Is it worth buying from non main dealers?

[Usy777]

I've seen a g82 m4 for sale from a private dealer and not bmw main dealer, I was ideally looking at buying from main dealership but have seen some decent ones from other dealerships. Is it worth buying from non main dealer and what to look out for?

[ChrisNic]

What is the warranty situation, if still under manufacturers warranty then it doesn’t make a great deal of difference.

[Simon_GH]

It would be nice to think main dealers know a bit more about the car but that’s not guaranteed. If the warranty is intact then you can drive out of the supplying independent and straight into a main dealer for warranty work. It’s precisely what we did when we bought a car from an independent with weak boot struts,

[Deep Thought]

IMHO - only if its still under manufacturers warranty / manufacturers extended warranty.

I bought a 4 year old M2 a couple of years back. Only had one issue with it, but the "comprehensive 'Platinium' aftermarket warranty' frankly wasnt worth the paper it was written on.

I went Approved used with the AMG i just bought, getting me a full 2 year AMG warranty

[Edible Roadkill]

The difference is you’ll likely be able to haggle some extra warranty & services etc thrown in.

I bought an approved used Audi from Audi dealership and got 2yrs approved used Audi warranty instead of 1, next 2 services, mots, mot cover up to £750 & key cover thrown in.

The independent won’t be able to offer that and if it’s out of 3yr manufacturer warranty will probably offer some garbage car plan 3rd party cover for 6-12 months.

You’ll probably pay a bit more to get the car from bmw so it’s all relevant.

[steveo3002]

main dealers least likely to phoenix overnight if something was to go badly wrong , main dealer warranty ought to be worth having vs a quinten wilson gold warranty thats worthless

[mikey k]

I've owned 61 cars and over the years have had ste experiences with main and non main dealers.
I wont touch my local BMW or Porsche dealer EVER again due to bad experiences with them.
Non main dealers have more to loose, so if you do your research/check reviews they are far better (and cheaper) than main dealers IME.
As always Caveat Emptor

[Deep Thought]

mikey k said:

I've owned 61 cars and over the years have had ste experiences with main and non main dealers.
I wont touch my local BMW or Porsche dealer EVER again due to bad experiences with them.
Non main dealers have more to loose, so if you do your research/check reviews they are far better (and cheaper) than main dealers IME.
As always Caveat Emptor

Though the advantage of a manufacturers warranty / extended manufacturers warranty is that you have support if your local dealer turns out to be a dolt. You can go to one of many other franchises, or call up Customer Service.

Most indy dealers will slap an aftermarket warranty on the car. It'll the highest level "platinum" or "diamond" cover of course and it'll say that all over the shiny booklet you get, but in reality its not going to be that great.

Yes, there are good indy dealers out there, absolutely, but most will palm you off to the warranty company as soon as they can.

[fflump]

I suggest you exercise your judgment in a more granular manner. A well established specialist dealer is very different from an eBay sole trader or under the arches chop shop

[mikey k]

Deep Thought said:

mikey k said:

I've owned 61 cars and over the years have had ste experiences with main and non main dealers.
I wont touch my local BMW or Porsche dealer EVER again due to bad experiences with them.
Non main dealers have more to loose, so if you do your research/check reviews they are far better (and cheaper) than main dealers IME.
As always Caveat Emptor

Though the advantage of a manufacturers warranty / extended manufacturers warranty is that you have support if your local dealer turns out to be a dolt. You can go to one of many other franchises, or call up Customer Service.

Most indy dealers will slap an aftermarket warranty on the car. It'll the highest level "platinum" or "diamond" cover of course and it'll say that all over the shiny booklet you get, but in reality its not going to be that great.

Yes, there are good indy dealers out there, absolutely, but most will palm you off to the warranty company as soon as they can.

You would think so
My Porsche went back to the dealer 7 times in 18 months with warranty issues, they have now refused to fix some that have been outstanding since delivery from now.
ste service from factory, Porsche UK and the local dealer.
I've had no issue with "aftermarket" warranties on a couple of McLarens.

[mikey k]

fflump said:

I suggest you exercise your judgment in a more granular manner. A well established specialist dealer is very different from an eBay sole trader or under the arches chop shop

Agreed,
I now but vars close to coming out of factory warranty, just encase I need any leverage.
As soon as they are out of warranty I take them to trusted specialists and use their recommended warranty if needed.

[Googie]

I wouldn’t buy a modern M car outside the main dealer network regardless if balance of original warranty is in place but that’s just me. Getting extras from main dealer is now very difficult especially a 2 year warranty which used to be an easy win but no more unless being offered across the board as part of a BMW limited sales promotion.

Edited by Googie on Sunday 27th April 19:49

[Deep Thought]

mikey k said:

You would think so
My Porsche went back to the dealer 7 times in 18 months with warranty issues, they have now refused to fix some that have been outstanding since delivery from now.
ste service from factory, Porsche UK and the local dealer.
I've had no issue with "aftermarket" warranties on a couple of McLarens.

I suspect your typical McLaren indy has a bit more headroom in their margin to ensure their customers are absolutely happy with their after sales, compared to a dealer selling a several year old used M4 / M3 / M2 thats just another unit to be sold.

I'd be examining the paperwork for the proposed warranty on a used, non franchised M car. All that glitters is not gold.

[charltjr]

You can always get the official BMW warranty added if you want to, but the saving needs to be big enough to make it worthwhile vs the main dealer.

Put reg and mileage in the link below for a quote.

https://booking.bmw-warranty.co.uk/Login/Index

[Deep Thought]

charltjr said:

You can always get the official BMW warranty added if you want to, but the saving needs to be big enough to make it worthwhile vs the main dealer.

Put reg and mileage in the link below for a quote.

https://booking.bmw-warranty.co.uk/Login/Index

Will that cover cars that dont have a full BMWSH? Do they need an inspection prior to the warranty? Is the warranty the full warranty you'd otherwise get if you went Approved Used?

Genuine questions....

[charltjr]

Deep Thought said:

Will that cover cars that dont have a full BMWSH? Do they need an inspection prior to the warranty? Is the warranty the full warranty you'd otherwise get if you went Approved Used?

Genuine questions....

BMW SH not needed, the car needs to have been properly serviced at a VAT registered garage with genuine parts (or parts of equivalent quality) - itemised invoices with part numbers would definitely be sensible if not using BMW.

No inspection and yes it’s exactly the same warranty you get from approved used BMWs.

https://www.bmw-warranty.co.uk/policy-information

[popeyewhite]

Deep Thought said:

Though the advantage of a manufacturers warranty / extended manufacturers warranty is that you have support if your local dealer turns out to be a dolt. You can go to one of many other franchises, or call up Customer Service.

Most indy dealers will slap an aftermarket warranty on the car. It'll the highest level "platinum" or "diamond" cover of course and it'll say that all over the shiny booklet you get, but in reality its not going to be that great.

Yes, there are good indy dealers out there, absolutely, but most will palm you off to the warranty company as soon as they can.

Buy sensibly from an established independent and Consumer Rights Act (2015) is your protection, not any warranty.

[Jamescrs]

charltjr said:

BMW SH not needed, the car needs to have been properly serviced at a VAT registered garage with genuine parts (or parts of equivalent quality) - itemised invoices with part numbers would definitely be sensible if not using BMW.

No inspection and yes it’s exactly the same warranty you get from approved used BMWs.

https://www.bmw-warranty.co.uk/policy-information

It isn’t the same warranty as you get with an approved used car from BMW but it is very good non the less.

The approved used warranty is backed by BMW directly, the one in the link is backed by Allianz insurance under the BMW brand.

I had both warranties on my previous M240i and had an exhaust actuator fail on the car which would have been covered under the approved used warranty but that had expired and exhaust components weren’t covered under the BMW insured warranty so I got a bill of about £1000.

[charltjr]

Jamescrs said:

It isn’t the same warranty as you get with an approved used car from BMW but it is very good non the less.

The approved used warranty is backed by BMW directly, the one in the link is backed by Allianz insurance under the BMW brand.

I had both warranties on my previous M240i and had an exhaust actuator fail on the car which would have been covered under the approved used warranty but that had expired and exhaust components weren’t covered under the BMW insured warranty so I got a bill of about £1000.

I stand corrected, always thought they were the same.

[Deep Thought]

popeyewhite said:

Buy sensibly from an established independent and Consumer Rights Act (2015) is your protection, not any warranty.

I wouldnt like to be trying to prove say, a fault in say a £5K infotainment system or a £10K gearbox failure or whatever other big bill a modern performance car could throw up say 7 months after you bought the car was present at the time of sale.