Quote:
Originally Posted by capnmorganxx
Hi all..I've got an '12 F25 with all the bells and whistles, and these bells and whistle's seem to be in the shop quite often. I have 33k miles on it, and am debating whether to keep the car and buy the extended warranty or trade it in for something else. Absolutely love the car and the way it drives.
Has anyone else purchased the extended warranty after the fact, and if so what did it cost you.
Also feel free to throw in opinions if I should trade it in for something else (ie. new X5, new X3, FX50 something else I haven't thought of?)
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all i can comment on is the 2yr extended maintenance add on that BMW offers for its vehicles. My 335xi was just under 50k miles when the 4yr/50k mile warranty ended and I decided not to purchase the additional 2 yrs/50k miles for ~$2000. My brakes were not in need of replacement before 50k miles so I wasnt sure how this would work out for me. My maintenance costs over the past 2 years that may have been covered have been: front and rear brake pads and rotors w brake fluid flush (~$750), alternator replacement (~$600), and oil changes (~$106 x 2). I order the OEM parts from online stores and have a local indie shop, that takes care of a lot of higher end european cars, do the work. They arent cheap but are less than the dealership by far. So far it looks like I will be saving a few hundred dollars by not buying the maintenance plan but I also dont have the luxury of receiving loaner cars when my car is in the shop. Had I stuck with BMW, I could also have saved some time ordering parts, researching things, etc but that wasnt a big deal to me. Had I not purchased the maintenance plan and still got the work done at the BMW dealership, the cost for maintenance would have far exceeded $2000. On the other hand, under the maintenance plan they probably would have replaced my brake pads only and not changed the rotors. They also might have not acted on the alternator since the car was still starting up and holding charge fine at the time. I will probably need the spark plugs changed soon but it probably wont be until after Im out of the 6yrs/100k mile timeframe. Also I think my front shocks are starting to go but was kind of waiting for that so I could lower the car a little bit and go with coilovers/aftermarket suspension for better handling.
I would say that if you prefer the work done at the dealership, its probably a better deal to just buy the extended maintenance. Probably for most people, the extended maintenance plans end up being a pretty reasonable and worthile purchase. I think its especially true if you will get close to 100k miles by the end of the 6 years, prefer to keep the vehicle stock and like the convenience of getting the loaner cars and dealership service. Otherwise you MIGHT save a few hundred dollars (might spend more also) by having another reliable mechanic do the work.