Hello fellow NAMers! Hope you guys had a great weekend.

I'm about to purchase a second MINI (this time an '07 S hardtop) and with my limited experience with my current Camden, I am curious about reliability and whether getting an extended warranty is worth it.

This car has 46k miles, is a 1-owner car and looks like it's in pretty decent shape. I'm going to actually drive it tonight.

My question: is it worth the $1500-2000 to buy an extended warranty? You know, the third-party ones that cover almost all of the mechanical stuff?

I plan on keeping the car for at least a few years and I am just not sure about reliability in general. Especially being an S, I just want to know what I may expect for the next 3 years or so.

Thanks for all the help!
Chris

 

I would say yes. Isnt something as simple as an alternator replacement close to a $1k job? I am pretty sure Mini USA wont cover the chain tensioner if the factory warranty is expired.

Yea, you probably wont ever use it, but it could pay for itself quite quickly.

 

Without a doubt I would buy the extended warranty. I look at it as insurance. It's something you don't want buy but it sure is nice when you need it. I would buy the most comprehensive and with the longest duration that you can if you intend to keep the car longterm. It just makes sense. You don't really know the previous drivers driving style and how well they really maintained the vehicle. Unless you are debt free and have a nice emergency savings account it is probably worth it. Lets fact it these cars are pretty expensive to have repaired.
That's what I would do if it were me.

 

Here is a counter argument to not getting it. I did not get the extended warranty because for it to be a good deal there would need to be $2k worth of work done over that time period. I just can't see myself paying that much over the next 2 years(I have been out of warranty for a year). I also mod the crap out of my MINI too this was also a deterrent for me getting the warranty. It is your money and your MINI so if you want it for security reasons get it.

 

I bought my second MINI ('08 MCSa) last month. It had 2 previous owners and 45k miles. I didn't hesitate to buy an extended warranty. My previous car was an '02 MCa and I spent quite a few thousand fixing stuff on that (I know it was the 1st gen so had a few issues) but I wanted the piece of mind. My extended warranty was $1900 and covers bumper to bumper. I really do feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders knowing that if something goes wrong it's covered. MINI's are beautiful but they're expensive buggers to fix!

The company I went through has monthly payments as well so I just do automatic payments from my bank and don't even give it a second thought

Good luck!

 

There are good points in this argument. If you are a heavy modder you would have difficulty having some items covered by the warranty and you would always have to measure what you are modding. So from this angle it makes sense to look hard at it.

 

a significant point is between the lines of a couple of these posts:

WHO is the extended warranty with? MINI? or a third party? Typically it is a third party and you'd be wise to read the terms of THAT warranty and not assume it is the same as a MINI warranty.**edit, I see OP knows it is a third party**

IMHO, and I bought my first car 35 years ago, is you'll probably do better to put the same monthly payment in the bank and not touch it unless there is a problem with your car. Insurance for BIG TICKET ITEMS is important - house, health. I suppose big ticket is subjective but imho you should be able to cover smaller stuff - a month or two of pay - from savings.

Add up all the money you spend each month for extended warranty coverage on everything you own. Now look at putting that money in an account and growing interest vs what your expenses would have been for repairs last year . . .

 

Sure, you SHOULD have six months of expenses in savings for a rainy day, but in reality most people don't. The economy sucks, life is expensive, etc.

I bought a third party extended warranty when I purchased my '06 R50 last year. It was expensive (~$3200.) but it's also refundable if I don't make any claims. They keep something like $500 in "administration fees" but I get the bulk of it back. Seemed like a no brainer to me. Worst case scenario I use it don't get my refund, but I still had peace of mind and no surprise out of pocket expense. Best case, I make no claims and I get a check for nearly $3k after four years, which I can use to pay off the car note a year early.

 

What 1% interest if your lucky? Come on there is nowhere to make any decent interest.
I have an online account that pays 2% cash back on purchases via a debit card. That is the most paid by anyone to my knowledge. Or you can buy a 5 year CD and get 1.8 or 2 if your lucky but now your money is tied up for 5 years. That is not a good deal in my book.

This argument does not hold water in todays economy.

 

just wondering - which company did you go with? thanks!

 

OK, I'm looking at the extended warranty also. I have about 38k miles on the clock and about ten months to go on the factory warranty. My Mini S also has a manual trans.

I have been very happy with the car and want to keep it. It has been very reliable and the couple small problems I've had have been taken care of efficiently by my dealer. So at this point, I don't want to trade the car.

For me the options are:
a. keep the car without warranty
b. get extended warranty from dealer at a cost > $3k
c. get extended warranty from third party > $2k
d. trade the car and buy new and have new factory warranty

The biggest issue is obvious: It's all about the money! If I get the warranty(any warranty) it still doesn't cover the clutch. So I spend $2k or more and could still end up paying $1200 or more additional if the clutch goes.

The numbers above are not solid amounts, but I think I'm in the ballpark. I'm not having clutch problems, just trying to consider all possibilities.

I appreciate any further comments

 

All very good points. For me it's a matter of peace of mind, but I have to consider the following:

1) Am I going to keep the car long enough that the extended warranty is a good option?

2) What kind and how many mods to I want to do over the years?

3) Do I have the money now to purchase it?

My last car was a Lexus and I bought the extended warranty. I had it for 11 years and it has 115,000 miles. I was so glad I bought the warranty. When I first bought the car I could afford the ext. warranty. It has been a great car but let's face it with time parts fail even on the best of cars. Nothing major ever failed but a number of small things did fail and by that time my finances had taken a tumble. The ext warranty more than paid for itself and at a time when I could I'll afford to keep up with it. Although the issues were small you know how expensive labor and parts are for a Lexus. I see the Mini in the same light after all most dealer service dept do say BMW on the outside.

One thing I can say about Lexus is that every time I took it in for service they were all over the car looking for anything they could fix and have it covered by the ext warranty. The service advisor would call me and say "while we were doing the oil change we found --------- and ------- wrong and we took care of it, your car is ready to be picked up. Don't know yet if mini is like this.

FYI: my Lexus is in such good shape I just gave it to my 18 year old daughter and my 2012 MCSa Convertible will arrive on Wednesday (if Irene has held her up).

Bottom line: I'll get the ext warranty.

 

Thanks everyone! I went with a warranty after all. I'm not much of a modder because I care more about reliability than pure speed and handling. Since the car has 47k mi already, the extending 4yr/50,000mi warranty cost 2,400, no tax. I like knowing that if nearly anything goes wrong, I won't have to pay anything more than a deductible. Now I'll cross my fingers and hope I never have to use it!

 

I think that is a wise decision. But your Mini will handle just fine Thank You with no modifications at all. LOL

Have fun with your new machine.

 

Did you go with a an extended warranty through your Mini dealer or an third party?

 

'twas an Allstate warranty. I was told even by the MINI dealers themselves that a third party warranty usually covers more and is more flexible in terms of where you can take it and whether they will come to you.

 

Warranty Direct. They were recommended by my MINI mechanic (along with a few others)

 

I am looking at two:

Selling dealership (Volvo) offered a Zurich policy for $1987. 72/75k
MINI dealership offered a Fidelity Warranty Services for $2583 60/60K

I have read that part of the consideration is the company-several have gone broke.

 

Do these extended warranty, especially by third party cover items that MINI refuses to cover even though they should, such as clutch, etc? It looks like MINI's clutch tend to wear out very fast, even for drivers with years of experience with manual transmissions (they claimed it was wear-and-tear, but it shouldn't wear out in 40K miles like in my case).

For the record, I drove my last car before Dora over 110K miles in nearly 10 years on the original clutch, so I think I know how to drive with stick.

 

Yup 40K sounds too young. My GTO has 110,000 on the original clutch and it's 400 HP not 181.

 

This.

--Dan
Mach V

 

Do the math. 0.25% interest if your lucky. That does not add up to much. If you put it in a cd you can get better but now your money is tied up. Best I have seen is 1% maybe a pinch more and I look for the best rates.

So do the math. The days of decent interest rates have been history for quite sometime.

HERE IS THE KEY. If you can budget effectively and save that money as a monthly budget item then getting that 1/4 percent or 1% is certainly better than nothing. That really is the key. Most people that I run into do not have good budgeting skills and this only works for those that do.

In other words is you cannot save the repair costs and you anticipate you will have some hefty costs you are better to finance it. At least is is there when you need it.