All good advice from the previous posters, footsurg. I'll pile on to that with these nuggets:

*BMW hourly rates are very high for labor. Your warranty company may not cover an entire hour at the dealer rate, so you may end up getting them to cover $85 of a $110 per hour labor rate, as I did.

*A BMW dealer or independent shop for that matter may not enjoy dealing with a 3rd party warranty company for a variety of reasons (they send inspectors to approve the work, their reimbursement policy is not to the liking of the shop doing the work, etc.). I'd ask your local BMW dealer or independent shop about Warranty Direct before you buy coverage. Do they do business with them or not? Will they continue doing business with them?

*Whoever does your warranty work may not release your vehicle to you after the work is done without full payment. If your warranty company pays electronically, via credit card or something, then you're good to go. If your warranty provider's policy is to cut a check, move on. Anyone can pay electronically now, and every shop 'cept Cooter's garage in Hazard can take electronic payment. You could take your chances and pay for it and get your warranty to reimburse you, if their policy allows that, but you'll then need to wait for them to cut YOU a check.

I have the CarMax Max Care warranty on my '01 X5. I had some problems with getting them to cover work the first time I threw a claim on them, and it seemed they were going to try and screw me over, but I have a secret weapon for such instances that most people do not, so they take extra good care of me now, even write me letters after my claims are processed.

I've so far had nearly $2,000 in work done through the warranty on my X. I'd recommend you get an extended warranty, but get a SOLID one.

Good luck,

JV

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JV

What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know...it's what we know for sure that just ain't so