After Market Warranties - Beware

[Japseroony]

Hi Folks

I purchased my Z4, a 61 plate sDrive 2.3i with 6192 miles on the clock from a retailer in Cardiff who sold me an RAC Platinum Warranty at a cost of £197.00 for 6 months cover. The car has now covered just under 8500 miles.

The first issue was water ingress into the rear lights and although there was an RAC warranty the warranty would not cover water ingress so the BMW dealer asked BMW for some good will (at least that's what they told me) which was granted and I paid £160 for the labour and BMW paid for the lights.

Just last week there was a major failure with all sorts of lights on the dash and warnings on the Sat Nav display so I again took the car the the dealers who after an initial diagnostic check said there was a sensor problem then to find out the DSC unit has failed and I am now facing a £2,700 bill so I asked about good will to be told if there is an after market warranty BMW will not offer any kind of good will at all.

I have taken this to the CEO of BMW who asked a senior member of the customer services team to have a look and this is their response and I quote

"Dear Russell
This is to confirm our telephone conversation this afternoon.
As you vehicle is covered by an RAC warranty, BMW will not be in a position to offer any goodwill on the repair that is necessary.
I believe the third party retailer you purchased the car from, should have provided you with a warranty for at least three months, therefore I can only advise you to contact your contractual partner to discuss the repairs that are necessary.
I have also advised you that Cooper Sunderland incorrectly offered you goodwill on the rear lights, on behalf of BMW, and that this cost will now be met by the BMW Centre.
I know this isn’t the response you would have wished for and I am sorry to disappoint you.
Kind regards
Myra"

My warning to others is to be very careful if you have an after market warranty and are having problems when you think BMW should offer some good will

[mmm-five]

Sorry, I don't understand why you're complaining about BMW not paying for your repair when you have a warranty specifically for this sort of thing?

Has your 6 month warranty expired, or have you not asked RAC to cover the warranty claim?

Surely you should have bought a BMW Insured warranty if you wanted it to be covered by BMW dealers?

I didn't have any problem with my almost £20k of warranty claims on my BMW Insured warranty.

[DNK]

So what year is this?

[Swiftly]

So what year is this?

He has said its a 61 plate

[DNK]

I'm in the US...that means nothing to us

[jamie_z4]

as above... Are you for real complaining that you took out a warranty not with Bmw & then complain they won't honour a warranty from a third party? Or am I missing something very obvious?

[A320_phill]

So what year is this?

Its 2011

[DNK]

Thanks

[alane29]

Sorry ,but I agree with others I don't see how you expect BMW to assist you when you have a RAC warranty .

Have you not claimed on the RAC warranty ??

[DPG]

Sorry for your troubles

3rd party warranties that come with cars aren't worth the paper they are written on most times.

The one that came with my car covered me to a maximum claim limit of £2k. That's why I bought a BMW insured warranty straight away.

I've also been hit with the refusal of goodwill in the past because I had a warranty. (That wouldn't cover the repair anyway).

If I was you I'd be going back to the garage you bought it from to see if they will contribute. Don't fancy your chances though.

Good luck.

[DPG]

Also, companies like ecutesting can probably repair your unit for far less than the dealers are quoting.

http://www.ecutesting.com/bmw_abs_pump_ ... _ate_.html

[John002]

Also, companies like ecutesting can probably repair your unit for far less than the dealers are quoting.

http://www.ecutesting.com/bmw_abs_pump_ ... _ate_.html

This.

Welcome to the Zed 4.

I'd factor this in now for all owners, its gonna happen at some point.

[Paulwirral]

Also, companies like ecutesting can probably repair your unit for far less than the dealers are quoting.

http://www.ecutesting.com/bmw_abs_pump_ ... _ate_.html

I used them on an audi s4 abs unit a few years ago , very quick turn around and unbelievably cheap compared to main dealer replacement part , definitely recommend them .

[Angie4m]

Reading the other post this week it would seem that OPs issue is that his RAC warranty only covers to £1000 BUT BMW could not diagnose the issue that he had so he had to pay for a couple hours of diagnostics. They changed a part at a cost of £700 iirc and then said oh no we need this part which didn't work and then said we need you to pay £198 for 2 hours labour and then they STILL had to get someone from BMW UK to try and find the issue.

I suppose what it is highlighting is that it's not always a great choice to go for an 'after market' warranty and when BMW can't find the fault they start changing things and you could end up out of pocket.

To be fair if it was me I'd be contacting kg warranty company to advise them of the incompetence of the dealer involved because they're had 4 hours diagnostics, which we all know is only as good as far they are looking and changed 2 parts which haven't sorted the issue.

You expect if you take your car to the dealership to be sorted, they sort it........not ask a 5 year old what part do you think we should change now!

[GJC72]

Also, companies like ecutesting can probably repair your unit for far less than the dealers are quoting.

http://www.ecutesting.com/bmw_abs_pump_ ... _ate_.html

Probably in the region of £250 to repair which will come with a lifetime warranty. Factor in labour at a good Indy to remove and refit unit so would expect around £400 all in. BMW quoted £2k to replace the unit on my 2007 E85 when it failed earlier this year.