After much reading around the internet and getting a quote from Warranty Direct (£775 cheapest using a BMW Dealer) I bit the bullet and rang BMW Extended Warranty Services (Mondial Insurance) and had a long chat with the bloke (
Craig).
I'd prepared a million questions and tried 2 or 3 times to get the quoted price down with various tactics that work with most other insurance companies, but not with this one!
The price for
Comprehensive was
£360.17 with £100 excess and without the emergency cover (I'm with the AA) and this price is apparently fixed with the underwriter, who doesn't do any price amendments.
The bloke (Craig) said he'd worked for this company for over 2 years selling this product and has never seen anyone get any price reduction.
Other relevant things I learned were:
a) The policy is fully transferable if you sell the car (a £25 admin fee applies)
b) The policy can be cancelled at any time, for any reason and you will get a pro-rata refund on a rolling monthly basis (a £25 admin fee applies)
c) There is no limit to the number of claims you can make, or cost per claim, up to the total value of the car per policy period.
d) There is no "No Claims Discount" of any sort, and the renewal premium will be exactly the same whether you've had none or 10 claims.
e) In the last 2 years, the premiums have only gone up once (about 2 months ago) and this was only £11.00 so any increase is going to be minimal next year.
f) Even without the BMW Emergency cover premium, I still get BMW Assist for free as part of my premium which is a basic roadside fix and/or tow only using official BMW parts which is fully covered under the warranty and no excess will apply.
I think I'm quite happy with the deal, although I'll only know for sure if/when I have a claim!
