[johnofcross]

I'm thinking of purchasing a new 335i soon, and this upgrade to me is quite enticing. This upgrade extends your maintenance and other warranties an extra 2 years for a good $2300. Is this worth it?

And also, I'm trying to see if this upgrade can be discounted to invoice price for an ED purchase. I don't see it in the pricing config. Thoughts?

EDIT: I ask this because you can actually add this to the BMW config in the USA site. Curious why it's not in the pricing sheet.

[tony20009]

I bought it for my E92.

The price of everything is negotiable, but I wouldn't suggest you haggle on the price of that specific option, but rather on the price of the car, including that option, as a whole.

[johnofcross]

Originally Posted by tony20009

I bought it for my E92.

The price of everything is negotiable, but I wouldn't suggest you haggle on the price of that specific option, but rather on the price of the car, including that option, as a whole.

But was it worth it? Or is this just a possible $2300 (or cheaper if invoice) mistake?

[PrazVT]

I'm doing ED and went to the dealership last week to give my down payment do all the financing paper work. I added the wheel / tire protection, lo jack, and the extended maintenance (but not the warranty). Based on what the rep told us, it looks like maintenance costs after the first 4 years are expensive. If you plan to keep your car for a long time, it sounds like it's worth it. You'll save 2-3 thousand in scheduled maintenance costs. Plus it's transferable if you sell the car.

With respect to the cost, I don't think they have a separate ED cost for these services. They knocked about $800 off of the total cost of the 3 services I chose, but it was maybe $100 - 200 off for the maintenance upgrade.

[740i325e135i]

Originally Posted by johnofcross

I'm thinking of purchasing a new 335i soon, and this upgrade to me is quite enticing. This upgrade extends your maintenance and other warranties an extra 2 years for a good $2300. Is this worth it?

If you rule out catastrophic failure of something (tranny, block etc.) and just look at those repairs that will likely be necessary between 4-6 years from date of service then I don't think it is a great deal. Once you exclude all normal wear and tear items (clutch, O2 sensors, exhaust, brakes, wheels, tie rods, bushings, control arms etc etc.) you are left with things like water pumps, fuel pumps, etc that take a beating and will fail at some point. Repair for these items may be in the high hundreds to low 1000. So all in all I have never thought it makes sense. IMHO, it would be better put $2300 in a high interest rate (haha not so high) or mutual fund and draw it down when you need it...

But having said this, some little gizmo will fail behind your dash and then your screwed because the gizmo will cost $75 but getting at it will be 8 hrs. labor...

[Anenome]

I ended up getting the extended maintenance and it wasn't something I initally considered purchasing. Still not 100% sure if I should have done it, but at least I don't have to worry about maintenance for the next 6 years. Also, $2,300 seems pretty steep. I paid about $400 less than that, so I would see if you could negotiate a lower price.

[zeezz]

Originally Posted by PrazVT

I'm doing ED and went to the dealership last week to give my down payment do all the financing paper work. I added the wheel / tire protection, lo jack, and the extended maintenance (but not the warranty). Based on what the rep told us, it looks like maintenance costs after the first 4 years are expensive. If you plan to keep your car for a long time, it sounds like it's worth it. You'll save 2-3 thousand in scheduled maintenance costs. Plus it's transferable if you sell the car.

With respect to the cost, I don't think they have a separate ED cost for these services. They knocked about $800 off of the total cost of the 3 services I chose, but it was maybe $100 - 200 off for the maintenance upgrade.

Just curious, did you have BMW Assist on this car as well? For some reason, I see cars outfitted with both lojack and BMW assist, but I wasn't sure whether that is duplicating efforts -- my thought was that BMW assist also had stolen car tracking.

[740i325e135i]

Yes, BMW Assist has stolen vehicle recovery. Lojack does have some benefits (but its pricy) as the BMW Assist depends on sharkfin and battery to function, both of which are easily disabled.... Do you really want your car back after its been stolen???

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by johnofcross

But was it worth it? Or is this just a possible $2300 (or cheaper if invoice) mistake?

Well, to answer your first question, yes.

Regarding your second question, I don't think it was a mistake of any sort. I haggled with the dealer and got the price I wanted to pay for the car I wanted to buy. My negotiations, however, were based on the whole car's price, including this and every other option on it, so I don't know what I paid for the warranty upgrade specifically. I can tell you I got $4,100 off the price of the car, inclusive of this upgrade.

Earlier this year, I had several warranty repairs performed on my car (all of the related to the turbo charger in one way or another). Had I not bought the extended warranty, I'd be some $6,000 poorer right now. So, you see, I think it was worth it.

Now as to why I bought it, because I don't always buy it, I'd like to think it was just common sense. I knew when I was buying my car that I had no recollection of BMW having mass produced and sold a turbo-charged engine on a typical car. And like any other innovative approach, there was bound to be an undotted "i" or uncrossed "t."

My other impetus is potentially bad reasoning, but it's what I believe.
These high-end car makers do make wonderful, well built, well engineered cars. Yet, they still haven't altered their standard warranty durations to be comparable to the likes of supposedly lesser car makers. Also, it's been my observation that with these high-end cars, if something is going to break, it tends to be related to some major new innovation they introduced on the model you bought, and it tends to do so within a year of the standard warranty's expiration. And I have also observed, that more often than not, once you fix whatever broke, nothing breaks again, if at all, for a very long time. Lastly, I have found that if I drive the car hard in the one to 1.5 years prior to the expiration of my warranty, I usually uncover anything that's liable to break.

To drive my car hard, I take it to the track and drive it as hard as I safely can several times a year. And in my daily driving, I also drive it as hard as is safe to do under the circumstances. And low and behold, that appoach is how I found the turbo problems, only one of which manifested itself under gentle driving conditions.

One appeared upon exceeding 80 mph and the other only showed up if you floored the gas from a standing start, or if you floored it while moving along below 45 mph or so and downshifted to second as you floored it. I had one other problem having to do with a turbo waste-gate: on pulling off slowly from a cold engine start, I'd hear this rattle under the front end of the car that would continue until I got up to about 20 mph or so. This patter would continue until the car was warm, and then there'd be no rattle at all unless the engine got completely cold again. The weather made no difference.

I recently ordered a new 328i for my son, but I don't recall BMW having had a turbo-charged four cylinder engine being mass produced and installed. And I ordered the extended warranty for his car as well.

I realize I may not have had anything come up that caused me to use my extended warranty coverage. But my better judgement told me I probably would, and so I bought the extended warranty.

FWIW, for most folks, by the time they reach 40 (give or take a couple years), their better judgment knows what it's talking about. Prior to that, most folks don't have any better judgment, notwithstanding any sense of superiority they may have, or have been told, about themselves. There are some things that only the passage time provides.

[johnofcross]

I really appreciate everyone's input. I initially asked this question because I wanted to see if this upgrade can be negotiated (and from the looks of things it can) and if it was even worth negotiating for it. Honestly, I bought the extended warranty on my current car. Lo and behold, I had to take it in for some tranny issues just recently, well past its original warranty. Good thing I got that extended.
So in light, I probably will get extended maintenance & warranty. Now I just have to include it in my budget...

[LAnderson23]

I didn't buy this option up-front, but I did ask if I can buy it later down the line. My CA said yes, but I want to verify that. I think I'd rather have the extra two years peace of mind, so if I can buy it after the fact I think I will. My original plan is to buy it just about when the 4 years is up to extend it another 2 but I want to confirm that is allowed. Otherwise I would hope I can still buy it before I pick up the car.

[MalsBrownCoat]

Originally Posted by Anemone

I paid about $400 less than that, so I would see if you could negotiate a lower price.

I don't have enough posts yet to send PM's, so I apologize for the mini-thread-jack. Anemone, can you PM me with what AZ dealer you went with, please?

Thanks!

[bboopsf]

I just picked up my new 328i this weekend and was offered the following options ..there were a few others which i haven't listed below (GAP, Paintless Dent Repair, Windshield Plan, Guidepoint GPS System)
1. Extended Service Warranty - $3760
2. Extended Maintenance Program - $2095
3. IBEX Surface Protection - $795
4. Tire, Wheel - $1399
5. LoJack - $795

We purchased the car and tend to keep our cars at least 7 years (my husbands '07 335i coupe only has 17k miles on it) so we went with the first 3 items. Also since this is the first model year for the F30 we don't know what can go wrong. We recently just used our extended warranty on the 335i to deal with an issue with the ABS system.

We are financing through our credit union since BMW couldnt come near the rate - 1.99% and the credit union also offers their own Mechanical Repair Warranty and have varying options (years and deductibles options) but it's all through a 3rd party. They did quote me on a 7 year/75k mile extended warranty with a $0 deductible a cost of $2700 which is about $1k cheaper but not sure if anyone has experience with these warranties offered through the credit unions? They also are transferrable if the car is sold as well. We stuck with the one sold by BMW since it's provided through BMW and not another 3rd party.

[zeezz]

Originally Posted by bboopsf

I just picked up my new 328i this weekend and was offered the following options ..there were a few others which i haven't listed below (GAP, Paintless Dent Repair, Windshield Plan, Guidepoint GPS System)
1. Extended Service Warranty - $3760
2. Extended Maintenance Program - $2095
3. IBEX Surface Protection - $795
4. Tire, Wheel - $1399
5. LoJack - $795

We purchased the car and tend to keep our cars at least 7 years (my husbands '07 335i coupe only has 17k miles on it) so we went with the first 3 items. Also since this is the first model year for the F30 we don't know what can go wrong. We recently just used our extended warranty on the 335i to deal with an issue with the ABS system.

We are financing through our credit union since BMW couldnt come near the rate - 1.99% and the credit union also offers their own Mechanical Repair Warranty and have varying options (years and deductibles options) but it's all through a 3rd party. They did quote me on a 7 year/75k mile extended warranty with a $0 deductible a cost of $2700 which is about $1k cheaper but not sure if anyone has experience with these warranties offered through the credit unions? They also are transferrable if the car is sold as well. We stuck with the one sold by BMW since it's provided through BMW and not another 3rd party.

Warranty and Maintenance are definitely options for each individual, but it has been my experience that the 'paint treatments' are pretty useless. They are usually marketed as Teflon and state that you'll never have to wax your car again. However, it's really just about equivalent to a wax job that costs $800 bucks. The teflon material will be gone in about 6 months. If it really did protect paint that well, then manufacturers would start using it

Here's a thread with some information: http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...scam-true.html

Sadly, I did get this on my Acura -- really just forgot about it after a few months and needed to wash/wax as usual anyway.

[jpoet]

What is covered by the "Extended Service Warranty" ?
What is covered by the "Extended Maintenance Program"?
Is there any overlap?

My 15 year old M3 has been costing me around 1000/year in maintenance (belts, hoses, BG synthetic oil changes, etc). A four year old car should not cost that much, but...

[ZMM_OMG]

Originally Posted by LAnderson23

I didn't buy this option up-front, but I did ask if I can buy it later down the line. My CA said yes, but I want to verify that. I think I'd rather have the extra two years peace of mind, so if I can buy it after the fact I think I will. My original plan is to buy it just about when the 4 years is up to extend it another 2 but I want to confirm that is allowed. Otherwise I would hope I can still buy it before I pick up the car.

If I recall correctly from when I purchased my 2001 e46, it was possible to purchase the extended maintenance/warranty later, but the price rose as it got closer to the date of expiry. You might want to inquire with you CA if this is the case.