if I get the 7-year warranty, do I have nothing to worry about for 7 years?

[JABCAT]

Originally Posted by Westside Guy

After reading your post I checked the pricing for my Michelin PSS tires at my local Discount Tire store and the price including their refund, repair or replacement certificates that you mentioned which was $270 and the installation of 4 tires for $112 would cost me a grand total of $1964. As you mentioned, that certificate is only good for three years.

I paid $2000 for five years of coverage and I’m getting the OEM BMW Michelin star tires, not the regular PSS they are selling at Discount Tires.

So far, I have replaced six tires and think that my tire/ wheel and PDR plan has been a better investment. Then if it ever happens, and I have to replace any wheels, I am going to be way ahead!

If you take your brand new car over to DT & purchase their certificates on your OEM tires, I paid $337 for my M2.
Fronts were $76/ea so $152 & rears were $92.75/ea so $185.50.

If I need a new tire due to road hazard, I simply pay for a new certificate ($76 or $92.75).

To replace 6 front or rear tires with certificates (each replacement starts a new 3 years).

$337 + 6(76) = $793
$337 + 6(92.75) = $893.50

I've purchased DT certificates on every new car for the last 20 years. It generally works out very well. And the times where I never had to use them, I was only out a couple hundred $.

Re: BMW star tires, there's no noticeable difference any of us can feel between the star version/non-star version. But if one must have them, DT/Tire Rack can get them.

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by JABCAT

Re: BMW star tires, there's no noticeable difference any of us can feel between the star version/non-star version. But if one must have them, DT/Tire Rack can get them.

There have been several videos on youTube from tire expert reviewers comparing the BMW star tires vs. the regular Michelin version that you can buy from Tire Rack and other retailers and they say there is a real difference and they do perform better.

[Sand]

Originally Posted by JABCAT

Re: BMW star tires, there's no noticeable difference any of us can feel between the star version/non-star version. But if one must have them, DT/Tire Rack can get them.

Tire Rack's recent video review using the M2 said there was a very noticeable difference between the BMW Star vs regular version of the same Micheline Pilot sport 4s tires. Or was Tire Rack wrong?

[maticCRO]

Originally Posted by Sand

Tire Rack's recent video review using the M2 said there was a very noticeable difference between the BMW Star vs regular version of the same Micheline Pilot sport 4s tires. Or was Tire Rack wrong?

Ofc they are NOT wrong, it is already a common knowledge that those Star rated Michelin tires for BMW are significant upgrade from regular lets say PS4S...there is a bunch of videos on youtube about the subject

[JABCAT]

Interesting the Tire Rack Review you posted ranked the standard PS4S above the BMW OE PS4S both "on the road" & overall combined (5th v. 7th). I don't know how the OE tire being ranked lower equates to a "significant upgrade" over the standard tire

These guys also test tires for a living and are racing around a track. So I stand by my opinion that there is no noticable difference you or I will feel on the street.

The other counter to this argument of only using tires that are "specifically tuned" for your model is what do you do when those tires are no longer available?

Should I try to find some 2010 PSS that were standard equipment & specifically tuned for my Z06? Or will my Z06 actually perform better with currently available high-performance tires? The correct answer is obviously the latter.

[Sand]

Originally Posted by JABCAT

These guys also test tires for a living and are racing around a track. So I stand by my opinion that there is no noticable difference you or I will feel on the street.

Your absolutely right about that.

Most of us will never notice the difference.

[ShocknAwe]

Mechanical breakdown insurance, which is what "extended warranties" are, are for profit sales items that are not worth it unless you're buying something you're pretty sure has an issue that will somehow be covered despite the exclusions written into these insurance policies.

Save your money.

As for the star spec tires, only applies if your car is in factory spec IMO. Once you modify the suspension scrub and track it all goes out the window.

[afadeev]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

You are more apt to get a better deal when buying an extended warranty at point of sale of the vehicle than later due to the overall deal with how the dealer is making margin.

That's a lot of supposition.
Do you have any data to substantiate the above claims?

Originally Posted by JABCAT

People buy it point of sale because they can finance it in, just like the useless wheel & tire insurance, fabric protection, rust proofing, and any other nonsense high-margin product for the dealer.

If someone's only means of affording hyper-extended warranties is to finance them as a car payment ... then they REALLY should stop and re-evaluate their priorities.

Originally Posted by JABCAT

You start losing $ on the extended warranty from day 1 & you can't use it until day 1,460.

True 'dat.
Very exciting proposition, that is.


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[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by Sand

Your absolutely right about that.

Most of us will never notice the difference.

You may be correct but living in south Florida I would still want a great performance tire for my Z4 which has extremely high ratings for both wet and dry conditions.

[Janjohn]

Originally Posted by JABCAT

If you take your brand new car over to DT & purchase their certificates on your OEM tires, I paid $337 for my M2.
Fronts were $76/ea so $152 & rears were $92.75/ea so $185.50.

If I need a new tire due to road hazard, I simply pay for a new certificate ($76 or $92.75).

To replace 6 front or rear tires with certificates (each replacement starts a new 3 years).

$337 + 6(76) = $793
$337 + 6(92.75) = $893.50

I've purchased DT certificates on every new car for the last 20 years. It generally works out very well. And the times where I never had to use them, I was only out a couple hundred $.

Re: BMW star tires, there's no noticeable difference any of us can feel between the star version/non-star version. But if one must have them, DT/Tire Rack can get them.

My head still hurts when I think about financing an extended warranty that doesn’t kick in until the regular warranty expires. I would wait on the extended warranty and do the Discount Tire protection. With any luck the OP can buy the extended warranty in cash towards the end of the original warranty.

[Vindicator3]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

Mechanical breakdown insurance, which is what "extended warranties" are, are for profit sales items that are not worth it unless you're buying something you're pretty sure has an issue that will somehow be covered despite the exclusions written into these insurance policies.

Save your money.

This has always been my approach, but then again my prior cars have all been substantially less expensive with far fewer things that can break than my new (ish) BMW.

The exclusion issue is what I think the OP is getting at, and what I'm interested in as well, as I will consider buying an EW for the first time when I'm approaching the end of the new car warranty a couple of years from now.

So to focus in on that issue, put aside the price, the best time to buy, whether or not it is "worth it," etc., just assume you buy one - what are you getting and not getting for your money - as the OP said "do I have nothing to worry about?"

Obviously as he noted it's not going to cover scheduled maintenance or wear items like belts and hoses and tires. It's not going to cover collision damage.

Beyond the obvious, are there any major repairs the EW won't cover? Does it cover all the same things as the original warranty?

I assume it does NOT cover the battery that powers the "mild hybrid" system - is this correct?

But my car has all this tech that older cars never had, some of which I've come to appreciate greatly. Each of these features has some combination of a circuit board, wiring, motor, camera, whatever that make it work, and any of which could stop working at some point. So if one buys a 7 year EW and in year 6 the panoramic camera stops working, or the driver assist plus, or the adaptive cruise control, and so on and so on, does the EW pay for it to be repaired/replaced or are there a bunch of exclusions out there waiting to find a way to make you pay for the repair yourself?

[Sand]

Originally Posted by Vindicator3

This has always been my approach, but then again my prior cars have all been substantially less expensive with far fewer things that can break than my new (ish) BMW.

The exclusion issue is what I think the OP is getting at, and what I'm interested in as well, as I will consider buying an EW for the first time when I'm approaching the end of the new car warranty a couple of years from now.

I ended up getting 4 quotes by contacting the BMW dealers who frequently post right here on Bimmerpost. Quotes were for both of my BMWs. (2023 and 2025) For the X1, the lowest quote was $2870. For the 330i, the lowest quote was $3100.

I showed both quotes to my BMW dealer(the same one I purchased both vehicles from). The finance manager took less than 5 seconds to look at those numbers and said "absolutely we'll match it!" In fact, she gave me an extra $500 off for buying two BMW extended warranties at the same time. So I got them for $2620 and $2850. Both are 7 years with zero deductible. Without brining the online quotes, they wanted $4000 and $4800 for the identical plans. I swiped my credit card and within hours, she emailed me the BMW contracts for the plans.

Yes, I know that's still a lot of money, but I have my own reasons, including:

(1) peace of mind. not much to worry about for 3 extra years. just one large repair will easily break even.(assuming it's not wear & tear... or caused by me, obviously)

(2) almost all BMW finance managers told me that the prices will go up year after yet. probably a scare tactic, but I figured that since I was going to get the plans anyway, at least I have locked in the plans at a price that I can live with.

(3) I have written assurance from them that the plans are transferrable if I ever decided to sell either of these two BMWs privately. Or, if I do trade-in with them for a new BMW, they will refund me 50% of the original purchase price. Probably just a sales tactic to get me to buy another car in the future, but at least 50% is better than what I can get by requesting a refund from BMW USA directly(in which case it will be prorated to a lot less money).

(4) 80,000 free airline miles: last reason, not really related to BMW at all. The $5000 charge lets me meet the $5000 spend requirement to earn the 80,000 miles with my new airline credit card.

[Phillies8008]

Extended warranties are insurance, and like all insurance, are a gamble. You're betting that you'll use it more than it costs, the seller is betting that you won't. It all really just comes down to how comfortable you are accepting risk. For example, take long-term disability insurance. You probably won't use it – I've been paying for it for years and haven't ever needed it. However, were I to have a catastrophic health issue that required me to be out of work for months, it'd be very tough to have no income during that time. I have an emergency fund and all that, but I don't particularly want to drain it, and there obviously is a limit as to how far it'll go. For me, the risk is too great and I'd rather have the safety net that long-term disability provides. YMMV.

It's the same thing with an extended warranty. Car repairs can obviously be very expensive, and my personality is such that I hate surprise expenses. Just hate them. It may not be logical, but I can't change my nature. So an extended warranty would give me the peace of mind that I'm not going to face that.

That being said, I don't buy an extended warranty for every car. I'd never, for example, buy one on a Toyota or Lexus. If I were to buy one of those, the entire reason would be reliability; god knows I have no interest outside of that. And if that's the case, why pay for an extended warranty? My entire buying decision would be predicated on not getting hit with large repair bills; if I can't be comfortable with that bet, I have no interest in buying one. But on the other hand, if I were buying a Jaguar F-Type (which I'm constantly tempted to do), you're damn skippy I'd buy an extended warranty. Jaguar isn't exactly a paragon of reliability, and the repairs to that car can get very, very expensive very, very quick. I wouldn't want to live with that particular gamble – I'd constantly be waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it'd diminish my enjoyment of the car.

[Phillies8008]

Originally Posted by Sand

(2) almost all BMW finance managers told me that the prices will go up year after yet. probably a scare tactic, but I figured that since I was going to get the plans anyway, at least I have locked in the plans at a price that I can live with.

The prices will almost certainly go up. God knows everything else is, and it's not like parts and labor are going to get cheaper. To what degree that'll effect extended warranty prices I'm not sure, but one thing I can absolutely guarantee you is that they won't get cheaper.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Be careful sometimes extended warranties like that force you to do an oil change every 6 months and if you did not, your warranty is void when you actually need it. Make sure you read all the fine print.