Also looking at a 2012 35d

[mpilar]

Hi all!

I have a question about a 2012 X5d I'm currently looking at...it feels "inexpensive" for the options that are on it (basically everything except for active seats, 20" wheels, and tow package), with 33k miles for only $36k. With a couple of more months before the warranty expires, should I be concerned at all? There's no accident history that I could find, and it seems to have had oil changes every 7.5k miles. Additionally, CarMax is selling this one, so it's not a CPO, but I think I would get their extended warranty anyway.

Should I be suspicious?

Mike

[ZetaTre]

We bought our 2009 X5 35d from CarMax and had it shipped from VA to CA. I could have not been happier, particularly of their warranty which to me it's outstanding: so far I've used to replace a radiator, dead passenger mirror motor, front suspension bushings and front hydraulic sway bar. We bought the car 2 years ago with 56K miles and added the warranty for 6 years / 120K miles for I think was $3K. I now have 100K miles on the car so still probably a year of driving before run out of warranty.

I was so happy with it that when we recently decided to buy a Ram 2500 I just went to one place. The truck is en route from NE to CA.

But I'm one of those who get the heebie-jeebies just by walking by a used car lot and is convinced that BMW CPO is nothing more than a marketing scheme (after having bought a CPOd Z4) so I may be a bit biased... The CPO warranty was nothing but exclusions and disappointments.

[mpilar]

Thanks for the information Zeta, I'm glad to hear another person that's happy with CarMax's warranty. I've read other things that seemed to be pretty positive about them, so I'm hoping things will go smoothly. I was told about 100k/5 year (from date of purchase) for $3200 which seems dramatically better than what BMW's ESC runs, especially since they date theirs from the first sale of the car, not the purchase date of the ESC.

My main concerns right now (I haven't seen the car yet, it's getting shipped from WI to TN for me now), is, it appears more equipped than any other 35D I've seen, with fairly low miles, and yet doesn't appear that much money...so until it arrives and I have a chance to see it in person...I'm more curious if I should be suspicious of such a relatively low price.

[ZetaTre]

Originally Posted by mpilar

Thanks for the information Zeta, I'm glad to hear another person that's happy with CarMax's warranty. I've read other things that seemed to be pretty positive about them, so I'm hoping things will go smoothly. I was told about 100k/5 year (from date of purchase) for $3200 which seems dramatically better than what BMW's ESC runs, especially since they date theirs from the first sale of the car, not the purchase date of the ESC.

My main concerns right now (I haven't seen the car yet, it's getting shipped from WI to TN for me now), is, it appears more equipped than any other 35D I've seen, with fairly low miles, and yet doesn't appear that much money...so until it arrives and I have a chance to see it in person...I'm more curious if I should be suspicious of such a relatively low price.

Again for me, I'd take a Carmax warranty over BMW's any day for a few reasons:
- it's reasonably priced
- I can take the car anywhere I want (provided that if I drop it off at Carmax I get the $50 off the deductible)
- Carmax is not the one liable for the expense but a third party provider so there's less incentive in cutting corners

On the other topic about pricing and my experience being the second car I buy for them is that the main things affecting their pricing is year and mileage. Other non mainstream options like rear entertainment system or sport Vs comfort seat affect less Carmax pricing. On the other hand dealership tends to overprice these "gems". In other words a completely fully loaded car from Carmax would be priced more competitive than at the dealership. Because of the ability to haggle dealership pricing you may end up in the same place and you just can't see it since all you know is asking, not selling. For me the fact that the two are the same at Carmax is plus, others disagree.

And by the way, with Carmax you can't haggle price bit the rest is open field, particularly if you had it shipped. I got new tires and new brake and rotors all around on the X5 just by arguing they needed replacement "soon".

And when you have it shipped ask questions: keep them generic enough to have leverage.

I guess it's a more subtle haggling you do with Carmax, but they still in the business of selling you a car...

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[mpilar]

Thanks again Zeta! That's fantastic information! There's a BMW dealership, across the street from this CarMax and I thought about getting a PPI, but I've heard mixed reviews on them from being absolutely worthless to glowing...but since it's still under factory warranty for a couple of more months, assuming I buy it, I would probably take it to an independent mechanic to go through it prior to the expiration and make a list of stuff to address...after that, the 5 year from CarMax should suffice for anything major.

Glad to hear another glowing review of CarMax and their warranty, it definitely makes me feel better on heading over there.

[ard]

Originally Posted by mpilar

Thanks again Zeta! That's fantastic information! There's a BMW dealership, across the street from this CarMax and I thought about getting a PPI, but I've heard mixed reviews on them from being absolutely worthless to glowing...but since it's still under factory warranty for a couple of more months, assuming I buy it, I would probably take it to an independent mechanic to go through it prior to the expiration and make a list of stuff to address...after that, the 5 year from CarMax should suffice for anything major.

Glad to hear another glowing review of CarMax and their warranty, it definitely makes me feel better on heading over there.

Do you understand that there are things that can be wrong with a car that the warranty will not fix??????

[mpilar]

Do you understand that there are things that can be wrong with a car that the warranty will not fix??????

That's precisely why I asked the question here, where hopefully somebody could shed some light on something that I might have to watch out for. After looking at the exclusions in the MaxCare warranty, I can't find anything that would be catastrophic, or that I couldn't do myself (fluids, brakes, hoses, etc).

Assuming the car hasn't been wrecked, what potential items could be "wrong" that might not be covered under a warranty?

[ard]

"wrecked"? ...unlikely

Accident? Sure. Repairs not performed properly? Niggling issues that BMW was unable to really fix and were an 'almost lemon'? yes. Mods that BMW will then deny warranty coverage? yes.

So have it inspected or do it yourself- before you buy. If it is a 100% stock car with no mods, nothing disturbed, no unexplained service history- then yes the new car warranty is as good as it gets.

[vetaldj]

I had same choice - CPOed 2010 35d off dealer or 2011 X5 from carmax, don't remember options list though. That was very tempting to get 2011 for about same price but I choose CPOed one.

Well, I agree with Zeta, CPO is more like exclusions that actual coverage, I've been in for repair 3 times:
- EGR cooler (famous issue, you need to verify that it was replaced), was replaced as it was bad due to faulty party that was on recall, no CPO involved.
- rear camera flickering while car is hot - not covered under CPO.
- check engine lights on, diagnose - active urea tank needs to be replaced, this covered under CA extended emission warranty.

As you can see I have CPO car but i did not use it even once yet and it's about to go away in like 6 month or so based on age.