cost me >£5k in the first year of ownership. Subsequently sold it to a friend who didn't renew and hasn't had any issues in the past 3 years

You know you’ve just jinxed him don’t you?

200sols · 3 Jan 2019 at 13:47

If its worth it will depend, it will offer peace of mind but it is an insurance policy, and like all insurance policies they mainly benefit the insurer, only the lucky (or not whichever way you see it) will come out better off.

Psycho Sonny · 3 Jan 2019 at 14:28

Dangerous Dave said:
For £500 I would say it is as your engine has a few common faults that can be expensive to fix. The warranty has a clear wear and rear policy, wear and tear is covered up to 100k.

I've generally found dealer servicing to be the same price or even less than independents. Most dealers will knock 20-30% off without much bargaining.

found the exact opposite.

my indy did an oil service for £20 (i gave him all the fluids and filters).

he changed both rear drop links including the cost of 1 of them (i provided the other) for £35.

i know the dealer would have charged me more than the above in labour alone.

Peerzy · 3 Jan 2019 at 15:01

Psycho Sonny said:
found the exact opposite.

my indy did an oil service for £20 (i gave him all the fluids and filters).

he changed both rear drop links including the cost of 1 of them (i provided the other) for £35.

i know the dealer would have charged me more than the above in labour alone.

You found a proper garage to do an oil service for £20? Assuming £4 VAT and the fastest service in the history (30 minutes) he's valuing his hourly rate at £32 and no overheads / additional charges for admin or supplying your own parts)? Where is this garage as I want him to do a full engine swap for me for £250?

Psycho Sonny · 3 Jan 2019 at 15:05

Peerzy said:
You found a proper garage to do an oil service for £20? Assuming £4 VAT and the fastest service in the history (30 minutes) he's valuing his hourly rate at £32 and no overheads / additional charges for admin or supplying your own parts)? Where is this garage as I want him to do a full engine swap for me for £250?

He's a 1 man band and he only does bmw's nothing else.

Cash in hand.

His work is also 10 times better than main dealers I've used both and he does extras for free.

Peerzy · 3 Jan 2019 at 15:11

Psycho Sonny said:
He's a 1 man band and he only does bmw's nothing else.

Cash in hand.

His work is also 10 times better than main dealers I've used both and he does extras for free.

Wouldn't the cost of single drop link be nearly the £35 you paid to have both changed and him supply one?

Where is the guy, I've got a BMW and would like him to do my car at those prices?

NVP · 3 Jan 2019 at 15:37

Never had an extended warranty through all my years of BMW ownership and had the majority of them without the need to give BMW a grand a year just in case... Then last year I got hit with a 4.5k suspension repair bill.

Still in the green I'd say but sometimes I wish I got it just for the first year of ownership of the car (as they're all second hand), but hey hoe

x

Psycho Sonny · 3 Jan 2019 at 15:49

Peerzy said:
Wouldn't the cost of single drop link be nearly the £35 you paid to have both changed and him supply one?

Where is the guy, I've got a BMW and would like him to do my car at those prices?

i don't think they are that dear for my car maybe £15 iirc

he's in glasgow (cathcart)

he's an old fellow and he only does appointments no drop ins. so he only works the hours he is booked in for. so if on a Friday he has 3 bookings he's likely finished for 12:30 and calls it a day. he works from a lock up and there are 3-4 other mechanics side by side who do all sorts of cars but he is BMW only.

so i've had to drop my car off at 8:30 and pick up at 12:30 before otherwise i'd need to leave it there over the weekend as he's wanting to get up the road.

Dangerous Dave · 3 Jan 2019 at 16:43

Psycho Sonny said:
found the exact opposite.

my indy did an oil service for £20 (i gave him all the fluids and filters).

he changed both rear drop links including the cost of 1 of them (i provided the other) for £35.

i know the dealer would have charged me more than the above in labour alone.

That isn't a lot to change oil but would still be over £100 for my car as it takes 8 litres of oil plus another £30 odd for the oil filter and microfilter so around £120 ish for a full service. My car is due a service soon and I have managed to get the dealer down to £165. I would rather pay the extra £45 to keep the full BMW service history, drop me off at work and pick me up at the end of the day.

The independents that provide a receipt, can update the cars service record in the idrive system and are vat registered the cheapest I could get was £220 and they wouldn't let me supply my own parts/oil and were out the way so a pain to get to work after dropping it off.

dovey · 3 Jan 2019 at 16:56

The extended warranty has saved me a fortune on my F30. The claim I made cost £100 excess and they replaced,

2x top mounts
steering rack & alignment
1x front shock (expensive electronic one)
air con condenser and regas

As Dandle mentioned my dealership experience wasn't great either. It took 2 or 3 visits to diagnose the steering rack and they had my car for around 3 weeks. I had to do a lot of chasing to find out what was going on with my claim / car and when I got it back they hadn't reattached the headlight adjuster which I found out on a night drive from London to Leeds. It's an issue with the dealerships but something worth thinking about if you have a respected indie you can use to look after your car.

It says something about the build quality of modern BMW's, all the parts replaced had failed at 65k miles. I don't know much about the Z4's but if they have a lot of common issues it may be worth going for.