[WCThumper]

I thought I would post my dilemma on here and get some feedback from fellow bmw owners. I currently drive a 2008 335i sedan with 45,000 miles. I financed it at 0.9 and my monthly is $818. I have paid exactly 24 months of payments and I was thinking of keeping the car and buying the extended mechanical warranty but not the maintenance warranty. I figure the warranty will run 2k and maintenance will run 4k over 3 years. After 5 years I plan on selling the car as it would probably cost too much to keep.

The second option is save the money on the warranty and just step into a new bmw (335 or 535) either finance or lease. That would give me another 50k warranty and free maintenance. The reason why I choose bmw is because of the free maintenance as I use it as a commuter. My goal is to keep my auto expenses fixed and I don't mind paying $1000 auto payments. I just don't want unexpected $$$ repair bills. Also bmw is offering great finance rates and when the economy picks up, so should rates. Therefore I could lock in another 0.9 for 5 years and keep my payments low.

What would you guys do? My wife doesn't like car payments and just wants to keep the car until it's paid off but she doesn't realize the maintenance that is involved after its out of warranty. I told her either you pay the monthly payments or you pay in repair bills so it should be awash either way if we want to keep driving luxury cars like bmw.

Thanks in advance.

[om21braz]

How many unscheduled service visits have you had so far? IMHO, that is what I would base my decision on keeping existing car on - provided you like the auto well enough not to want a different model, etc. I cannot give "first hand" advice as we are presently looking for a first BMW. Provided we go w/ BMW, it will probably be a modestly equipped 528i as most seem to think the less the better for daily driver use is best.Good luck w/ your decision!

[Saigon]

i was in your position. Dealer wanted 3-4k just for the extended repair CPO until 100,000 miles with my 07 Vert, I was already at 47k. Also, when you buy the extended warranty you cannot finance it, you MUST pay in full. You cannot finance it within your monthly payment, which is why I sold the vert through private party and picked up an 07 CPO 100k miles at the dealership. Goodluck.

[DPritchett]

I don't know the maintenance history of your car, but generically speaking, on a 2008, its unlikely the cost of maintenance is going to exceed the monthly payments on a new car for quite some time.