///M Warranty

ujj

Member
 South London
Hi All,

Got the warranty coming up for renewal in my Z4MC. Two choices I currently see is either extending the BMW Comphrensive @ 1.2k for 1yr or go for 3rd party one like Warranty Wise (the one associated with Quentin Wilson) also for approx same price but instead for 2 years.

I've seen a couple of posts where people say the 3rd party ones are not worth the paper they are written on, so wondering what people's experiences are with them if they have indeed used them on an M car? Or is it best to stick the tried and tested BMW Comphrensive. Just a bit wary of being stung in the event of an expensive failure (i.e. VANOS) and not being covered.

Any thoughts or insight appreciated.

Thanks.
 
My AUC warranty expires next month and if that's the sort of money they'll be asking for then I'll politely tell them to jog on. £1200 is a hell of a lot of money for an insurance policy on a car that by now can be bought for less than 20k. I'll wait for my letter to come through but if the prices are that high my thinking is that you might as well just put the money aside "just in case" something goes wrong. It's a bit of a risk but you've got to draw a line somewhere right? Why pay BM to get richer?
 
I did not renew either, never got the extended warranty letter either ...

It depends on the mileage you do I guess, for my 5k a year to pay 1200 GBP is just too much.
 
The BMW warranty is cheap in comparison to Audi. IIRC the cost of an extended warranty on an RS4 is circa 2.5K.
 
1200? Mine with no excess and breakdown was 850 and i paid it without thinking, & will again.
 
I'll see what they offer in terms of pricing. Anything over £1k sounds a bit ridiculous to me but there's always that nagging feeling that there could be something big around the corner. To date the car has run faultlessly and there's nothing to suspect it will not continue to do so.

It could be worth taking it with a bigger excess in the event something really nasty happens I guess. Any of you actually claimed on the warranty at some point or other? Tough one to call, the price will be the key factor for me.
 
Sorry, wasn't really clear before..
For the bmw quote:

1236 p/a for Comp Cover, zero excess with breakdown service included.

Other end of the comp cover spectrum: 796 p/a comp cover, 250 excess and no breakdown cover.

Suppose as no one has mentioned 3rd party cover that would be a no go then??

Will post the full price list table i got from bmw warranty sales when I get back home later this evening

Cheers
 
What would year 2 / 3 etc be?

With a full service history and knowing the dealer well etc, I would count on a good will from BMW if I would get a major, major issue (which would be a manufactoring fault anyway then).

If 3 years = £3600, then I think I can get quite a few repairs done for that cost to break even.
 
Hi ujj hope you don't mind me tagging onto this thread. £796 sounds more sensible than the original 1.2k quote so it will be interesting to see if I get the same offer.

I think the general perception here is that it's BMW or nothing, particularly with an M car.
 
tjlazer said:
I think the general perception here is that it's BMW or nothing, particularly with an M car.

I'd be really interested to know people's perception here. Given that you can get any work done at any garage of your choosing (granted it can affect the premium), does the only suspicion lie with them not honouring claims?
 
glastoveteran said:
tjlazer said:
I think the general perception here is that it's BMW or nothing, particularly with an M car.

I'd be really interested to know people's perception here. Given that you can get any work done at any garage of your choosing (granted it can affect the premium), does the only suspicion lie with them not honouring claims?
The only stipulation in the extended warranty is that servicing has to be done at a franchised dealer. All other maintenance can be carried out anywhere you want.
 
mmm-five said:
glastoveteran said:
tjlazer said:
I think the general perception here is that it's BMW or nothing, particularly with an M car.

I'd be really interested to know people's perception here. Given that you can get any work done at any garage of your choosing (granted it can affect the premium), does the only suspicion lie with them not honouring claims?
The only stipulation in the extended warranty is that servicing has to be done at a franchised dealer. All other maintenance can be carried out anywhere you want.

Sorry I mean if you take out a warranty with WarrantyWise and you need to make a claim, you can get the work carried out by BMW if you want to. So I was just questioning why people are suspicious of 3rd party warranties.
 
glastoveteran said:
Sorry I mean if you take out a warranty with WarrantyWise and you need to make a claim, you can get the work carried out by BMW if you want to. So I was just questioning why people are suspicious of 3rd party warranties.
Sorry for my misunderstanding.

When I looked at warranties last year I found that for the same cover (i.e. using the BMW dealer network), the Warrantywise one was only £100 cheaper than the BMW one, and increasing your excess over £100 doesn't make much difference (e.g. the difference between £0 excess and £100 excess was about £100, but the difference between £100 excess and £500 excess was only another £20 or so).

I just couldn't get enough positive feedback about any of the warranty companies at the time - and there were even some who'd quote for an ///M and then their T&Cs would specifically exclude ///Ms.
 
glastoveteran said:
Sorry I mean if you take out a warranty with WarrantyWise and you need to make a claim, you can get the work carried out by BMW if you want to. So I was just questioning why people are suspicious of 3rd party warranties.

That's exactly what I'm wondering, you can tailor your policy for franchised dealer labor rates. They also claim to have a no "weasel word" policy. They say any electrical or mechanical part is covered - I'm a bit sceptical though which is why I threw the question out there to you all. I know tesco had a similar policy a while ago (although it didn't cover M cars) which they had to pull off the shelves as it was costing then too much money in paid claims as it was too wide and encompassing.

Regarding the BMW warranty.. just had a heated exchange of emails with Mondial (underwriters for BMW) in which they reduced their original top premium by £ 700 only to be told they couldn't honour it!
 
My experience with Warranty Direct for my X5 has been as follows:

- They don't pay for diagnoses. That is a biggy, they say that the faulty component is covered but BMW will always do diagnoses and reset any codes to find the issue. That is a couple of hundred not covered to start with.
- They don't cover the cost of removing an ancillary item. In my case of the X5, for the glow plug control unit the manifold needed to come off. WD only pays for the glow control box + the fitting of it. NOT for the removal of parts to actually get to it. Again, you won't find that in the small print.

Your own contribution increases with age and mileage. I.e. a broken part is only part covered once you hit say the 50k mark, and every 10k above that removes another 10%. May not be a problem for low use car, but for a normal every day use car that would become less and less interesting.
 
Hi all.

My second post so far!Must calm down.
I used to have an Audi A2 and although being an Audi I chose to take out Warranty Directs 'comprehensive' cover.
This was supposed to cover everything, cost £380 pr yr, had £50 excess and also followed the route of increasing my contribution to any claim (regardless of how many claims made) by 10% every 10K miles.

It was so comprehensive, that I later found it didnt cover:-

Clutch failure due to manufacturing defect
Any electrical sensors or harnesses
ICE / Sat Nav etc
Wheel bearings, clutch bearings, brake discs/pads (even if main dealer supplied) etc etc

I was quite shocked when I was charged £380 for a new O2 sensor 4 months after buying the car.
The sensor was £98 inc VAT and the rest labour.
Funny enough it wasnt covered under warranty - neither was the exhaust system etc.

So much for a comprehensive wty.

Compare it to my firend who bought a BMW cooper on 56 plate from main dealer, and two months out of wty, the engine spectactularly failed. Threw a rod and split the head.
Oxford main dealer had it swapped out for a brand new crated engine in 2 days and gave a loan car. No cost. no questions. They even serviced the car prior to him collecting it at no extra charge.

I'd like to see Warranty Direct do that!

I personally have just bought an 07 plate Z4MC, love it to bits, still learning its plentyful array of characteristics, but am so very comforted in the knowledge that if the double vanos went, or it dropped a rod, BMW will cover the repairs. Sometimes, peace of mind and knowing that someone is there to help when it all goes tits up, is worth paying just a little extra for. and yes, I am using my Z4M as a daily - covering an anticipated 30K a year - mainly cos its just so much fun to drive and own.

Hope this helps.

Mike
 
Thanks pvr and z4mmonkey - I think that definitely removes any doubt as to the difference between BMW and the 3rd party warranties - case closed.
 
glastoveteran said:
Thanks pvr and z4mmonkey - I think that definitely removes any doubt as to the difference between BMW and the 3rd party warranties - case closed.

Second that, thanks all for your input.
 
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