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Originally Posted by axg1040
Were you able to negotiate the price of the extended warranty at Carmax?
I also found out that the Carmax Maxcare warranty will cover bushings and CV boots. The CPO and the one aftermarket warranty my local BMW dealer sells (JM&A/Fidelity) do not cover these and treat them as wear and tear.
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No, I wasn't able to negotiate. CarMax's policy is pretty much "no haggle" on everything. At $1,800 for 3 years or 36,000 miles, negotiating really wasn't that big of a deal. I don't know where I could have found a better deal.
The MaxCare warranty does appear to be fairly thorough. They fixed the mechanical issues you would expect such as the alternator, valley pan gasket, water pump, fuel pump, valve cover gaskets and control arms. What surprised me though is that they fixed a few smaller items I didn't think they would touch like the mechanism that extends the lower part of the sport seat under your leg, which cost over $200.
I agree with everyone here who says the warranty is simply insurance. I also agree that the warranty companies make money on this more times than not. If they didn't they wouldn't offer them. In my particular situation, an 02 4.4 with 65,000, a $1,800 warranty just made financial sense to me. Trust me, repairs on these things can add up very quickly and a catastrophic failure like a trans or an oil seperator issue would have put me into credit card debt big time. The X5 is the nicest and most complicated car I have ever owned, so I was a little intimidated about being able to do these costly repairs myself. Plus, I wanted to enjoy the car for a few worry-free years without having trans issues, etc looming over my head.
Like I said earlier. I have already gone through $4,000 to $5,000 in warranty repairs in less than a year and a half of ownership. If I didn't have a warranty, the X would have been history months ago.
This is just a decision you are going to have to make. It is just insurance. Unfortunately, there is no way to find out if you are making the right decision now. You just have to jump in with both feet and roll with it. Your particular vehicle could be trouble free, or you can lose a trans on your way home from purchasing it.
My personal situation with the warranty has been the best automotive decision I have made, next to buying the X in the first place.
most dealers have some sort of disdain for dealing with extended warranties from my experience.
I have to disagree with this Batm4n. I actually feel like my particular BMW dealer looks over the car for anyhting they can fix because the warranty is not with BMW and the money for repairs is coming out of another corporations pocket. They have found another item in need of repiar many times that my X has been in for service. Also, like I said before I drop the car off as if the warranty is from BMW and my service advisor sets up everyhting with Max Care. It may not be like this for everyone, but my situation has been gravy.