Hello All,

I picking up my new baby on Wednesday after months of difficult waiting. I went in the other day to get the paperwork out of the way and that's when they sequestered me in a cubicle with a non-MA salesman to try to sell me service contract extensions. I've never done that sort of thing before so I thought I'd open it up to community feedback. Here are some of the programs:

60 Mo/100,000 Mi Service Upgrade - $2,700
* Mechanical/electrical breakdown coverage, pays the cost of parts and labor for repairs, rental car and towing allowance (handy if expensive stuff goes out, like an engine / the turbo, etc.)

72 Mo/100,000 Mi Maintenance Upgrade - $2,300
* Full extension of factory program (covers oil changes, 15/30/45/60/75/90K tuneups, all brakes, etc.)

Appearance Protection - $900
* Paint Guard protects exterior finish, Fiber and Leather Guard protect interior, Removes dents and dings without sanding or painting

5 Year Windshield Protection - $500
* Covers any repair or replacement for windshield

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Okay, those are the programs. Any thoughts on which would be worth the money? The sales guy said that the Maintenance Upgrade pays for itself, and that the Mechanical is a lifesaver if the big stuff goes out. Note: I plan on driving this car hard, but probably not tracking it too much.

Thanks, really appreciate the help...

 

There are already a lot of threads on this topic, so I'll keep this short, but here's my take on it:

The dealerships aren't offering these add-ons out of the goodness of their heart, and they're not offering them because they think you're a swell guy and they'd love for you to date their sister. They're offering them because they know that on average, they'll take in a lot more money from the premiums and/or deductibles then they'll ever pay out in claims, by a wide margin. They have actuaries that calculate what premiums to charge for these services (just like the insurance companies), and these actuaries are *very* good at what they do.

You might be one of the lucky (unlucky?) buyers that ends up getting eleventy kajillion dollars' worth of service for free under the extended plans, but mathematically-speaking, the odds are against you.

 

Both the first 2 sound like fine deals to me if they are provided by Mini and not an aftermarket company.

The last 2 options aren't needed. If you wash/wax your car and detail the interior you don't need to spend the $900. Maybe they've changed it, but the person I talked to at delivery said dings and scratches on the outside and any tears/marks on the leather would NOT be fixed. I would double check on that one if you are interested.

You can get $0 deductible insurance on your windshield through your auto insurance company. Mine was included and only was a few pennies difference in my premium.

 

Sounds like #1 is an extended warranty of sorts. You should be able to purchase that later or from someone else. Depends how long you keep the car - I'd see how many problems you had the first few years and judge if I thought it was warranted after that. In general I think they're a waste of money.

I paid $1500 for the maintenance upgrade (so it's a lot of profit and you should negotiate it if you want it) - not sure if I'd do it again. Factory pads are dusty and oil isn't too hard to change. Again, see if you can purchase it later and judge how your service goes at the dealer and if you want to continue to have it done there. If you find a local mechanic who does it better and cheaper, there's no sense spending time at the dealership.

Spend $900 on a clearbra, some good leather conditioner, and 303 protectant. Dealer stuff like that is usually just expensive wax and a couple pre-paid PDR's.

$500 for windshields sounds good, but I bet going to a 0 deductible for glass on your insurance will cost less than $500 over 5 years. Or go to $100 and don't tailgate gravel trucks.

 

Some people like to surround themselves with extended warranties, others would rather keep the money in their own pocket.

I would dismiss the windshield and appearance warranties (others will disagree). But the value of extended maintenance and warranty protection really depends on number of miles you plan to drive it and how long you plan on keeping it. For example, a friend bought the extended warranty but never could use it because he drove so little, the time limit kicked in before the mileage. I usually replace my car whortly after it is out of warranty, so I don't have any use for these items.

 

I disagree with Scott above.

If you do the math, I think that the extended maintinance makes sense... However, the prices your getting quoted seem high. I was quoted $1600 for the extended maintinance a couple of weeks ago on my incoming 2009.

Can you purchase the extended maintinance after you've purchased the car? Does anyone know if the OP can take his car home and then call another dealership and purchase the extended maintinance and/or service plan from a less greedy dealership?

The downside of that would be that you would not be able to finance the cost if you purchased the extended stuff after purchase.

 

The extended maintenance agreement *might* make sense for $1600 if you're otherwise going to continue to go to the dealer (and pay dealer prices) for all routine maintenance even after the initial 3/36k free maintenance period expires. But I still don't think you're going to get much in the way of service during the 36 months/64k miles that the extended plan will be in effect.

I'm not positive that this is still true with the R56, but with the first-gen cars, there aren't fixed service requirements at 15/30/45/60/75/90K mile intervals. Instead, you go in when the car's computer tells you to, and those intervals may be closer to 20k miles than 15k. And half of those visits are just going to be oil changes. And for the rest of the visits, almost all of the checklist items are "inspect this, check this, top off that", etcetera. There's really no 'tune up"-type service to be done, except for replacing the spark plugs, and those aren't scheduled to be replaced until 100k miles (and probably wouldn't be replaced under a 72month/100k plan, because technically, they wouldn't be due for replacement until right when the plan expired. About the only parts that get replaced during services are things like oil, oil filter, the engine air filter (probably twice during the first 100k miles if you're lucky), and the filter for the air conditioning system.

 

You can purchase the bumper to Bumper and Maintenance anytime before the MINI one expire. It only cost me an additional $19 per month in my payment

First, I NEVER buy extended warranties on anything. Out of the four [five if you also consider the road hazard] I feel the maintenance was the only one worth the cost [1800]. Considering what BMW shop fees are now $105/hr @ Cincinnati MINI], what will they be in five years. From what I've heard on other threads, oil change is $70 to $110, a brake job is $1100 [pads and rotors], clutch is $1500 to $1800 and all the other little service items. Yes, you CAN do them yourself chaper but I have neithr the time, place, or inclination to any of that myself. I do not expect to come out ahead on the maintenance program, simply break even. The way I see it, I am "banking" the money [for a fee] so that I do not have to lay it out in the future. I think [most] warranty items will rear their ugly head befor the standard warranty is up and the others are just profit makers.

With that being said, this is a personal preference as much as anthracite headliners and color choices. There is no right or wrong answer. Just what you are most comfortable with. My worthless opinion is to go with the Extended Maintenace and not the others.

 

We paid $1395 for this earlier in the year, right before we hit 35K miles. We've already had a clutch replaced under the plan, so I'd say it has come close to paying for itself.

Note that our local dealer originally wanted $2000 for the extended maintenance. Since it can be bought anywhere and used at any MINI dealer, I shopped around and found a distant dealer willing to sell to us for $1395 (though it would require FedExing him one of our keys). I took this price to the local dealer and they quickly matched in.

Funny thing, the local dealer then printed out a sheet for us that, for whatever reason, included dealer cost on the program: $1295. While this may have since gone up, it's a good number to keep in mind when haggling on the price.

 

Now we're getting somewhere! Does anyone know the dealer costs for the other extended items?

...why would you need to FedEx the dealer a key?

 

i think all the car's info is stored in the keys, VIN, etc...

 

I only paid $1395 for the extended maintenance as well. It was offered up as the standard price. Anything higher than that and you're just getting ripped off, IMO.

 

I would wait and see if your dealership actually does good mechanical work. I have seen allot of stories on here about dealerships overfilling the oil on oil changes, not being able to troubleshoot problems etc. What good is an extended warranty if the dealer does shoddy work?

 

So, I as well have an MCS on its way, here in a month. Just so I am clear, if I buy an extended maintenece plan for instance, I can only take the vehicle to that particular dealership that I bought the plan from?

 

No. The extended maintenance is done by MINI, not the dealer. So it is valid at any MINI dealer.

 

Here's a little glitch I've run into with the extended maintenance programs.... We bought a pretty basic R56 and I've been adding some stuff and I've been thinking about upgrading the brakes. I asked one SA if the program would cover replacement pads if I have them put the JCW calipers and rotors on. He said no.....it only works back to the original state of the car as delivered. However, out at MITM the SA from the Denver dealer said they would, as long as the upgrades were Mini. Seems to be a gray area

Anybody have any experience on this?

 

Which plan did you have, the maintenece upgrade or the service upgrade? Does the maintenece upgrade even cover a clutch?

 

I bought the extended warranty and nothing else.Just rather be safe then sorry

 

Seems like if you had to choose just one, hat the service upgrade should be the one, no?

 

I never buy extended warranties on cars because, to be honest, they are almost always a rip off. I've never owned a vehicle that has required service under an extended warranty, and the one time where it might have been handy to have such a thing, the warranty would not have covered what went wrong because it was our fault. My hubby and I were just married, I assumed he would take care of car issues because my dad always did that stuff for my mom... and so the oil sort of didn't get changed in the car for like.... two years...

The new engine was 1700$. The rental car for a week while the engine was shipped to the mechanic was a couple hundred. Still less than your 100k service upgrade, which will not cover a blown engine due to owner neglect.

Also, if you carry full coverage, most full coverage insurance covers rock chips already... so you're throwing 500$ away because you're probably already paying your insurance company for that.

 

The extended warranty is an insurance policy for your peace of mind. I had never bought one until I bought a used car from Hertz for my new teenage driver. I bought it from GE, it was about $700 for five years and 60K miles from the date I bought it. I only bought it because the car was a rental car, so I figured it probably had been abused by some drivers. In the 4 and 1/2 years I owned the car, I had one claim that paid roughly $800 for a failed a/c compressor. Thus, I came out ahead. Even if I had $0 in claims, I figured the $140 a year was worth the piece of mind.

On my wife's 2007 Honda Odyssey, I bought the factory Honda Care for $1160 over the internet for a 7 year 120K miles $0 deductible warranty. I expect to keep the vehicle the entire 8 years. This was a toss-up for me, roughly $280 per year for the extra 4 years coverage beyond the factory 3 year warranty. My logic here was that the Honda van has had transmission issues in years before, and that if the power doors or factory nav or anything went wrong, I was covered. Here I expect Honda to win the bet, but to me I've capped my non maintenance loss at $280 per year for years 4 thru 7. But, if I was buying it at the $1800 my local dealer wanted, I probably would have passed.

On the 2009 MCS, at this time I do not plan on warranty or maintenance plan purchases. Based on insane dealer hourly rates, the maintenance plan seems like the best bet to get your $ back depending on probability of brakes or clutch repairs. But that's a lot upfront $ that disappear if the car was a total loss early in its life. And if your clutch does not go out or the brakes never say "do work", then that's a lot of money wasted. So in all likelihood I'll skip the maintenance plan too.

 

I wish I had gotten the glass warranty. after 5000miles I got a big crack. cost out of my pocket $850 including labor. my insurance covers it but $500 out of my pocket so I just paid for the whole thing.

 

Interesting thread--thanks to all who posted. Having read NAM (a lot) the last few months, and realizing I too would be presented with all these wonderful optional extensions and coverages, I asked the fine financial person at the MINI dealer for a copy of any contract I might be offerred when I take pocession of the MINI. Ya' know, for how smart those folks must be, they sure tried to twist and contort my request into something unrecognizeable. They made it sound like it was just impossible to get a copy of a blank contract ahead of time (no, I don't want the brochure, thank you very much). It's like pulling teeth, and I still don't have it. In all fairness, they did send a copy of the Paint Protection contract. I'm still waiting for the extended service contract and they said they don't offer an extended warranty.

 

i take it your comprehensive deductible is $500 then. you should definitely look into lowering that. I currently also have $500 and found that if i go to $100, $50, or $0, the increase every 6 month is something stupid like $15, $25, and $37. no good reason not to lower it...

 

Every insurance company I know of does not have any punitive effects on your insurance rates for a comprehensive claim (i.e. glass). Thus you paid $350 more than you should have in my estimation.