buying an M3

[johnnywgk]

hi, my friend is thinking of buying a 2003 approx year M3, and cant post on here yet. so i'm doing it for him.

is the main dealer warranty any good, bearing in mind they charge
about £1500 more than an indi dealer.

thanks in advance

[J-P]

As I understand it - the warranty is essential. There's an engine issue, which BMW can fix but is hideously expensive if not under warranty. The reason the warranty is so expensive is to cover the cost should you need to claim!

There's bound to be a lot of people on here who have E46 M3s and know all about this - but from memory don't touch it without the dealer warranty seems to be the prevailing advice on this subject.

Good luck!

[sjj84]

BMW warrenty is about £1000 with no excess if it's below 60k miles. You can get it cheaper if you have an excess though. If you buy privately and the car has warrenty it can be transferred to you. However if you buy from an independant trader, they cannot transfer the warrenty no matter what they say.

[Toilet Duck]

johnnywgk said:

is the main dealer warranty any good, bearing in mind they charge
about £1500 more than an indi dealer.

I like to think of it as a good insurance policy. If something major does go wrong it will be worth its weight in gold, the hourly main dealer labour rate is criminal and a monstrous bill can easily develop. I plan to renew my warranty each year whilst I own the car. Yes it will be £1000 down the toilet annualy if I dont need to make a claim, but if the engine/diff/gearbox or any other part does decide to break then I'm covered. £1000 or thereabouts a year but at least I know where I stand

[Rawhide]

J-P said:

As I understand it - the warranty is essential. There's an engine issue, which BMW can fix but is hideously expensive if not under warranty. The reason the warranty is so expensive is to cover the cost should you need to claim!
Good luck!

I think to say it's 'essential' is a bit strong. Generally the cars are reliable and I'm not sure what engine issue your referring to.

That said I do have a warranty and it was a pre-req for me buying. It was more peace of mind that I'm buying a good car from a good prudent owner but now I'm considering cancelling and banking the savings.

[johnnywgk]

Cheers for the replies, some good information there.

Anyone had any problems (or not) using the warranty, when something did go wrong?

As said above, the cars are reliable, so probably won't get any answers to
that.

Cheers again

[Noel]

It's peace of mind, I've spent more than the price difference between buying from a main dealer and buying privately on repairs to my SMG box. I would have paid the extra but found the car I wanted privately.

[MPWR321BHP]

The warrantys are dear, but a recent GT2 owner had a gear box issue, and bmw through a gearbox and engine at it (£18K) perhaps a little over the top, but if you needed to do that yourself oh dear.

Warranty compaines make money by taking money just i case, and hope they dont need to do anything for it, but @£1500 the BMW one id imagine is a good one, and BMW dont tend to rip people off.

I had issues with the likes of warranty holdings, where they try and riggle out of thier commitments, but you pay your money and take your chances on cheap warranties. Also on the cheaper none bm warrantys always check cover, liek does it do all engine, if car has turbo is that covered etc.

[Rawhide]

BMW were losing money on the warranties as onwers were using it to claim for lots of small stuff which all adds up.

I have used mine to replace an electric bolster motor and airbag that failed. I could have lived without it but it was handy for that.

My car also had a new diff before I bought it. It was only replaced as the seals were leaking and they were stuggling to replace them so did the whole diff.

I also had a centre mirror replaced NOT under warranty but as a goodwill gesture.

They did NOT replace a failing speaker though which pissed me off. They said it's part of the trim so therefore not covered. A bit tight IMO

[J-P]

Rawhide said:

J-P said:

As I understand it - the warranty is essential. There's an engine issue, which BMW can fix but is hideously expensive if not under warranty. The reason the warranty is so expensive is to cover the cost should you need to claim!
Good luck!

I think to say it's 'essential' is a bit strong. Generally the cars are reliable and I'm not sure what engine issue your referring to.

That said I do have a warranty and it was a pre-req for me buying. It was more peace of mind that I'm buying a good car from a good prudent owner but now I'm considering cancelling and banking the savings.

Like I said I've never owned the car so don't know exact details of the engine issue but the link below should help uncover the story I'd heard. It actually appears to have copies of original letters received from BMW and some Q&As, so is hopefully is of some use.

As I understand it the E46 M3 is very reliable provided this work has been checked / carried out - The reason that I stated that the warranty was essential was that this work was guaranteed for 100k miles or 6 years and I'd imagine that the 6 year period is either nearly over or actually over for most E46 M3s and a new engine isn't a bill that I'd like to have to ofork our for!

But each to his own - have fun with it whatever you decide!




http://members.roadfly.com/jason/m3engines.htm

[Toilet Duck]

johnnywgk said:

Anyone had any problems (or not) using the warranty, when something did go wrong?

When mine went in for a brake fluid change (which they price matched against a BMW specialist/independant), they found one of the rear springs had cracked (a common problem on the E46) and also a slight leak from a power steering hose. I booked my car back in and they fitted two new springs (did both sides) and sorted the leak all under warranty no problem at all.

Whilst these two problems on there own are not catastophic in terms of wallet damage if you had to pay for them yourself, it was reassuring to me that the dealer immediately declared that they were warranty issues without any hassle and would not cost me anything. Also, if you get a series of "small" problems like these and had to pay for them yourself, the cost would soon add up, especially at main dealer rates.

johnnywgk said:

As said above, the cars are reliable, so probably won't get any answers to
that.

From what I have read they are a reliable car if you get a good one. However, repairs/problems can be very expensive, especially if you are unlucky enough to suffer something major like an SMG/engine/diff failure etc. Like I said above, when my warranty runs out I am planning on renewing it each year. For my £1000 pounds I am protected against everything other than normal wear and tear items (tyres, brakes, servicing costs etc) which you are liable for regardless. I don't like hidden suprises so this method suits me. Others are happy to take a chance and go without a warranty. If they don't have any parts failures then they are quids in, if they do then they could face truely frightening bills should the worst happen, however likely/unlikey. At the end of the day you pays your money and takes your chance!