BMW nightmare - your advice desperately needed!

Gloomendoom

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Hence the free parts and 1/3rd off labour. Anyway its just my opinion and I would have accepted it myself.

So would I.

bigjl

gzoom wrote: »

Sadly speaking from personal expereince BMW have some serious issues with manufacturing and component design.

The auto-box in my 335i was known to 'leak' due to a poorly designed/manufactured part. I noticed it whilst changing wheels one day, a nice pool of transmission fluid on the drive way. The local independent was so use to doing this job he had all the stuff in stock and did the required work on the day. Had I noticed this, there was a decent chance the transmission could have seized a due to lack of oil.

In BMWs eyes if your car is more than 3 years old, than it's 'old', and any part can fail as part of wear/tear.

Essentially, I wouldn't touch another BMW without an BMC approved warranty.

Hope you get it sorted out.

I would point out that the Autoboxes in your car might not be a BMW one. Not sure which models have which boxes exactly but the ZF box is used in many of them.

NeverEnough

motorguy wrote: »

Hmmm

Several things :-

• The transfer box was replaced over a year ago
• The car is 5 years old
• BMW are offering a contribution
• Its a £50,000 new extremely complex car with high running costs
• Common thinking is to buy them from a BMW dealer and get the AUC warranty and then keep extending it.

Personally,

• i'd appeal to BMW UK and see if they will up their offer
• See if the dealer will contribute (assuming its the same dealer)
• See if the dealer will do it at a reduced labour rate / parts rate.

Do what you can with the above, then accept their offer.

Get the full blown BMW AUC extended warranty on the car or i think its Mondial who do it for them and offer the same warranty.

Absolutely agree 100% from personal experience here, I have an X5 albeit far older (2005 4.8is) and have kept up the AUC warranty all the time I have pwned the car, in addition I have ensured that all services are done via the main dealer as this helps a LOT when goodwill contributions are being sought from BMW UK.

The Extended Warranty has been absolutely brilliant in my case, and for things not covered, I have generally managed to get BMW UK to provide generous goodwill contributions. All AUC buyers are given the optin to extend the warranty after that first year -if I had had problems with a transfer box etc in that first year I would definitely not have taken the chance of no warranty after the first year.

As Motorguy said, and most people forget, these vehciles cost around £50-80K new and their servicing and running costs don't suddently drop to FIesta prices just becuase they become older and less pricey to buy. I have loved my X5 and still love driving it -but will keep the extended warranty on it as long as I own it as everything that goes wrong is generally major expense.

bigjl

Expensive cars do indeed have expensive bills attached to them.

Have never rated the X5 or ML that highly to be honest as have heard plenty of horror stories.

I would expect a Range Rover Sport to have very similar running costs and repair costs, though I have heard of several occasions when Land Rover have contributed significantly to an out of warranty repair.

Good advice to continually renew the Warranty.

NeverEnough

As always, one is far more likely to hear of horror stories than of very happy, satisifed owners, that's just the way of the internet really!

I've owned a few large SUV /4x4 vehiciles, including a Range Rover- my experience of Land Rover main dealerships as well as Audi dealerships was that they were quite stuffy and unhelpful at that time.

BMW main dealers OTOH have been very helpful over the years I have owned the X5 and I have paid for very little really, other than servicing / tyre and brake costs, due to having the Extended Warranty and BMW chipping in a fair few times with goodwill contributions.
I would buy another BMW anyday, but always with that AUC warranty which is then extended after the first year ...........otherwise the old maxim of expensive cars have expensive running costs will be back to bite .......its just a case of when, not if!

motorguy

NeverEnough wrote: »

As always, one is far more likely to hear of horror stories than of very happy, satisifed owners, that's just the way of the internet really!

Less relevant given we're on a thread where the owner is in the middle of a horror story....

I'd be loathe to buy any high end car thats not either still under the manufacturers warranty, or is covered under an extended / extendable manufacturers warranty.

Just not worth the risk. The other plus is come resale time, it will be a lot more desirable if its got an extended and extendable manufacturers warranty on it.

NeverEnough

motorguy wrote: »

I'd be loathe to buy any high end car thats not either still under the manufacturers warranty, or is covered under an extended / extendable manufacturers warranty.

Just not worth the risk. The other plus is come resale time, it will be a lot more desirable if its got an extended and extendable manufacturers warranty on it.

It is a risk and I think one that is not always thought through by excited purchasers keen on buying a high end vehicle at a fraction of its new cost.......I will be keeping the extended warranty up on mine for as long as I own the car, selling it on is not such an issue as it is already 10 years old!

WobblyDog

It sounds like the manufacturers of expensive cars are making it quite difficult and risky to own one of their cars without an extended warranty from them. I guess it gives the car manufacturer a nice predictable income stream. With the rise of the various leasing options, do car manufacturers actually want to sell (rather than rent-out) cars anymore?

Iceweasel

WobblyDog wrote: »

It sounds like the manufacturers of expensive cars are making it quite difficult and risky to own one of their cars without an extended warranty from them. I guess it gives the car manufacturer a nice predictable income stream. With the rise of the various leasing options, do car manufacturers actually want to sell (rather than rent-out) cars anymore?

I think not - BMW for example do not actually administer the 'BMW Warranty' policies themselves.

In reality it's just an insurance policy that pays out for any repairs - not much to do with BMW actually.

I lifted this from the 1st page of my warranty book:

BMW Insured Warranty is underwritten by AGA International SA and is administered in the UK by Mondial Assistance (UK) Limited (Trading as BMW Insured Warranty Services), Registered in England No. 1710361. Registered Office 102 George Street, Croydon CR9 6HD.

I pay my monthly premium by DD to Mondial - so BMW get nothing from it except perhaps a little commission.