[Krisms]

i'm picking up my 228i on monday. been contemplating if i should get the extended warranty. my finance co. (local credit union) offers an extended warranty for $2,200 with no deductible or $1,850 with $100 deductible. platinum coverage for 7 years / 100k miles. is it worth getting? have you guys purchased one for your 2 series?

[DanG]

I haven't purchased one yet. With BMW you can add it anytime as long as it is still under warranty.

You can also get extended maintenance for 6 years or 100,000 miles.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by Krisms

i'm picking up my 228i on monday. been contemplating if i should get the extended warranty. my finance co. (local credit union) offers an extended warranty for $2,200 with no deductible or $1,850 with $100 deductible. platinum coverage for 7 years / 100k miles. is it worth getting? have you guys purchased one for your 2 series?

Skip it. You can get the BMW one including maintenance anytime before your original warranty expires.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by DanG

I haven't purchased one yet. With BMW you can add it anytime as long as it is still under warranty.

You can also get extended maintenance for 6 years or 100,000 miles.

Ha, beat me to it. If you love the car and are going to keep it get it later. No sense in paying now when you don't have to, you may want a different car in 3-4 years and you'd have given the next owner a $2k gift.

[nachob]

Originally Posted by Krisms

i'm picking up my 228i on monday. been contemplating if i should get the extended warranty. my finance co. (local credit union) offers an extended warranty for $2,200 with no deductible or $1,850 with $100 deductible. platinum coverage for 7 years / 100k miles. is it worth getting? have you guys purchased one for your 2 series?

I don't think it's a good deal. Too many times I have seen friends buy extended warranties only to have kids and sell the car, with the non-refundable warranty at a loss. Or they simply want another car or their car gets totaled and they lose the warranty even if the car is replaced. I would only consider it further along, maybe a year before it expires and are positive that you are keeping it.

So short answer, NO when buying it new.

Good luck.

[disco4me]

I discovered this on another brand of car regarding buying the factory extened warranty.
1) It was cheaper to buy the extended warranty at time of car sale or within 60 days of sale than waiting until near the end of the manufacturers normal warranty to buy. The difference was significant. I verified this with several dealers right after we bought the car. I'm not sure if the same applies to BMW.
2) some state laws require a prorated refund if you decide to cancel the warranty.
3) some state laws require that the warranty can be tranfered if you sell the car for a small transfer fee...about $100.
That means you can get some of your money back if you sell the car or use it as a selling tool if you resell your car. I'm not advocating extended warranties but these are some interesting facts I learned our other new car.

[Krisms]

Originally Posted by disco4me

I discovered this on another brand of car regarding buying the factory extened warranty.
1) It was cheaper to buy the extended warranty at time of car sale or within 60 days of sale than waiting until near the end of the manufacturers normal warranty to buy. The difference was significant. I verified this with several dealers right after we bought the car. I'm not sure if the same applies to BMW.
2) some state laws require a prorated refund if you decide to cancel the warranty.
3) some state laws require that the warranty can be tranfered if you sell the car for a small transfer fee...about $100.
That means you can get some of your money back if you sell the car or use it as a selling tool if you resell your car. I'm not advocating extended warranties but these are some interesting facts I learned our other new car.

yes, that's pretty much true for this warranty as well...

[Krisms]

i'm pretty much planning to keep the car for a while, at least 7 years. if i wait until the tail end of the factory warranty expires, the cost increases to almost double.

[disco4me]

Like you, I'd be interested in hearing what people are paying. On the other brand of car we recently bought, I did not buy the warranty when I closed on the car. Instead, I shopped around right after the sale and did some investigation as to what people were paying. I also shopped other dealers for the warranty because any dealer could sell it. Armed with that information, I went back to the selling dealer and offered them significantly less than what they originally told me...and they accepted my offer. So now I own the extended warranty at a significantly reduced price and if I sell the car I can get a prorated refund or use it as a sales tool.

[ska///235i]

so what is a reasonable price for this?

[jeremicium]

As you probably know, the warranty is a wager between you and BMW. They are betting that your car will be cheaper to fix than the cost of the warranty, you are betting that the warranty will be cheaper than the repairs. All extended warranties are priced so that statistically BMW will come out on top. A wise betting person would choose not to get the warranty.

However, its hard to put a price on peace of mind. BMWs can be very costly to repair...obviously...especially if you are unable to do any work on your own. I've been out of warranty on my 335 for 16,000 miles. with zero warranty type issues. I thought about a warranty, but they were in the $3000+ range. I'll pass.

The benefits of getting the warranty at the time of purchase is you can roll the cost into the loan.

The drawbacks are, in my opinion, cars normally show whether or not they are going to be reliable fairly early on. Mine has been pretty good from the beginning. Many others had problems early...and the problems continued as the miles piled on. In this case you can make an educated decision based on the reliability over the first year or two. Hope that helps a bit. The pricing through that third party seems a bit too good to be true. I would really question the quality of coverage. One thing is for sure... DONT DO THE MAINTENANCE WARRANTY. That is a complete and utter waste of your money!

[disco4me]

I've always heard that if you are going to buy an extended warranty, it is much better to buy the manufacturer's rather than a third party's. In general, with a manufacturer's there tends to be less hassle with getting things covered. Plus, you can go to any BMW dealer for the repair. With an extended warranty there may be more negotiating with the third party to get something covered and where to have the repair done. Remember, when getting repairs done they are going to not have to pay for the repair. I think there would be less problems from BMW in that regarding than a third party.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by jeremicium

As you probably know, the warranty is a wager between you and BMW. They are betting that your car will be cheaper to fix than the cost of the warranty, you are betting that the warranty will be cheaper than the repairs. All extended warranties are priced so that statistically BMW will come out on top. A wise betting person would choose not to get the warranty.

However, its hard to put a price on peace of mind. BMWs can be very costly to repair...obviously...especially if you are unable to do any work on your own. I've been out of warranty on my 335 for 16,000 miles. with zero warranty type issues. I thought about a warranty, but they were in the $3000+ range. I'll pass.

The benefits of getting the warranty at the time of purchase is you can roll the cost into the loan.

The drawbacks are, in my opinion, cars normally show whether or not they are going to be reliable fairly early on. Mine has been pretty good from the beginning. Many others had problems early...and the problems continued as the miles piled on. In this case you can make an educated decision based on the reliability over the first year or two. Hope that helps a bit. The pricing through that third party seems a bit too good to be true. I would really question the quality of coverage. One thing is for sure... DONT DO THE MAINTENANCE WARRANTY. That is a complete and utter waste of your money!

Why wouldn't you get the maintenance included? I haven't seen a service schedule yet but all cars need a few major services within 100k miles that would be covered. Just doing the timing belt on my S4 for instance was $2k at 70k.

[bimmerfile]

Originally Posted by Krisms

i'm pretty much planning to keep the car for a while, at least 7 years. if i wait until the tail end of the factory warranty expires, the cost increases to almost double.

.
I generally wait 'til 4 year of ownership (as I did with my 2008 1er ragtop) and then make a decision on whether or not to opt for the 3yr extended warranty. By then you'll know if the vehicle is a keeper (which, in the case of my 1er ragtop, it was).
As for "if i wait until the tail end of the factory warranty expires, the cost increases to almost double", I don't know who fed you that pile of crap - or why you believed it..
I bought the BMW Coverage One "Ultimate" extended warranty (84mo/80K Kms - $100 deductible) near the end of the 4 yr factory warranty period and paid $1838 (Canadian).
There are many reasons why you may not hold onto a vehicle as long as you now believe you might. One of them is totalling your vehicle (as I did my 2010 Subaru Forester last year). - and basically you get next to nothing back.
BTW, there's a good profit margin built into these extended warranties, so you can (and should) negotiate for a better price then anything quoted.

[BEM-S4]

One other thing to keep in mind, even if you love car and want to keep it, if it has been hit or something sometime in the first 4 years you may want to get rid of it, they're never the same after a serious accident. You can/should decide close to end of warranty whether or not to keep / purchase more coverage.

[DanG]

Originally Posted by bimmerfile

.
I generally wait 'til 4 year of ownership (as I did with my 2008 1er ragtop) and then make a decision on whether or not to opt for the 3yr extended warranty. By then you'll know if the vehicle is a keeper (which, in the case of my 1er ragtop, it was).
As for "if i wait until the tail end of the factory warranty expires, the cost increases to almost double", I don't know who fed you that pile of crap - or why you believed it..
I bought the BMW Coverage One "Ultimate" extended warranty (84mo/80K Kms - $100 deductible) near the end of the 4 yr factory warranty period and paid $1838 (Canadian).
There are many reasons why you may not hold onto a vehicle as long as you now believe you might. One of them is totalling your vehicle (as I did my 2010 Subaru Forester last year). - and basically you get next to nothing back.
BTW, there's a good profit margin built into these extended warranties, so you can (and should) negotiate for a better price then anything quoted.

I agree. I have never seen BMW increase the cost of the extended warranty. Remember that you can buy it from any dealer in the US and many dealers give the BMWCCA discount. So you need to shop around and you can handle the whole transaction over the phone.

[disco4me]

Krisms, is there any chance you could ask your credit union how much an extended warranty would be on a 128, 4 years old with 48,000 miles would be? That would really answer the question on whether it costs more to buy a warranty later. I did that same comparison on another brand of car we bought new recently and it was nearly double the cost to buy the warranty if we waited.

[DanG]

Originally Posted by disco4me

Krisms, is there any chance you could ask your credit union how much an extended warranty would be on a 128, 4 years old with 48,000 miles would be? That would really answer the question on whether it costs more to buy a warranty later. I did that same comparison on another brand of car we bought new recently and it was nearly double the cost to buy the warranty if we waited.

You are talking about a third party warranty. We are talking about the superior BMW factory extended warranty. Not the same thing.

[disco4me]

I agree, I would only consider the BMW extended warranty. I was simply trying to get a valid and actual comparison cost of buying warranty at time of purchase versus just prior to factory warranty expiring. Since krisms aleady has the one cost I thought it might be possible for him to obtain the comparison cost I mentioned. If someone could do that type of comparison with the BMW costs that would be ideal. But short of that, krisms has the only thing to go on at this point in this thread.

[jeremicium]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

Why wouldn't you get the maintenance included? I haven't seen a service schedule yet but all cars need a few major services within 100k miles that would be covered. Just doing the timing belt on my S4 for instance was $2k at 70k.

The extended maintenance for BMW only covers items based on the BMW Condition Based Service interval...when the car tells you its time for service. BMWs have timing chains...not belts, so there is one item where no service will be required. Between 50,000 miles (when your free service ends) and 100,000 miles what maintenance items are going to occur? Brakes...very cheap and easy to do yourself. A few fluid changes...like coolant, brake fluid flush, maybe three oil changes. All easy to do yourself, or relatively inexpensive to have done at a reputable independent shop. What does the extended maintenance cost...like $2000? There is no way you will recoup that money! BMW sells it for one reason only..to make money. Dealerships make more money from service than from car sales. I kind of understand purchasing a warranty for the peace of mind, but the service/maintenance option makes zero sense unless you like throwing away money.

[bman6074]

Call around to different dealers. I bought an extended warranty for my 135i 3 months before the factory warranty ended. Got it for almost cost. I called 3 different dealers and told each the other would give it to me for cheaper. it was liked buying a car. Mine had a 50 deductible. Came in handy as my water pump went which would have cost 1500. I was happy i didn't really have to worry, sent it to the dealer and in 2 days had it fixed. Also when you sell the car the warranty is transferable so you can ask more for your car. It shows the buyer you take care of your car as well.
To answer your question no need to buy it now. The dealer tried that on me as well telling me it would cost more later. Just shop around.

[BEM-S4]

Def stick w BMW we had a third party warranty once and it was a nightmare.