The beauty of having a warranty.

[Schermerhorn]

I noticed a few drops of power steering fluis under the car. Being under warranty the dealer would be my first port of car. So I llll asked them to check over the car. They did the pump in December but reused the old bajos which were slightly old by now. They also reported a 'slight' misfire and had it on the diagnostic machine.


A few days later and voila.......£1700 worth of work done for FREE.


Turns out the actuators were on the way out - I never would have noticed it apparently. They also did the SMG control module too

If anyone is in doubt whether or not to get a car with an AUC warranty and pay a premium, let this make your mind up for you.

Edited by Schermerhorn on Tuesday 12th May 10:43

[Schermerhorn]

duff said:

That is a good result, a warranty does seem essential on the M5/6.

It doesn't go so smoothly for everyone - I'm currently in dispute with BMW warranty dept over the dealers refusal to replace the roof motor on my girlfriends Z4. Apparently water ingress is not covered, despite there being no way to prevent it happening - seems a clear design fault.

Take it up with BMW UK. A design fault should be rectified through a recall via the dealers.

Definately ring around various dealers. You could get a different response.

[Schermerhorn]

0836whimper said:

Warranties are never "free", you are paying for it somewhere.

No doubt. I paid a premium for this car over a non warrantied car. I have saved thousands as a result. On some cars it may not be worth it. On ANY high performance car it is worth it.

[Schermerhorn]

0836whimper said:

So how did you "save thousands" if you paid a premium and the main dealer work (cheaper at an Indie) was worth £1700 ?

Not suggesting there is no benefit in this instance but let's deal with facts.

And one data point never makes a compelling argument. I could provide another data point from which you could draw a totally different conclusion.

Ok I paid a premium over a non AUC car. I got 2 year warranty as I pushed for it rather than a standard 1 year warranty. £1000 saved already.

I paid £22850 for my car. A non AUC car at the time was around £5000 less.

My car had 3 new tyres, front and rear discs and pads done, spark plug service, and many other things for a total of £4000. I have the reciepts also.

Warranty work over the years worth £8000 has been done also.

Cost to me £0.00

Lete factor in the premium I paid and I have still saved thousands as the work done has now far exceeded the premium paid.

It's not rocket science. It is worth is for the piece of mind. Especially on a V10 BMW. A 320d of that era going wrong would not really bother me. A V10 BMW would make me cry as I wrote out a four figure cheque....again.

Edited by Schermerhorn on Thursday 23 April 08:03

[Schermerhorn]

Leins said:

Andy M said:

Bit of an arsey post.

The OP has probably benefited from economies of scale. Neither you nor I know what he paid for the warranty, but it's reasonable to presume that the warranty provider prices their product competitively knowing that not every client will make a claim.

I didn't read it as being "arsey" at all, I think it's a valid point. How much is the annual warranty that the OP would have to pay next year? How much would the work have cost at an indy? Etc etc

Edited by Leins on Thursday 23 April 09:52

Annual warranty is about £1000. Mine is still under the original warranty that I bought with the car. It was a 24 month cover.

Discs, pads, tyres etc were not warranty covered items. It was part of the AUC sale preparation and totalled £3995.00. That is money I did not have to spend.

Had I not gone the AUC route, I dare say I wouldnt have seen a 'better' prepared pre-sale car.

The warranty gives the peace of mind

If people don't want a warranty, that is fine. Save yourself £X amount per year and spend it on towards a holiday. Horses for courses.

However, my point is that is better to have one on any performance car. The S85 engine is totally unique. It doesn't share any parts with other BMW models. Specialists are few and far between and will charge a lot of money. The warranty takes that concern away.

Would you not agree that it's better to have on, that not, on such a car?

If you have a warranty, and never have had to use it - excellent news. However, sod's law the moment it expires, something goes wrong and you end up having to spend thousands on the car.

Edited by Schermerhorn on Thursday 23 April 13:02

[Schermerhorn]

In my case it has been worth it.

On the other hand I could get an E92 M3 under an AUC deal and not have to take it in for any warranty quibbles. Again, one of them deals.

Though I do admit paying the extra premium is peace of mind....for me anyway.

[Schermerhorn]

TheHound said:

Schermerhorn said:

Discs, pads, tyres etc were not warranty covered items. It was part of the AUC sale preparation and totalled £3995.00. That is money I did not have to spend.

Completely agree with you regard the benefits of having a BMW warranty on an E9X M3 but fk me £3995 for tyres, discs and pads, someone was either taking the piss or telling porkies.

You can get MPSS all round fitted for £900
Discs and pads should be no more than £1500 fitted!

It wasn't just tyres, discs and pads. It was a brake service, spark plugs, diamond cutting all 4 wheels, and numerous other things that pushed the bill up. Sure, a good indy could do it alot cheaper using non AUC parts and lesser tyres etc but at least the car was well prepared when I picked it up.

The warranty too gives that reassurance that if something goes pop, it can be sorted out without putting a dent in my pocket.

[Schermerhorn]

Slippydiff said:

jcolley said:

Between that and the utter inability of the majority of BMW technicians to diagnose these cars, there's the reason our resale values are in the toilet and problems take 5-6 visits to get sorted.

So perfectly put, and so true. I'd love to buy another E63 M6, they are a truly superb car with a unique character that's lacking in it's turbocharged replacement.
But during my all to brief ownership, it became very clear most techicians weren't anything of the sort, they were merely fitters who had little or no knowledge of what makes these cars tick, accordingly they had no idea how to diagnose the issues that can and do afflict them.
A real shame these cars will become dinosaurs as they fall out of warranty and fall into the hands of those that can't afford the stratospheric repair bills.

A quick question JC, does carrying out a KDS alignment require plugging into/full functionality of the OBD port ?

Schermerhorn said:

Had I not gone the AUC route, I dare say I wouldnt have seen a 'better' prepared pre-sale car.

Eh, I thought you consistently stated the supplying dealer had been negligent in the preparation of your car prior to placing the AUC warranty on it ? ? ? ?

I still stand by that. However, in tarting up the car they did a very good job

[Schermerhorn]

Wills2 said:

I'm not there is much original left on that car, they can't all be this bad can they?

It's not quite a Trigger's Broom just yet.