E60 M5 : Warranty or War chest??

[Burba]

After a considerable amount of to'ing and fro'ing, I've decided I want to get myself into a E60 M5 around early/mid summer next year.

Reading on here and the M5board, I've noticed a lot of people consider it necessary to purchase this model with a BMW warranty.

Now obviously, there is the opporunity to purchase a car in this situation, outside the dealer network, but these cars are few and far between.

So my options would be the following :

£30k+ - AUC car with warranty
£25k+ - Private car + £3-5k war chest
£25k+ - Private car + 3rd party warranty

Which option would you go for? Anyone with recent experience of making a similar decision?
Any reasons to discount a particular option?
Are these cars so prone to failure that you cannot consider anything else?

I've owned some fairly quick cars previously (inc E46 M3, TVR Tamora, 355 and 550) so am used to high service costs and having budget set aside for niggles. Just uncertain on how to play this one?!

Although I understand I have a few months to go, any help is appreciated

[Badapple]

You can buy a warranty for a m5/6 as long as it's got a full bmsh or has been serviced by an approved dealer. This is even if the original warranty has expired.... It costs £750-£1000 sub 60k , and £2k- £2500 after 60k. I'd either go main dealer or private and add the BMW warranty.

[130R]

One big benefit of going without the warranty is that you are free to modify the car. If you are not planning on doing any mods I would go for an AUC car with warranty every single time.

[Badapple]

Just google BMW warranty and there is a indEpendant site

[130R]

Remember with an AUC car you get 12 months warranty included in the price so you need to compare that vs the cost of the private car plus the cost of the warranty to compare like for like.

[Burba]

Badapple said:

You can buy a warranty for a m5/6 as long as it's got a full bmsh or has been serviced by an approved dealer. This is even if the original warranty has expired.... It costs £750-£1000 sub 60k , and £2k- £2500 after 60k. I'd either go main dealer or private and add the BMW warranty.

I wasn't aware of that which gives me a good angle to consider in the future..

[Rawhide]

Burba said:

Badapple said:

You can buy a warranty for a m5/6 as long as it's got a full bmsh or has been serviced by an approved dealer. This is even if the original warranty has expired.... It costs £750-£1000 sub 60k , and £2k- £2500 after 60k. I'd either go main dealer or private and add the BMW warranty.

I wasn't aware of that which gives me a good angle to consider in the future..

You won't be covered for the first month either..

[Burba]

Rawhide said:

Burba said:

Badapple said:

You can buy a warranty for a m5/6 as long as it's got a full bmsh or has been serviced by an approved dealer. This is even if the original warranty has expired.... It costs £750-£1000 sub 60k , and £2k- £2500 after 60k. I'd either go main dealer or private and add the BMW warranty.

I wasn't aware of that which gives me a good angle to consider in the future..

You won't be covered for the first month either..

..having had a look on the BMW site, how much do the various levels of cover cost for the M5 for one year?

[SharpM]

without a doubt a BMW warranty, I almost made the mistake of taking out a third party warranty recently, but thankfully went with the BMW warranty instead.

not essential to buy from BMW, just buy the right car privately and get it warrantied as soon as possible, if its warranty has lapsed you will not be covered for the first month.

here are the latest prices, i went for comprehensive cover with emergency service at £95 per month direct debit, there are lesser cover options available that will save you a few pounds each month but not worth considering on such a complex machine.



Comprehensive Cover

Under 60,000 Miles

Incl Emergency Service Annual £0 Excess = £1179, £100 Excess = £1029, £250 Excess = £840

Incl Emergency Service Monthly £0 Excess = £108, £100 Excess = £95, £250 Excess = £77

No Emergency Service Annual £0 Excess = £1101, £100 Excess = £951, £250 Excess = £762

No Emergency Service Monthly £0 Excess = £101, £100 Excess = £87, £250 Excess = £70




basically buy and enjoy, given the complexities of these cars they are genarally not any less reliable than any others, it's just alot more expensive if it does go wrong - but the BMW warranty is the best way to go.

[Burba]

Thanks for the information SharpM - I'll add these numbers into my cost and maintenance numbers (with an uplift for obvious increase ) and go from there!

An an unrelated note - what are the good options to have? Is there a comparable machine in terms of drive, delivery, ride, handling etc?

[Badapple]

I was in the same position last week.... it worked out better to buy from the main dealer in the end!
This was down to the fact of the amount of m6's around privately...very few!

I also would never have one of these out of warranty!!

[corp]

As someone else said, they are very reliable but if they do go wrong then the bill could be high - same for any prestige car. I just had a knocking noise under the car, BMW assist came out, diagnosed as needing a new drop link- part express delivery to dealer 4 hours later, car fixed at no cost!

Also had a blower unit replaced- whole dash out, and a new DVD player (crashing maps). This saved a couple of grand.

So, going to renew when due!

The only thing it does not seem to cover is trim type things- quite common issues on all cars.

[docdale]

I have just gone through same process. I decided just couldn't risk the possibe very expensive issues eg with SMG or engine (even though very rare). Having previous experience of couple of cars with a BMW warranty and good relationship with local dealer it seems if anything wrong at all is just fixed under warranty withou question.

For example my last 535d, had an annoying fizzing sound from exhaust - nothing serious but when I picked up car after a service whole exhaust replaced under warranty!

The AUC route form a dealer also means you get a car with perfect alloys, perfect paint with no chips etc and all minor things remedied as part of the AUC preparation. in my opinion worth a bit extra.

I didn't think you could get a BMW warranty added onto a car that had run out of BMW warranty without a BMW AUC check from a dealer which cast £700 (plus anything that needs to be rectified) and then the cost of the warranty itself. It is a bit of a grey area as the literature for BMW warranty states will not cover any pre-existing faults (ie in the time car was out of warranty) which is obviously difficult for you to prove/defend so POSSIBLE cause for concerns???

As I said, for 100% peace of mind the only route is AUC, but will cost you a bit more. For the car I have just bought I reckon cost me £2000 more than a private car with RAC (read, not much help!) warranty so not a bad deal?

dale

[Burba]

Hmm, some more to consider then I guess.

Obviously real decision will come around purchase time and what there is on the network and on the market.

I've already seen a few cars hanging around for a while, so I suspect good cars might be snapped up quickly?

[docdale]

Yep, the best cars go very quickly. I missed several. I bought mine actually before went on sale - dealer called me up to offer me car as knew I have been looking.

Best tip if you are going the AUC route is to look at the coming soon section on BMW website when searching for M5, price etc and act fast, you may need to decide on car by putting deposit down before seeing it (says deposit subject to your inspection) and some dealer will hold th ecar for you in this situation. Also get yourself known to the local dealers

[Burba]

Thanks for all the tips PH'ers!

I need to get out and have a proper look around one to ensure it is exactly what I need - rear space, driver comfort (I'm 6'5), boot etc.

Would a dealer understand me looking so far in advance, or am I better waiting until I'm closer to being ready to deal? No experience with main dealer practices so unsure how to proceed..

[corp]

I was in the Bristol main dealers last week and they had three m5s- normally don't see any. This week when I was in, 2 had sold. Demand seems high and production low, so if they are decent they will not hang around for long!

I also think that not many will be buying new ones due to the new model coming out in a couple of years, the economy, and much better rivals- therefore creating higher demand than supply, leading to firm residuals

[Ashok]

For your information, my E60 M5 had over £30,000 worth of repairs done it (yes you read that right!).. all under warranty. Seems pretty obvious which option to choose.

[groucho]

Ashok said:

For your information, my E60 M5 had over £30,000 worth of repairs done it (yes you read that right!).. all under warranty. Seems pretty obvious which option to choose.

What happened to it?

[jontysafe]

BMW AUC everytime! Mine has had about £3000 of work done in the last 10 days and they still haven`t solved the problem........ wouldn`t even think about buying an M car without manufacturers warranty.