Do you guys reccomend an extended warranty?

[6spdg37s]

aftermarket warranties scare me ... if i was buying the car i would want it to be a CPO ...but if i own it from new... i wouldn't necessarily care since you know the maintenance you are doing or not doing.

if someone could come out and confirm or maybe even make a thread on positive feedback for aftermarket warranty programs it would make a lot of members lives that much easier and also eliminate repeating threads being started

I also agree with above post regarding maintenance, im mechanically inclined and my boy owns a car shop does work on all my fams german cars..so get the parts at cost and he never charges me anything above for parts

[Mr. ///M3 RD]

Originally Posted by Detroit M3

Hey guys,

I'm about to break into the 50,000 mile club do you recommend I extend my warranty? Have any of you tallied up the cost and seen if it was beneficial?

I don't see it as messesery you might ask why, well, we have a 25 year old 535is all this car ever needed is a new clutch and some body work apart from regular maintenance.

So like someone said it's like insurance. I would if I was concerned open a special savings account put the equivalant cash in there and let it grow,, it will be there should you ever need it. If you don't need it use it for your next new car

Another example, my former e46 build in late 2001 sold in 2010 only needed 2 new rear springs and two brake jobs. One before spring before I sold her and the new owner (I am still in touch with him) changed the other rear spring last year. The 2 brake jobs with nearly 100K KM on that car are normal.

Good luck with whatever you decide, I just commented here to give you fruit for thought.

[fuddman]

Are you the original owner? Did you put most of those 50k miles on yourself?
Seems to me those are important points to consider because if you tend to consistently drive the car hard, then maybe an extended warranty makes sense.

As for me, I declined extended anything for two reasons:

1) Consumers Report, in an issue on car maintenance costs, noted that, out of all BMW models, the M3 cost the least to maintain.
2) I look at it like I am in a bet with BMW. And I don't like my odds. By that I mean, BMW is betting me 3k that my M3 will not cost me 3k to maintain for two years beyond my warranty period. Thing is, BMW knows the failure rate of every component of their car - I don't. I don't believe for a second "the house" would make that bet unless they were sure the odds were in their favor to come out on top

[Xcelrrate]

Originally Posted by passing

do you think i jump up and down when i have to fix something?

no.

but it gives me and everyone else great satisfaction knowing we didn't spend up to and over 8k on some warranty.

also, very rarely does a mechanical breakdown render a car completely useless.

I don't know where I would have implied that.. but do you? JK

Originally Posted by Parkanzky

My '10 goes out of warranty in 8-10 months and I've been weighing the extended maintenance and warranty options myself. To me, the extended warranty is just not worth it.

Xcelrrate above says, "The Brake Job @60k miles; front and rear pads and rotors alone was upwards of $4k..." While that's what it was at the dealer, you can buy pads and rotors all around from some place like getbmwparts.com for under $1500. I can install them in half an hour at home. If I don't feel like it, there's a great independent euro shop in town that will do it for a couple hundred bucks. The maintenance is expensive on these cars no matter what, but it's only ridiculously expensive if you take it to the dealer.

And yes, the loaner cars are nice, but for a lot of us the M3 is our 3rd or 4th car. If my M3 melted down today, I'd hop in one of my other cars and continue going about my business. Even if I needed another car, I could pay for a rental with the difference between dealer parts and labor and what it costs at a good independent shop.

I get the peace of mind insurance gets you. And different people have different philosophies on that. But to me, I would rather have the risk of paying for a major mechanical failure than pay a ~$5k "premium."

Very true...

But, I'm not here to argue or prove any point....

Like I've said, To each their own, and again, maybe I'm getting lazy and or old... Not old really, but my spend my time with my 2 beautiful kids when ever else I'm not riding the Beast..

Yeah, I guess my 8k could have went towards some nice wheels.. lol

[SD-E93-11]

Originally Posted by Xcelrrate

IMHO, I beg to differ, "seems' to me that the less driven car seem to have more problem then a car that is driven...

+1; obviously maintenance will be cheaper on a car driven fewer miles, but I don't see a direct relationship to the likelihood of warranty claims. In fact, I'd agree with you that cars that aren't driven often are more likely to have shit break.

Originally Posted by M3RD

I don't see it as messesery you might ask why, well, we have a 25 year old 535is all this car ever needed is a new clutch and some body work apart from regular maintenance.

Aside from the manufacturer being the same, to conclude that an e9x will be as reliable as a car made 25 years ago sounds flawed to me. To compare the number of things that can go wrong in a modern m3 vs. a car that old is like comparing the reliability of a computer to a manual typewriter.

Originally Posted by fuddman

1) Consumers Report, in an issue on car maintenance costs, noted that, out of all BMW models, the M3 cost the least to maintain.

I believe Consumer Reports cited the m3 as being the most reliable which is not saying it is the cheapest BMW to maintain.