Originally Posted by statdoc

Don't know if this helps, but I happened to be at my local dealership today. While there, I spoke with the financial guy who sold me the BMW Extended Warranty recently. I asked him lots of questions, to reassure myself that my warranty was better than some of those I see discussed here. He said mine is underwritten/outsourced to "US Warranty", and is honored by any BMW dealer. He assured me that if that company went belly-up, the local dealership would be obligated to honor the policy, since they had sold it as agents. He also said that the better warranties are only available if purchased during the OEM warranty period (4 year/50k mi), and after inspection, to ensure that the car is still in reasonable condition. He pointed out that if full bumper-to-bumper warranties were sold over the internet, without any inspection, there would be so many claims that the company would bleed cash and fold quickly.