Extended Warranty or Maintenance Upgrade?

[ocho]

Hello, Friends,

My four-year-old Mini is nearing the end of its factory warranty, since I'm still under 50K miles. I'm considering buying an extended warranty (US$3,000-4,000) or a maintenance upgrade (US$1,995), but would like to get any opinions on their value.

Does anyone have information on either of these programs?

Thanks!

Ocho (on ocho/ocho/ocho, even! )

[mini_one_1.6]

Quote: Originally Posted by ocho (original)

Hello, Friends,

My four-year-old Mini is nearing the end of its factory warranty, since I'm still under 50K miles. I'm considering buying an extended warranty (US$3,000-4,000) or a maintenance upgrade (US$1,995), but would like to get any opinions on their value.

Does anyone have information on either of these programs?

Thanks!

Ocho (on ocho/ocho/ocho, even! )

do you mean TLC or warrenty, do mini / bmw do warrenty over 3 yaers?

[M.O.S]

Thats a lot of money for a warranty - how long is it? Same for maintenance!
MINIs are generally reliable, but do cost a lot to put right when they go wrong.

[ocho]

Quote: Originally Posted by mini_one_1.6 (original)

do you mean TLC or warrenty, do mini / bmw do warrenty over 3 yaers?

I'm not sure.

• the warranty upgrade is called "MINI Maintenance Program Upgrade" and extends coverage up to 6 years/100K miles. It covers defects.

• the Maintenance Upgrade covers all scheduled maintenance up to 6 years. To quote from the brochure I received, "...this plan... will cover all your scheduled maintenance up to 100,000 miles. This will also cover non-scheduled maintenance like: brakes, clutch, wiper blades, brake flushes, etc."

[ocho]

Quote: Originally Posted by M.O.S (original)

Thats a lot of money for a warranty - how long is it? Same for maintenance!
MINIs are generally reliable, but do cost a lot to put right when they go wrong.

• for the warranty I don't have my notes with me, but it seems it was 3 to 6 years, ranging US$3,000-4,000. I may have the years wrong, but something like that.
• for the Maintenance Upgrade, it extends it up to 6 years old, which in my case means 2 years since my Mini is 4 years old.

[meld3]

Quote: Originally Posted by ocho (original)

Hello, Friends,
My four-year-old Mini is nearing the end of its factory warranty, since I'm still under 50K miles. I'm considering buying an extended warranty (US$3,000-4,000) or a maintenance upgrade (US$1,995), but would like to get any opinions on their value.

I would forget both options and keep the cash.

Your Mini would need to go seriously wrong to cost you $3-4000 in repairs, and I can't see you spending $1,995 on servicing if you are only doing about 10-12,000 miles per year.

Worse case is it goes horribly wrong and you spend the money on repairs....
Best case is it stays as reliable as ever and you spend the money saved on a trip to Oxford to see your next Mini being built !!!

[ocho]

OK, thanks, that's what I'm going to do!

[dakini]

*bumping this*

my MINI's about to run out of it's 3-year maintenance and it still has jut over a year of the warranty on it.

in the 3 years, I'm still about 5 or 6 thousand miles short of the 25,000 mile maintenance. So it would definately cover that, plus any other maintenance I need done. I had them check my brake wear whilst I was at the dealer today, and I still have 8mm of brake pads, so they said it was doubtful, at the current rate of wear, that I would manage to get brakes needing replacement in the next 3 years.

it's sounding like it's not going to be worth the $2000 to get the extended maintenance plan ... does this sound right to others, or is there something I'm forgetting?

[JustACooperClubman]

If you drive more than 15K miles per year and plan to keep your MINI for a long time, the MINI Extended Maintenance upgrade contract is money well spent. Also if you are not a DIYer and/or have the time and tools to do your own repairs/maintenace, this contract is also a good fit for you.

I bought the MINI Extended Service contract for my 2005 R53 S(6 years or 100K miles whichever occurs first) for US$1,400 back in August 2007. So far, it has paid for new rear brakes, rotors, 45K mile oil service and today is paying for a brand new clutch kit and flywheel! My car has 51K miles, so it is out of warranty, but I decided to purchase the maintenance upgrade knowing that the OEM clutch and flywheel is a trouble spot in these cars.

My dealer charges around $125-$130 per hour labor rate. So considering that just replacing the clutch and flywheel is a 9-10 hour job, the final bill for this type of repair at the dealer is around US$2,600!!!

So far I have gotten out of my US$1,400 investment nearly US$4,000 worth of repairs and maintenace and I still have quite a bit of time before the contract expires.

I think this is money very well spent.

[JustACooperClubman]

BMW/MINI does not sell extended warranty contracts in the United States. If you want to get an extended warranty, you have to go to an aftermarket reputable company like warrantydirect.

I did not buy an extended warranty contract because for US$3,000 + I would only get coverage for just another 3 years. To me the best insurance against major unexpected repairs is quassi-obssesive maintenance. Tend to the big as well as little things that most people tend to overlook. The likelyhood of having a major engine or gearbox failure before 100K miles is next to zero.

The best thing you can do is to set aside an interest bearing savings account or a bank CD, set aside some money for unexpected repairs and let it accrue interest. Much better than paying thousands of dollars up front for an extended warranty that you may never get to use to its fullest.

[BRG/Blk Cooper S]

Quote: Originally Posted by JustACooperClubman (original)

If you drive more than 15K miles per year and plan to keep your MINI for a long time, the MINI Extended Maintenance upgrade contract is money well spent. Also if you are not a DIYer and/or have the time and tools to do your own repairs/maintenace, this contract is also a good fit for you.

I bought the MINI Extended Service contract for my 2005 R53 S(6 years or 100K miles whichever occurs first) for US$1,400 back in August 2007. So far, it has paid for new rear brakes, rotors, 45K mile oil service and today is paying for a brand new clutch kit and flywheel! My car has 51K miles, so it is out of warranty, but I decided to purchase the maintenance upgrade knowing that the OEM clutch and flywheel is a trouble spot in these cars.

My dealer charges around $125-$130 per hour labor rate. So considering that just replacing the clutch and flywheel is a 9-10 hour job, the final bill for this type of repair at the dealer is around US$2,600!!!

So far I have gotten out of my US$1,400 investment nearly US$4,000 worth of repairs and maintenace and I still have quite a bit of time before the contract expires.

I think this is money very well spent.

Wow.......you guys in the states certainly don't get as good a deal as we get over here..

That said your above post highlights exactly how these extended warranties and maintenance contracts should be viewed - over a period of time what will you spend knowing that's it and there won't be any nasty surprises or take the risk and suddenly 2 years down the line you are paying a big chunk of cash to fix one problem when you could have paid less overall and had all those other issues fixed (that aren't fixed) too..

This year (the 1st with the extended warranty) I've paid £500 and already had about £1000 and a bit in repairs - I still have aprox 4 months of that first years premium left too for anything else that may crop up - it's good value for money.................who wants to own one of these great cars and not have everything working 100% all the time - that would drive me totally nuts!!