F10 M5- 200 mile daily commute

[shanks86]

Hello all,

I have an F10 M5 which is now to be used for a rather long daily commute (I know I should buy a diesel for the task!)

I brought it from a main dealer with the used warranty which has since lapsed as I've barely used it (daily is an A45 which is potentially dead- at my local indy specialist). Tbh the A45 is not a great car for that much driving, so I am thinking of finally using the M5 now that the cold snap is over.

The car thankfully is in the extended warranty window, so I am looking at getting it... question for you guys is do I get the one with £100 excess, or £250 excess (400 cheaper/ year)? How many claims do people use per year? Is an M5 likely to need many big ticket items in such a short space of time?

Advice most welcome.

[theboss]

I did exactly this (210 miles per day Mon-Fri) to my F10 when it was nearly new so didn't have to worry about wear and tear / warranty.

What I would say is that it was a sublime car for the job and really made the commute bearable dare I even say fun, at a time when I was going through a rough patch.

It also stood up to the abuse extremely reliably. They eat motorway miles.

Now mine is leggy @165k I still use it for long distance drives (as in 3000-4000 mile road trips) and consider it very reliable still. I would have no qualms packing the family in it and driving across Europe tomorrow.

Major work has been a preventative rod bearing change and recent replacement of pretty much most of the suspension (despite the motorway miles I lived down a farm track most of its life, so suspension got battered). Cylinder heads and breather bits were replaced a while ago under warranty.

They can make really good workhorses IMO.

[Hammy98]

What year and mileage is it?

The F10 in general is solid as long as it's serviced regularly (more often than the idrive says) and it's kept standard.

If you really want the security of the warranty, I'd go highest excess and any small things that go wrong get a trusted BMW indie to sort. Only go to BMW if a big ticket item goes caput.

Also, unless its some ludicrously unusual individual spec I'd just get it serviced by the Indie too. They tend to take better care of the car and will likely point out any issues - you could then have BMW rectify these under warranty...
At the age these are at, nobody is going to turn their nose up at a car that's been looked after by a reputable specialist.

Personal experience of BMW extended warranty on my M5 was abysmal. I let it expire and my indie looks after mine now.

[shanks86]

its a 65 plate with 49k miles so far

I have a really good indy mechanic who is attempting to salvage my actual DD- but from my understanding I have to get all the MAR done by BMW if I get the insured warranty, otherwise they will make it difficult if I need anything doing covered by the policy- is that correct?

Thanks so much for your reply

[MikeM6]

I've got a warranty on my 2006 M6. I have used it a lot over the last 3 years, including stuff like a new differential, new heads up display, iDrive, various suspension bushes, new coil pack, vacuum hose (labour on that was huge) and the list goes on. The car will be 18 this year and so the warranty is doing it job sublimely.

I use the dealer for the work as they are no more expensive than the local indie and the warranty means things just get sorted as and when.

I pay for the warranty monthly as it stays at that price (bar inflation rises)..if you pay annually it will go up at 60k miles. Start it before then and it does not. For reference I pay £120 per month for the warranty (including European breakdown cover). If the car had been over 60k when I started the policy it would have been much more.

[shanks86]

Thanks so much for the replies. I too have gone monthly as I luckily found out about the price hikes if going yearly!

Do you get all the routine stuff done at the dealer?

So I had the MOT done yesterday… rear diff leak (minor)

I’ve just looked back at my cars MOT history- it said it has a wet rear diff in 2020 & 2019, but not since until it’s been picked up on my MOT…

From my understanding the warranty doesn’t kick in for another month… do I get my Indy to look at the diff or just wait until the diff service is due? I don’t want to defraud anyone but at the same time it looks like this issues never been fixed and I brought it from bmw in 2022 and never looked under the car on a ramp..!!

[MikeM6]

As long as genuine BMW parts are used, any vat registered garage can service the car and warranty is maintained. No modifications allowed though, for obvious reasons.

I just use the dealer for everything now. Prices are decent and I have a good relationship with them, so I do get discount if needed.

Up to you if you wait for the warranty to kick on before taking the car in for a service, but if they should have sorted the diff out when under approved used warranty, then you may be swayed by that...

[theboss]

Mine was serviced in main dealers until nearly 150k miles.

I now use a reputable independent M specialist some distance away and am far happier with their attention to detail and overall knowledge of the cars.