Re: Need extended warranty advice

["shawn . moyer" <shawn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jim Isebrand wrote:
> 
> I recently purchased a 1998 528i with 47,800 miles on it.  The car is in
> fantastic condition and I just had it thoroughly gone over by European
> Motorsports in Des Moines, Iowa.  In order to take the best care of this car,
> I'm considering an extended warranty and I'd like advice from you readers out
> there to point me in the right direction.  Any advice or help will be greatly
> appreciated.  I'd just as soon you respond directly to me at:
> jimi3@domain.elided

I bought mine on the net -- most manufacturer extended warranties (BMW's
included), tend to be pricey and have limited coverage at best.

The two big companies, WarrantyByNet (http://www.warrantybynet.com) and
WarrantyDirect (http://warrantydirect.com), are a bit higher than some
of the others, but aren't bad.

I bought mine (97 328is) from Platinum Warranty -- $1300 for 4 yrs. /
36K, zero deductible, enhanced powertrain. They just covered $4k in
transmission repairs, so it's already paid for itself.

With a 98, if you look around a bit, you should be able to find one
that's Bumper-to-Bumper. My wife's car is a 98, and I found her a
Bumper-to-Bumper at http://www.ccwarranty.com -- usually the car has to
be still under the manufacturer's warranty to do this, but for my wife's
car, this company will give a bumper-to-bumper for any car newer than 98
with less than 60K miles.


Things to watch for:

"Wear and tear" versus "breakage" -- many warranties won't cover "wear
and tear", and will use this to weasel out of covering a repair. Make
sure seals and gaskets are also covered.

Exclusionary versus specific coverage: try to find one that specifies
what they *don't* cover as opposed to what they *do*. If you have a
"specified coverage" warranty and something not covered causes a covered
part to fail, you're S.O.L.

When coverage starts  -- manufacturer warranties start from the date of
purchase ("in-service date") on the car, and some extended do as well.
Make sure you're comparing apples to apples, since some extended
warranties start from the ISD and some from the date of warranty
purchase.

Deductibles -- try to get a zero deductible if possible. If you don't,
make sure that the deductible is per incident and not per repair /
visit.

How they pay -- 90% of extended warranties pay the shop directly by
credit card. Some will reimburse after you pay, which can suck if you've
already paid and then find out they won't cover it. Also, don't buy the
dealer's line of B.S. about many shops refusing to work with aftermarket
warranty companies. In my experience no shop has ever had a problem with
this.




Here's a listing on Looksmart:

http://www.looksmart.com/r_search?look=&pin=010704x0cef795b318e9f90f11&key=Extended+Warranty+Auto
 




- --shawn


- -- 

s h a w n   m o y e r
shawn@domain.elided

"So join the struggle while you may,
the Revolution is just a t-shirt away"

		--Billy Bragg

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