Insured Warranty - haggles?
Insured Warranty - haggles?
Author
Discussion

ChiefWiggum

Original Poster:

47 posts

235 months

Wednesday 8th November 2017
quotequote all
My car drops out of manufacturers warranty next month (F31 330D x) Will keep it another year at least, and I already had ~£400 worth of AC condenser replaced in 2017 so extending sounds like a smart investment!

Are there any sneaky haggles I should know about? Drop out midway through an online purchase, and have someone call you up next day with a "special 20% discount offer", that kind of thing? Or is the price you get quoted always the price you pay?



nickfrog

25,445 posts

248 months

Wednesday 8th November 2017
quotequote all
No discounts AFAIK. Well worth the money though. Just make sure you opt out of Assistance if you already have it elsewhere. I am always happy with a £100 excess as it gives you additional rights in case of repairs and obviously lowers the premium.

smashy

3,108 posts

189 months

Wednesday 8th November 2017
quotequote all
I'd check out bmws own if I was you.....my 330d 3 years old 55k £100 access fully comp including breakdown £55 a month

AllyBassman

779 posts

143 months

Wednesday 8th November 2017
quotequote all
Just to play devils advocate...

You could pay that money £50 per month or so... or just keep that money aside instead of purchasing a Warranty.

Fundamentally, they're reliable cars, yours is not that old, so if you plan to keep it for another year or so, i'd take the risk and just carry on looking after it.

They don't fall apart once the manufacturers warranty runs out. My lowly 320d is over 6 years old, 56k miles and nothing has gone wrong... *touching wood*

anonymous-user

85 months

Wednesday 8th November 2017
quotequote all
AllyBassman said:
Just to play devils advocate...

You could pay that money £50 per month or so... or just keep that money aside instead of purchasing a Warranty.

Fundamentally, they're reliable cars, yours is not that old, so if you plan to keep it for another year or so, i'd take the risk and just carry on looking after it.

They don't fall apart once the manufacturers warranty runs out. My lowly 320d is over 6 years old, 56k miles and nothing has gone wrong... *touching wood*
I would agree with that. I tend to run my cars for a year out of warranty and then change.

My coming up to 4yo 530d will go next month and it's been faultless through its life. Paid off not to have the extended warranty, for me.

In any case, IME, BMW are pretty good with fully serviced cars even out of warranty. They paid 70% of a large bill on my wife's almost 6yo Z4, though it had only done 26k miles, which may have been a factor.

ChiefWiggum

Original Poster:

47 posts

235 months

Wednesday 8th November 2017
quotequote all
Thanks all. Yes, to be clear, it's the BMW Insured Warranty I'm talking about. £339/yr for fully comp, £250 excess, no breakdown cover

(We both have breakdown cover via the warranty that came with my wife's car, so yes it does reduce costs in this case)

Interestingly, the difference between £0 and £250 excess is more than £250. So in other words, it would only be worth paying the extra for zero excess if you end up with two or more warranty claims in a year

In the example of the A/C condenser at ~£400, it would indeed be cheaper to keep the cash in-hand, particularly if there's a chance BMW would help out, OTOH I'm sure someone will be along soon with a tale of the warranty saving them thousands. I guess insurance is a bit like gambling in this regard; some (un)lucky punters make out big time, but overall the house always wins!


tonymor

1,554 posts

203 months

Wednesday 8th November 2017
quotequote all
I opted out of continuing with the extended warranty as had been mentioned I keep the warranty cost in my piggy bank for any unforeseen especially as there are things that the warranty won't pay out for as time goes on , in my experience.

Fox-

13,575 posts

277 months

Wednesday 8th November 2017
quotequote all
Every time somebody posts a 3 Series warranty quote it annoys me. It's ridiculous how they penalise 5 and 7 Series owners despite the fact that most of the mechanical bits are the same! There is virtually no difference mechanical and electrical wise between a 330d and a 530d yet the 530d warranty is almost a thousand quid!

Infact if anything the 530d is more 'simple' as it isn't 4wd...

anonymous-user

85 months

Wednesday 8th November 2017
quotequote all
ChiefWiggum said:
Thanks all. Yes, to be clear, it's the BMW Insured Warranty I'm talking about. £339/yr for fully comp, £250 excess, no breakdown cover

(We both have breakdown cover via the warranty that came with my wife's car, so yes it does reduce costs in this case)

Interestingly, the difference between £0 and £250 excess is more than £250. So in other words, it would only be worth paying the extra for zero excess if you end up with two or more warranty claims in a year

In the example of the A/C condenser at ~£400, it would indeed be cheaper to keep the cash in-hand, particularly if there's a chance BMW would help out, OTOH I'm sure someone will be along soon with a tale of the warranty saving them thousands. I guess insurance is a bit like gambling in this regard; some (un)lucky punters make out big time, but overall the house always wins!

I don't know, but perhaps your condenser thing was part of a recall (or quality enhancement, as BMW like to call it)? There have certainly been 'QEs' for them and that may well have been covered out of warranty anyway.

As for tales of warranties saving £000s, I'm sure they're true, but on cars in their 4th year?

AllyBassman

779 posts

143 months

Thursday 9th November 2017
quotequote all
Fox- said:
Every time somebody posts a 3 Series warranty quote it annoys me. It's ridiculous how they penalise 5 and 7 Series owners despite the fact that most of the mechanical bits are the same! There is virtually no difference mechanical and electrical wise between a 330d and a 530d yet the 530d warranty is almost a thousand quid!

Infact if anything the 530d is more 'simple' as it isn't 4wd...
Agree!

It's not just Warranties, my collegue had an F30 320d with the same N47 engine that my late E90 has... a simple oil change service was over £100 more for him, even when challenged, the BMW service department couldn't/wouldn't explain why.

I just stick money aside, if I don't need it, excellent! It just goes towards the deposit for my next car.

bmwmike

8,788 posts

139 months

Thursday 9th November 2017
quotequote all
N53 f10 owner here, done alright out of the warranty so far (shocks, wishbones, kds, injectors plugs and coil packs). I pay 64 quid per month and so far reckon I am in the black only if I'd not done the work myself. I think probably half of it didn't need doing. IF I keep this car I'm going to do as said above and bank the 64 quid (plus 250 excess) and do the work myself. Not just for money reasons but I find the dealer capabilities hit and miss resulting in time wasted back and forth.

As for haggling the only haggling I found necessary was persuading the dealer to follow the BMW repair instructions and not to cut corners. Example, trying to get away with replacing one shock not both sides. Warranty were fine to pay out, dealer just didn't want to do the work as I believe the hourly rate for warranty work is much lower than retail.

XMT

3,948 posts

178 months

Thursday 9th November 2017
quotequote all
Its always going to come down to peace of mind and what you are happy to pay for it.

For me its a must, I get to enjoy the car without worrying about the cost of repair when/if it breaks; even simple things on cars can easily rack up money.

I have a 335i vert. Took out a BMW warranty at 55 odd quid a month. I was happy to pay it for peace of mind.

Comfort access stopped working on drivers side and caliper got sticky at rear.
Went into BMW to have stuff checked, Tried to bill me 1400 odd quid; told them I had a warranty on the car. They done a check and I had the car back in 3 days fully repaired under warranty.

I am obviously quids up but the point is even if I had not had a claim I would have been happy with the peace of mind that when I do have one it will be covered.

iSore

4,011 posts

175 months

Thursday 9th November 2017
quotequote all
ChiefWiggum said:
Thanks all. Yes, to be clear, it's the BMW Insured Warranty I'm talking about. £339/yr for fully comp, £250 excess, no breakdown cover
Sounds like a bargain to me. Never underestimate the size of bill a modern car can drop on you.

Prinny

1,669 posts

130 months

Thursday 9th November 2017
quotequote all
Had it on the z4 at £47/mo. Didn’t claim, but had various roof & rear light things done under the 1 year approved used cover, before moving onto the warranty. Technically, lost out as £500 paid for “nothing”.

Now got it on the M6, £114/mo. Let’s see! I know there’s nothing wrong with the car at present, but the s85 engine can throw some big bills.

Also agree about the ‘series tax’ weighting, OK, there’s only one 6l engine, and it’s only in the 760, but £383/mo eek

Riggie

182 posts

156 months

Thursday 9th November 2017
quotequote all
XMT said:
Its always going to come down to peace of mind and what you are happy to pay for it.

For me its a must, I get to enjoy the car without worrying about the cost of repair when/if it breaks; even simple things on cars can easily rack up money.

I have a 335i vert. Took out a BMW warranty at 55 odd quid a month. I was happy to pay it for peace of mind.

Comfort access stopped working on drivers side and caliper got sticky at rear.
Went into BMW to have stuff checked, Tried to bill me 1400 odd quid; told them I had a warranty on the car. They done a check and I had the car back in 3 days fully repaired under warranty.

I am obviously quids up but the point is even if I had not had a claim I would have been happy with the peace of mind that when I do have one it will be covered.
A good indy would have charged much much less that BMW stealer prices. If you were paying yourself, would you go to the dealer and be royally shafted, or would you take it to a trusted Indy? All comes down to attitude to risk.

smashy

3,108 posts

189 months

Thursday 9th November 2017
quotequote all
I havethe bmw warranty re my above post.I hope I never have to use it ,means I have had no grief.

Thing is things are expensive!! The green light on my gearstick packed up ,how much to sort out this little green light? £750 !!!

Swervin_Mervin

5,008 posts

269 months

Friday 10th November 2017
quotequote all
I'm a warranty supporter as well. In the case of our 125i it has saved us thousands. And for what seems to be an uncommon problem.

anonymous-user

85 months

Friday 10th November 2017
quotequote all
Swervin_Mervin said:
I'm a warranty supporter as well. In the case of our 125i it has saved us thousands. And for what seems to be an uncommon problem.

How old is your 125i? I think that's key to this. Particularly given BMWs attitude to cars out of warranty, no warranty in the 4th year is a low risk choice, which is what the OP's talking about.

DanL

6,590 posts

296 months

Friday 10th November 2017
quotequote all
I think age is key - I've got the warranty on my current car, and it's fixed quite a lot already since I bought it in February... However, it's six years old. My previous BM was the same age, and again had a good amount fixed in the first year under warranty, which does make me wonder if a number of the components have a 5-6 year lifespan! wink

As mentioned above, it only needs one small but integrated thing to break (and pretty much everything is integrated with everything else in a modern car) and the bill can be surprisingly high. I pay for peace of mind...

philmots

4,666 posts

291 months

Friday 10th November 2017
quotequote all
For me, I drive cars quite hard so warranty is worth it for the piece of mind that you’re covered pretty much whatever..

Although when you add in monthly payments and other expenses of the older car it can be as cheap to buy another new one.