[Oxygen Thief]

I'm after some advice from long term owners of a LCI 330d.

I've had my 09 LCI 330d Auto for just under a year now and my AUC warranty is just about to expire. I've received the reminder from BMW offering me their warranty.

The car currently has 72k miles on the clock and I do approximately 20k a year. In the last year I've only had to replace consumables (tyres, brake pads, wiper blades). So, is it worth me forking out almost a grand for a comprehensive warranty? Or, do I take the risk that nothing will go wrong and if it does find a good BMW indy?

Phil

[blues n twos]

Wow that is a lot of dosh!!

Mine expires in June 2014 and it was £670 for the year. The warranty is a peace of mind insurance policy so if you decide not to renew then you will have to stump up for repairs.

Your car has been faultless and long may it continue to be so. Only you can decide at the end of the day. Put £1000 under your mattress and if you have another year without issue you will be quids in

I have had £3000 of warranty work done on my folding roof and another £500 having a gearbox and engine oil leak repaired as well as electric mirror motor. I am quids in and thank god for the warranty. Could you afford not to have one?

Jon

[AzRiz]

A grand? Can be done for about £45/month at: https://www.bmw-warranty.co.uk by removing the breakdown cover and other tweaks.

I was going to purchase this on my 330d LCI but have decided that instead of gambling over £500/year, I'd rather keep that money and spend it if/when something does go wrong. It may well be cheaper to have the warranty IF something big goes wrong, but at 40k miles on a 3-year-old car, I'm hoping for a reasonably trouble-free experience for the next 3 years that I plan to own this car. Just my view.

EDIT: I would USUALLY say yes to a warranty, especially at 60+k miles. Maybe I'll take out the warranty when I hit that sort of mileage.

EDIT 2: PLUS I know very capable people that can take care of most labour for me at prices far cheaper than stealerships and specialists.

[SO8]

I had an extended warranty on my 330d LCI but cancelled it after I mapped it. Nothing has gone wrong with the car at all in 3 years of ownership and as mapped I didn't see the point of continuing it when they won't cover it anyway :-)

[Kerr]

Over £1000 seem an awful lot.

I thought it was only the M cars that were over £1000?

[Oxygen Thief]

Originally Posted by AzRiz

A grand? Can be done for about £45/month at: https://www.bmw-warranty.co.uk by removing the breakdown cover and other tweaks.

Originally Posted by Kerr

Over £1000 seem an awful lot.

I thought it was only the M cars that were over £1000?

It actually breaks down as 959.91 for comprehensive without emergency service. That's 88.49 a month, the only way I can get it down to 42.61 a month is if I bump up the excess to 250. I'm not a big fan of having a large excess as murphy's law says I'll end up with multiple claims under the excess limit.

The named component is 791.57 and the Driveline only is 540.26. I don't need the emergency service so have discounted that straight off.

[BarrySt]

try warrantywise, seems to offer same cover plus unreasonable wear and tear and AA recovery

[AlanQS]

The higher price is because of your mileage but note that the BMW warranty does not cover the DPF but WarrantyWise does.

One point in the favour of the BMW warranty is that a BMW dealer accepts it straight away and they bill Mondial insurance. With the others you will probably have to pay the dealer first and then recover the money from your warranty company.

I have taken out the BMW warranty for three years now and paid the no excess extra and wouldn't you know, not a single claim in the entire time!

[ComputerKnowHow]

Like all insurance, you only realise the benefit if you have to claim! I once had a 'regular' service on my E90 320d (oil, various filters) and the dealer found a faulty pump and a mounting bracket that was broken and was covered under the comprehensive warranty.

As I had the warranty and it was going to take a week to repair, the dealer sorted everything, loaned me a 520d for the duration and all I had to pay was the regular service items and £100 excess. I understand the actual bill came to around £3000.

I also had the traction control unit replaced (before a 'fix' became available) and both headlamp units replaced due to excessive fogging under insured warranty.

It all contributed to a goodwill gesture from BMW that fixed the split fuel breather pipe free (when you fill with diesel it leaks) of charge to me.

I recently traded my E90 on 112k miles and I would say I broke even. It did save me from unexpected bills though, and if I'd had a major issue such as turbo failure then I think I'd have been very glad of it.

[Rudz]

I would definitely get warranty for peace of mind, I've had to make use of it just recently when the crankshaft seals gave up, it was a gearbox out job, would've cost me £750 in labour plus parts had I not had warranty, on my old car I had the clutch and flywheel replaced, breather pipe replaced etc All big money jobs, it's the luck of the draw isn't it ? I'd be wary in ur case cos of the timing chain issues on the lci 330d?

[ukbeemerboy]

Originally Posted by Rudz

I would definitely get warranty for peace of mind, I've had to make use of it just recently when the crankshaft seals gave up, it was a gearbox out job, would've cost me £750 in labour plus parts had I not had warranty, on my old car I had the clutch and flywheel replaced, breather pipe replaced etc All big money jobs, it's the luck of the draw isn't it ? I'd be wary in ur case cos of the timing chain issues on the lci 330d?

Timing chain issues? I've heard of that on the 320d but not 330d.....

[Rudz]

Originally Posted by ukbeemerboy

Timing chain issues? I've heard of that on the 320d but not 330d.....

The N57 block on the lci 330d reportedly has the same timing chain issues as the N47 block on the 320d unfortunately...

[Oxygen Thief]

Originally Posted by Rudz

The N57 block on the lci 330d reportedly has the same timing chain issues as the N47 block on the 320d unfortunately...

Ok, now you've got me slightly worried. I hadn't heard anything about the 330d having the same problems?

[Rudz]

Originally Posted by Oxygen Thief

Ok, now you've got me slightly worried. I hadn't heard anything about the 330d having the same problems?

Sorry mate, my intention was not to cause worry, this was an issue in a relatively small number of lci 330d's, it's been discussed at length on this forum, here is one thread that describes the problem

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=608330

[sylonien]

Mine's running out soon too, warranty direct or BMW... can't decide :/

[Rudz]

Originally Posted by sylonien

Mine's running out soon too, warranty direct or BMW... can't decide :/

BMW for sure, readup reviews on warranty direct, u'll know why, most are unfavourable

[sylonien]

BMW Comprehensive, £250 excess and Emergency Service

£1078.61 per year

Only worry is that I have a decat x-pipe installed.
Will they get funny about that or do I have to go through the trouble of
removing it before taking it in for anything.

But then it says under WHAT IS NOT COVERED:

• All exhaust components (except catalytic converter)

And if anything goes on my DCT gearbox, does that mean its covered either:

• Brake and clutch facings

And the usual debate, £1000 per year. Touch wood all these years I've not had
any issues with my cars as they're all very new.

If I've done it since the beginning.
I would have paid over £4000 for nothing.

Enough to fix most common issues on my car i think.

Dilema. Of course some people aren't so lucky and had quite a few issues.

[Rudz]

Originally Posted by sylonien

BMW Comprehensive, £250 excess and Emergency Service

£1078.61 per year

Only worry is that I have a decat x-pipe installed.
Will they get funny about that or do I have to go through the trouble of
removing it before taking it in for anything.

But then it says under WHAT IS NOT COVERED:

• All exhaust components (except catalytic converter)

And if anything goes on my DCT gearbox, does that mean its covered either:

• Brake and clutch facings

And the usual debate, £1000 per year. Touch wood all these years I've not had
any issues with my cars as they're all very new.

If I've done it since the beginning.
I would have paid over £4000 for nothing.

Enough to fix most common issues on my car i think.

Dilema. Of course some people aren't so lucky and had quite a few issues.

f**k me, have the prices shot up ? I was negotiating an extra year's warranty with the dealers whilst I was looking for an M3, I was told it was going to cost me £500 something ? This was for a pre-lci DCT M3 ? A grand with £250 excess is a bit much mate, something's not right mate ? Have you tried Named component warranty, that is comprehensive enough and covers most expensive parts like gearbox, clutch, engine etc

[ukbeemerboy]

It depends on your cars current mileage and age... I did mine in November and with no excess on the top cover with breakdown it was £423 a year... My car only has 35k miles on it and is just over 4 years old though.

[Kerr]

Originally Posted by Rudz

f**k me, have the prices shot up ? I was negotiating an extra year's warranty with the dealers whilst I was looking for an M3, I was told it was going to cost me £500 something ? This was for a pre-lci DCT M3 ? A grand with £250 excess is a bit much mate, something's not right mate ? Have you tried Named component warranty, that is comprehensive enough and covers most expensive parts like gearbox, clutch, engine etc

Any time I've tried a M3 or a Z4M it was always over £1000. The Z4M only had 18, 000 miles and was over £1200.

I would think twice at over £1000. Obviously it is an insurance policy and the money taken in will be more than the money paid out. Law of averages says you won't be shelling out £1000+ excess on repairs every year.

At under £400 it is a small enough amount of money to not miss it enough for taking away the risk.

In my 2.5 years of extended warranty I've not had a single thing done.

At over £1000 it almost seems worth the risk to keep the money in the bank and hope you are not unlucky.

[Oxygen Thief]

Originally Posted by Kerr

Any time I've tried a M3 or a Z4M it was always over £1000. The Z4M only had 18, 000 miles and was over £1200.

I would think twice at over £1000. Obviously it is an insurance policy and the money taken in will be more than the money paid out. Law of averages says you won't be shelling out £1000+ excess on repairs every year.

At under £400 it is a small enough amount of money to not miss it enough for taking away the risk.

In my 2.5 years of extended warranty I've not had a single thing done.

At over £1000 it almost seems worth the risk to keep the money in the bank and hope you are not unlucky.

Kerr,

You're thinking along the same lines as myself. I'm thinking I might just risk it without a warranty. The added advantage is that if I eventually do decide to pull the trigger on a remap then I don't need to worry about any warranty issues IF something goes wrong.

Phil.

[rawbhp]

Over a grand seems a lot-recently renewed mine on a 2007 335i with over 60k miles and it was around £700. It only takes one relatively small issue to put the repair cost over that...