[Saejin]

I've searched and can't seem to find a very clear consensus. On the XC90 forums there was a sticky for this, but it seems either BMW owners just don't buy these or not enough discussion around them.

I've never kept a vehicle longer than 4-5 years with the exception being an A4 Avant we owned and the only reason I kept it so long was I was overseas for 5 years with it. We returned to the US and kept it another 1 year before I traded it in...100,000+ miles. No major repairs I did except for the fuel pump that fails in every Audi and the steering was leaking.

But when I buy a new vehicle I always tell myself this will be the one we keep for 10 years...haha. However with the X7 M50i we have on order, we may just keep it for longer than 4 years/50,000 miles.

So, is the extended service contract and ultimate care plus worth it?

I did some digging on the maintenance intervals for the X7 and there doesn't seem to be a lot needed above oil changes, air filter changes, one spark plug change, and a few brake fluid changes. Is there anything more? If not, then why is the price for the Ultimate Care Plus so expensive...it does include brake replacement. It seems most of this I can do myself except for brake fluid.
quote I got below:
Maintenance (upgraded brakes included)
48 months/50k miles $1849
60 months/75k miles $3049
72 months/100k miles $4599
84 months/125k miles $5899

Do brake pads and rotors really cost that much? These aren't ceramic brakes. Is it labor?

Also, the extended service contract quotes are high, but possibly within reason given the tech in these vehicles and BMW labor rates.
Quote is below:
Platinum Warranty $0 deductible
60 months/75k miles $3200
60 months/100k miles $3650
72 months/75k miles $3900
72 months/100k miles $4450
84 months/75k miles $4550
84 months/100k miles $5600


I'm thinking of passing on the maintenance and just getting the Platinum Warranty 72 months/100k miles @ $4450

Thoughts?...would definitely like to hear from those who bought 2019's and if they've experienced any issues and others who have kept their cars past the original warranty.

I just don't want to run into a transmission or engine issue down the road and $5,000 bill. We're getting the M50i.

[huskerdoc2020]

It all comes down to this. No one likes to spend more money than they have to. However when owning a vehicle with as much that can go wrong as this vehicle, why not just pony up the bucks and get a zero deductible bumper-to-bumper for as long as you want to keep the car and call it good. It's a peace of mind and you never have to be pissed afterwards when you have to go in for any service. You'll forget about the extra money you spent after a couple weeks anyway. It really allows you to enjoy the vehicle and not have to worry about it.

[thenew3]

We plan on keeping our X7 until our youngest moves out (another 12+ years).
We picked up a 7 year 75k mile warranty from the dealer but it's through a 3rd party, not directly from BMWUSA.
There warranty covered basically all except normal wear items and has a $200 deductible per visit. We paid $2400 for it, and the dealer threw in a lifetime free oil change policy with it. (2x oil change per year for as long as I own the car).

We've had good luck with our german vehicles over the last 25 years. No major issues including a 1999 BMW 328i E46 we put 175k miles on before selling. But we got the warranty just in case there's a major break down. The free oil service basically will pay for the cost of the warranty.

If you have the M sport brakes (I have them) a set of OEM pads and rotors for the front and back costs about $1500 before labor. These big heavy vehicles tends to chew through brakes very quickly. You can probably get away with a set of brakes for $2000 including labor at a non-dealership shop using OEM parts, or a bit less using 3rd party parts.

[Saejin]

Originally Posted by huskerdoc2020

It all comes down to this...

True...the 72/100K makes the most sense for us. And I'm already dropping $100K plus on this beast what's another $4500.

[Saejin]

Wow, $2000 to replace pads and rotors...ouch. Guess that's why the maintenance plan is so expensive. According to the sheet they sent me, pads get replaced every 30,000 miles and rotors on an as needed basis. What I didn't ask is if there was a limit on the number of times they can be replaced or is it set at every 30,000 regardless of condition. The XC90 plan would only do pad and rotor replacement 2 times for the life of the warranty.

The reluctance for me is wanting to get both which means another $9,000...erasing a good portion of the discount I got on the car.
But if I keep it for 90,000 miles and do at least three pad and rotor (may not need to replace these every 30k miles) replacements that's over $6,000 not accounting for increased costs down the road for this. Add in everything else that free and it pretty much pays for itself.

[thenew3]

Originally Posted by Saejin

Wow, $2000 to replace pads and rotors...ouch. Guess that's why the maintenance plan is so expensive. According to the sheet they sent me, pads get replaced every 30,000 miles and rotors on an as needed basis. What I didn't ask is if there was a limit on the number of times they can be replaced or is it set at every 30,000 regardless of condition. The XC90 plan would only do pad and rotor replacement 2 times for the life of the warranty.

The reluctance for me is wanting to get both which means another $9,000...erasing a good portion of the discount I got on the car.
But if I keep it for 90,000 miles and do at least three pad and rotor (may not need to replace these every 30k miles) replacements that's over $6,000 not accounting for increased costs down the road for this. Add in everything else that free and it pretty much pays for itself.

Every BMW/MB/Audi/VW I've owned had to have pad and rotor replaced at the same time. The $2k is for both front and rear pads/rotor and labor from a 3rd party shop.

I don't know how many times the BMW plan will cover rotor/pad changes. You might ask your dealer for the fine prints.

I plan to do pads/rotors myself, as well as brake flushes. Will do it with the kids (to teach them a little about cars) and my brother (who has all the tools and experience).

I don't drive much anymore so 30k miles will likely take me 5 or 6 years to reach.

[Saejin]

So here's an interesting thing I found. I was on the BMW site looking for more info and it seems you can get the pricing on these plans there...MSRP of course.

Here's what the BMW site listed for the maintenance plan compared to what was quoted to me through a post referral on this site stating forum members would get a discount.
48 months/50k miles $1849 ----->$1399
60 months/75k miles $3049 ----->$2799
72 months/100k miles $4599 ----->$4299
84 months/125k miles $5899 ----->$5749

[Tinbad]

$9000 ouch. I'd say pocket it, put it in an index fund and take it out once your first major maintenance comes (no earlier than 2/3 years or 30/40k miles anyway since first 3 services are included).

I understand the piece of mind but $9000 is a lot and you can get a lot of maintenance/repairs for it you may not even spend that much over the lifetime of owning it.

[ducatiti]

I guess I didn't negotiate hard enough as I purchased the following:

BMW Platinum - 84 months @ 75k miles for $6700
BMW maintenance - 60 months @ 75k miles for $3799

Yes, I wanted peace of mind but I paid a bit too much. I don't even have M brakes. I was told I can cancel/return but don't know which one to keep. Who do we call to cancel, stealership or BMW USA?

But again, 7 year warranty does sound very tempting

Also, I have done brakes for VW's, BMW's, and Honda's. I'm not sure how difficult it is to replace the brakes for the X7.

[Saejin]

Originally Posted by ducatiti

I guess I didn't negotiate hard enough as I purchased the following:

BMW Platinum - 84 months @ 75k miles for $6700
BMW maintenance - 60 months @ 75k miles for $3799

Yes, I wanted peace of mind but I paid a bit too much. I don't even have M brakes. I was told I can cancel/return but don't know which one to keep. Who do we call to cancel, stealership or BMW USA?

But again, 7 year warranty does sound very tempting

Also, I have done brakes for VW's, BMW's, and Honda's. I'm not sure how difficult it is to replace the brakes for the X7.

That’s too much...over MSRP. I’d cancel and then buy again...or take these quotes in and have them issue a refund. You can cancel anytime and definitely get full refund if it hasn’t been too long. You have to cancel through the dealership...they get a kickback from BMW maybe and then whatever they charged you over cost as profit. When you cancel they have to give all that back, so they will probably negotiate with you. Acura did with me when I requested to cancel...they ended up issuing a $500 refund and took the warranty to $0 deductible. I then traded the car in 2 years later, requested to cancel, and they were pissed. Will never deal with that dealership again and will probably never buy an Acura again.

I bought warranty and extended maintenance for our XC90. $6600 in total for both back in April 2019. Got a full refund for maintenance since I didn’t use any service visits and about 90% of the extended warranty. I’m getting back $5900 which I will put towards the BMW products.

In my previous post I thought the dealer was overcharging for the maintence but there is a $700 charge that covers brakes, wipers, and clutch for the first 4yr/50k of the warranty and then +1, +2, +3, and +4 prices are added.
I’d make sure your warranty includes the brakes as well. I’m sure it does.

Also, got some additional answers from my POC.
For brakes, there are no limits on how many times pads and rotors can be changed...however it's up to the service department to determine if they need to be replaced.
You can cancel both and get a refund...prorated depending on miles of the vehicle
Maintenance plan is transferable to a new owner, but extended warranty is not

So for a grand total of $9,049 your new X7 will fully covered to include all maintenance visits, brake pads, rotors, filters, oil, etc for 6 years or 100,000miles, whichever comes first. Given the cost of pad and rotor replacement being $2000 a pop, not factoring in inflation or typical cost increases, and you can probably expect at least 3 full replacements occurring before 100,000 miles that's already $6000. And then 7 service visits after the first included ones may be in the neighborhood of $2000 or more...really not sure how much oil changes are or brake fluid changes are, but given it's BMW probably not cheap.

With that said if you keep the car for 100K miles you'll at least have to pay $8000 for service and brakes. $1000 more for peace of mind and full warranty coverage to 100K is pretty cheap.

This only makes financial sense if you get to 100k miles first before 6 years. If you hit 6 years but only have 60K miles, then you lose out some.
Also, it's great that's its refundable, but once you get past 50,000 you don't get much back on the prorated refund.

[ducatiti]

Originally Posted by Saejin

That’s too much...over MSRP. I’d cancel and then buy again...or take these quotes in and have them issue a refund. You can cancel anytime and definitely get full refund if it hasn’t been too long. You have to cancel through the dealership...they get a kickback from BMW maybe and then whatever they charged you over cost as profit. When you cancel they have to give all that back, so they will probably negotiate with you. Acura did with me when I requested to cancel...they ended up issuing a $500 refund and took the warranty to $0 deductible. I then traded the car in 2 years later, requested to cancel, and they were pissed. Will never deal with that dealership again and will probably never buy an Acura again.

I bought warranty and extended maintenance for our XC90. $6600 in total for both back in April 2019. Got a full refund for maintenance since I didn’t use any service visits and about 90% of the extended warranty. I’m getting back $5900 which I will put towards the BMW products.

In my previous post I thought the dealer was overcharging for the maintence but there is a $700 charge that covers brakes, wipers, and clutch for the first 4yr/50k of the warranty and then +1, +2, +3, and +4 prices are added.
I’d make sure your warranty includes the brakes as well. I’m sure it does.

Also, got some additional answers from my POC.
For brakes, there are no limits on how many times pads and rotors can be changed...however it's up to the service department to determine if they need to be replaced.
You can cancel both and get a refund...prorated depending on miles of the vehicle
Maintenance plan is transferable to a new owner, but extended warranty is not

So for a grand total of $9,049 your new X7 will fully covered to include all maintenance visits, brake pads, rotors, filters, oil, etc for 6 years or 100,000miles, whichever comes first. Given the cost of pad and rotor replacement being $2000 a pop, not factoring in inflation or typical cost increases, and you can probably expect at least 3 full replacements occurring before 100,000 miles that's already $6000. And then 7 service visits after the first included ones may be in the neighborhood of $2000 or more...really not sure how much oil changes are or brake fluid changes are, but given it's BMW probably not cheap.

With that said if you keep the car for 100K miles you'll at least have to pay $8000 for service and brakes. $1000 more for peace of mind and full warranty coverage to 100K is pretty cheap.

This only makes financial sense if you get to 100k miles first before 6 years. If you hit 6 years but only have 60K miles, then you lose out some.
Also, it's great that's its refundable, but once you get past 50,000 you don't get much back on the prorated refund.

Thanks for your input. I'm definitely considering to return both plans but where can I find the retail prices for these? When I was purchasing the X7, I was told by the financial dude that I'm already getting these at discounted pricing. Does it vary from state to state?

[malba2366]

Originally Posted by ducatiti

Thanks for your input. I'm definitely considering to return both plans but where can I find the retail prices for these? When I was purchasing the X7, I was told by the financial dude that I'm already getting these at discounted pricing. Does it vary from state to state?

Get rid of the extended warranty. Look into Geico insurance, they have an excellent mechanical breakdown insurance add on that is very cheap and covers the car up to 7 years and 100K miles. I have used it a few times and they always have paid the dealer quickly for repairs without any headaches.

[Saejin]

Originally Posted by ducatiti

Thanks for your input. I'm definitely considering to return both plans but where can I find the retail prices for these? When I was purchasing the X7, I was told by the financial dude that I'm already getting these at discounted pricing. Does it vary from state to state?

Sent you a DM.

Doesn't vary from state to state. It's just some dealers mark it up more than other. Typically all dealers just start at MSRP and offer a discount...they usually show a price book of some sort saying here's our pricing and then here's what discount we're giving you...it's the best deal around. I call BS most of the time, opt not to take it, then jump on a forum and find a dealer willing to discount a bit more. It's better to get the forum advice prior. You can buy both up until the original warranty runs out, but it costs more at that time. Some dealers will even say you can only buy it at the time of vehicle purchase and if you try and buy it later it will be more expensive or you can't buy it at all...again BS.

These are all the games played by the mainstream vehicle dealerships where profit is their number one motive above all else. At the luxury car level they typically don't do this as they are more focused on customer loyalty and return business. But, sales advisors, mangers, and finance directors bounce around between different dealerships and bring along with them these games.

May not be everyone's experience, but it sure has been mine.

[Saejin]

Originally Posted by malba2366

Get rid of the extended warranty. Look into Geico insurance, they have an excellent mechanical breakdown insurance add on that is very cheap and covers the car up to 7 years and 100K miles. I have used it a few times and they always have paid the dealer quickly for repairs without any headaches.

So I did my Geico quote on the X7 just to see what the price would be when we pick it up and add it to our policy in Dec. Wow, didn't expect such a large increase...about $100 more per month than what we were paying with our XC90. But then again, the X7 costs twice as much. I did some adjusting with the deductibles and mileage and was able to get I back to similar pricing.

However, Geico on the quote added in the mechanical breakdown coverage for $110/month with a $250 deductible. The requirement to get it was the car had to have less than 15,000 miles and have been purchased within the last 15 months. This makes zero sense to me...why would I have to pay this monthly charge as clearly the vehicle is still covered under manufactures warranty.

So if I started paying for it now and if there are no changes in pricing I would have to pay it for possibly 4 years before I could use it after my original warranty expires. That means paying in $5280 before it can be used. This is close to the cost of the BMW Extended warranty which will take me out to 7years and 125K miles.

Am I missing something here?

[malba2366]

Then not worth it. In my Geico quote the MBI is $44 per 6 months.

[malba2366]

Then not worth it. In my Geico quote the MBI is $44 per 6 months.

[Saejin]

Originally Posted by malba2366

Then not worth it. In my Geico quote the MBI is $44 per 6 months.

I'm gonna have to call Geico. So you're saying your MBI is $44 for the entire 6 months.

My quote says $642 for six months.

Doesn't quite add up on my end...$44 would make more sense given the vehicle is still under warranty and you probably won't even use the Geico MBI.

[malba2366]

Originally Posted by Saejin

I'm gonna have to call Geico. So you're saying your MBI is $44 for the entire 6 months.

My quote says $642 for six months.

Doesn't quite add up on my end...$44 would make more sense given the vehicle is still under warranty and you probably won't even use the Geico MBI.

642 is for the auto insurance and the MBI, correct? Just the MBI portion for me is actually $15 per 6 months (I was looking at my Audi which just went out of warranty and the MBI for that car is $44). From past experience the MBI portion doubles when the warranty ends and is about 4x the original at 7 years - this is just the MBI part, not the entire policy. You can't just get the MBI, you have to insure the vehicle with Geico.

[Saejin]

Originally Posted by malba2366

642 is for the auto insurance and the MBI, correct? Just the MBI portion for me is actually $15 per 6 months (I was looking at my Audi which just went out of warranty and the MBI for that car is $44). From past experience the MBI portion doubles when the warranty ends and is about 4x the original at 7 years - this is just the MBI part, not the entire policy. You can't just get the MBI, you have to insure the vehicle with Geico.

Quick update. I added a VIN for a similar build and the price went down, but still not $15 per six months. It comes to $204 for the six months of the policy, so $34 a month. Not bad now.

[malba2366]

Originally Posted by Saejin

Quick update. I added a VIN for a similar build and the price went down, but still not $15 per six months. It comes to $204 for the six months of the policy, so $34 a month. Not bad now.

No idea why it is so high for you. Could be location related, insurance is always regulated by the state.

[Tinbad]

Wow that IS high! I'm in Northern CA and my price is $60 for 6 months with $250 deductible.

[ducatiti]

Are the batteries included in the extended maintenance plan? Any other consumables besides the wiper and brakes/rotors?