Greetings

My Z4 (2004) had been a great joy to ride in / drive. It had never given me any problems. My 50K and 4yrs warranty is coming up.


Do you think that it is worth buying this extended warranty to cover two more years or up to 100K? My dealer said it would cost roughly $3K. Worth it?

Thanks & Regards,
Z4ever

For the mechanically able it's generally not worth it. Most of the stuff you'll be getting done between now and then is just maintenance anyways. Oil changes and what not. As long as you've still got the powertrain warrenty you should be fine.

I got the extended warranty when I got mine.

I haven't used it once, but I'm still glad I have it.

NO

Almost all extended warranties are underwritten by insurance companies, which means the insurance company does an actuaral analysis of the repair history of the particular car, and then attaches a very healthy profit to the price. Dealers make a big commission on these extended warranties.
But, if you ignore the BMW service intervals and do more frequent common sense service, like changing fluids, and you also use an independent/cheaper mechanic you are likely to come out ahead of the cost of an extended warranty. This is all provided that you do not have any major problems. Usually, major problems will start to be notied in the original warranty period, but again not always.
Basically, if you consider yourself a "car guy" who is in tune with his cars then you can lilkely come out ahead without the extended warranty. But, if the car is just another appllicance, albeit a pretty appliance and a status symbol, and you don't ever open your own hood, then maybe the extended warranty makes sense.

Long term you will come out ahead by never getting these extended warranties for the reasons noted - in addition to the average cost of repairs for your particular appliance you are also paying for the profit of the companis underwriting and selling the policy - though you may be unlucky on any particular purchase and get a lemon (or a semi-lemon - not bad enough to return under the lemon law.)

On average you will come out ahead on your lifetime of purchases. If, however, you get the feeling during the normal factory warranty period that the car that you have now is going to be more repair-intensive than average and you otherwise love the car and want to keep it long term, then the extended warranty might be a good investment if you buy it soon before the factory warranty expires, if for no other reason than the peace of mind that it might provide you. It is rarely, if ever, worthwhile to buy the warranty when you buy the car since you can usually buy the same or similar warranty at the expiration of the factory warranty for the same price - but four years later (in the case of the BMW warranty). You get to keep the interest instead of the warranty company.

how have you driven the car? have you been regular with all services?

Are you the original owner? IF so they BMW has a program called the original owner's protection plan, it is basically their CPO program that they offer to the original owner only. It covers the same equipment with the same 50.oo deductible per repair bill. You can purchase at any BMW dealership nationwide for about 2375.oo for your Z4.

One thing that I would like to point out is that with all the electronics on these or any other car out there, these are the areas that seem to fail regardless of if and when you do the routine maintenance. Maintenance will help catch and maybe reduce any mechanical issues with engine and transmission but it will not save you if your top motor quits, or your radio stops working, a sensor shorts out, your ac decides to stop, blower motor quits and I think you get the idea.

To sum it up, if you plan to keep this or any other car after it's factory experation it's wise to have some sort of coverage. We all have medical insurance, we don't hope we get sick to use it but when we do, we are damn glad we have it!