[broken record]: BMW Auc vs indy vs private

[phatmanace]

Folks,

I'm considering not buying my E46 M3 from a dealer and getting a private or indy car.

I realize that this is risky, as the bits are expensive to fix, but I'm trying to weight the possibility of this happening, with the substantial premium that a BMW AUC car commands.

There was a post over on mtorque about a chap with a blown engine, I was curious how much it has cost him to source a new one, but I don't think that he's got anything sorted yet.

The worst case scenario is a new engine I guess, & I know from BMW, a new engine is about £14k, but does anyone have experience of sourcing a second hand/reconditioned engine?

Cheers
-Ace

[phatmanace]

mmm-five said:

Can't you have the BMW warranty even if you buy it outside of the BMW AUC?

As long as you renew the warranty each year and keep to the servicing schedule at a BMW approved indie, then you should be fine?

The problem is finding a car with the warranty still in-tact. BMW are very strict and even if you let it lapse for one day, you cannot 'reapply' it [I believe that porsche will let you reapply a lapsed warranty if you pay for the car to be brought up to their 'AUC' standard.

It's also expensive (which is why most cars don't have it!). BMW want £1000 per year [+ £250 excess / claim] - which on top of insurance and your £400 per year tax, means it's a pricey car to own! WarrantyDirect will give you a warranty for £800 per year, no excess, claim limit = Value of the car, but they insist on > 2003 car and < 60000 miles.

-ace

[phatmanace]

mblade123 said:

Its not hard to find a car with the BMW extendid warranty

Hmm - may I respectfully disaggree? I called imc-bmw - they said that none of their cars have the extended warranty - once the standard one expires - they do not extend.


I also polled a few cars that were for sale privately, none of the owners had kept the warranty up. Accept that I could have been unlucky - but I did try 3 or 4 of the 'best looking' cars in the PH classified.

I saw one car [black one, up in aberdeen] that had it - but that was pretty rare.

-Ace

[phatmanace]

darreni said:

baz1985 said:

Z4MC is better value imo.

Not if you want 4 seat day to day practicality. And a saving of ten grand.

yup, sorry - I need 4 seats, I know I won't make any friends saying this, but if I was going to get a two seater, then I'd be getting an S2000 :-)