Hi everyone! Newbie here. I just purchased a 16 Countryman S ALL4 and am loving it. While researching, one of the things that really concerned me was minis poor reliability reputation. I know it's sometimes luck of the draw, but what does everyone think of the extended warranty? Is it worth it? The Countryman will be my primary car and I typically average 15,000 miles a year, so the the manufacturers warranty will be burned through quickly. I was offered the bumper-to-bumper 5 year/100,000 extended warranty for $1990 ($200 deductible). Thoughts?? What about the maintenance plan upgrade? Thanks everyone for their feedback in advance, I'm excited to join the community.

 

Usually nay for me, i'd wait until you are close to warranty expiration to decide. Then shop around as dealers compete to sell those. High mark ups!

 

It's a MINI so yay but you can wait on the extended warranty. Also, yay on the extended maint. plan. it includes a clutch replacement till 100k!

 

Thanks! Quick follow-up, does the extended warranty price go up the longer you wait to purchase it? Say I decide to purchase it one month before my manufacturers warranty expires, will it be more expensive than getting it today?

 

It does but not by much(1-200 in my experience) from what you were quoted and you can shop around, MINI dealerships accept all sorts of extended warranties.

 

Is it a MINI warranty? If not it may only work at one delaership.

As for the MINI maintenance warranty, you can purchase it at any dealership (I purchased over phone/internet from Scottsdale MINI and it was cheaper than my dealer (they do not charge sales tax on warranties in AZ). I believe you can purchase it up to 36,000 miles so you have time. It paid for itself with clutch and brakes.

 

So for me, being new to MINI, and German in general, I went with a warranty, mostly because they gave it to me entirely free for making me wait a useless 3 hours while the finance guy chatted a friend up and no one told him I was waiting, but partly because of cost of repairs if something happened to it. Granted, I am a car guy, could probably fix anything and everything on the car if it breaks, but I like the extra peace of mind knowing that if something crazy happens, I am covered through 160k and 5 years. They often push these warranties because they gain credits and such for it, but if you have a solid finance guy, they should be doing it because they hopefully have been around long enough to know if it is worth it.
























Hope that helps.

 

What dealer gave you $2000 for waiting 3 hours? That's where I buy my next new MINI.

 

I say yay. Don't know if you have a manual or auto trans. Long story short. Bought my Mini last October w/ @14,000 miles on it. Had it 4 days and the clutch went out. My guess is previous owner drove stick like an a-hole. Dealer (not a MINI dealer) had to have it hauled 2 hours to the closest MINI dealer (Allentown), my dealer took care of buying the extended warranty @$2000.00 so the clutch would be covered. I've heard estimates of $3-4000 for a clutch job on this car. I know that's something I wouldn't want to have to come up with in a hurry. Ex. warranty covers 1 clutch replacement. So hopefully I'm doing a better job with the clutch than previous owner. Outside of trying to pull out in 3rd gear once in while, I think I do OK.

 

I bought it used, but it was a dealer in Colorado Springs. I highly recommend no one ever shops there based on my experience. I made out very well on the deal, but dealing with their nonsense was almost not worth it.