I'm looking at two 06 Minis. One has 28K miles but is out of warranty and the other has 39K miles but has a BMW certified warranty good for two years after the factory one expires which will be in March of next year. The Mini with the fewer miles is $500 more. They are in otherwise similar condition. I was wondering if the certified warranty might be beneficial down the road. Any opinions? Thanks much.

 

I would say any extension to the warranty is good. I would tend to lean that direction - these cars are not inexpensive to repair when something goes wrong.

 

My two cents? Warranty trumps low-milage on a well-cared-for MINI.

In fact, I wouldn't buy a MINI without the factory warranty or some form of a factory extended-warranty. The idea isn't to find a MINI with _years_ of coverage, necessarily. But, when I was shopping, I looked for a MINI that was covered for at least 6-months so I could iron out any issues without digging into my wallet.

I finally arrived upon a near pristine 2006 with nearly a year of factory warranty and the 10/100k maintenance warranty. Quite happy. No...blissfully happy with my MINI.

 

The Mini with the certified warranty has had one of the resonators removed. Do you suppose that would affect the warranty? The seller isn't sure. Thanks again.

 

Most MINI dealerships are honest about mods and A/M parts voiding warranties. There aren't many parts of the car having a one ball can hurt. All else fails ask the dealership.

 

after owning two of these cars, there's NO WAY I would buy a used one w/o some kind of warranty protection, at least for the D/T. They can be problematic and are pricey to get fixed. But then they are BMW products.

 

Smart move

 

Remember, certified is only as good as the place inspecting it, and the critera involved..the BMW/Mini check, and thecwarrenty extension is good...a 3rd party dealer certification, less so.
If it is a certified used car by the mini dealer, they are ok'ing it as is, oneball and all...so you are fine...still do your due dillagance with an inspection on your own...cover you but, but a warrenty for a few months or longer from the oem is great, much better than a 3 rd party warrenty..help to ensure you have limited exposure to $$ losses if your car has an issue or two.