BMW extended warranties. What to do?

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

We're at the stage with Mrs. Lee's 2014 X1 that we need to decide on getting an extended warranty, going without or trading it in. She has 43k miles on the car, the in-service date was 01/14 and the Platinum Warranty is $3080, but goes until 100k miles or 01/19 (60 mos. from in-service date). Really hard pill to swallow here. She just had a turbo charger replaced under warranty that otherwise would have been $4300. But $3080 for another 24 mos. of worry-free driving is $128/mo. Add that to her monthly payment and she might be better off trading it in or going with a lease.

Any suggestions? Are there good non-BMW extended warranties?

zehnd · 10-23-2016, 12:04 PM

Definitely negotiate a deal if you decide to go with BMW warranty. Dealership warranties have known to have at least a $1400 mark up.

widgeon13 · 10-23-2016, 12:24 PM

Trade it and get a new one. Let it be their problem.

Thats a lot of cash for 24 months of service.

BeyGon · 10-23-2016, 12:24 PM

Steve Carlton would know.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by zehnd

Definitely negotiate a deal if you decide to go with BMW warranty. Dealership warranties have known to have at least a $1400 mark up.

Do they bargain on this stuff if not part of a vehicle purchase?

zehnd · 10-23-2016, 01:15 PM

Yes I'm sure they will. I work with GM and you can call any GM dealer and buy GM warranty. Quite often when a person shops for a vehicle if the dealer doesn't sell them the vehicle they will low ball a price for warranty after the sale just to sell them warranty. Most of the time a dealers profit is in the "backend" taking no gross in the front hoping the back end will make it up.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

I think for a while you could buy a BMW warranty from any dealer in the country. But there was one around Seattle who was giving such great prices on them, that other dealers complained they were getting undercut. So BMW NA brought the hammer down and now they only let you buy from your local dealer and the prices are fixed. I'll double check.

McLovin · 10-23-2016, 01:46 PM

Be sure to check out the third party warranty companies.

I've only bought one extended warranty, when I bought a new mercedes in the 2000s.

It was a 3rd party company, I don't remember the name (Warranty Direct?)

They were actually very good about repairs. It was a 4 year extension on top of the factory 4 year. I had a few claims during the extended warranty period. It was all effortless. I just took the car where ever I wanted, they called up to get authorization, repair was done and I never saw a bill.

That being said, in my 4 years of the warranty the total repairs they covered equalled almost exactly the cost of the warranty.

So it broke even (although not really, because if I didn't have the warranty I would have done the repairs myself for 1/3 the cost).

McLovin · 10-23-2016, 01:47 PM

$3K for 24 months seems like too much.

HardDrive · 10-23-2016, 01:48 PM

$4300 for a turbo charger. What a load of dung.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

Mrs. Lee's last BMW was an E92 coupe, which was not a CPO. But as part of the deal, the dealer threw in a five yr. unlimited mile aftermarket warranty, which couldn't have been cheap. She had $7500 worth of repairs in those three years. I don't think we have the paperwork for that warranty anymore, but maybe the dealer would cut her a deal on of those.

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

Just do it man. I spent last weekend (18 hours) changing the control arms on my wife's Range Rover. Parts, $90 for the ball joints. Labor..???? I would have paid $3400 to have it done after that.

RANDY P · RANDY P's Garage

I'd look for a ultra low mile CPO myself, <1 year old...Might as well. Save yourself having to do this crap in a few years after the next warranty goes out.

rjp

RANDY P · RANDY P's Garage

Frankly, unless you intend of doing this dance every few years, I'd exit BMW. Sub 100K mile car these days.

MBZ. Go.

rjp

BeyGon · 10-23-2016, 03:01 PM

I thought an X1 would be one to keep.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by RANDY P

I'd look for a ultra low mile CPO myself, <1 year old...Might as well. Save yourself having to do this crap in a few years after the next warranty goes out.

rjp

Their CPO warranty is two years or 50k miles from the date of expiration of the original factory warranty. I thought it used to be a lot better than that, but don't recall. The dealers regularly sell their loaner cars with very low miles, which get the CPO warranty. But they don't discount them much at all because of this.

RANDY P · RANDY P's Garage

There's also carmax warranty- get your car there... I hear that's a good deal and they take good care of people plus the cost is reasonable...

rjp

Joe Bob · Joe Bob's Garage

It's basically insurance, the price is a calculated risk priced according to expectations with a profit in mind. They think you own a time bomb......time to bail rikki tik.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

I don't think she wants to buy another car only because this one's warranty is expiring. When she bought this one, it was from a MB dealer and they really blew it out for a great price, and, because they were MB, could not offer a CPO warranty. But I told her to budget about $3k for an extended warranty once the original one ran out. I think she was ready for the price, but not expecting it would only be good for another two years.

fastfredracing · 10-23-2016, 05:59 PM

If you do a third party warranty, read the fine print carefully , some of them are horrible .