jdloaner

So this being my 3rd BMW (E46 330 and E36 M3 prior to current 550) I am nervous about the warranty ending in January as we all know if that iDrive decides not to light up one morning, kiss a good chunk of your paycheck goodbye. I have a 2006 550 with 32,000 miles and of course the warranty ends RIGHT in January (why couldnt it have been purchased in like November or something?). How should I handle the situation from here? Let it ride for a while? Buy the warranty from BMW right before mine is up?

I feel like my car has pretty low miles, and it is in mint condition, so I'm not super concerned with anything dying soon but you never know. What are the warranty's through BMW like? Cost? Coverage compared to current? Are there other options or other companies that offer better? Do I need to purchase before mine ends or anything like that?

Sorry for the 20 questions but I just need some other views on how to handle this and what it is worth doing in 4 months when my warranty is up

Thanks!

jherm

I'm in a somewhat similar situation. I have an '06 550 with 41,100 miles and my warranty expires this OCTOBER. Yep, it was purchased shortly after the MY came out. I've been doing a bit of research. BMW offered me a third party (Liberty) 3yr/36k for $4374. I asked him what the real price was and got $2,987. I get the feeling I could've continued to push if I was really interested in buying then. He offered $3689 for 4yr/48k. I just got an email from Warranty Direct that they are having a sale so I will be checking their quote. I believe they also price match so it would come down to whose coverage is better. I haven't read much about their respective coverages yet which I need to do soon.

Some points to keep in mind are if it is transferable (I haven't run into one that isn't). If you can repair at any shop or must repair from their network of shops. If you pay your deductible per visit or per repair (I haven't run into a per repair yet either).

I am interested in others input and advice if possible.

can negotiate anything

jprovence

honestly, I think your worries are unfounded. If your car has been pretty worryfree its life, then you proably wont have anything to worry about. My idrive still works just fine after more then 5 years and 70k. You are better off just saving the cash and putting it in the money market account or something until something breaks. Why make the dealer richer?

or_550i

It's not just BMW that falls in this category. My Toyota Prius's JBL sound system started to go bad; a month out of warranty. The only thing the dealers knew what to do was replace the entire 'dash' which was $4k.

Speed_Force_E60

I just purchased my extended warranty today at the BMW dealership.

Got it through a third party "Fidelity". Anyways, it cost $2900 which covers almost everything from electrical issues to transmission/engine seals and suspension.

I paid $290 up front and making $145 payments for 18 months. 0% interest... not a bad deal if you ask me

JD/MBA2

Hey Bud,
I'll I?m currently in that situation right now and I'll let you know how it works out for me. I have a 2005 545 with 32,000 miles and my warranty expired on August 12. Like you, I take pretty good care of my car and try to keep the mileage low so I wasn't necessarily worried that if the warranty expired, I might have any issues. Get this, on August 10, I noticed that there was indeed a problem with my car; however, I couldn't say specifically. I nonetheless notified my local BMW dealership that something was, in fact, wrong. Furthermore, I brought the car in and it was determined that my clutch was slipping! Here is where it gets interesting. My dealer came back to me saying it'd be $1700 for them to fix the problem. I then proceeded to take the car to another dealer, who, this time, informed me it'd cost me $1100 for them to simply look to see if the clutch was slipping as the other dealer had surmised. Moreover, there would be an additional fee of roughly $1200 for them to fix the problem or probably not if they determined they can "Good-Will-It" if I didn't abuse it. Common guys, who purchases a BMW to stomp on the thing?

I didn't purchase an extended warranty and it seems as if it'd be cheaper to purchase an extended warranty than to pay the price(s) the dealer is talking about to simply look at my transmission. To their credit, they (dealer) has contacted BMW to see if they can take care of it. The funny thing is, because I'm out of warranty, they are making it like a big production, which otherwise wouldn't have been the case. The fact is, when the issues arose, they were aware of the problem and the car was within the warranty period. I certainly would not have purchase this car for the amount of money had I known I wasn't protected by the warranty that BMW advertised. Thus far, I've not informed the dealer that if they will not honor something, which can be done by "Good-Will" even though this is something that should be covered by the warranty and it occurred within that period, I may be forced to take another option to ensure the car is fixed without me coming out of pocket as I shouldn't have to. I like BMW and can't wait to get the M5; however, this issue will probably determine my next car (Mercedes, etc) if a warranty, which, I'm sure, is/was the selling point to get most of us here to purchase these cars cannot be honored. I will keep you tuned to how the situation resolves itself. I have confidence that they will do the right thing! At least, I hope so.

speedmeister

I'm really stressed. 88k on my car and my cpo + maintenance warranties expire in Feb. I'm pushing it to 100k by the end just to be safe.

DanL

Did you happen to research "Fidelity Warranty Services" prior to making your purchase? There are some pretty scary reviews out there although some people do seem satisfied with them.

v_therussian

you have to know a good shop too with these things...

ADD

Don't stress dude.

I got my e39 w/ 25k miles, no cpo, etc. drove it to 247k miles, no problems aside from minor.