BMW Warranty needed?

M

Mike8080

Member
 Northampton
I'm picking up my Z4M tomorrow and although it comes with a 6 month warranty, it's from a non-BMW dealer so not sure it's worth the paper it's written on.

Would it be advisable to get the official BMW warranty straightaway since it'll be on 60k very shortly?

What are the major things that go wrong. I believe O2 sensors are common along with rear springs. What would roughly be the cost of replacing these without a warranty?

With £100 excess, the official warranty is £110 per month.

Thanks.
 
Unless a diff, gearbox or engine lets go, you'd probably be better putting that £110/month away and then using it for the small stuff that comes along. Which would also mean you wouldn't have to pay BMW prices for minor things.

I've got the fully comprehensive zero excess one, but I've had it from 9,500 miles and it's stayed the same £80/month since then. I've also had about 3 times the payments back in warranty claims, so I'm still up on the deal :P

However, mine is a high miler (94k currently) and does 20-25 a year, so a warranty gave me peace of mind.
 
Mike8080 said:
Thanks for your comment. What sort of things have gone wrong on your M?
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Mine's a September 2006 car that I bought in November 2008 on 9,600 miles. It's now on 94k miles and so far it's had:
  • Engine
  • Wheel bearing
  • Parking sensors
  • Diff
  • Wiper relay
  • Headlight washer
  • Oil leak from loose VANOS bolt (which took 3 visits to find)

Not had any of the more common problems though (e.g. O2 sensors or rear springs).

It's also currently in for investigation of a tiny oil leak, for which they're replacing a rocker cover gasket, sump plug gasket and something with the PAS system that they said has lost some fluid somewhere.
 
Mike8080 said:
I'm picking up my Z4M tomorrow and although it comes with a 6 month warranty, it's from a non-BMW dealer so not sure it's worth the paper it's written on.

Would it be advisable to get the official BMW warranty straightaway since it'll be on 60k very shortly?

What are the major things that go wrong. I believe O2 sensors are common along with rear springs. What would roughly be the cost of replacing these without a warranty?

With £100 excess, the official warranty is £110 per month.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I had a garage warranty and then added the BMW full warranty with 0 excess. It's £120 per month and I have had two years worth of premium out of it already. I will be keeping it running until I sell the car - it might be worth it for the new owner (cheaper) as well should I sell it privately.
 
Mine's a 2007 car and i've put 45,000 miles on it in 3 years. The only non-service work it's needed were brake disks and pads (not covered by warranty), and a rear coil spring (not covered by warranty, was within the "small print" tolerance of 10mm difference side-to-side) and a clunking noise from the suspension which turned out to be a loose nut on the firewall strut brace.

I wasted about £800 on the warranty before realising it was unnecessary. I now have about £2k in my not-paying-for-the-warranty saving account.

This is the most reliable car i've ever owned by a country mile
 
Ive just renewed mine £80 a months with a £100 excess with 57k.

But if you dont have a BMW warranty with the car you wont be able to buy a BMW fully comp one but the lowest cover. Cant remember what its called off the top of my head.

Said in my letter if I didn't renew before the date mine ran out then I wouldn't be able to get the better cover.

Problem is putting £110 away a month is that not only does the warranty cover parts but also the dealer time. At £60-100 an hour depending where you go, it could take a few hours for them to diagnose the problem let alone buying the parts to fix it. So one claim a year would pretty much pay for it.

The only problem I had with my car would have cost me £1500 just in parts and the car was in the garage 2 days so would hate to think how much it would have been otherwise.

Also the proper warranty is transferable so thats also a selling point. £80 is a small price to pay for me as I love driving but not particularly mechanically minded. On the other hand nothing could go wrong but at 60+k the likelihood is something small will go wrong that costs a lot to fix.
 
Have you tried increasing the excess up to £250.00? I have just started a new comprehensive warranty incl. full BMW Emergency Assist for £640.00 on a 2009 77,000mls 3.0i E89. It was about £100.00 cheaper without the Emergency Assist. Also, as I didn't have an active warranty when I took it out, I had to wait a month before activation.
 
I got the warranty for the first year when my car turned 3 years old... Think it was £550 for the top level 0 excess no roadside back in 2011. The only thing that they replaced were my rear springs which snapped - and i have since replaced with Eibachs!


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk
 
One other thing - these cars are now at an age where main dealer service/work is worthless.

Mine has a full BMW history, but from next year (assuming i still have it) i'll be dropping it off at an indie
 
Thanks guys for all your input. Shows how some cars are problem free and others make good use of the warranty.

I've got just over 600 miles before it hits 60k on the clock and the premium jumps to over £2,000!
 
pilchardthecat said:
One other thing - these cars are now at an age where main dealer service/work is worthless
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That's quite a bold statement and one that is in correct IMO.
 
Mike8080 said:
Thanks guys for all your input. Shows how some cars are problem free and others make good use of the warranty.

I've got just over 600 miles before it hits 60k on the clock and the premium jumps to over £2,000!
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If you change it to the monthly premium then it stays the same price until it's cancelled & renewed.

You can easily get a monthly quote from the BMW Insured Warranty website, although I think it's now run by someone other than Mondial.

Mine is the same £80/month that it's been since 2009 (once the AUC warranty expired).
 
Had mine 2 years and haven't bothered with warranty, but I'm not doing the miles.

TBH if you are mechanically minded most issues that arise can be sorted yourself or at a lot cheaper rate than BMW would charge. Also you have to use BMW for servicing with their warranty/insurance.
 
I had one for a year when the manufacturers warranty ran out but the car has now got to an age where I don't worry about FBMWSH which you need to keep up for the warranty to remain valid. So not only am I saving the warranty price but I source my own cheaper OEM parts, oil etc. and use a trustworthy specialist Indy and save on labour and servicing costs too.

I doubt I'll ever sell the car and I know the work is done on the car by someone more competent than many BMW technicians.
 
Just renewed mine and wouldn't be without it. Especially as the Z is currently in the dealers having a new radiator fitted and at £475 I am already up on this years premium. Was also way ahead on previous years premium with springs and bushes being replaced.

I currently have other marques of car and have owned many others over the years (Mercs, Alfas, Fords, Toyotas, Hondas, etc, etc) and BMW is the only marque that I consider it is essential to have warranty cover for.
 
Z4Bob said:
Just renewed mine and wouldn't be without it. Especially as the Z is currently in the dealers having a new radiator fitted and at £475 I am already up on this years premium. Was also way ahead on previous years premium with springs and bushes being replaced.

I currently have other marques of car and have owned many others over the years (Mercs, Alfas, Fords, Toyotas, Hondas, etc, etc) and BMW is the only marque that I consider it is essential to have warranty cover for.
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Not an ///M though so huge difference in warranty costs.
 
I've not got any special warranty and I've had mine nearly 3 yrs and 10K miles, had an O2 sensor and window regulator replaced, it's just gone onto 40K miles now. :driving:
 
Mike8080 said:
I'm picking up my Z4M tomorrow and although it comes with a 6 month warranty, it's from a non-BMW dealer so not sure it's worth the paper it's written on.
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I was in a similar position a year and half ago when I bought my ///M. Non BMW-dealer and 6 month warranty which was rubbish. It ran out and I never got another. So far so good, no problems. Obviously now I have written this something will blow up tomorrow.
 
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