cpo benefits vs. 'pre-owned
 

All,

Just wanted to know what the perks are for going cpo vs. just buying as pre-own.

Here is the situation:
Looking at a 08 or 09 x5 4.8i. For sake of arguement; say both have same specs/options.

09 x5 4.8 preown 48K
09 x5 4.8 cpo 52k (due to cpo warranty)

My quesiton is how beneficial is it to have a cpo warranty vs the 4yr /50,000 maintenance (whcih pretty much covers everything). With the $4k saved once an opt to extend the maintenance for another 2yr stretching it to 6 yr / 100,000K.

My question is what is so good about the cpo warranty when in theory after the orig 4 yr /50k maintenance expires you get a 'warranty' contract, which specifies that a lot of things are not covered and each visit cost $50...

just wanted to see what consensus is on this argument.:rolleyes:

IMHO the biggest benefit is that BMW will not CPO a car which has been in a collision, so you are guaranteed that the vehicle you are getting has a clean title, additionally the extended warranty upto 100K miles gives you peace of mind.

This is ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE.

People erroneously believe a CPO is some kind 'BMW seal of approval"..it is not, and any errors or omissions by the dealer in doing a CPO will NOT be 'backed up' by BMW NA. The dealer is a private company.

Cars can be repainted and cpo'd, cars can have hidden damage and abuse and be cpod, a cpo is a guarantee of NOTHING.

Any car need a PPI, even a cpo car....

Forget the extended maintenance- it is BS. Find an indy and have BETTER work done for LESS money.

BMW now sells an extended warranty- the 6/100k "gold" plan equals the CPO coverage...and costs about $4k.

A

I was just going to say "Calling Dr. ard". :stickpoke

I have dealt with warranty companies and IMO are not worth the hassle. They will eventually start to make it harder and harder to get approval on repairs. Once my dealer had my e53 in for 2 weeks straight for a camshaft sensor because the warranty couldn't get hold of my SA---even though I gave them his PERSONAL cell #.

This is interesting if true, I was looking at some pre-owned 335i conv. and found one at a good price which the dealer refused to CPO, as it turned out it had a rear end collision, that's why it had an attractive price. I was really tempted but decided to stay away 'cause the roof had been damaged and repaired. Now in this case the car was a dealer demo so they definitely knew the history.

since the car is still under the original manufacturers warranty, i thought you could upgrade to the CPO at anytime before 4 yrs or 50k miles? so why not get the one WITHOUT the CPO and if in 3 years you want to upgrade, then do it...

There is a specific set of criteria that is used for determining CPO eligibility.

Any paint is allowed. There can be no repairs of the critical body structures (off the top of my head it is ABC pillars, etc.)

The CPO checklist and criteria is available online for those interested. Google.

Now, what if the dealer CPOs it but their "inspection" despite being done with exacting bavarian precision (I crack myself up) fails to disclose there was major body repairs? Hmm. You buy it and it has been CPOd.... guess what? Tough C. BMWNA will say 'stuff happens' and you have no recourse. In fact the CPO will not cover any 'issues' related to the undisclosed and undiscovered-by-the-dealer repairs...., gets even better: Lets say the motor blows up. Dealer pulls the DME and finds the DME has been flashed with aftermarket software...or just the DME shows the engine was over-reved. Even if you can show these were likely done before you purchased, BMWNA will not stand behind the claim.

Rare? Sure. Cause for caution? Yes.

Naz- The only way a car can be CPOd is if the dealer owns it. They cannot CPO your car. They can CPO a car out of a lease since they buy it from the lease company, CPO it, then sell it to you...just fyi. You most definitely cannot 'upgrade to CPO any time'...

A

thank you all for the responses...what is a fair price for a ppi in nj? any shops on rt17 area?

for a non-CPO car, still under the miles, does the maintenance program convey to a second owner?

Yes, The 4yr/50k maintenance/warranty starts from the date the original owner takes delivery of the vehicle. Example: I purchased a 2008 3.0Si from Carmax in late July of this year. The original owner took delivery in Aug 18 2008 so we are covered till Aug 18 2012 ( 2yrs left) or 50k miles (36.2k left) which ever comes first. We picked up the X5 with 13.8K miles :thumbup: so we have awhile as far as that is concerned. My wife will hit the time limit before the miles for sure.

Now, The original owner purchased the Ext. Maintenance (not warranty) that adds 2yr/50k more but that is NOT transferable from what I understand from the SA. When I go pick the X5 up from the dealer, I want to go over all this again with the SA as we are thinking about getting the Gold plan that Ard mentioned above.

Not to Hijack the thread, but it has been at the dealer for 4 weeks getting the sun roof fixed. :angryfire We had the X5 1 out of the 5 weeks since we bought it. I'm going to post an intro thread with better pictures and go into the story more at a later time. The Carmax pix are low res. Supposedly the sunroof cassette frame part was release from Germany since there are none in the US at the other dealers. (Spartanburg) (sic) :rolleyes: Almost 2 weeks, no show. At least they provided a 2009 328i Loaner for the wife to drive for the whole time.

Greg

Don't 'ask' the SA. GET a copy of the plan and read it. I just do not recall if it is transferrable- I know it is not refundable like an extended breakdown warranty usually is.

Do yourself a favor and shop all the sponsors here HARD for a gold plan. Then, with your best price, let you local dealer beat it by $100.

GL

A

PS Bummer about the sunroof....

There are many things not covered under cpo that you would assumed should be. Rear tail light went out on me due to an electronic part, and it is not covered under my cpo or extended third party warranty. Part price from dealer $350 with two week wait to get part. No fault of my own yet out a few hundred.
But cpo vs third party, if auto headlights act up cpo will cover but third party will not.
When you have the right problem cpo will help you out but never think it is like a new car warrenty and never expect it to cover everything. For $4,000 I would say for piece of kind and someone to go back to do it, but any more I would not. That's my opinion and experiences thus far with a cpo x5.

Will do. I'll look at the fine print of the plan and call BMWNA and see what they say. I didn't know that the Gold plan prices varied from dealer to dealer. Figured the prices listed on the BMWNA literature was hard.

I could have drove to Spartanburg and pulled a whole sunroof off of the line and came back by now. I guess this would screw someones build slot up plus the bean counters would have a hard time with build vs warranty costs. :p: Oh, I hear other dealers are in the same boat. Waiting for the same part. :(

Thanks,
Greg

Hmmm. This seems like one of my main beefs with BMW and their warranties.

The terms of the warranty can get a bit 'fuzzy' and BMW sometimes 'interprets' these in a way that minimizes their coverage. (Go figure, huh?) The use 'look up' tables where the part number defines the coverage, but it should be the circumstances of the failure that define the coverage, combined with the part.... this applies to the whole 'wear and tear' issue.

They may say "Doesn't cover headlamps and bulbs". OK, that seems clear. But then they say "oh, the electronic control for the tailght isnt covered".

This you fight... and you will win. Most people just pay it.

But I do agree that there are many expensive things the CPO will not cover...

A

Sacto? same here. If you've dealt with Niello sales, my condolences. Great service though.

A

Yep, X5 is at Niello. Haven't dealt with sales but only the service and parts side.

They were very helpful in getting BMWNA to pay for a rental while they did the E46 subframe repair a few years ago. :thumbup:

Greg

Well, I never got around into looking at this issue with BMW. I asked the SA again today when picking up the X5 ( had to get a speaker fixed and get new rear pads/sensors) as I wanted to see the printout for the build options on the car. The extended warranty info was below the options so I ask about that again to get a clarification. He said the MP 6/100 is transferable with the vehicle and not with the person who bought it. When I asked before he was pretty busy typing the work order up so I may have misinterpreted what he was saying. He said only one is not and if I can remember correctly is was ESP? (Edit: EVP most likely after looking at the web site) I think it was. So scheduled maintenance is covered to 8-18-14 and shows active. I probably will just call BMW Monday and double check for a piece of mind since they are footing the bill.

Sun roof all fixed, almost 7 weeks total. :rolleyes:

Greg