My 04 Cooper w/45000 just passed out of warranty and wondered if anyone has had any luck with any mechanical warranty companies.

 

I am on record on other Forums and elsewhere on the Net:

DO NOT GET THOSE AFTERMARKET WARRANTIES. THEY ARE WORTHLESS.

Consumer Reports Annual Auto Issue [April] did an article on such. Their opinion: THEY ARE A RIP OFF.

Here is the article:

http://www.heartinsanfrancisco.com/ExtendedWarranties.pdf

 

I'd agree on the extended warranties sold at the time of purchase. However, with the cost of repairs on the Mini ($6,000-$8,000 for transmission), I think a good plan for cars off factory warranty is a good idea.

 

There could be some logic to that. But this is exactly what Consumer Reports says the companies rely on, fear. To sell a warranty they have to use fear of the unknown and the price of repairs. Say a few magic words like "transmission" "$8000" and a few horror stories on these boards, then it's an easy sell.

But you have to do what CR did, what are the odds of your Mini tranny going out? While it is a possibility, I don't know the odds of that happening are all that great.

If looking into a warranty, make sure to read the fine print. What I have seen, for example, is that the warranty may have words like "Automatic Transmission" in bold print, but you read the light gray print and it says "The following parts are covered." While the list looks substantial, you need to be a mechanic to conclude that most of the tranny is not covered under a claim. But to laypeople the policy looks like it covers the transmission.

You have to ask yourself, why do they have five pages of what is covered, what is not, when it would be far more fair and easy to simply say on one page what is covered. They do this to cheat people, fool them into thinking they are covered when they are not.

Remember, these companies make money by not paying claims.

 

I agree, put the money the extended warranty would have cost in a special account and maybe add to it a bit occassionally...the money is yours and just maybe you'll get to spend it on something other than car repairs.

 

I bought one for the GP and it covers me for 84 months from purchase of warrenty and 75,000 total miles, I don't put alot of miles on so time was more important. It was offered through my credit union and the only thing I could find not covered was the clutch slave cylinder. With the gears in the S/C going out, window lifts, etc the price was worth the peace of mind. Cost was 1385.00.