Warranty extension...

[former member]

I extended our warranty last year on the M135i; I normally avoid these insured warranties but it came highly recommended and was £360 with a £500 excess.

Now it’s coming up again it’s a Jan 14 car: 63 plate); a bit more than £400, same excess. Mileage is 41k, we look after it very well indeed.

The car has been ultra reliable but has some expensive parts; engine, gearbox, etc.

Yeah or nay?

 

[Tourershine]

Having owned several BMWs that have ran out of warranty, and learning the hard way about the cost of parts that can go wrong, I'd bite the bullet and pay the cost. Just look at it as a running cost. You won't need telling it's better to have the warranty than not, and a single trip fixing just a minor fault can easily run into several hundred pounds.
(Bet my neighbour wishes he had taken it out with his Audi)

 

[former member]

I was lucky with our 335d; no faults in six years.
I’m still not sure!

 

[Tourershine]

My 5 series went wrong in a big way at 5 years old, and I ended up getting rid of it. I loved that car. 2006 535d tourer. Most comfortable car I've ever owned.

 

[former member]

My 5 series went wrong in a big way at 5 years old, and I ended up getting rid of it. I loved that car. 2006 535d tourer. Most comfortable car I've ever owned.

Weirdly my inlaws bought a new one (535d but touring) in that year and had loads of issues with it so returned it! Got an X5 instead with is still going strong 11 years later.
Mine was a 2006 too but was just bulletproof. Also very comfortable and damned speedy too!

But the M135i is definitely more fun and significantly faster although less relaxed. We drove it to Germany and had a blast in the Black Mountains.

 

[Tourershine]

A good friend of mine had the same M135i and had a load of engine work done to it. I took it out for a blast and it seemed to squat on the floor and sit sideways with pure ease. (Proper old school driving)
A lot of fun, and more than capable of making even an amateur drifter like me look like a hero.

 

[former member]

A good friend of mine had the same M135i and had a load of engine work done to it. I took it out for a blast and it seemed to squat on the floor and sit sideways with pure ease. (Proper old school driving)
A lot of fun, and more than capable of making even an amateur drifter like me look like a hero.

For the tuning brigade, well over 400bhp is easy to achieve. But 320bhp/350lbs/ft (the same torque as the van! apparently also usually about 20bhp more if run in and well looked after) is plenty and we want it to last! Still feels damned quick to me and we've had it almost four years. It was great at Bedford West. The pilot could do with a bit more training though...

 

[PukkaT6]

Warranty all day long for me.

The fact is despite you paying the first £900 towards the claim even a faulty gearbox would cost an absolute fortune to replace.

 

[former member]

Just taken it out - excess is £250 not £500 making it better value than I'd thought.
Not sure about anyone else but having just bought and done up a house, been utterly hammered with a painful corporation tax bill, personal tax bills we've never had to pay before (the government seems to have invented a new tax system that's hit many business owners), tax, MOT and insurance for two cars (the Subaru is painful to tax!) and so on I may have to consider hunting and foraging for food for a few months....!

 

[Silverfox]

A good friend of mine had the same M135i and had a load of engine work done to it. I took it out for a blast and it seemed to squat on the floor and sit sideways with pure ease. (Proper old school driving)
A lot of fun, and more than capable of making even an amateur drifter like me look like a hero.

Had one on a two year lease,before I bought the T6.
TheM135i is so much fun,like you say drifting is a doddle,but can bite you in backside if you try to be to much of an hero.
Took it on a trackday,and couldn't believe how planted it was,and that was in torrential rain.
All in all, a cracking little tourer and sounds lovely in sport mode,which I could afford the both, like @Polzeylad.

 

[Buster]

How old does the van have to be before you can extend the warranty

 

[former member]

How old does the van have to be before you can extend the warranty

Up to three MONTHS old to qualify for the proper VW extension. Loads have missed out on it.

 

[Phil_G]

Some garages refuse 'aftermarket warranty' work as it's so difficult for them to recover payment from the insurer

 

[former member]

Some garages refuse 'aftermarket warranty' work as it's so difficult for them to recover payment from the insurer

I’d be a bit narked if my BMW branded warranty was refused by BMW!!

 

[Phil_G]

Sorry thats not what I meant by an aftermarket warranty
It's not the oem it's the 3rd party warranties such as the ones offered by used car dealers..... reluctant to pay as are most insurers

 

[former member]

Well I took out One on and old Astra and it was total and utter pants; Warranty Direct; never again.
IMO most are just a total rip off but the BM one, despite being insured (Allianz), is a BM endorsed product and £400 for full cover and BMW assist breakdown cover seems quite reasonable.

 

[chriscroft]

Took one out on the T5 just for year 4, has had lots of problems with the T5 early days. The VW warrantee cost nearly £1000. I was doing 30,000 miles a year at the time. Within 1 month the cam went on the 174hp engine, it would have cost about £2500 for a new cam. So i got my cash back and then some. A couple of months later had a drive shaft go on the drivers side, and VW just refuses to pay out. VW UK are complete crooks imo.
Fortunately never really had another problem.
I guess if the BMW M135's don't have many common problems (unlike the early T5) I might not bother; but if there are some common failures of expensive bits I guess the £360 saved and £500 excess won't get you very far when labour rates are £100/hr plus in many high end franchised dealerships.

 

[former member]

Took one out on the T5 just for year 4, has had lots of problems with the T5 early days. The VW warrantee cost nearly £1000. I was doing 30,000 miles a year at the time. Within 1 month the cam went on the 174hp engine, it would have cost about £2500 for a new cam. So i got my cash back and then some. A couple of months later had a drive shaft go on the drivers side, and VW just refuses to pay out. VW UK are complete crooks imo.
Fortunately never really had another problem.
I guess if the BMW M135's don't have many common problems (unlike the early T5) I might not bother; but if there are some common failures of expensive bits I guess the £360 saved and £500 excess won't get you very far when labour rates are £100/hr plus in many high end franchised dealerships.

I realised it's just a £250 excess and it has breakdown cover (which would be £100+) so it's not bad really.
Very few issues with them - a few minor recalls but all done under warranty. The gearbox seems very strong (ZF8 auto) too but I want to be sure. Probably won't bother with it next year if we still have it. The engine, gearbox and I-drive system are the things that would cost a shed load if they failed.

I reckon my T5.1 Cali had AT LEAST £15k of warranty work done on it, probably more. The extended warranty then was absolutely USELESS! It's now pretty impressive.

 

[chriscroft]

I realised it's just a £250 excess and it has breakdown cover (which would be £100+) so it's not bad really.
Very few issues with them - a few minor recalls but all done under warranty. The gearbox seems very strong (ZF8 auto) too but I want to be sure. Probably won't bother with it next year if we still have it. The engine, gearbox and I-drive system are the things that would cost a shed load if they failed.

I reckon my T5.1 Cali had AT LEAST £15k of warranty work done on it, probably more. The extended warranty then was absolutely USELESS! It's now pretty impressive.

WOW £15k, thats a lot of problems, I've been pretty close to taking a base ball bat with me to the VW dealers to sort out the issues; Not sure how I would have felt with those issues?

 

[former member]

WOW £15k, thats a lot of problems, I've been pretty close to taking a base ball bat with me to the VW dealers to sort out the issues; Not sure how I would have felt with those issues?

This is what I can remember; there'll be plenty I've forgotten...

Replacement steering column
New rear diff
3 EGR valve replacements and a new ECU (we didn't have it for 11 weeks...)
Roof corrosion done TWICE.
New roof control unit.
Broken butterfly latch on the window - snapped in my hand.
Machine polish after the dealer utterly destroyed the paint "washing" it.

And more that I've forgotten.

To date with the T6

Broken auto boot latch (took 3 months to sort...)
Rattly awning.
Replacement "California" courtesy door lights.
£200 towards new tyres - ours wore VERY quickly.
£50 from the AA after dismal VW assist service in Europe.

And it's going in for very uneven brake pad wear on the 23rd January.

Not toooo bad so far...! It's two years old in April, 9700 miles.