So I'm in my second E90 M3. A 2010 that I got on 6/8/14. Needless to say the warranty was up so I wanted to do the smart thing and purchase an extended warranty. I purchased the Safeguard Platinum because I wanted everything covered, free loaner cars blah blah blah.
Well for awhile now I noticed that the tpms dash light was on but tire pressure was ok so I just chalked it up to a faulty sensor. Then about a couple weeks ago I noticed that the DCT was not shifting properly/quickly enough and the brakes seem to have a mind of their own. Well the dash is showing another 8k miles before my next scheduled maintenance so... maybe I'm just imagining this stuff..?
Not quite. Last weekend while roughly 100 miles away at a wedding for the weekend I hop in the car and immediately get a transmission malfunction light on the dash. Fantastic. To make things even more fun, I only have gears 2,4 and 6. Well this happened and then the light went away and all seemed normal again except the gearbox with a mind of it's own.
Anyway.. I took the car in and explained the situation. Next day, I get a call:
BMW: You have an old version of the ECU software. It needs to be updated to the newest version to the tune of $468 which is NOT covered by your extended warranty.
Me: Fantastic! Because I already have a $250 deductible so let's add on some more cash! Wait... why not just fix the issue?
BMW: I called the warranty dept. and they won't authorize us to even look for any damage etc. until the current software is installed.
Me: Ok I get it. So keeping the old software that the car came with will yield more problems in the future?
BMW: Yup.
Me: So I basically have no choice here if I want you to check the trans fluid for metal, brakes, or anything in the future?
BMW: Yup.
So my problem is sort of two fold. 1) Why would the computer that originally run the car just stop working in the car? and 2) It's sh!tty bait n switch tactics to say that unless I pay for the ONLY thing apparently not covered by the warranty, that there's nothing they can do that will be covered under warranty.
I guess since everything is run by the computer these days in cars, it makes sense to omit that from warranties.
BTW: new software in car and everything's running like new. Oh well... at least the cashier forgot to charge me my deductible today..