Extended warranty is a must.
Yep, I have every intention of buying an extended warranty --
again! -- but this time I will wait a bit. Let me explain.
1) In June 2022, I picked up my brand new '22 C 400 GT that I had ordered a couple weeks prior.
2) In September 2022, I decided, after a few months of riding it, that the GT was definitely a "keeper," so I bought the max-length extended warranty, just to get that out of the way, before any price increase in the warranty, etc. I've typically kept new bikes for about five years each over the years, I'm not getting any younger, and thought that this might be my last bike (I was wrong on that, by at least two bikes), and so forth.
3) In May 2023, after about 5,600 miles, I had an engine problem.
4) In October 2023, BMW replaced my '22 C 400 GT with a brand new '23 C 400 GT. You can read about that new-bike-for-old-bike exchange in my post
https://www.bmw-scooters.com/index....brand-new-23-c-400-gt-free-part-i-of-ii.2932/, if you're curious.
Well, as part of that bike-replacement deal, I expected to get a complete refund for my extended warranty, and then buy a new one, but that didn't happen (yet). Here are some snippets from emails I exchanged with the local BMW dealership, in this case with the finance office there, just before the exchange of bikes was completed:
Local Finance Manager:
I was able to cancel your warranty, BMW refund amount is $789.85. The new warranty is $1177.20. I added the difference of $387.35. You will see this listed as BMW Extended warranty. Total due tomorrow $566.35, which includes title and registration fees.
Me:
I'm back home now, and I'm a little confused about the amount of the refund.
I would've thought that the full purchase price -- $1,015.20 -- would've been the amount of the refund. My understanding -- and I've been wrong before, and will undoubtedly be wrong in the future -- of the extended warranty is that it was to kick in, become active, only AFTER the factory warranty expired.
That factory warranty on the '22 was for three-years/36,000 miles. Since neither of those conditions was met, I thought that the extended warranty was not active yet, that it was just sitting in the on-deck circle, waiting for the factory warranty to expire. And the reason I bought it back in September was just that I had some spare cash lying around, and just thought I'd take care of the purchase before I frittered that spare cash away.
If the extended warranty is somehow, in some sense, active the moment it's purchased, then I don't think that I want to buy an extended warranty for the '23 for another three years or so.
Local Finance Manager:
You are correct, the warranty does kick in at the end of the regular warranty period. When you purchase a new vehicle, you are offered a certain price to extend your warranty. A year has transpired since your initial purchase, so it would it not be a full refund of purchase price. The warranty refund is prorated based on the initial purchase price less the time that has transpired. Just let me know if you would like the warranty on the new scooter before you come in tomorrow, so I can make sure the paperwork is correct.
When all was said done, when the paperwork to get the newer bike was completed, I declined to get a second extended warranty ... just yet. I was really annoyed that I didn't get a full refund for a warranty that was not due to become active for another two years, and I still don't understand the double-talk financial gobbledy-gook.
So I still plan to get the warranty, but I will wait until the three years is about to expire on the initial factory warranty. I don't want to go through this bullshit again, in case I sell the bike, or have another problem that results in BMW's giving me a second new bike, etc. If the price increases over the next two years, so be it, but they really pissed me off when they didn't give me a full refund.
