I recieved an invitation to extend my warranty this year.

So I phoned Mills and spoke to a chap who said the computers were down could I hang on. He came back and said £720 and that does not include wear and tear.

Does that sound about right?

That's a lot - but I do remember when I had a 318i many years ago that it was £499 to extend it for a year, so it's probably about right.

It's identical to the factory BMW warranty though - so it does cover everything that your current one does.

It sounds a lot....but it doesn't take much to rack up that kind of bill if something goes more than just a little wrong.

yea, they have upped the Warranty by almost two hundred green ones on last year, apparently to make up for the increased number of claims or something.

Not good I know, I hope to sell mine before my expiry date of October and will be investing in a Kia.

Cheers guys, got some thinking to do

Praktisk wrote:  will be investing in a Kia.

It's quicker and easier just to bundle the cash up and set it alight!

A lot more fun too.

I can't imagine anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances, seriously wanting to invest hard earned cash into one of these.

Top Gear, What Car, Car Magazine and Driven have all demonstrated that they are a total false economy and that over 2-5 years you are much better off buying virtually ANYTHING else!

Coasting wrote: Praktisk wrote:  will be investing in a Kia. It's quicker and easier just to bundle the cash up and set it alight! A lot more fun too. I can't imagine anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances, seriously wanting to invest hard earned cash into one of these. Top Gear, What Car, Car Magazine and Driven have all demonstrated that they are a total false economy and that over 2-5 years you are much better off buying virtually ANYTHING else!

 The subaru style bonnet scoop must its number 1 selling point then.

I can understand people wanting to buy these cheap cars.

I will have to replace my vectra estate sometime soon.

I can spend £20,000 on a new vectra estate, and after 3 or 4 years with nasa mileage, it will be worth nothing.

I can spend £7,000 on a not so good Kia, have 3 years warranty, three years servicing, and after the same period with the same miles, it will be worth nothing.

So I can loose £20,00, or £7,000

How do they work out as such poor value ?

I only want something to carry me, my tools, and laptop around.

This also applies to the likes of hyundai, only I get 5 years warranty with them.

Nigel,

The answer is simple - don't buy a New Vectra Estate and you don't lose that much money!

The programmes/magazines all took the alternative view to that which you use as an example.

That is, don't buy a New South Korean car (or similar ilk).

Buy a used European car for the same money.

320ci wrote: I recieved an invitation to extend my warranty this year. So I phoned Mills and spoke to a chap who said the computers were down could I hang on. He came back and said £720 and that does not include wear and tear. Does that sound about right?

hi there

asking that amount of the green suff seems pretty high in my eyes....... i hate to say it but bmw [own] schemes on looking after  ownership tends to be on the high side.and the "wear and tear" policys seem to look as if there not worth the paper there written on...to me they are just another part of th fian nice arm of the marque that wants us to spend money were its not needed

however if peace of mind previals .then it shouldnt be too much of a price to pay for ...peace of mind as the other warrenty chaps out there will /could only fleece you more and they tend to be awfull in respect of claims payouts .. i think bmw s own wouldnt be the case

Warranties are worth it if you've got a car with known faults that are expensive to repair, like S50 powered M's with VANOS and S54 powered M's with 'spinning' shell bearings.

For me it's looking very expensive for the Z - it's a lot of aftermarket parts & independent hours labour, which I would have a lot more confidence in being worth the money.

I think BMW should be looking at why the level of claims has gone up in the first place, they don't build durable quality cars anymore do they.  If they were, we couldn't be claiming!

I just hope you don't get any nasty bills Dave!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

Sods law, the EMC will go down a day after the warranty ends, its just my luck.

Keep em fingures crossed for me

Nigel wrote: I can understand people wanting to buy these cheap cars. I will have to replace my vectra estate sometime soon. I can spend £20,000 on a new vectra estate, and after 3 or 4 years with nasa mileage, it will be worth nothing. I can spend £7,000 on a not so good Kia, have 3 years warranty, three years servicing, and after the same period with the same miles, it will be worth nothing. So I can loose £20,00, or £7,000 How do they work out as such poor value ? I only want something to carry me, my tools, and laptop around. This also applies to the likes of hyundai, only I get 5 years warranty with them.

I agree entirely with you Nigel. Sure it woun't be worth anything in a few years time but it was very cheap to start with, comes as you say with a 5 year warranty, which it probably will never need and will cost peanuts to run. The 7K you pay to buy it is going to be less than the depreciation on a a car like a Vectra or even a BMW over a 5 year period

On the original topic, I personally think it is very worrying that to extend the warranty for one year is £750. This means one of the following:

BMW are taking the mick and fleecing customers 

BMWs are not reliable

BMW parts and labour charges are so expensive that even small jobs work out very expensive

Either way this kind of thing would really put me off buying a new BMW

Peter Fenwick wrote: Either way this kind of thing would really put me off buying a new BMW

dont let that it put you off buying a new bmw ..just dont get sucked in to the hype of the aftersales managers speel .

Coasting wrote: I just hope you don't get any nasty bills Dave! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

This is exactly my point!!

If you bought a Honda you would know that you wouldn't get any nasty bills.

You make it sound like if the car does go problem free in the next year it will have as much to do with luck as build quality.

From a premium car maker like BMW this simply isn't good enough.

If it's worth sepnding £750 on a warranty then BMW have some real quality issues.

Aren't you forgetting that we are talking of a warranty beyond 60,000 miles or 3 years.

To say a Honda would provide trouble free motoring is simply ridiculous for the same period.

In the past I have owned both a Civic and an Accord.

At 28,000 miles the Civic needed new rear suspension - completely, and a new gearbox at 31,000.

The Accord was a runaround that was 38 months old.  I bought it for the reasons you've raised - supposedly trouble free motoring.

I spent £2,000 on that car in 18 months.  Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

Honda are very good are highlighting no VTEC recalls in 3 years of warranty - but I'm afraid lots of other things did go wrong in my experience.

If you're buying a premium car like a BMW you're not buying life long trouble free motoring.  After 3 years or 60,000 miles things WILL go wrong.  That's the same with every car and to suggest it isn't and that BMW have issues isn't looking at the bigger picture.

The warranty offered for £720 is acknowledged as the ONLY true extension of a full factory warranty - every other car maker offers extended warranties but they are not a direct extention of the new warranty.

Dave could have a four figure gearbox bill in his BMW just as he could in a Honda, Toyota, Audi or anything else.  It happens.

The warranty, in my personal opinion and nothing more, just buys you peace of mind for costs you can't anticipate.

No marque and no manufacturer can claim the sort of long term reliability and cost free motoring that you're inferring exists.

i've just found a companyt who will provide a waranty with £1000 cover limit (per claim) for my car with 105,000 miles on clock for a 24 month period for £330.75 Pretty good i would say check it out at link below

http://www.warrantyworks.co.uk/index1.php?selmake=BMW&selnode1=5-Series&selengine=Diesel-All-models%29&selipt=1.05&seltransmission=All&seltype=CARS+to+EEC+specification&vehicleoption=1&makeoption=8&modeloption=39&engineoption=148&transmissionoption=200&selage=under5&selmiles=under120&selperiod=24&price=1.75&userVoucher=&userVoucherNo - http://www.warrantyworks.co.uk/index1.php?selmake=BMW&se lnode1=5-Series&selengine=Diesel-All-models%29&selip t=1.05&seltransmission=All&seltype=CARS+to+EEC+speci fication&vehicleoption=1&makeoption=8&modeloptio n=39&engineoption=148&transmissionoption=200&sel age=under5&selmiles=under120&selperiod=24&price= 1.75&userVoucher=&userVoucherNo =

Thanks Guys, and Mark  your on.

Coasting wrote: If you're buying a premium car like a BMW you're not buying life long trouble free motoring.  After 3 years or 60,000 miles things WILL go wrong.  That's the same with every car and to suggest it isn't and that BMW have issues isn't looking at the bigger picture. The warranty offered for £720 is acknowledged as the ONLY true extension of a full factory warranty - every other car maker offers extended warranties but they are not a direct extention of the new warranty. Dave could have a four figure gearbox bill in his BMW just as he could in a Honda, Toyota, Audi or anything else.  It happens. No marque and no manufacturer can claim the sort of long term reliability and cost free motoring that you're inferring exists.

Well I disagree.

For example my fathers cars:

Vauxhall Cavalier bought with 40K on the clock, traded in with 130k. Only problems other than routine serving were with consumable parts. Even the clutch lasted although it was getting a bit tierd.

Vauxhall Nova, bought with 25K traded in with 110K, again no major problems other than a carb problem that cost about £50 to fix.

Vauxall Astra, bought with 30K traded in with 100k, no major problems other than the usual wear and tear.

Another Astra. Bought with 20K and still going strong at about 90K although he is thinking of trading it in this year. the only problem to date not related to consumble parts has been a clutch cable.

I could go on and on listing loads of normal average cars that have never had any major problems.

If Vauxhall can do it, why not BMW?

I do know that sometimes you can get a bad car that ends up costing a fortune, or just a single item like a diff can give up, but to imply that all cars regardless of make will start to give problems after 60k miles is just not true.

Problems like you describe should be the exception and if they're not then the car maker has issues with quality, like Land Rover for instance.

None of the cars I have owned previous to my BMW have ever had major problems and they have all been older cars with higher than 60k on them. 

theres a p reg vectra  .estate thats in a state ..but hasnt had a sevice since 170k [only changed the oil ..didnt want to waste money on a filter]   hmmmmm....let me go check what the clock is reading..  ....192038 of miles ..and yet it still wont die on us ,,,some cars if your lucky just carry on and on and on ...

peter    il let you know when it finaly gives up on us

A friend of mine works with a couple of blokes, one who had an Astra TD, the other a Sierra TD. They were competing to see who could get past the 200K barrier first. Neither made it

192038 is a great milage for any car especially a Vauxhall!

I used to work with a guy who owned a Nissan Bluebird. Horrible car but it went without problem until he sold it at 150K miles. He sold it to a minicab firm who said that they would normally expect a well maintained Bluebird to do 250K on the original engine and box.

You beat me to it Floody, I was gonna ask that, surely its had a fair few by now Mr PMA?

Noisey tapetts too by any chance?

Ah, but wait .....here he comesnow ... ..

Floody wrote:  but Vauxhalls... just love cam belt's (ask me how I know)!!!! And I thought you looked after your car

lol  after the last post  ....that vectra inastate ..might just not make it back from brum land .albiet with work equipment

Howard,

The list of problems with your 728 is IMO simply unnacceptable for a premium luxury car. I know sometimes we live with the occaisional niggle because of the driving experience but I'm affraid if it was my car I would have walked away a long time ago. It says a lot that even after all that you still like the car.

I am begining to wonder where and how BMW managed to get a reputation for making reliable cars because based on what I have read on this forum they are anything but!

Hello everybody

I'm just a guest from up north

Please don't get me wrong for what I will say:

I can't believe that you are talking about all those non-BMW cars, that they are cheap, reliable, good value for money etc...

BMW has nothing to do with all the above! It is the only pure manufacturer, that didn't need to form " a group" to survive and this means a lot about its reliability, quality and longetivity.

We are members of BMWCC, we own BMWs, we love BMWs, so end of story...we choose with our heart and not our wallet.

Time to go for a pint or two, I think...

And one more thing to remember: Nobody's perfect

Even in the best families of the world, one will find the black sheep  

I dream of being able to own a new BM< I'd even settle for a current model thats a couple of years old.

What does worry me, is the finacial backup you need to own one of these.

For work I use an old Vectra estate, I bought it at four years old, £4,000, 44,000 miles on the clock.

Boy am I glad I had a network Q warranty, it went wrong several times, the last one being an ignition that required £1,500 worth of electronics to cure....how much ?, on a £4,000 car !!

Since the warranty ran out, oil changes and general work has been done by me, cam belt and suspension bush changes have been done by my local independant.

Its nearly six years old now, has just over 120,000 miles on it, and hasnt played up at all since my Vauxhall dealer finished servicing it.

Its good value motoring, and very economical, but the driving experience still doesnt match my old beemer.

I_MNL wrote: We are members of BMWCC, we own BMWs, we love BMWs, so end of story...we choose with our heart and not our wallet.

I appreciate your point and I accept that many members of the BMW owners club probably feel the same way, however I wouldn't say I was one of them.

Don't get me wrong I do love BMWs but I also like other makes too. Unfortunately I don't have the option of choosing with my heart not my wallet since I run my cars on a budget. I bought my BMW first and for most because I liked the way the car looked and the way it drove but one of the reasons why I chose to go for an older higher milage BMW as opposed to a newer Ford, Honda etc was because of the fact that BMWs were supposed to be well built. However since buying my car and reading about the experiences of others I have learned that they are not as reliable as I first thought and the quality of things like the interior trim is poor.

I will be getting rid of my BMW soon to get a smaller car so that my other half can learn to drive. Once she has passed he test I will be getting another car for myself. It was deffinately going to be a BMW but now I'm not so sure. Compared to cars like Audis they are expensive to buy (second hand at least) and the stories of reliabillity i've heard on this forum have quite honestly scared me a bit. What ever I buy wether it is a BMW or not is no longer a forgone conclusion.

I bought a BMW thinking it was a sensible option, but it doesn't feel like that anymore.

Peter Fenwick wrote: It was deffinately going to be a BMW but now I'm not so sure.

In many respects Peter, maybe that is the best course of action for you.

I don't mean that sarcastically either. 

See, I went from a BMW to a Jaguar...and boy was I glad to get back to a BMW.

I've driven Audi's, Mercedes, and Lexus's....and BMW is simply head and shoulders above the lot of them as a package.  They all have certain points they could beat BMW on individually (my biggest accolade would go to the Audi interiors nowadays because they are stunningly good)....but as an overall product I find the BMW simply peerless.

So what I mean is that sometimes you need to check the grass on the other side before you discover the sunlight was making it look greener than it actually was...

Peter, I am sorry about your experience, but I totally agree with Coasting's approach.

Of course, it's your right to choose your car and then you realise if you are right or wrong...

Remember this: most people tend to complain about problems they encounter with their cars as with everything else in their lives, but almost never praise the good and positive things. Human nature? Where we take for granted the "spot on"...

Welcome back Coasting, thought youd http://www.bmwcarclubforum.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=16625&TPN=3 - left us.

I've heard some really bad stories lately that had I heard 6 months previous, could well have made me think twice about buying my BMW.

Thankfully, I havent had any problems with mine so far (touches wood), so can only assume I got one from a good batch, but C of O is becoming a little too high what with warranty hikes and the like, so mine is currently for sale, and then it will be back to bread'n'butter tackle for Mr Praktisk.

Yes it's been a while since you've posted Coasting.

I appreciate that in terms of driving experience BMWs are the best in their market sector but the decision may well come down to what I can afford. Looking through the pages of Autotrader shows me that for about £8K I can pick up a full history, 50K, 2000 W, Audi A4 Quattro with 180BHP. In fact in this price range there are any number of Turbo A4s and A3s to choose from. Also a decent 4 year old Accord Type R can be bought. I found one for sale privately with 35K on the clock and a FHSH for about £6500. Nissan 200sx, again same story good 4-5 year old cars with low miles come into this price range. What kind of BMW could I get for this money? E46 328, but it will either be older or have a lot more miles on it. I don't want to spend that much cash on a car that has done over 100k. I could go for an E36 M3 but the high ownership costs of an M car plus the potential for Vanos problems puts me off and I am not ready to spend 8k on a 10 year old car. The best option might be a 528 since they seem to be cheaper than the equivalent 3 series, although I haven't checked out servicing costs and I suspect they will be on the steep side. 

I appreciate what you guys are saying, if I choose another make It may not be as rewarding to drive as a BMW, but when all is said and done choosing a car based purely on the driving experience isn't an option for me at the moment.

If it was I would be thinking about a 944 Turbo!

Praktisk wrote: Welcome back Coasting, thought youd http://www.bmwcarclubforum.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=16625&TPN=3 - left us.

For general posting, I have.  I will continue to post in reply to those I have previously engaged in decent conversation with though.

Instead of you two getting into another argument why not have a go at me, after all I'm the one who's been having a pop at BMWs on this thread!

Go on give it your best shot.

Horsetan wrote: To be honest, I don't even know what a warranty looks like. My cars have always been so old, the warranty has been but a distant gleam in the dealer's eye.....

I know the feeling. The longest warranty I've ever had is 3 months.

Horsetan wrote: Peter Fenwick wrote: ...The longest warranty I've ever had is 3 months. 3 months? I've not even had 3 hours

...but it was only for the engine, box and diff.

I have always bought bigger older cars rather than spending my money on a newer smaller more sensible car. I'm getting to the point now where I would just like to get a new car, one that no one else has had a chance to spoil. At the very least I'd like my next car to have only had one previous owner, not four like my BMW. 

Peter

I think you've got every right to have a go at BMW's if you think you're not getting what you should be.

I just wonder if we sometimes set our expectations too high.

Swapping to another brand often changes perception though and I for one wanted to be back in a BMW after a matter of weeks.

I think you are not listening to me; so I have to say it again:

"Even in the best families of the world, one will find the black sheep"

 Hope matter sorted now...

Let's go for a pint or two now! 

whats wrong with Black sheep huh, huh?

eeeeee ya daaaaaaft racist

Got to be PC on here man. 

Lol wish I had never opened my mouth, but I love a good debate.

Coasting did you goto the meet tonight? 

I have always drove Fords in the past. Reliable creatures I must say. But, I do like the way the BMW gives you total confidence in side that shell, you know, if you have to, it will stop, or go round that corner or........

And it doesn't matter if its a 316 or a M3, they are nice to drive. 

Happy driving

must be the automatic "guff" filter kicking in.

BTW I need some RG-59 co-ax ASAP if anyones got a spare drum kicking around (just thought id throw that in there)

320ci wrote: But, I do like the way the BMW gives you total confidence in side that shell, you know, if you have to, it will stop, or go round that corner or........ And it doesn't matter if its a 316 or a M3, they are nice to drive.  Happy driving

Totally agree!

Coasting wrote: Peter I think you've got every right to have a go at BMW's if you think you're not getting what you should be. I just wonder if we sometimes set our expectations too high.

I did have high expectations of BMWs, possibly a bit too high. I was just expecting it to be put together a bit better and have less common problems. Every time something has gone wrong with my car it had turned out to be a problem that a lot of owners have had. It would be more forgivable if I was the exception and had just bought a bad car.

I_MNL wrote: I think you are not listening to me; so I have to say it again: "Even in the best families of the world, one will find the black sheep"

My problem is that there appears to be several black sheep

The E36 in general dosen't appear to be very well built. At first I just thought I had bought a bad one but after using this forum for several months I noticed that the same problems were comming up regularly with other owners cars. And it's not just the E36 either.

My biggest bug bear at the moment is RUST. The last few times I have washed my car I have started to notice that it is appearing everywhere. Nothing very serious but in a couple of years time if left untreated the car will look a right state. Again my first assumption was that it must just be my car, but I have started noticing that a large proportion of E36s, coincidentally in the same places as it is starting to show on my car, are also going rusty.

Again this is not just limited to the E36, I have noticed several E38's starting to go around the back arches, at around the same age as my car. The E34 is not immune either and I don't doubt that in a year or two E39 and E46 owners will start to notice the onset of 'tin worm'

Maybe I just have an unrealistic expections, but surely a company like BMW could make cars with have less of a tendancy to convert to iron oxide!   

Anyway I think i've made my point.

I do agree though a pint would be nice and  Black sheep would do just fine!

My biggest bug bear at the moment is RUST. The last few times I have washed my car I have started to notice that it is appearing everywhere. Nothing very serious but in a couple of years time if left untreated the car will look a right state. Again my first assumption was that it must just be my car, but I have started noticing that a large proportion of E36s, coincidentally in the same places as it is starting to show on my car, are also going rusty.

Again this is not just limited to the E36, I have noticed several E38's starting to go around the back arches, at around the same age as my car.

Have you ever thought that it might just be the bad quality salted grid spread all over the country even on a trace of snow??!? Which really spreads death to metal...