BMW Factory extended Warranties - NON CPO

[FlyPenFly]

Just wondering if BMW has changed it's policies since Audi/VW offers this. But can you extend the factory warranty if you're not the original owner? I know they used to require that only the original owner can extend the factory warranty.

[eisenb11]

Not 100% sure on this, but I've been doing some research into the 2OP warranty and it seems pretty much unchanged.

2OP = "Original Owners Protection Plan", by the way. It also appears that it is non-transferrable.

Again, not 100% sure, but this seems to be what I'm finding.

I plan on keeping my car for 6 years after I get it. The option I'm going to use is to buy the car, wait until about 1 month before the new car warranty is about to end, then purchase a 3rd party warranty.

My research into the 3rd party warranties seems to show that they are cheaper and have better coverage over more items. The main 2 I'm consider are the GE and Cuda warranties.

[FlyPenFly]

Unfortunately, my experience with aftermarket non OEM warranties has been less than stellar.

[jrose7004]

Trouble is that if I buy an extended warranty the car never needs service, if I don't buy one it does! I have about a year left on the factory warranty so I need to start looking at extended warranties.

[Jhunter]

Extended warranties that you have to pay for are generally not a good idea financially. All older cars will need repairs so by paying for an extended warranty you are really just trading dollars back and forth with the underwriter (with you paying upfront). In the event of an extraordinarily costly repair what you have done is buy insurnance. So you have to ask, is the risk of a costly repair a risk I need to insure myself against (i.e. would it be a financial hardship to pay for it)? Probably not (or you should be driving a cheaper car). Remember the underwriter pays to market the warranty, pays a commission to the seller, pays claims on the warranty and makes a profit, therefore it is likely not a good deal for the consumer.

[eisenb11]

Extended warranties that you have to pay for are generally not a good idea financially. All older cars will need repairs so by paying for an extended warranty you are really just trading dollars back and forth with the underwriter (with you paying upfront). In the event of an extraordinarily costly repair what you have done is buy insurnance. So you have to ask, is the risk of a costly repair a risk I need to insure myself against (i.e. would it be a financial hardship to pay for it)? Probably not (or you should be driving a cheaper car). Remember the underwriter pays to market the warranty, pays a commission to the seller, pays claims on the warranty and makes a profit, therefore it is likely not a good deal for the consumer.

While I agree that buying an extended warranty is basically buying insurance, I don't agree with the hardship criteria.

Using myself as an example, I'm considering buying an 08 vert - with the vert top being the main thing that I'm worried about in the long run.

Should the top crunk, for example, it could easily cause $10k worth of damage. I surely can afford to pay this, but why pay $10k when this can be subverted with a $1.5k - $2k warranty extension?

$2k doesn't cover much in car repairs these days. So for me, it's a simple choice for the peace of mind. It's one of those things you buy, but hope never to have to use... like life insurance...

[Jhunter]

While I agree that buying an extended warranty is basically buying insurance, I don't agree with the hardship criteria.

Using myself as an example, I'm considering buying an 08 vert - with the vert top being the main thing that I'm worried about in the long run.

Should the top crunk, for example, it could easily cause $10k worth of damage. I surely can afford to pay this, but why pay $10k when this can be subverted with a $1.5k - $2k warranty extension?

$2k doesn't cover much in car repairs these days. So for me, it's a simple choice for the peace of mind. It's one of those things you buy, but hope never to have to use... like life insurance...

Not sure what could happen to a top that would cost $10,000 plus you have to figure the exclusions and deductibles these warranties have. Also you are paying $2,000 now versus the small chance that you may have to pay $10,000 years from now so the true cost compared to the benefit is actually greater. I think my logic of, if you can afford it, don't pay to insure it means you will be better off financially if you do not buy extended warranties period (cars, appliances, electronics, etc.).

[eisenb11]

Not sure what could happen to a top that would cost $10,000 plus you have to figure the exclusions and deductibles these warranties have. Also you are paying $2,000 now versus the small chance that you may have to pay $10,000 years from now so the true cost compared to the benefit is actually greater. I think my logic of, if you can afford it, don't pay to insure it means you will be better off financially if you do not buy extended warranties period (cars, appliances, electronics, etc.).

As I recall, I believe another user in this forum reported his hard top convertible crunking on the 07 328i. The entire convertible mechanism got trashed.

The warranty from Cuda didn't seem too bad. The one I priced out had a $0.00 (nada) deductable and would cover 2 years for less than $2,000. Also, you're not supposed to purchase it until about 1 month before the new car warranty expires. The GE warranty seemed to be pretty much the same (although I didn't have the cost of it on hand).

So that's 4 years to invest your money and gain equity... then you fork out some money that's tied up for 2 years. Since the amount is small, the equity loss over 2 years is pretty minimal.

[Jhunter]

He is obviously under warranty and the problem must be a design or installation problem that will presumably be corrected during the next four years for free. If it gives you piece of mind that is fine I guess. The fact is the price of the warranty exceeds the expected covered repairs during the two years. If you are in the small percentage that have claims exceeding the cost good for you, but most likely you will loose money on the deal.

What happens if you sell the car, it is stolen, totaled? Do you get a refund?

[eisenb11]

He is obviously under warranty and the problem must be a design or installation problem that will presumably be corrected during the next four years for free. If it gives you piece of mind that is fine I guess. The fact is the price of the warranty exceeds the expected covered repairs during the two years. If you are in the small percentage that have claims exceeding the cost good for you, but most likely you will loose money on the deal.

What happens if you sell the car, it is stolen, totaled? Do you get a refund?

Some very good points.

Aye, we'd expect that existing (and new) problems would be fixed over the 4 years for free. The question is: what breaks after those 4 years? The older the car gets, the more likely things will go wrong.

As for the cost of the warranty, you're correct in that it's a gamble. Chances are that over the 2 years nothing major will happen and you won't recover the cost of the warranty - in fact, the insurance company is betting on this or warranties would be a money losing proposition (which they aren't... by a long shot).

Each person's risk level is different, but I don't see $2k as a significant amount of risk as compared to the potential of a high value loss. In that regard, I would less inclined to purchase the warranty if I were buying a sedan than if I were buying a convertible because the risk is higher with the vert.

Some warranties will also provide a full refund if unused during the entire warranty term (my parent's Benz and my friend's BMW both have extended warranties that do this).

As for the last question, the warranties that I looked at are all pro-rated. If I were to buy a 6 year/+100,000 mile warranty and cancel in 2 years/+20,000 miles I get back the lower of 1-2/6 years or 1-20,000/100,000 miles - whichever is lower. In this case, it would be 1-2/6 years = 1-1/3 = 2/3 of the price of the warranty.

The warranties are also transferrable (except for the 2OP) so I also have the option of including it with the used car (and raising the price) or cancelling and going with the return mentioned above.

[Rolyf]

While I agree that buying an extended warranty is basically buying insurance, I don't agree with the hardship criteria.

Using myself as an example, I'm considering buying an 08 vert - with the vert top being the main thing that I'm worried about in the long run.

Should the top crunk, for example, it could easily cause $10k worth of damage. I surely can afford to pay this, but why pay $10k when this can be subverted with a $1.5k - $2k warranty extension?

$2k doesn't cover much in car repairs these days. So for me, it's a simple choice for the peace of mind. It's one of those things you buy, but hope never to have to use... like life insurance...

With all the motors, sensors, switches and relays that the top has there is certainly a possibility of a problem. However, the fail safe condition is to stop so when something goes wrong, nothing moves. Hard to imagine a scenario resulting in anywhere near that much damage.
Second, read the fine print three times over in any aftermarket warranty. Coverage of anything other than hard drivetrain parts is usually non-existant. I have a shop and constantly see customers who are shocked to find out that their defect is not covered. Basically if the policy does not specifically state that an item is covered, it isn't.
Lastly, have you gotten a firm quote on a policy yet, and have you read that policy? Not trying to rain on your parade, just trying to get the facts.

[fun2drive]

I wowuld love to know what company rebates the unused warranty back.
Also every extended warranty I have read (including BMW) doesn't cover the hard top convertible.

Nice thing is that you have 4 years and 50,000 miles or close to it to see how reliable this car will be then you can decide. I am planning to see how things are going at the close to 4 year point as I will never put 50, 000 miles on the car in that time.

[eisenb11]

Hi fun2drive & Rolyf,

In regards to convertibles and extended warranties you may be surprised that it's not too hard to find a policy that will cover them.

So far, I've done research on warranties from BMW (2OP/CPO), GE, and Cuda. All 3 gave me the same answer in regards to convertibles.

1. The "convertible top" exclusion is to be taken literally. They actually mean the top of the convertible. This is due to soft top convertibles where the material of the soft top can degrade over time. They're excluding the material part of the convertible.

2. They *will* cover the mechanics and electronics of the convertible mechanism, itself so far as failure isn't caused by external influences. "External influences" would be something like a stick getting stuck in the mechanism and causing something to burn-out or break.

3. For so long as you have the extended warranty and you have a convertible, you're guaranteed that the top will go up and down (as long as an external influence didn't break it).

All three warranties gave me the exact same answers, so I find it highly unlikely that all three are lying.

While I don't doubt that there are warranties that don't cover anything about convertibles, there appear to be a good number that do. In my case, I'm 3-for-3 as every one I've called to get clarification has indicated that they will, indeed, warrant the convertible mechanisms.