In praise (or not!) of the BMW Insured warranty...
Discussion
Every so often someone asks on here if the BMW extended warranty is worth getting - thought I'd start a topic to document my latest experience, and for others to add theirs both good and bad...
I have a six series convertible, and the AUC warranty ran out in February. I paid for a year's worth of comprehensive warranty for £650 or so, with a £250 excess - thought I'd take that route rather than the ~£1,000 price with no excess, as in previous BM's the warranty has fixed a few small things, but nothing adding up to the cost of the warranty itself over the year. Seemed like a good idea to effectively self insure for the small stuff, but make sure the big ticket items would be covered.
I'm very happy I did, as my roof failed at the start of July.
There was an initial disagreement with me and the garage on one side, the warranty company on the other. The warranty company analysed the car's logs, and as (at an unstated date, and unstated speed) the roof had been operated above the maximum operating speed of ~25 mph they felt the failure was self inflected, and that they wouldn't cover the fix.
I'm pretty sure there's no convertible BMW in the world that hasn't had the "too fast" warning go off at some point, it's almost inevitable at some point if you operate the roof while moving, as designed. The roof stops moving, the car gives a warning, and you slow down again to allow the roof to continue to operate. Granted, if they could show I'd been doing 50mph with the roof half open I'd agree they had a point, but I was certain in my ownership it would have been 1-2 mph over at most, and would have happened no more than a handful of times. As driving into a slight headwind under 25 mph would result in a wind load higher than BMW's speed threshold, clearly the safe operating speed must have been set with a reasonable factor of safety, and the "computer says no" initial response wasn't particularly pleasing.
Happily the garage were on my side, and helped resolve this - I raised a complaint in parallel, and the warranty company saw sense after 5 days or so and authorised the fix.
TL;DR
I got my car back yesterday, with the warranty paying for ~£11,800 worth of repairs to it, ~£7k parts, ~£3k labour, plus VAT. While I'm annoyed that it took some time to get to this point, I'm more than happy with the result!
So, that's my story - the warranty was certainly worthwhile in my case, and I'll be renewing it next year.
Anyone else got a tale of success, or failure, in relation to the BMW Insured Warranty (rather than a third party one from Warranty Direct, or similar)?
I have a six series convertible, and the AUC warranty ran out in February. I paid for a year's worth of comprehensive warranty for £650 or so, with a £250 excess - thought I'd take that route rather than the ~£1,000 price with no excess, as in previous BM's the warranty has fixed a few small things, but nothing adding up to the cost of the warranty itself over the year. Seemed like a good idea to effectively self insure for the small stuff, but make sure the big ticket items would be covered.
I'm very happy I did, as my roof failed at the start of July.
There was an initial disagreement with me and the garage on one side, the warranty company on the other. The warranty company analysed the car's logs, and as (at an unstated date, and unstated speed) the roof had been operated above the maximum operating speed of ~25 mph they felt the failure was self inflected, and that they wouldn't cover the fix.
I'm pretty sure there's no convertible BMW in the world that hasn't had the "too fast" warning go off at some point, it's almost inevitable at some point if you operate the roof while moving, as designed. The roof stops moving, the car gives a warning, and you slow down again to allow the roof to continue to operate. Granted, if they could show I'd been doing 50mph with the roof half open I'd agree they had a point, but I was certain in my ownership it would have been 1-2 mph over at most, and would have happened no more than a handful of times. As driving into a slight headwind under 25 mph would result in a wind load higher than BMW's speed threshold, clearly the safe operating speed must have been set with a reasonable factor of safety, and the "computer says no" initial response wasn't particularly pleasing.
Happily the garage were on my side, and helped resolve this - I raised a complaint in parallel, and the warranty company saw sense after 5 days or so and authorised the fix.
TL;DR
I got my car back yesterday, with the warranty paying for ~£11,800 worth of repairs to it, ~£7k parts, ~£3k labour, plus VAT. While I'm annoyed that it took some time to get to this point, I'm more than happy with the result!
So, that's my story - the warranty was certainly worthwhile in my case, and I'll be renewing it next year.
Anyone else got a tale of success, or failure, in relation to the BMW Insured Warranty (rather than a third party one from Warranty Direct, or similar)?
Why would you even be slightly annoyed? You got it repaired with only 5 days delay.
If I was the warranty company looking at a £12k bill, I'd question it too.
Also to add my personal experience, I had an electric tailgate motor replaced (£3.5k parts + labour). They tried to claim it was wear and tear but after a couple of emails they agreed to do it.
If I was the warranty company looking at a £12k bill, I'd question it too.
Also to add my personal experience, I had an electric tailgate motor replaced (£3.5k parts + labour). They tried to claim it was wear and tear but after a couple of emails they agreed to do it.
Edited by Shaoxter on Friday 16th August 11:40
Pupbelly said:
£11,800 for a roof!! Jeeeezzzzz!!! Warranty well spent there Sir (even if there is the slightest chance you may have contributed to the initial problem as indicated by yourself 
)
Ha! For the avoidance of doubt, I've gone only 1-2 mph over the limit and only very few number of times in my ownership. When it failed the car was parked up and I was dropping the roof before setting off... The warranty looks like a bargain to me at the moment though, I'll agree with that. )
Shaoxter said:
Why would you even be slightly annoyed? You got it repaired with only 5 days delay.
If I was the warranty company looking at a £12k bill, I'd question it too.
Also to add my personal experience, I had an electric tailgate motor replaced (£3.5k parts + labour). They tried to claim it was wear and tear but after a couple of emails they agreed to do it.
Fair point - to explain my thought process, I've had BMWs with this warranty or AUC warranty in place for coming up on 7 years now, and before this it has been very much no quibble coverage... Everything's sailed though unquestioned, but the moment I came to actually need the warranty, rather than just use it, the claim was rejected out of hand for what felt like spurious reasons. Particularly where it's the comprehensive warranty, where they basically list out what's not covered rather than what is.If I was the warranty company looking at a £12k bill, I'd question it too.
Also to add my personal experience, I had an electric tailgate motor replaced (£3.5k parts + labour). They tried to claim it was wear and tear but after a couple of emails they agreed to do it.
I felt certain that as the roof worked, then didn't, and that I'd not abused or broken it, that it would sail through as with anything else I've had fixed. When I was told that "computer says no", and by the way we estimate it'll be £12k to fix, my mood deteriorated somewhat.
Shaoxter said:
Why would you even be slightly annoyed? You got it repaired with only 5 days delay.
If I was the warranty company looking at a £12k bill, I'd question it too.
Also to add my personal experience, I had an electric tailgate motor replaced (£3.5k parts + labour). They tried to claim it was wear and tear but after a couple of emails they agreed to do it.
Tailgate motor £3500 ? If I was the warranty company looking at a £12k bill, I'd question it too.
Also to add my personal experience, I had an electric tailgate motor replaced (£3.5k parts + labour). They tried to claim it was wear and tear but after a couple of emails they agreed to do it.
Edited by Shaoxter on Friday 16th August 11:40
What was it for.... A cross channel ferry ?
Edited by RUSSELLM on Friday 16th August 20:00
I've now paid for a total 4 years extended warranty on BMWs and never claimed for repairs. But I'd be cautious about having a BMW without warranty due to the eye-watering cost of some parts. I see it like insurance - I hope I never have to use it!
Having said that, I think it was the emergency cover that enabled me to have a BMW replacement car when mine was in for the EGR cooler fiasco.
And when a wheel sensor recently went, which disabled the ABS, stability control, etc., the dealer was unable to fit me in within a week(!) so they put me through to emergency service who sent someone round to my home that evening to fix it (I had to pay the cost of the part as it was under the excess but there was no labour charge).
Having said that, I think it was the emergency cover that enabled me to have a BMW replacement car when mine was in for the EGR cooler fiasco.
And when a wheel sensor recently went, which disabled the ABS, stability control, etc., the dealer was unable to fit me in within a week(!) so they put me through to emergency service who sent someone round to my home that evening to fix it (I had to pay the cost of the part as it was under the excess but there was no labour charge).
I decided not to take the extended warranty as they wanted £2300 for one with zero excess and so far (6 weeks) it's had £1300 worth of repairs thankfully I only paid £300 as BMW good willed £1000.
I'm hoping it'll fine now as it's had loads of in warranty repairs and fixes in the 9 months I've had it (G11 7er)
I'm hoping it'll fine now as it's had loads of in warranty repairs and fixes in the 9 months I've had it (G11 7er)
You made a good call extending the warranty. I'd also do the same, especially looking at your profile yours is a 650i. The N63 is not an engine renowned for reliability. I would always run one with a warranty. Just a turbo, or set of injectors would pay for a warranty easily. Also proves how good the BMW AUC warranty is. That's basically a new car warranty right there.
Had Insured Warranty on both of our BMWs until recently. Mine a now 122k, 06 330i Touring and hers a 2012 F20 125i (recently sold). I only had Driveline but I think we had fully comp on the 125i.
Only time I used the warranty on mine was to get two new rear wheel bearings. It paid for itself in that first year I had it and then I never used it again. Have literally only just cancelled it.
On the 125 though - it started to smoke on startup. Just for a couple of minutes and then you could see it clear up as she drove down the road away from the house. And only did it after being left overnight. They first tried re-seating the valves. Then the valve stem oil seals. Then decided the head needed replacing. So we were at about £5k IIRC by that stage. It was fine for a couple of weeks before starting again. Next on their list was new turbos. I think all in it came to just over £10k. I never got to see the costs, just the job sheet. But I was told it was a 5 figure sum.
Still, makes that roof seem bloody expensive!
Only time I used the warranty on mine was to get two new rear wheel bearings. It paid for itself in that first year I had it and then I never used it again. Have literally only just cancelled it.
On the 125 though - it started to smoke on startup. Just for a couple of minutes and then you could see it clear up as she drove down the road away from the house. And only did it after being left overnight. They first tried re-seating the valves. Then the valve stem oil seals. Then decided the head needed replacing. So we were at about £5k IIRC by that stage. It was fine for a couple of weeks before starting again. Next on their list was new turbos. I think all in it came to just over £10k. I never got to see the costs, just the job sheet. But I was told it was a 5 figure sum.
Still, makes that roof seem bloody expensive!
JakeT said:
You made a good call extending the warranty. I'd also do the same, especially looking at your profile yours is a 650i. The N63 is not an engine renowned for reliability. I would always run one with a warranty. Just a turbo, or set of injectors would pay for a warranty easily. Also proves how good the BMW AUC warranty is. That's basically a new car warranty right there.
Wasn't aware there were engine issues, but whilst it was in for the roof repair, they did look at a hot start issue and replaced an injector, spark plug and fuel sensor under warranty - that accounted for ~£500 of the total, now I think about it. 
Mine was fine for the last 12+ months, and I was very close to not bothering as a result...DanL said:
Wasn't aware there were engine issues, but whilst it was in for the roof repair, they did look at a hot start issue and replaced an injector, spark plug and fuel sensor under warranty - that accounted for ~£500 of the total, now I think about it.
Sorry, I don't want to scare you, but the following link gives some good info. I think the N63 is a cracking engine, with mega power, but I'd keep the warranty up if I owned one. If only for the peace of mind. https://www.eeuroparts.com/blog/9654/bmw-n63-hot-v...
n.b Most of the N63 issues are from the U.S though, where they seem to be able to break any BMW and then moan about it, so probably nothing really to worry about.
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