if i do end up with the cm"s" i am seriously considering an extended warranty. which warranty did you get ...how many years? and your cost?

thanks

 

I was about to post the same question. Picking up ours tomorrow after 7 weeks on order. I never purchase any extended warranties on anything but depending on price I'm considering it. I know they are alway negotiable.

 

I'm picking up mine tomorrow, I was quoted around $1800 for an additional 3 year service warranty...

I am definitely considering the tire warranty for $600....that will definitely pay for itself. It more than paid for itself already for my wife's BMW run flats....

 

I can only speak for our current 2006 Cooper S.

If you have run flats, get the tire warranty. We paid something like $800 for it, and used it to the limit, which I think was $3,000. Those tires are not cheap.

We also opted for the extended mechanical warranty and an additional warranty through a third party that extended up to 100,000 miles. Both of those warranties ended up paying nearly $20,000 in service and repair bills.

Needless to say, we are going to purchase the extended warranty and the tire warranty for our CM4.

 

If I keep this car when the lease is done I may get one then. I'll have to see if I have any more problems in the next 2.75 years to determine if I will keep it our not.

 

if i were leasing, which ive never done, i would opt for either a new lease or purchase at the end of the three years. probably wouldnt bother with the extended warranty. it seems as though a majority of mini drivers lease their cars. am i the only one buying? lol (even my MA told me that lots of people lease and most car sales people lease)

 

We got the extended warranty set at 7 years / 84000 miles for $1705 - mainly motivated by this not being our first experience with a first-year model and the extended warranty was helpful for the others.

 

I am saying no to the extended warranty. It's good peace of mind, but the warranty company is not a non-profit, and therefore, the odds of coming out ahead are against us.

Having put over 600,000 miles on BMW's and a MINI over the past 20 years (several of which had high miles when I bought them and were subsequently sold with over 200k miles), I feel they are good reliable cars.
The first brand new one I could afford was in 1997 and now I typically sell the cars when they have betwen 80-100k miles. If I added up all of my receipts for out of warranty repairs (not maintenance or wear items) over those 20 years, I would fall around $2,000 - $2,200.
Again, maybe I've been lucky, but from experience I don't consider BMW engineered vehicles to be problematic, especially if they're maintained properly from the start.

 

My company leases mine and I drive it. After three years, I can choose to pay income taxes on the vehicle's value at that time and keep the car. Or I can just give it back with no taxes. You'd be stupid not to keep the car because the taxes will be less than the value of the car. What some people do though is keep the car then sell it right away and pocket the money. So I will have to decide after three years if I want to keep this in the family or sell it. If I keep it in the family then I may buy an extended warranty at that time based on whatever experience I had with the car over the last three years.

 

so you can buy the extended warranty anytime during the standard warranty? if so, i wonder if the cost goes up based on the car's age.

 

My prior experience is that the extended warranty can be cheaper at the time of the car's purchase - it goes up until the standard warranty expires, then the option disappears. I've purchased up front and near the end of the standard, and this has been my experience.

 

The problem is what happens if you total the car? Are you able to move the unused amount to the new car? I would doubt that. Also what happens if after the first three years you want to sell the car? I'd rather wait and buy the extended warranty when the original one is up and then only if I decide I want to keep it a long time and its a known unreliable car. I would have lost money with an extended warranty on my two Toyotas and probably have broken even on my VW. So far with my CM, its not looking great for reliability.

 

I ended up getting the tire warranty and the extended maintenance warranty....

I keep cars a long time, minimum 5-6 years. I also like the peace of mind of not having unexpected large repair bills down the road. Cost me 1800 for the extended warranty but for 6 years/100,000 miles seems worth it.

 

About the "extended maintenance warranty". Is that a warranty for failure of parts or is it maintenance like oil changes and wear items like brakes?
My MA was trying to upsell me on the extended maintenance program which is why I am asking. What he was selling only covered maintenance and wear items; the actual extended warranty for the big ticket items like trans and turbo was another program altogether. Hopefully you are getting the full maintenance program as well as extended warranty.

 

For the price if the tire warranty you can buy a new set of non-RF's and get a much better ride in the process. Just sayin'....

 

It sounds like the price of the warranties are all over the place. We picked up our S Countryman yesterday and they quoted $700 for tire warranty, $1,700 to extended the maintenance warranty, and $2,700 to extend the mechnical (bumper to bumper) waranty to 7yrs / 100,000 miles. That's $5,100. That's insane.
Needless to say I didn't get any of that over priced crap. I still don't understand everyone saying the tire warranty is a must have. It included wheel damage but I average $25,000 miles per year for the last 30 plus years and I've only had 1 bent wheel that cost me $100 to fix. I'm putting my $ in the piggy bank and if I need to fix something I'll make a withdraw.

 

The tire warranty is not a good deal at all. I've had rim on a Toyota Highlander fixed for $160 in the past and I just checked TireRack and you can get a set of 4 tires for less than $700. I'd bank that money.

 

My dealer quoted me $2200 for the extended warranty, and $2000 for the extended service contract....... Am I able to buy from another dealer ( even out do state)? Or I'm limited to the original dealer?

 

Previous purchase to MINI I bought an extended warranty I bought it post-sale and from a different dealer.

 

just curious if anyone else bought an extended warranty (that covers an issues after the four years) since its getting close for me to pick up mine...how much did you pay and what were the terms...thanks and happy holidays to all.

 

Assuming that we ARE all talking about the extension to the 4/50k car warranty ("MINI Extended Motorer Protection") and NOT the tire warranty...

You may want to check out the two different plans that MINI offers: XL and XXL. XL covers the major components but NOT the radio, CD player/changer, entertainment system, or the navigation system. The XXL adds the aforementioned systems to the coverage. If you shop third party and you have Connected and Nav, make sure they are covered by the plan before comparing to MINI's XXL plan.

I was quoted $3.5k for 7/70k on the XXL package. Note that you can elect to purchase this plan anytime before your 4/50k ends, but at the prevailing rate.

 

hi theo,
couple of questions...did you find out what the Xl pkg costs? also, did you try to negotiate the price...sounds like a lot of dough, given only 70k miles over 7 years. thanks

 

BT,
I know the forums make it seem like there are a lot of problems with these cars, but I have said before I have not had that experience. I keep meticulous records on all cars. I enter every receipt for gas, fluids, repair work, maintenance work, upgrades, you name it. I am shocked at how much folks are being quoted for the various warranties and maintenance / tire programs.

Since my cost data is in an excel spreadsheet, I ran some numbers for the BMWs and MINIs I have purchased since 2002. Admitedly, this behavior is a little obsessive and may not interest anyone but me, however, ten years of real out of pocket cost data with the brand does not lie and it may influence people's warranty dollar decisions. What I get out of it is actual running costs per mile as well as total cost of ownership with depreciation once I sell a car.

The criteria I used were:
- Maintenance includes oil / fluid / filter / belt / plug / wiper changes, plus tires and brakes. My rough maintenance schedule is engine oil every 7,500 miles, trans / diff at 30k miles, brake fluid every 2 years, coolant every 4 years, everything else as recommended by BMW / MINI. I change motor oil myself and do brakes as well. I used to do more but nowadays I take the cars to a BMW independent for everything else because I don't want to risk my dogs ingesting coolant nor do I want to deal with properly recycling the old fluids.
- Repair includes stuff that broke or was not planned. I am including tire repair since contrary to popular belief, you can patch a runflat.

02 BMW 330ci - Bought new in Sept 2002, still own, currently has 49k miles
Maintenance total: $3,165.65 (includes yearly oil changes, other fluids, filters, 2 sets of tires, still has original brakes and battery!!!!)
Repair total: $1,003.54 (5th gear detent failed, required dropping the transmission and clutch was replaced at the time since they were already there. Also includes one stone chip repair on windshield and one tire repair.)

06 MINI Cooper S - bought new in Feb 2006, still own, currently has 77k miles
Maintenance total: $2,720.96 (includes fluids, filters, drive belt, 2 sets of tires, brakes at 4 corners, battery is still the original)
Repair total: $224.25 (1 tire repaired, one windshield replaced, and one check engine light diagnosis)

06 BMW 330i - Bought with 20k in 07, sold with 78k in July 2010
Maintenance total: $2,287.99 (includes fluids, filters, one set of tires and brakes at all four corners. Battery was still orginal)
Repair total: $82 (1 tire repair and one check engine light reset after I forgot to reconnect the MAF when I changed the air filter - doh!)

07 BMW 650i - Bought with 13k miles in 09, still own, currently has 29k miles
Maintenance total: $1,003.84 (includes fluids, filters, 1 set of tires and it is coming due for several fluids at 30k. Brakes and battery are original)
Repair total: $76 (1 tire repair and 1 rebalance of four wheels to resolve front end vibration)

12 MINI Countryman - on its way
Maintenance total: $89.80 (I pre ordered oil and filters for 1,500 break in and 7,500 mile oil changes )

The moral of the story is that if I had bought the various warranties and maintenance programs on these four vehicles, I would be totally upside down. This is especially true since the maintenance programs do not provide anywhere close to the same level of care my cars receive and a good portion of my repair costs would not fall under the warranty anyway. Based on these numbers and the cost Theo was quoted for the XXL program to 70k miles, I would rather spend the money on proper maintenance than give away the cash up front for something I might not use.

 

thanks fredoinSF for taking the time and sharing your detailed information. there are so many great informed posters like you, Cobra-Racer, etc. i still own my '03 Acura TL that i am giving to my son and bought the extended warranty for $1,000. while i generally dont like doling out more money for warranties, it seems that an extra $1,000 was worth it for 7 years of no worry ownership. $3,500 indeed made me pause and say, for that, i will take my chances. perhaps, half of that may be worth it. i wonder what the true cost to the dealership is. but anyway, thanks again...happy holidays! (can't wait to stop thinking mini and start motoring mini...only some days before mine is at the dealership.)

 

I totally don't understand some of the Mini (AKA BMW) maintenance recomendations. I confirmed with my mini (AKA BMW) dealer that the free oil changes in your standard maintenance period is only for every 15k miles or once a year but they want you to change the brake fluid every 2yrs (What are they doing to the brake fluid for it needing to be changed every 2yrs?). Gee this is stupid. I would never wait to change my oil that long. Their reason is it's synthetic oil. DUH!.. I've been using Mobil 1 synthetic oil in every thing I own for years including lawn mowers, power washers engines and the Harley. With that said, I already have the OEM oil filter and Mobil 1 oil ready when it hits the 5k mark. Don't get me started on the $1,000 brake jobs the dealer mentioned.