Extended Warranty

[Johnbmwz4]

Hi, thinking about getting a warranty for the car. Had a few quotes and BMW seem the best. Prices below. What do you think? My car is a 2013 3.5i with 38K on the clock

Warranty Wise: £841 with £250 excess per claim, with roadside cover
Warranty Direct: £912 with £250 excess per claim, with roadside cover
BMW: £613 with £100 excess per claim, no roadside cover
BMW: £457 with £250 excess per claim, no roadside cover
BMW: £719 with £100 excess per claim with roadside cover
BMW: £562 with £250 excess per claim with roadside cover

The 2 cheapest BMW warranties are looking favourite. The only thing is that you cant make a claim for the 1st month and if the car has had any faults stored in its memory from before the policy becomes live and you take the car to the dealers with the same fault they say it wont be covered as its an existing fault. This seems ridiculous to me. i know that the previous owner of my car had a roof problem and had to replace 2 microswitches in the boot area, a very common fault. Would this fault still be stored in the cars memory?? When a fault has been fixed and fault code cleared is it still in the cars memory somewhere? The car has full BMW Sytner history and would hope that when it gets serviced they check for codes and if there are any present they consult the current owner and fix. I have a basic code reader that says the car has no fault codes but i assume BMW have much more technical diagnostic equipment. Obviously they state the car must be serviced according to BMW requirements and use the correct BMW approved parts. My car is a third car so will only be used as a sunny, dry only weekend car so Ill be lucky if i do 4000 miles a year. Am i wasting my money or is it a small, price to pay for piece of mind motoring?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this

 

[B21]

Ah the eternal dilemma,

So for 35i/35is when it goes wrong it can be really really expensive, especially if you are not super technical..

Statistically all 35i /35is will end up getting some of the 'biggies' but whether that's in your ownership who knows.

The existing faults is an interesting one..as you deduce, BMW has cleverer tools than you have..whether they 'see' old faults often called shadow codes is not clear..I would be suprised if there were not some old codes there..

For you, personally I'd go for the cheapest BMW cover you can get...

 

[mcbutler]

Cheapest BMW - just make sure you get one.
I think my 35i is primarily responsible for the increase in WD prices from £1100 no excess total cover for 3 years to £912 with excess for 1 year.
So - I apologise :evil:

 

[Johnbmwz4]

Been having a think about this. If the car had an item that failed and flagged up a fault code then got repaired and fault code erased and then say 2 years later the same item failed but was historically stored surely they can’t not honor the warranty as it had the same fault 2 years ago. Also surely they should not be interested in any issues with the car before my ownership as long as it has been serviced according to BMW requirements. I’ll read through the small print and speak to someone again, hopefully someone different from last time.

 

[Johnny h]

I got a 3 year plan from https://www.emac.co.uk/ (via my local dealer) is £25 a month for 3 years for a one off payment of £900. I think it’s got an extensive cover for the money and got the peace of mind that it’ll be done by any BMW dealer.

 

[Johnbmwz4]

Been having a think about this. If the car had an item that failed and flagged up a fault code then got repaired and fault code erased and then say 2 years later the same item failed but was historically stored surely they can’t not honor the warranty as it had the same fault 2 years ago. Also surely they should not be interested in any issues with the car before my ownership as long as it has been serviced according to BMW requirements. I’ll read through the small print and speak to someone again, hopefully someone different from last time.

Well I did speak to someone different at the BMW warranty shop and he was just as unknowledgeable as the other guy. He advised me to ring a BMW dealership and ask them the questions i was asking which I did. I rang Sytner Sheffield and they were very helpful as they knew the car as it had been serviced there for the last 4 years. The service manager assured me that when a car comes in with a fault and a code that can be read, that once its cleared it is cleared totally from the cars memory. He said if the car has a fault that throws up a code then the date on the code will be the day it happened. It will not log the same fault for different dates (apparently ).......

 

[Busterboo]

If you have a 35is, then have BMW Insured Warranty. It's cheap and efficient. My claims, made by my local AD, have never been refused or even questioned.

(For my claims, see my posts on E89 Comprehensive Problem List.)

 

[Nanu]

I would be going into a local dealership and asking for a printout of all previously recorded faults. Be honest and tell them why you are asking, even put the request in an email.

I would not expect them to say no and once you have the list you can challenge any "shadow" faults they may raise in the future to dispute any claim. You could lawfully argue that had you been made aware of any faults not originally listed you would not have taken the insurance and threaten to sue them.

 

[Johnbmwz4]

Well I’ve gone and got the warranty. I’ve gone for the £613 with £100 excess per claim. Hopefully never get to use it. Happy with price and more piece of mind thing for me. Time to enjoy the car now and stop worrying about what could go wrong……

 

[2k35is]

Well I’ve gone and got the warranty. I’ve gone for the £613 with £100 excess per claim. Hopefully never get to use it. Happy with price and more piece of mind thing for me. Time to enjoy the car now and stop worrying about what could go wrong……

Good choice.
Late to threat but got BMW warranty on my 35I paid monthly(about £42) but with £250 excess.
Had car for less than 2 years only made one claim but this included new fuel pump, rocker cover gasket replaced and oil filter mounting gasket replaced all together so only paid £250 in total No problems what so ever with actual claim process(done ay Sytner Sheffield) Cars a Dec 2009 registered and nearly all servicing done by Sytners Birmingham (nearly 10years) than Sytners Sheffield. They had also provided owner I bought car from a printed schedule of warranty work done on the car . Not complete -missed front replaced daampers(car has EDC) at an MOT but does give an indication that early models threw up a lot of problems
Warranty gives peace of mind- roof stopped working after both roof panels had been painted( under 12year corrosion guarantee which involved 3 or 4 visits to the dealer - not charged for any but had peace of mind with warranty back up.
Worth noting that bodyshop advised that they read current codes before doing any work on the car - so if car goes in for any faults ask about this.

 

[Johnbmwz4]

Well I’ve gone and got the warranty. I’ve gone for the £613 with £100 excess per claim. Hopefully never get to use it. Happy with price and more piece of mind thing for me. Time to enjoy the car now and stop worrying about what could go wrong……

Good choice.
Late to threat but got BMW warranty on my 35I paid monthly(about £42) but with £250 excess.
Had car for less than 2 years only made one claim but this included new fuel pump, rocker cover gasket replaced and oil filter mounting gasket replaced all together so only paid £250 in total No problems what so ever with actual claim process(done ay Sytner Sheffield) Cars a Dec 2009 registered and nearly all servicing done by Sytners Birmingham (nearly 10years) than Sytners Sheffield. They had also provided owner I bought car from a printed schedule of warranty work done on the car . Not complete -missed front replaced daampers(car has EDC) at an MOT but does give an indication that early models threw up a lot of problems
Warranty gives peace of mind- roof stopped working after both roof panels had been painted( under 12year corrosion guarantee which involved 3 or 4 visits to the dealer - not charged for any but had peace of mind with warranty back up.
Worth noting that bodyshop advised that they read current codes before doing any work on the car - so if car goes in for any faults ask about this.

Yep just a piece of mind thing for me. I have also requested a full schedule of service history and warranty works done on the car from Sytner although I think I have everything done on the car in a file that was given to me by the previous owner.
I also didnt go for the BMW Roadside Assistance as i already have personal cover on any vehicle but going through the warranty book I am entitled to warranty assistance. This is basically if i break down more than half a mile from home they send a customer service vehicle and if they cant fix it there and then they will pay for the car to be taken to the nearest BMW garage. Bonus. I didnt even know that was part of the deal....

 

[jimbo1958]

I had extended BMW Mondial warranties on both my E85 and E89 and made £3000 ish claims on both. BMW repaired with no hassle whatsoever.