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Post by racingteatray on Jan 28, 2021 10:33:49 GMT
Any thoughts on what do as regards the extended warranty??
My mother needs to renew the warranty on her Countryman (which shortly turns 4), and got a shock when Inchcape quoted her £450 to renew the warranty this year. She paid £295 last year.
The price is £450 or £37.50 per month (so no cost to spread). It looks pretty comprehensive (includes breakdown) and there's no excess apparently but there is a £75 limit of "diagnostic charges" which I dislike.
Alternatively there is MINI's own offering, which is £516 for comprehensive with £100 excess, or £404 with a £250 excess. In both cases MINI stings you for spreading the costs - £47.50 or £39 monthly. The terms talk about "reasonable diagnostic charges".
Any ideas? Any merit in going "named component" only? I never would but my mother needs to watch her pennies more than I do.
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Post by Grampa on Jan 28, 2021 11:31:51 GMT
I've never bothered with an extended warranty, and (touching wood as I say this) we're coming up to 20 years of trouble free continuous Mini ownership. It's rather ironic that it costs more to insure a few parts of the car than it does to insure the whole thing!
I think I'd be inclined to self insure - if we'd put the money into a separate account that we would have spent on extended warranties, we'd be able to buy pretty decent car.
I also read (but can't find it now) a UK reliability survey that put Mini as the most reliable non-Japanese brand (third behind I think Nissan and Toyota).
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 28, 2021 11:40:54 GMT
Has she had the car for a long time and what issues has she had? Does she check oil and water levels regularly and seeks investigation immediately of anything unusual?
Is she does keep a good eye out for potential issues and there have been none so far, I'd forget buying an extended warranty and just put money aside each month "in case"
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Post by racingteatray on Jan 28, 2021 12:02:34 GMT
She's had it four years from new and it's got about 28k miles on the clock. While it's been generally reliable, it hasn't been fault-free. For example, it needed a complete new media unit under warranty when it was about 18 months old after it died.
I have bothered for both my last two BMWs and in each case, I earned at least my money back on claims.
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jan 28, 2021 12:51:12 GMT
My mum's Countryman is on a 62 plate and we had the discussion regarding extended warranties 5 years ago. We decided against it as she is in the fortunate position to be able to pay a repair bill should one arise so in effect, she's "self-insured" since. Touch wood, other than routine servicing, it's been trouble free and she's saved about £2k+ in warranty costs.
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Post by johnc on Jan 28, 2021 13:13:08 GMT
I have a friend who is anal about everything. He has a separate bank account into which he deposits £x a month (and he even did it a couple of years ago with a new car). He then uses that money to pay for tyres, servicing and repairs as they arise. He reckons that over the years he is considerably better off and suffers no financial shocks and although I don't know how much he puts away I get the feeling it is about £50/mth.
I on the other hand will be taking up BMW's extended warranty when the time comes.
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Post by Martin on Jan 28, 2021 13:20:50 GMT
I have a friend who is anal about everything. He has a separate bank account into which he deposits £x a month (and he even did it a couple of years ago with a new car). He then uses that money to pay for tyres, servicing and repairs as they arise. He reckons that over the years he is considerably better off and suffers no financial shocks and although I don't know how much he puts away I get the feeling it is about £50/mth. I on the other hand will be taking up BMW's extended warranty when the time comes. I put money away for both cars each month, to cover tyres/servicing/warranty (saving ahead)/insurance/Tax/Consumables, although not into a different bank account. It's no different to how I budget for all our known expenditure, I don't understand why some people lurch from one expense to another and have difficult months because the house insurance is due or they need to buy Christmas presents. I'll pay for an extended warranty on both cars, as I'd rather have the certainty and less hassle if there's an issue, even if it potentially ends up costing a bit more. |
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Post by PG on Jan 28, 2021 14:27:09 GMT
£75 in diagnostics is about 30 minutes to plug it in and say "oh, that's broken" and nothing more. However, if there is no excess thereafter, that may balance out with the MINI one that has at least a £100 excess on any repairs.
I think I'd be tempted to self insure on a MINI. It's not as if your mum has done 80k miles and the engine might go bang (he says hoping not to tempt fate).
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Post by Big Blue on Jan 28, 2021 15:52:37 GMT
Our MINI has 66k+ miles and isn't showing any signs of failing badly. It did have a software glitch that affected the stop-start not doing the second part (ie start!) which caused W2.1 some issues in traffic which she swore about a lot. The independent (BMR) that looks after the Gorilla sorted it and it wasn't that expensive. That said I appreciate the matter of not waving wads of cash about to keep a car on the road so warranties are great for the massive costs (BMR always seem to have huge engine-out rebuilds on the go which must be five-figure sums).
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Post by racingteatray on Jan 28, 2021 17:43:42 GMT
My mum's Countryman is on a 62 plate and we had the discussion regarding extended warranties 5 years ago. We decided against it as she is in the fortunate position to be able to pay a repair bill should one arise so in effect, she's "self-insured" since. Touch wood, other than routine servicing, it's been trouble free and she's saved about £2k+ in warranty costs. There is this. I don't think Mum ever took out extended warranties on any of her previous Audis or Volvos. But then this was the first new car she'd bought for ages - the last one was a V40 in 1999 - because her two Audis were both approved used. She gets her car serviced on the button religiously so you'd hope it would be ok. Thanks for all the tips. |
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Post by Alex on Jan 31, 2021 12:11:12 GMT
Have you looked at one of the independent warranty providers? Must admit I've never bothered but then the wife's car is over 10 years old not 4.
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Post by racingteatray on Jan 31, 2021 17:13:43 GMT
We decided she should go without and instead squirrel away the £450 somewhere in case needed.
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