[marlie]

Hi Guys, my warranty finishes on my X6 in a few weeks. Bmw just sent me a letter for £900 a year to keep the warranty going. Can anyone reccomend anyone else? or point me in the right direction?

Thanks guys

[BGM]

i did a fair bit of research into this when i renewed my warranty last year, and in the end i swallowed my pride and went back to BMW.

It's really worth it, and you don't even need to continue using BMW servicing any more to keep it 'intact'..

go on their website and up the excess, take off breakdown cover etc etc.. mine was £45 a month in the end. never claimed though

[davyk31]

mine was up on the X5 approx 18 months ago, had a similar quote and decided as car is low mileage I would go it alone. Have had one small issue with headlights, cost was £200 for which BMW easily agreed to pay 50% therefore over the period I have paid out £100 rather than almost £1500 on a warranty. That gives me a bit of a fund to put towards anything major should be happen which at moment seems unlikely.

[scottc]

For me I personally like having the backup of the warranty, I know a few people that have had massive bills and some (like above) that have had nothing. Luck of the draw I guess..

[mistryn]

Does it give you an option to pay on a monthly basis?

[BGM]

Originally Posted by mistryn

Does it give you an option to pay on a monthly basis?

yes it does

[mistryn]

I have heard where some people pay on a monthly basis and the premium stays the same even if the milege increases following year.

However if you pay annually in one go it always goes up the following year

[BGM]

Originally Posted by mistryn

I have heard where some people pay on a monthly basis and the premium stays the same even if the milege increases following year.

However if you pay annually in one go it always goes up the following year

this is the main reason i started paying monthly, and for one year at least, it was true!

monthly payments are also transferable to new owners, plus you don't pay more than you have to if you sell the car

win-win-win imo

[marlie]

Thanks guys, has anyone use companies like warranty direct etc?

[Hotcoupe]

Originally Posted by marlie

Thanks guys, has anyone use companies like warranty direct etc?

Don't go there Marlie,most other warranty companies make unacceptable exclusions in their cover.
The premium and cover provided have an imbalance in the monthlies paid,you pay lots,and get not enough in return, that imo rules them out.

Stick with BMW warranty (Mondial),it might be more expensive,but with extended warranties,you really do get what you pay for.

[BGM]

stay with BMW...

as i said, just go on the website, stick in the registration number... stick the excess up fairly high, get rid of breakdown cover (add it to car insurance for like £35) and pay monthly

jobs a good'un

obviously you want your car to be perfect, but my view on this warranty on the 5yr old car with over 80k on the clock i just got rid of (patchy service history too!) was just get it to cover the big expensive things i.e. electrical system failure, iDrive/nav fucking up etc... everything else just take it to a local BMW indi

slightly different story if you have a FBMWSH, but i didn't so it was an easy choice

[SteveC]

Warranty Direct came out top.

Cover includes using BMW dealers and original parts, covers premature failure of certain consumables normally not covered in other warranties, low excess, cancellable if you sell your car. I bought the premium cover for something like £550 p.a for an X5

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by SteveC

Warranty Direct came out top.

Cover includes using BMW dealers and original parts, covers premature failure of certain consumables normally not covered in other warranties, low excess, cancellable if you sell your car. I bought the premium cover for something like £550 p.a for an X5

Yeah but when you use the BMW dealer, you'll be picking up the bill because they wont pay out for sweet FA

[Chris100]

Originally Posted by SteveC

Warranty Direct came out top.

Cover includes using BMW dealers and original parts, covers premature failure of certain consumables normally not covered in other warranties, low excess, cancellable if you sell your car. I bought the premium cover for something like £550 p.a for an X5

Mine is up next month as well and I am just going to stick with BMW, I have heard and read too many nightmare stories when trying to claim of these third parties for work when it is required.

Most people basically say you are paying a lot of money for a useless bit of paper with warranty written on it.

[flyfs6]

At the time I tried lowering the excess rate and removing enhanced breakdown cover (opting for breakdown on my insurance) but I didn't think the extra savings were worth while. When our X5's warranty was expiring I opted for BMW's comprehensive cover with no excess.

[SteveC]

Originally Posted by djgandy

Yeah but when you use the BMW dealer, you'll be picking up the bill because they wont pay out for sweet FA

The basis of the agreement is a contract...what's covered, what's not and the excess. Hard to see where the wiggle room lies.

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by SteveC

The basis of the agreement is a contract...what's covered, what's not and the excess. Hard to see where the wiggle room lies.

Wear and tear is the answer there my friend. How do you determine what the reasonable lifetime for a part is?

If you are worried about generic things, put the money in the bank and pay for the repairs yourself. If you are worried about engine/turbo/fuel pump failure then buy a warranty. Also know though in those situations you'll often get good will from BMW for parts if you have a full BMW service history, so unless it's a 10 hours labor job you can still be better off without a warranty.

[SteveC]

Originally Posted by djgandy

Wear and tear is the answer there my friend. How do you determine what the reasonable lifetime for a part is?

If you are worried about generic things, put the money in the bank and pay for the repairs yourself. If you are worried about engine/turbo/fuel pump failure then buy a warranty. Also know though in those situations you'll often get good will from BMW for parts if you have a full BMW service history, so unless it's a 10 hours labor job you can still be better off without a warranty.

We're arguing for arguing's sake

The Warranty Direct contract determines the lifetime. If the consumable fails prematurely i.e before the end of the defined lifetime, its covered.

I really don't get your next sentence. Why pay for it myself when the Warranty Direct warranty is cheaper than BMWs AND covers 'generic things'?

I am worried about engine/turbo, fuel pump/ suspension so I did buy a warranty. I just didn't buy it from BMW for £900+, I bought if elsewhere for £500 something, while still having the work done by BMW. Major warranty providers don't pay franchised dealers what Joe Public pays. They have buying power so get preferential rates. That's partly how they generate their margins.

With current labour rates, my annual warranty is equivalent to 6 hours total; no parts. With some faults, diagnosis can run that long!

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/articles...it-record-high

[davyk31]

You don't need to buy the BMW add on for breakdown unless you want onward travel cover etc. The standard policy includes breakdown recovery to the nearest BMW garage.

And as mentioned above, BMW goodwill can be pretty generous if you have kept your service history up and have a decent relationship with your dealer. I've had some pretty sizeable contributions in the past.

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by SteveC

We're arguing for arguing's sake

The Warranty Direct contract determines the lifetime. If the consumable fails prematurely i.e before the end of the defined lifetime, its covered.

I really don't get your next sentence. Why pay for it myself when the Warranty Direct warranty is cheaper than BMWs AND covers 'generic things'?

I am worried about engine/turbo, fuel pump/ suspension so I did buy a warranty. I just didn't buy it from BMW for £900+, I bought if elsewhere for £500 something, while still having the work done by BMW. Major warranty providers don't pay franchised dealers what Joe Public pays. They have buying power so get preferential rates. That's partly how they generate their margins.

With current labour rates, my annual warranty is equivalent to 6 hours total; no parts. With some faults, diagnosis can run that long!

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/articles...it-record-high

If you have a failure with warranty direct don't think that you won't be picking up a bill.

Let's say your turbo goes, they'll probably make you pay for the removal so they can then do a diagnosis. The diagnosis will be excessive carbon build up, and boom, they wont pay out anyway. So you are twice out of pocket, then will have to grovel with BMW to give you goodwill (which they usually do) but still pay more labour.

If you get really lucky none of that will happen, but they'll say that BMW's £175/hour rate is excessive and cap your labour rate at £100/hr

You have an X5 and a Z4M. Why skimp on this? If they are under 60k the BMW warranty is usually ~£800 without breakdown cover, a little bit more for the Z4M.

Also do you think you'll be claiming on the warranty every year? My point with warranties is that usually you don't claim on them every year. The £600 saved over 5 years is £3k. With a full BMW service history you are likely to find that BMW will be quite generous themselves. The turbo's aren't going to blow every year are they?

Also remember with BMW warranty you can go drive line only for turbo's, gearboxes etc.

[Geesh_46]

AA now do a parts and labour breakdown (it's £50 extra on your breakdown cover) and they pay the first £500 of your bill (£35 excess) its covers anything that causes your car to breakdown! and you can claim up to 5 times a year i think