Extended warranty
 

Hello All.

My 2007 X5 is still on factory warranty till July 2011, so I have about 6 more months to decide about extended warranty. Do you guys have experience of buying warranty (because I'm not) and do you know how and where to shop for reasonable price and how much it usually cost. I'm talking about coverage till 100K miles. My car has 43K miles today and it's been mostly trouble free.
And the last question. Do I actually need it or it's better to take a chance. I wanna keep this car for another 2-3 years and I drive about 15K miles per year.
Thanks for any advice.

Funny you should post this. I was just on the phone earlier with BMW asking about warranties and such. First off to extend the Maintenance to 6 yrs and 100K miles it runs about $2400. You would have to purchase this prior to the 4 yrs 50K mile mark. They also offer an extended warranty and said that they are range from $3000-$4500 with various years and mileage.

Hope this helps?

Does the $3000-4500 include the maintenance or are you saying it's $2400 maintenance + $3000-4500 warranty only for a total of $5400-$6900.

$7000 seems ridiculous to me for another couple of years.:stickpoke

I wish.

It could be as much as $7000. I first thought the $2400 would extend maintenance and the warranty an extra 2 yrs which seemed very reasonable. Not the case two different things.

I don't think I need a maintenance plan anyway. The only thing they do is changing oil and brakes, which I can do at any local shop for a lot less than they charge. The warranty, on the other hand, it's like a lottery. I used to lease 1997 CPO 528i long time ago and that car had 40K miles when I got it and it had 80K when I returned, and it was totally trouble free..no ANY issues except one broken door handle, which was not covered by warranty and I paid about $200 to change it at dealership.
For me the question is - how reliable transmission and electronics in X5, which cost a lot to fix.

The maintenance plan does not make much sense. Over the course of two years how many oil changes and brakes will one go through?

Certainly not $2400 worth. That's why I was confused. Even if they change the engine belt, the brake disc and pads, and fluid it's still not worth $2400.

On my '01 X5 3.0 I had the all 4 pads replaced 3 times and had a full set of rotors done twice--that was done up to 100K mile mark before it got totaled in an accident. It was $1,400 at my indy shop for all 4 pads/rotors on the '01 and the 4.8 20"s wheels have more expensive brakes I would bet. And all 4 pads on my '08 were replaced at 15K miles (I have 19K now). So, between all of that, the oil changes, belts, spark plugs (at 100K miles), brake flush every 2 years--it all adds up + you don't have any expense surprises on the brakes. You just drop the keys off, get in your 335 loaner and you are done. That's why I got the extended maintenance. My $.02.

I purchased a 3rd party warranty through a dinky site for my Porsche 911-- InsurancePoliciesOnline. Like I said, the site is pretty dinky. So when I originally bought the poilcy, I paid with my AMEX just in case... but it ended up being just fine.

I bought the 4yr, 50,000 mile platinum coverage with $0 deductible for a little over $2400, and it was honored at every Porsche stealership I took the car in to for service. I had everything from a broken fuel tank cap to a motor rebuild paid through the warranty. In total, the policy probably paid out over $20k in repairs for the $2,400 I paid. Unless you're dealing drugs, I doubt you'll get that type of ROI anywhere.

Aeggroup, We were in an idential situation about 4 years ago. The vehicle had been totally perfect and we were approaching the end of the factory warranty. We already had a good independent mechanic and had be servicing the vehicle faithfully. So, we decided to "bank" the cost of the extended warranty and bet that we'd come out ahead.

There must be a secret transmission devise that communicates with the factory "hey, I'm out of warranty" because that car broke things I'd never even heard of "Sorry sir, but your direct cassette has gone bad" "But, I don't listen to cassettes" "No, it's tells the engine management system where the crankshaft is during firing" "Is that part very expensive?" "No, not at all...but we have to take the entire engine appart to get to it." And that car was no where near as mechancially and electrically sophisticated as our current cars are. The 4 repairs in 14 months were more than twice what I would have paid for the warranty, and I'm not counting the time I was stranded out of state for 3 days.

Like a previous poster said, I like my cars at 100% all of the time ~ if they aren't, I hand them the keys and put miles on their complimentry loaners until their back in tip top shape.

"It was $1,400 at my indy shop for all 4 pads/rotors on the '01 and the 4.8 20"s wheels have more expensive brakes I would bet. "

That's a lot of money for a brake job. You can get pads,rotors and sensors for less than $500 (Pelican Parts). Any good mechanic could do the work in an hour but most would charge 2 hrs of labor. At $100/ hr for an Indy, $700 for a brake job is reasonable. $1,400, is excessive.

+
20"s wheels have the same brakes as any X5 ....

I called an Indy here this morning--it's $1,200 + tax. And, sure, any good ole' mechanic who doesn't work on BMWs could do it for cheap but I'm not having some Firestone mechanic, etc screwing something up.

4.8 has higher cost pads and rotors than the 3.0.

I never paid attention to it, but you got me thinking and I checked it out.
I don't think your statement is true.

Rear pads, x5, 3.0l
07-10 $152.78 $122.22 http://www.trademotion.com/_img/add-to-cart.gif http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/_img/help.gif
Rear pads, x5, 4.8l
07-10 $131.24 $104.99

DescriptionYearMSRP PriceCore PriceYour Price
Rotor, x5, 3.0l
07-10 $171.25 $137.00 http://www.trademotion.com/_img/add-to-cart.gif http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/_img/help.gif
Rotor, x5, 4.8l
07-10 $171.30 $137.04

Rotor, x5, 3.0l, w/o diesel
07-10 $164.68 $131.74 http://www.trademotion.com/_img/add-to-cart.gif http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/_img/help.gif
Rotor, x5, 4.8l
07-10 $181.14 $144.91 http://www.trademotion.com/_img/add-to-cart.gif http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/_img/help.gif


Front Pads cost the same for 3.0 and 4.8i.
The source is : getBMWparts.com

There is a size difference between 3.0 and 4.8 brakes--that's why they break out the model/price difference:

http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/2008/bmw/x5/brake/brake_rotor.html

I'm not talking about size. I'm talking about price - and the price is actually cheaper for pads and a bit more for rotors for 4.8i according to www.getBMWparts.com website, which is I think Tisher BMW dealership parts department. I always buy original rotors from BMW only and avoid any aftermarket rotors. Pads - another story. You can buy whatever is cheaper and try it IMO.

I agree, I wouldn't go to Firestone.

For informatinal purposes:
My local dealer charges $160/hr for labor.
Indpendent BMW specialists in my area charge ~$100/hr.
2 hours of labor is more than enough time to do a brake job.

Parts are parts, pick your poison.

Perhaps labors rates are much higher in your area......

FWIW, I've never changed the brakes on an E70 but I would bet that the design is exactly the same as other BMW's. I've changed pads and rotors on an E36, E46, E39 and E60, its very easy to do and difficult to screw up.

I am indeed talking about price. 95% of X5 owners aren't going to go through the trouble of buying their parts from various online retailers, have them shipped then go to their Indy and drop them off to have them do the rest. They just go in to the Indy or dealer. I have verified with my Indy the 4.8 is higher than the 3.0.

Actually, whenever a part needs to be replaced, they just get a new car......

Ha no doubt.