Before taking delivery of my new F56 MCS I've been considering whether to get an extended warranty or not. I know the warranty itself has been discussed on this forum in particular recently, so that's not the question I have in particular.

I was talking to a good friend who works at a Honda dealership and told me that quite often at their dealership they will negotiate the price of the warranty down as much as $500 depending how hard you push.

Can anyone provide any firsthand experience as to whether MINI might do the same thing, or is the price pretty much fixed (similar to the MSRP with this particular brand)?

 

Following....

 

I drive 20k+ miles per year and given the MINI's reputation for being failure prone, I am very interested in buying both the extended maintenance plan (I don't have a garage and I'm not a car guy so I can't do more than change oil) as well as the extended warranty. They also have a windshield plan that covers any chips, cracks, etc, which I like since working with insurance to fix them counts as a claim.

I was quoted a msrp of $495 for the windshield plan, $1895 for 6yr/100k mile maintenance, and $2430 for 5yr/100k mile XXL warranty (covers electronics too). That's a total of $4,820. I negotiated down to $3985, so I got almost $1k off. I'm buying the warranty when I pick up the f56 next week so I'm going to see if I can get another 100-200 off while signing the papers.

 

Definitely some wiggle room, and you have a lot more clout when you're negotiating when you're picking up rather than buying down the line.

 

Thanks for the input, guys!

Yikes, the $1895 quoted price is familar for the 6yr/100K mile maintenance but I didn't realize the extended service contract was extra (had I researched it before posting I would have, PDF is here for anyone interested:
http://www.miniusa.com/content/dam/m...DF_MINI_M2.pdf

That's a lot of cash to fork out for an already pricey auto. What I may do is try to negotiate the maintenance down a bit; I'm still on the fence about the extended service though. Richard, I'm in the same boat as you, I generally don't do my own maintenance, though I've done oil changes in the past.

Sirius, did you opt for both as well?

 

I was also on the fence about all of the packages. If you have the cash to purchase them all upfront, then you have to consider the time value of your money - you could invest it and make a decent return over the 5 year period and pay out of pocket for the repairs, but if you need a lot of work you probably won't come out ahead. I looked at the cost of the maintenance plan by determining the OEM cost of all the parts that would be included at service intervals from 36k-100k miles and the parts alone are within 100-200 bucks of the cost of the maintenance plan and that doesn't include the cost of labor. I'm sure you could save money overall by DIY with 3rd party parts, but if you're like me you can't do it yourself and you want the OEM quality. Personally, I have a very low interest rate auto loan and I'm rolling the cost of the plans into it, which means I can hold on to the cash, invest it, and only spend an extra ~100 bucks a month on my "insurance".

Everyone's situation is different, of course.

 

I didn't - I'm in a lease. That being said, if you plan on keeping the MINI for a while, it is probably worth having one or the other, if not both. If I was picking one to keep it would probably be the extended warranty. If something goes wrong on these, odds are it's something that isn't easily repaired and it can get pretty pricey pretty quick. Many of the scheduled maintenance items can be carried out yourself, if you're handy, or by a good MINI mechanic if you have one close.

 

Everything's a tradeoff, isn't it? By that I mean with a Japanese car you might not be as inclined to consider any of these service plans but they certainly aren't anywhere near as fun to drive. After doing the test drive in the MINI I was sold, but the tradeoff seems to be (from what I'm reading) longer term reliability.

It's funny because I'm selling my 2013 Accord to get into a '15 MCS, it's been a childhood dream of mine to own one for over 12 years and I finally had the ability to pull the trigger. The thing is, I never considered any of these extended warranties when I bought the Accord a couple years ago. Having owned only Japanese cars, I knew what to expect (few or no surprises). With the MINI, it seems to be much more of a crapshoot after the first 3 years is over. You guys have certainly given me more to think about in addition to whether I can talk them down on a warranty.

With all that said, I appreciate the input.

 

If your planning to keep it long term, the extended warranty will be worth it. Be sure not to confuse that with the extended maintenance plan (which runs $1895 from MINI on an S). They are two different animals. I have talked with countless people who bought the 6-year maintenance only to have a check engine light in the 5th year and have no coverage.


Remember that everything is negotiable and KNOW WHAT YOU ARE BUYING, as the dealer I leased from (and therefore did not purchase any warranties) does not sell the MINI Extended (XL/XXL) warranties, but an aftermarket warranty through Fidelity. They say it covers more, but it costs about the same and it had a higher deductible and you are at their mercy not MINI's. Also note that there may be smaller profit built into MINI's warranties (= less discount) than an aftermarket warranty.


A point of reference. In 1988, I bought a Chevy Beretta (no comments, please - I was working at a Chevy dealer) and bought an aftermarket extended warranty which retailed for $1795 for my cost of $695. There is probably 10-15% profit in the MINI warranty and 50-60% profit in the aftermarket warranty, which is probably why the dealer I dealt with only sells the aftermarket warranty.

 

I suppose these contracts are transferrable, but are they refundable/cancelable if you don't use them? For example, you trade in the car, or, God forbid, the car is totaled in an accident before 3 years/36,000 miles (for maintenance) or 4 years/50,000 miles (for warranty) is up. Will they prorate the refund if you cancel or otherwise terminate half way into the contract, say at 5yr/75k miles?

Also, check with your insurance company. Many policies have windshield coverage with no or little deductible.

 

Transferrable, yes. I don't lease so I'm not sure about that. I can look into the pro-rating. I don't think you get anything if the car is totalled, but maybe that counts as cancellation.

Most insurance does cover windshields, but it appears on your CLUE report as a no-fault claim and can increase your premium.

 

Good points! The MINI maintenance upgrade is transferable but no prorated refund if you trade or sell early.


Aftermarket extended warranties usually refund a prorated amount if no claims were made.


And definitely check with your insurance company. Many companies not only offer glass, but service contracts as well. I know Geico and Mercury do. Worth checking out.

 

This has been very helpful, thanks everyone.

 

I picked up the maintenance for $1895 (price was like $2500), The wheel / tire protection from road hazards (need it in Boston with all its potholes) for $500 (around $1000 - $1200 they wanted) and of course gap from MFS which honesty which I wasn't able to really get any money off.

 

(Closes computer. Walks away.)

 

RIP Beretta

 

The price of a warranty can be negotiated. It's like anything else the dealer sells. There's the dealer's cost, and your marked-up cost.


Also, my recollection is that the warranty, though sold by your Mini dealer, is not a Mini product. Rather, it's probably furnished by a third party warranty company. The warranty's language will disclose that. Some warranty companies are more solvent than others, BTW.

 

MINI (like BMW) does offer it's own in-house extended warranties (there are like 15 with varying months, mileage and equipment coverage), and almost all dealers will offer a 3rd party warranty as well. Those have larger profit margins, more negotiable but make sure you know what the deductible is, what's covered and where.

 

Exactly why I was hesitant to write that, LOL. Hey, it was a long long time ago, there were no MINIs and I paid next to nothing for it. I owned it a year and traded it for a Mazda 323 GTX and never looked back! The one funny story about it was I got pulled over in nowhere AZ outside of Phoenix on my way to Vegas. Lights and sirens. The cop only wanted to know what kind of car it was, what it had for a motor and how fast it could go. He thought it was cool.



Ooooooo, an "Indy" edition in that (famous for 1990's) Teal! Mine was Silver with Red (Claret) interior. And it was a Z51 equipped GT V6 automatic. The only other automatic I have owned other than my current F56 (which is my 29th vehicle owned to date).

 

Get the one that comes with a time share on the Texas Gulf Coast during hurricane season. That one's really cheap now.

 

Few comments. Extended Maintenance is 1895.00, not 2500. There is wiggle room although most won't wiggle much.Wheel n tire is highly recommended if you have 17" or larger wheels and live somewhere that see's snow, ice or has shitty roads. None of these are refundable. Maintenance stays with the car.

 

I'm planning on running my Mini until it dies so I got the extended fully comprehensive warranty. For me, they negotiated the years. Since I drive less than 10K a year I managed to get 7rs, 60K for $2100.

Essentially I now have complete peace of mind that no matter what goes wrong I'm covered for 7 years. Very happy with that.

 

Nice deal. It's the standard mini warranty underwritten by BMW group?