We don’t buy extended warranties but did advise my son to do so when he bought a used BMW. For @shawbridge it appears you can afford the warranty and you can also afford any repair that came up. So in my opinion it’s a toss up. What brand of car? My BMW had a lot of costly repairs before I replaced it at 65000 miles. The Mercedes I replaced it with has had no issues beyond oil change in the 4 years I’ve owned it.
Thanks all. @mom60, I also avoid extended warranties but this is an early 2014 BMW 335. Have had a problem with heating/AC. Windshield wipers. I don’t think of it as a particularly problematic car. But, I do know that anytime you do a repair on this kind of car, it is easily in the hundreds or over a thousand. before you work too hard.
The repair history recently hasn’t been bad, though there was water-related damage to the electrical system. For some reason, my auto insurance paid for that. But, I think it is safe to say that over the next three years, there is a healthy probability of an expensive repair.
@colorado_mom, I am having Tesla do solar cells and batteries for the house with a plan to switch to electric cars at some point, but I will wait on the new car for a while if I can. I like to hold the cars for at least 10 years (but used to only have Hondas and Acuras that last quite well). Indeed, I think we kept the last Honda and Acura for 13 and 14 years respectively. Not sure it would be wise to keep a BMW for 14 years.
Yea, we hold our cars a long time too. I drive a 2006 Odyssey (and the prior minivans was kept for 16 years). No extended warranty. I’m too worried that if I do have a repair I will be irate if it is something “not covered” .
Who is offering the warranty, the factory or is it a third party?
I got inundated with spam calls and emails trying to sell me an extended warranty when my car hit that age. Third party ones aren’t worth the paper they are printed on.
If it’s from BMW and if it’s exactly the same coverage as the first warranty, then maybe I’d consider it if the price was decent.
Looking at the CR reliability survey on the 2014 BMW 3-series, it seems like the trouble spots are:
- fuel system (but the owner comments are all from 328d (diesel) owners)
- drive system (but the owner comments are all from xDrive (AWD) owners)
- climate system (looks like you had that problem)
- also complaints about brake pads and batteries needing replacement sooner than owners expected
If you are adding solar, getting an EV seems like a natural fit. Your gasoline bill will drop to zero, and your home charging rate will be free from the sun.
A new Tesla is certainly worth a look, but might as well wait until battery day later this month to see what Elon is coming up with next. But note, teh Model 3 and Model Y drive much more sporty/firm than the Model S, which is more sedan-like. Since you have a Bimmer 3 series, a Tesla 3 or Y would feel similar.
full disclosure: purchased a Model 3 when they first came out, and the wife liked it so much, I had to get her one too.
@shawbridge
We’ve own a BMW since 2001. My first one is a 2001 325i. I got it via their European Delivery program. We kept it until last year when it finally died and was too expensive to repair. I miss this this car. I think this is the last generation (E46) of BMW 3 series, that the handling are really balanced. The newer BMWs are now too soft and “floaty”, imo.
It’s one of my guilty pleasures in life (this and travel) that I’m willing to cut back on other areas of our expenses just to drive one. People that haven’t driven a BMW sometimes don’t understand when BMW drivers talk about handling, precise steering, torque, center of gravity, etc. that makes them fun to drive, especially the 3 series.
Although, now a days, my main drive is a Tesla. But my wife has a 2018 BMW X1 and my daughter drives my old one (2016 3 series).
We didn’t buy any extended warranty on the 2001 but I bought an extended Service Warranty (scheduled service (change oil), wiper, break pad, rotor, cabin filters). That one I saved a lot of money since those are costly. We were lucky on this car. Aside from normal wear and tear, no real issues until 2016 or so. But we found a good independent BMW mechanic that charged us with fraction of the dealer’s cost to repair/service the car.
I bought a 3 year (I think ?) extended warranty for the 2016 3 series. So far, no issues on this car since we bought it. No extended warranty on the X1.
Also got the Model 3 last year and the handling is comparable to the 3 series. I still like the BMW 3 series’ handling a little bit better, but that’s just me.
Also planning to get solar panels soon.
I’m not Tesla expert but I do know that battery replacement can be mega $$$ with an electric vehicle. At what age/mileage does that become an issue?
Depends on the vehicle. In most cases, batteries can slowly lose capacity (and range) over time and use. Hot weather (especially with air cooled battery), fast charging, and charging to 100% full and draining to 0% on a frequent basis can cause faster capacity loss. Replacement would come when the owner no longer thinks that the capacity is high enough (probably more of an issue for short range electric vehicles).
Worst case would probably be an older Nissan Leaf (air cooled battery) used in Phoenix. However, Teslas (liquid cooled battery) still tend to have about 90% of original capacity at 160,000 miles, according to https://cleantechnica.com/2018/04/16/tesla-batteries-have-90-capacity-after-160000-miles-may-last-for-500000-miles/ .
I thought a problem with warranties, is that if you don’t do all the recommended maintenance and tuneups, they claim your warranty is no longer valid. So you’d be stuck doing whatever expensive tuneup they recommend. Is that correct?
Not sure how we got on the topic of warranties! But related to retirement…we like to keep our expenses to a minimum…or predictable. When we bought our last car, we did a prepaid maintenance to 100,000 miles. Since we have owned that car brand for two previous cars, we knew the costs of regular maintenance and things like the BIG check ups. The prepaid maintenance plan we bought was actually less total than we paid for the same services on two previous cars. Plus we figure the costs of labor and parts will just go up.
It’s nice to have that Bill all paid and not have to pay for car service each time we go to the dealer.
I think when they sell these service plans, they just hope you will never use them. Or will stop using them. That’s certainly not our plan.
Some of the cars get sold and the prepaid maintenance forgotten about. Some of the cars get crashed and scrapped.
I’d argue that a car owner SHOULD do recommended maintenance and tuneups regardless. That’s how you make a car last a long time. At least, that’s how we make our cars last a long time.
Either way, to be blunt, @shawbridge you obviously are in a very good place financially. I guess I wouldn’t sweat it too much. I think some like to by warranties to give them peace of mind for unexpected expenses. All unexpected expenses suck but when you have assets, it’s not a break or make moment.
Agreed on the BMW. I test drove other cars but always come back to BMW. No other cars are equal to the way the BMW feels. As a family we have had 4 new BMWs for over a period of 20 years. 3 X5’s and an X3. But when D19 started to drive I let her drive my 1 year old X3 and bought a Lexus for myself. I am not liking the lexus at all, wish I stuck with the family tradition.
My son will be driving in a year (with an adult) and by himself in 2 years. I want to give my Lexus to him and get a Tesla or an X5 again but he said he wouldn’t touch the Lexus with a ten foot pole. (It’s GX 460). It’s my dilemma, let him drive my Future Tesla for a year then take it back when he is off to college, or sell the Lexus and get him a different car, or let him walk if he didn’t want the Lexus.
@shawbridge what did you mean you didn’t have a garage for the Tesla? As for warranty, for a BMW specifically, it’s really not about in case something bad happens, it’s more like buying the services at whole sale price. In previous BMWs we didn’t buy the extension. But with the latest one my husband bought the extended warranty because it had a huge discount (seems like the same reason you are thinking about it now). The service for BMW is quite expensive. So, he calculated how many times he would have to bring in for service in 3 years, plus break changes, it comes out a little cheaper with the warranty package.
The Lexus GX is a more truck-ish SUV, similar to the Toyota 4Runner, where off-road and towing ability are improved at the expense of on-road ability that the BMW X5 and X3 emphasize.
We don’t do any of the recommended tuneups. We get the oil changed regularly, take care of the tires, and when it seems like there’s going to be a problem, we deal with it. Or don’t, and accept it’s broken. Hold onto our cars for a long time. Our oldest is a 1997. They want a lot of money for the tuneups, plus of course they recommend plenty of costs in things that just must be fixed. Funny, when you don’t do those expensive tuneups, things still rarely break.
Think of all the money we’ve saved towards retirement because of that.
Dealers often recommend much more service than that listed in the owner’s manual. So read the manual and specify exactly what is listed there, rather than falling for the service sales pitch that will try to sell services eight times more costly than what the manual says.
Also, dealers of expensive brands like BMW, Lexus, etc. charge a lot more for similar service than dealers of cheap brands like Chevrolet or Ford. If you have an expensive brand car, consider looking for independent shops specializing in the brand.
Thanks, @ucbalumnus, we just got a RAV4 Prime a couple of weeks ago, and they are already sending us messages to get the 5,000 mile service. It seems excessive, though I wonder if we don’t get that, if they aren’t going to honor the warranty if needed.
What do you drive? That is, if you own a car, seems many people don’t nowadays, with Uber and Lyft.
I’m going to start a thread about car warranties and service, etc.