Quote:
Originally Posted by Timmer-Bimmer
I did buy the extended warranty. My previous car was a Lexus LS460, which is supposed to be one of the most reliable cars, but I spent enough out of pocket on it to have paid for the cost of my BMW warranty.
I got 5 years 100,000 miles for about $4,100.
For the prepaid maintenance, it is indeed a math problem. Over a 100,000 mile period, you will likely save some money. However, over any given interval, you may not. The first three years, if you need brakes, you save a lot of money, but if you don't you need to sign up for the next interval. You must purchase the first 3 years to be eligible to purchase additional years, but you can add on anytime. You can see the cost at the MyBMW site, and the cost should not go up.
My concern is that normally I put on 20,000 miles a year. With the shelter on place likely to be with us periodically over the next 2-3 years, I may not get close to that, so the money may be wasted.
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I am beginning to believe the maintenance plan isn't a good deal. I talked to the service department about this and they actually advised against the maintenance plan. He was saying you really shouldn't need brakes until 50K miles and of course this is depending on how you drive the car. I asked how much a service would be after the 36K which is included and he said worse case scenario would be $350-$400. That sounded cheap to me. It costs $700 just for upgrade which would include brakes and wiper blades for 3/36K. If you need brakes then yes this is a good deal, but if not then it is wasted money. Then if you want 4/48K plan that is $1899. If you need brakes during this time and you replaced wiper blades once per year you would come close to breaking even. The service advisor also said they offer coupons for discounts on service. Factoring all of the scenarios it doesn't make sense to get a maintenance plan.
Extended warranty is a different story. If something major goes wrong after car is out of warranty it could cost more than an extended warranty. I can get a 7/75K BMW warranty for 3650 and that is from out of state. That same warranty in Florida is almost 6K. Don't buy a car warranty in Florida. The state mandates the prices and a dealer cannot discount them. Go to another state and they can discount the warranty. I think I can do better than 3650. It will take a lot of phone calls but might be worth it.