Pre-Paid Service at Dealer on CPO'd M Roadster?

[jimmy335]

i bought my 06 M Roadster with 22K on it in October from the local dealer. As it is CPO'd it has service & warranty included thru Jan 2011. CPO warranty kicks in and runs me thru to 2013 (or 100k) with a $50 ded.

Question is to "prepay" service for $2500 which, Finance mgr., says will cover all service including brakes and clutch. (car was serviced today and reported brakes were at 70%). This would cover me thru 100K or 2013. I figure a brake job at the dealer will be close to $1500, oil changes and valve adjustment, brake flush etc will all be more than $2500 @ dealer if i go that route so it makes sense to prepay. Dealer service seems quality, very convenient, loaner cars etc.

However, could also get car serviced at independent shop which will be much cheaper if not as convenient.

Any experience out there? Am i right to expect $2500 in service costs from 50,000 to 100,000 miles; that is the operative question.

[dekaliber]

I believe you can get extended maintenance quotes from other BMW dealers. I don't know what their cost is, but you can see if they are willing to take a lower profit. IIRC there were people getting quotes around $1800, but I could be wrong.

What's the $50 deductible that you're referring to? I've never heard of such a thing with the CPO warranty.

[jbh]

I just purchased an 07 M and my CPO was the same way with the deductable. In fact my terms are very similar, CPO runs out in 2013.

I thought about it because of the valve job costs around $1000 to $1400 from what I have heard, so 2 valve jobs would pay for it but I did not know if I would have 2 done in that period. I do brakes myself and I can do oil so that was not part of my equation.

[LHB]

Check to see what the service indicator light says (the service indicator light will either say "Inspection" or "Oil Service" if it's been reset after Inspection 1). Just to be on the safe side, ask the dealership whether Inspection 1 has been done, and if so, if they can document that they did the valve adjustment, since at your mileage you're probably just a few miles in either side of the first Inspection.

You may have already had Inspection 1 done, in which case the next big one won't be for another 22k-30k miles. Inspection 1 and 2 are the very expensive maintenance issues (unless there's a problem, BMW will only pay for the valve adjustments at the supposedly 30k mile Inspection intervals). With the exception of the brakes. If you've already had Inspection 1, and you don't plan on putting more than 10k miles on the car per year during the next two years, the extended maintenance plan would probably not be a good value.

There seems to be some confusion among dealers who are not familiar with these cars about what the Inspections (as opposed to simple oil changes, ABS flushes,etc.) entail. I've encountered several cars that allegedly had Inspection 1 done, but could not document that the valve cover gasket had been replaced, nor were there any labor charges on the invoice for the valve adjustment. Maybe being overcautious, but I passed.

[AWM3]

I think $2500 for two years of service on a car which is not your daily driver is too much. I doubt you will get much value out of that. To me the only way that makes sense is if you plan on driving the car 25K miles per year or more.

[trsbmw]

Originally Posted by car62

I think $2500 for two years of service on a car which is not your daily driver is too much. I doubt you will get much value out of that. To me the only way that makes sense is if you plan on driving the car 25K miles per year or more.

Agree, a car not driven much greatly reduces the odds that some expensive maintenance item will pop up with-in the paid-for maintenance period.

If they offered some sort of mileage-based only warranty, I'd be all over that. But that will not happen, because the bottom line is, they are making money on those maintenance plans, otherwise they would not offer them.

[vicj]

Just takes some careful calculation. I have the maintenance plan. At 52,000 miles I got all the brakes and rotors replaced...free. That alone would have been over $2000. The next Inspection 2 is due in about 19000 miles, that will be a savings to me of another $1800 or so. Throw in another couple of free Oil services, about $175 each...and those are just things that will SURELY come up. Throw in a clutch, and the savings REALLY start to pile up.

I paid $2100 for the program. Seems worth it to me, at least for an M, where all the service is more expensive.

calculate how many miles you drive, vs. what the cost of the different services are at your dealership, along with how long you plan on keeping the car. If that adds up to less than what those same services would cost at your independent service center, than it's worth it. I've gotten the plan on both of my M cars, and just brake jobs always paid for the service plan in full. Of course, the dealerships are making these same calculations, so it can be a risk on Non-M cars. They also know that Americans tend to trade their cars early, so don't take advantage of the plan even if they DO pay for it. But for me, both times I purchased it, it more than paid for itself.

[Blind32]

Don't forget about your battery if it hasn't been replaced yet. Like others have said, it depends on how much you drive the car. Brakes, oil changes, inspection 2, valve adjustments, wiper refills, brake fluid flushes, Battery. It all adds up and depending on how many of these things you will need, determine if you will benefit from the extended maintenance. I am going to purchase it for my car since it is my daily driver and I put 15k on it a year.

[pokeybritches]

I think part of the way BMW makes money on the extended maintenance is by the number of M cars that get totaled before 100k miles.