Owner of a certified, pre owned, 2002 BMW 525I with 78K (36K when purchased in 04) miles on it. My warranty is set to expire on 8/27/08. (100 K or 6 yrs)
I took vehicle in for routine maintenance last week and was told bushings would need replacing in the future.
Should I renew my warranty to ensure future coverage? Or, take my chances, figuring that when something goes wrong in the future, it probably won?t be covered by the warranty anyway. What?s convential wisdom’s take on this?
I?d appreciate hearing from others re: their thoughts, experiences, etc.
Thanks.
We have had many posts on extended warranties, which are normally nothing more than expensive insurance. How much does the dealer want for this warranty, what length is it, and what does it cover?
Every car need bushings some time into the future. Bushings are a “normal wear item” and would not likely be covered by an extended warranty.
Like other posts, we recommend car owners put $125 per month in a high interest account and you can have your very own “car repair insurance fund”. The dealer’s salesmen get about 50% commission on these offered packages, so your maximum benefit would be no more than 50% of what you pay in.
In short, everyone wins but you! The salesman gets a fat commission, the dealer is assured the work will be done at his place, where many other things (not covered) will be “found”. If you sell the car or move away you may never collect on the amount paid in.
If you really don’t trust the car, sell it.
Last year I bought a Toyota and the salesman laughingly told me he “had to offer me the extended Toyota warranty”. I told him that if the car needed that I would not be buying it.
In consumer goods the situation is far worse; Sears uses scare tactics to mercilessly push these programs. We kept track of 11 household appliances and electronics over 5 years. The comnbined cost of all the offered programs was $1263, covering warranties from the end of the factory warranty (1 year)for the next 4 years.
The total cost we incurred doing actaul repairs from the end of year one to the end of year 5 was…$104!!! None of the items broke as to be unrepairable.
So, draw your own conclusion! Conventional wisdom tell us that extended warrnties are a bad deal, except for the guys who sell them.
You will not be renewing a warranty, you will be buying an insurance policy. The profit to the salesman and company is usually over 50%. So for every $1,000 you spend the insurance company has less than $500 to pay for repairs or they will loose money, something insurance companies do not do. Some peop;le will get nothing back and some will get a lot more than they pay. Most will get far less. In addition you need to keep in mind that the insurer has worded it to eliminate as many expensive things as they can.
Remember that the seller is out to make money and they get to write the rules and set the price. They are not going to sell them at a loss so one way or another they are going to have you pay more than they will pay out.
Would you gamble with a car dealer who gets to set all the rules and knows all the odds?
Your decision has to do with the value of the piece of mind it gives you. If that is worth the cost then buy it. Don't expect it to cover everything however, most are written to keep cost down and exempt what they know will cost them money.
Good Luck
What company is offering the extended warranty? I want to read up on them,you should also? Is it BMW? what is the cost,what are the details about the warranty (whats covered,rental car who can do the work) you dont want to buy this warranty without ALL your questions answered,in writing.I have been the tech that prepared the cars for the CPO program from BMW,the people that bought the cars that I prepared got their moneys worth.This quality varies dealer to dealer.