[bMw Jones]

Has anyone has experience of warranty claims on an approved used BMW?
Is it any good? Or are there loads of items not covered?

[JD6]

I have bought a 6 month and a 1 year old approved used before. My experience is that the warranty is actually very good - pretty much the same as a new car, which is fortunate as the 'extensive approved used check' actually just involves a wash and vac. I found numerous faults on both cars within minutes, but the dealers were happy to resolve them. On one car I could even see the fault on the pictures they had taken to advertise it!

I don't know whether they are as relaxed about doing stuff if the used car is beyond 3 years old, and so outside its normal warranty period.

[Sasquartch]

I bought a 328i in June
Had steering rack replaced under AUC warranty a couple of months later
No cost, free courtesy car, no hassle at all
Very pleased

AUC cars from dealers are definitely more expensive but you only have to have an expensive problem to fix and it's worth it.
Peace of mind.

[magic juan]

I bought my E91 as an approved used car at just under 3 years old and have kept it in the Comprehensive Component Warranty after the AUC's 1 year warranty ran out.

The car is now 9 years old and the warranty has been worth it's weight in gold, easily paying out more than i've put in each year.

Just last year it had all it's gearbox seals replaced along with a wheel bearing (which was borderline as should be deemed a wear and tear item - my dealer argued it had failed as a manufacturing defect - i think there was a lot of goodwill with this one!). It also had a sump which had corroded excessively, a replacement valvetronic unit as it was using oil and had it's rear wash wipe spindle renewed as it had seized off. That's just off the top of my head, over the years it's had a ton of warranty work, seized rear calipers, a new tailgate through corrosion, a clutch and dual mass flywheel, abs pump due to a relay failure, 2 front springs i could go on and on........

If you're in it for the long haul, it's a no brainer to me to go for the extended warranty. Car was bought at 20k miles, now done 131k, maintained by same dealer since i bought it.

These cars haven't got anywhere near the build quality of the E30's and E36's of yesteryear and also have way too much to go wrong.

Never had any issue with BMW refusing a claim either.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by magic juan

I bought my E91 as an approved used car at just under 3 years old and have kept it in the Comprehensive Component Warranty after the AUC's 1 year warranty ran out.

The car is now 9 years old and the warranty has been worth it's weight in gold, easily paying out more than i've put in each year.

Just last year it had all it's gearbox seals replaced along with a wheel bearing (which was borderline as should be deemed a wear and tear item - my dealer argued it had failed as a manufacturing defect - i think there was a lot of goodwill with this one!). It also had a sump which had corroded excessively, a replacement valvetronic unit as it was using oil and had it's rear wash wipe spindle renewed as it had seized off. That's just off the top of my head, over the years it's had a ton of warranty work, seized rear calipers, a new tailgate through corrosion, a clutch and dual mass flywheel, abs pump due to a relay failure, 2 front springs i could go on and on........

If you're in it for the long haul, it's a no brainer to me to go for the extended warranty. Car was bought at 20k miles, now done 131k, maintained by same dealer since i bought it.

These cars haven't got anywhere near the build quality of the E30's and E36's of yesteryear and also have way too much to go wrong.

Never had any issue with BMW refusing a claim either.

Quite a list, but absolutely agree that the AUC and BMW extended warranty with emergency cover are worth having, when we run past the 3-year, new car warranty.

I've not run a BMW out of warranty (new, AUC and extended) since 2002, saved a lot of money having the continuous cover.

Just this week I've had over £1,000's worth of warranty work on my car. This year's warranty covered in one go, for two "small" items, rear air spring and side view camera.

The more options and tech' we have, the greater the risk of high cost fixes.

Last year, a 'simple' door handle (comfort access) fault, resulted in a recovery to the garage, due to a battery drain which messed many systems. New door handle was required at some astronomical cost, (yes a door handle), plus the fitting and recovery, hire car for 3 days and return on a flat bed, covered my warranty cost.

I've also had the "big" one, a new V8 engine at 65k miles, total bill was well over £12k with consequential costs, 2 recoveries, hire car for over 8 weeks, etc. All sorted under the extended warranty, without any cost to me.

We can self fund (bank similar values), and/or find cheaper solutions outside the BMW network if we have failures. We may come out of it in pocket. In my experience I'd be way down and out of pocket, compared to having the full cover and a 'one stop' solution (with BMW) for faults and failures.

Regarding wear and tear, quote from BMW Warranty T&Cs:

Our policy on wear and tear
During the service life of your insured vehicle, normal degradation will naturally occur to some components, we term his ‘wear and tear’. For instance, components which are subjected to constant or sustained periods of movement, such as suspension bushes/ball joints and steering joints, would be subject to wear and tear. Dependant on the age and mileage of your insured vehicle, we may not be able to cover this type of failure and the cost of replacement will be your responsibility.

If you have the comprehensive level of cover however, we have included all insured components even if the failure is due to normal degradation (wear and tear) up to 100,000 miles from the date of registration. In addition, if a component has previously been replaced with a BMW genuine part, the same rule will apply, in this case evidence of mileage at fitment will be required.

[JD6]

My car will probably hit 43k miles by the end of the 3rd year. I intend to run it until 6 years / 80k miles. Anyone have an idea how much those 3 years of warranty would cost?

That should help me work out if the warranty is worthwhile.

For those who suggest that they have had x amount of work carried out under warranty, I think you should be taking into account what BMW would actually charge after goodwill. For example a friend needed £4000 of suspension work on a 4.5 year old F11 - BMW charged him about £1200. Someone on Pistonheads needed a £12k engine for his 5 year old 535d - BMW charged £2k.

I have run several BMWs outside the warranty period, and so far it has worked in my favour - I have spent far less (after goodwill) than the premiums. I am conscious that cars are getting more complex though, which tips the balance towards the warranty. There is also the unquantifiable benefit of not having to worry about it.

[Jon D]

Originally Posted by bMw Jones

Has anyone has experience of warranty claims on an approved used BMW?
Is it any good? Or are there loads of items not covered?

Provided that you're within the first 3 years, it's the standard new car warranty and it transfers with change of ownership.
However, as other's have pointed out, I think it's absolutely essential to have BMW insured warranty when the original expires.
Certainly, there are many cheaper third party insurers but I don't think the coverage is as comprehensive and AFAIK you have to get their approval before work can begin. With the BMW warranty you simply take it the nearest dealership and they take care of everything.

[Jon D]

Originally Posted by JD6

My car will probably hit 43k miles by the end of the 3rd year. I intend to run it until 6 years / 80k miles. Anyone have an idea how much those 3 years of warranty would cost?

You buy it in yearly stages and you can tailor the level of cover and voluntary excess to suit.
Go BMW warranty on-line and get a quote.

[JD6]

Originally Posted by Jon D

You buy it in yearly stages and you can tailor the level of cover and voluntary excess to suit.
Go BMW warranty on-line and get a quote.

Thanks. My car still has 5 months of warranty so they can't quote online. I did give them a ring though and asked them to give me an indication.

Comp with zero xs £691 / 610 (with/without breakdown)
Comp with 250 xs £410 / 329

That is cheaper than I imagined, and apparently the key price change point is at 60k miles. For two of the three years of extended warranty I would be below 60k miles at the start.

At this level, it looks worthwhile to me too. It looks like the full 3 years of extended (zero xs) comprehensive cover (exc breakdown) will be around £2k in total

[magic juan]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

Regarding wear and tear, quote from BMW Warranty T&Cs:

That's the thing Pete, my car had done well over 120k on the original bearing at the time, both my dealer and BMW could have told me to sling my hook, however there was no issue at all.

Fraser Murdoch, who is the service manager at Parks is an absolute asset to the company. Great guy to deal with.

[Jon D]

Originally Posted by magic juan

That's the thing Pete, my car had done well over 120k on the original bearing at the time, both my dealer and BMW could have told me to sling my hook, however there was no issue at all.

Fraser Murdoch, who is the service manager at Parks is an absolute asset to the company. Great guy to deal with.

I think the goodwill gesture is entirely dependant on the individual dealer and can't be relied on as a given. Really good that they treated you so well; makes a pleasant change from what you frequently hear.

[Jon D]

Originally Posted by JD6

At this level, it looks worthwhile to me too. It looks like the full 3 years of extended (zero xs) comprehensive cover (exc breakdown) will be around £2k in total

Good if they''ll let you buy the three years in one block - no worries about exceeding the 60k mile point.
To protect yourself from any nasty shocks down the line it might be a good idea clarify that you'll probably exceed that during the warranty period.

[JD6]

Originally Posted by Jon D

Good if they''ll let you buy the three years in one block - no worries about exceeding the 60k mile point.
To protect yourself from any nasty shocks down the line it might be a good idea clarify that you'll probably exceed that during the warranty period.

I don't think they will allow me to buy all 3 years at once, but I am assuming £610 + £610 + £800 (guesstimate for the last year, which starts at over 60k miles)

[XK140]

The lower mileage user has a more difficult decision,I think.

At,say,5k miles per year,then 15k at 3 years old and out of warranty.
So if kept another 3 years, then only 30k at 6 years old.
Now I would have thought that any faults in years 4 to 6 were in these circumstances:

a) Unlikely

b) Should be covered by a large dollop of goodwill if they did occur.

Assuming the BMW service history is as it should be,of course.

[JD6]

Originally Posted by XK140

The lower mileage user has a more difficult decision,I think.

At,say,5k miles per year,then 15k at 3 years old and out of warranty.
So if kept another 3 years, then only 30k at 6 years old.
Now I would have thought that any faults in years 4 to 6 were in these circumstances:

a) Unlikely

b) Should be covered by a large dollop of goodwill if they did occur.

Assuming the BMW service history is as it should be,of course.

In those circumstances I wouldn't take a warranty. As you say, goodwill should pretty much cover it. There appears to be no discount for low mileage - all they want to know is under 60k miles / 60-100k / 100k+

[Jon D]

Originally Posted by XK140

The lower mileage user has a more difficult decision,I think.

At,say,5k miles per year,then 15k at 3 years old and out of warranty.
So if kept another 3 years, then only 30k at 6 years old.
Now I would have thought that any faults in years 4 to 6 were in these circumstances:

a) Unlikely

b) Should be covered by a large dollop of goodwill if they did occur.

Assuming the BMW service history is as it should be,of course.

I'll probably not be doing much more than 5 or 6k miles a year and had automatically assumed I'd take extended warranty until reading this thread; how commonplace is this goodwill thing?

[Sullym6]

How did you get 610 with zero excess, I only have options for 100 or 250

634 inc emergency with 100 excess
498 inc emergency with 250 excess

[charge_hopper]

Does anybody have experience of taking out the warranty but servicing the car at an independent?

[TouringPleb]

Don't know if they have changed, but when I was a service advisor UCW didn't cover rattles, trims or adjustments.

Also it didn't cover all investigation work for some of the harder to diagnose problems. We used to get customers to authorise an hour of diagnosis time and then try to claim what we could with BMW.

Just a couple of points where UCW differs from manufacturers warranty.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Jon D

I'll probably not be doing much more than 5 or 6k miles a year and had automatically assumed I'd take extended warranty until reading this thread; how commonplace is this goodwill thing?

I know BMW do offer goodwill, but there is still a risk element. From my understanding (even on known issues) it is not to be assumed BMW will show goodwill. Each case is looked at on an individual basis. So you may have a hard fight on your hands and still lose.

Relationships with dealers can also have an influence, but again no guaranties dealers can influence a negative decision from BMW. Service record is also important to goodwill gestures. The term 'goodwill' for part payment from BMW, still has rules in place.

The warranty is really the only 'peace of mind' solution, unless we have a lighter view of risk. Or are prepared to battle with BMW, if we feel we have a legitimate case for 'cutting a deal' on premature repairs.

My family have just gone through a difficult case with VW, no warranty but clearly a major and premature failure. VW don't want to know, even though the mileage is low for such a failure, the bill is typically around £6k.

The dealer is prepared to do the work at cost, as the family spend a lot with them, for vehicles and servicing. An extended warranty would have had a better and much cheaper result.

[robbiep]

Originally Posted by smc90

Does anybody have experience of taking out the warranty but servicing the car at an independent?

The Terms and conditions don't exclude you using an independent, but do say that you must 'service the car in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations and genuine parts, or parts of equivalent specification must be used.' It goes on to say that a detailed VAT receipt must be issued and kept.

When you consider that they'd have the right to throw out a claim if it wasn't all recorded to spec, then I'd imagine the additional cost of getting the work done by a BMW dealer isn't worth the potential grief of getting it done by an indie and then finding out some little item was missed out, and your claim being rejected as a result.

finally, do bear in mind that any 'goodwill' matters will be far more likely to be rejected if you've been getting servicing carried out outside the dealer network.

[R0B]

Had an AUC warranty on my E60, then a further warranty package once AUC had run its course. Had three claims which were dealt with without me even having to blink. Credit where it's due; 75 quid a month soon paid for itself in spades.