I have got the extended BMW warranty on my 04 plate 330d msport touring (70k on the clock), i pay £39 per month and its £100 excess. I have been well impressed, it was a private sale and i just transferred the warranty over. I was having problems with my offside xenon headlight. They struggled to diagnose the problem first off replacing the balast swapping bulbs round etc. It failed again after the first repair. Turns out it was the bulb..... they replaced both bulbs in the end (not cheap) and i got a new balast and another part. Was really impressed given that bulbs arnt covered. The customer service was fantastic with regular phone calls etc. They even wrote up the claim that a faulty balast caused the bulbs to fail so i only paid the £100!

I plan to keep it a while so i will be keeping the warranty running.... just hope they dont detect my re-map!

 

I have two 3ers and both go to the local chain, Westerly BMW.

Great service, and Mike the parts guys here is brilliant.
No angles, just good advice and top service even though I do a lot of my own spanner work on the 335i.

Always phone or return a call, and do what they say when thay say they will do it.

Cotswold are also good - bought from them and used them for service too.
They have an eBay shop with plenty of Mini bits going cheap if you are interested.

Steve

 

Once a car has dropped out of warranty you can't purchase again. You don't buy from the dealer, BMW invite you to renew either online or over the phone.

Starting to think I will renew for the full £520. Which is a no excess warranty. It's nice having one of my cars completely hassle free, especially since the other two (S2000 - 12 years/110k, and ATR 10 years/107k) are starting to cost me for stuff here and there). And with all the BMWs suspension components being covered to 60k, which will take me to this time next year, I think it's sensible on a car of this age.

 

How come so much seems to go wrong with these cars?

Taking to the dealer over and over for this sort of thing would really annoy me as it would represent a lot of hassle (I walk and get the train to work).

 

I'd get pissed off with it too. Most moderns are overly-complex PoS.

You're like me; spoiled by driving an ancient Honda!

 

Mine's been good the past year.

It's only 18 months older than the ATR which seems to spend all it's days spewing one or other type of fluid on to my drive (PAS at the moment), all cheap and easy to fix but a PITA no less.

The BM has had an airbag sensor, a TC sensor and a pair of bushes and corroded brake lines.

And the bushes were changed in a couple of hours, not the week of hacksawing neccessary on the s2k

But I know what you mean, and those sensors aren't cheap.

 

TBF, one can tolerate those issues on a car that's been reliable for a decade or more.

It's when one spends forty large or whatever on a new one and the thing wears a groove to the dealers - that's intolerable.

 

Mine's had a quite a few niggles and but it's getting to that age and it's a very complicated car. I wonder if those sensors everywhere mean things get picked up before they become a problem that would normally be overlooked?

Of course the sensors themselves go wrong which just adds to the problems.

It's also the first car I've had for a very long time that let me down while I was out and about. I had a coil pack fail on Boxing day and had to call out BMW assistance - which was superb. It was sorted within an hour of the phone call.

 

or 70 large on a GTR....

see that thread I started - far too many the things are in and out of a garage more often than Max Mosley in a dungeon

who the 4x has ever heard of a BELLHOUSING failing on three occasions (as in Raz's case)?

the nervousness associated with all this is one thing but it's the inconvenience that cheeses me off

I want and expect to take a new car, any new car, to the dealers two or three times in three years for servicing and perhaps another couple of visits for consumables lke tyres, pads and discs

 

Plus 1 for what Gadd's states - and for me the convenience of having a very local dealer.

My Prius is now 18 months old and has 51K miles on it. Five services so far - c. £600 in total - and zero defects and no recalls. The tyres are all down to 3 mm so there'll be four to fit soon at around £500. Brake pads and discs will probably last the contract hire term.

The superb reliability, functionality and efficiency of the Prius makes for a 'character' which is rather endearing.