BMW Extended Maintenance Plan question

[wmr71]

Hello,
I have a 2016 BMW X5 50 Msport with the BMW Extended Maintenance plan until 125k miles. Is the diff fluid flush/refill considered part of maintenance or is that an item that the owner will always have to pay for out of pocket?

thanks in advance,
Mike

[andrewmr]

What does your dealer say?

[wmr71]

I haven't asked as my overall dealer experience has been beyond horrible here in Atlanta. So much that I even replaced all my coils, which are covered under warranty, even though I have the BMW platinum extended warranty as the time and brain damage incurred dealing with the dealerships is greater than spending $140 on parts and changing them out on my own, which i did. I couldn't imagine going back in for any more occasions as each coil or pair of coils went bad as its just not worth it.

I guess I could ask but this forum has very good folks that contribute a wealth of knowledge so this is where I started.

[andrewmr]

Yeah, I get that. But regardless of what we say on this forum..... it's really what the dealer says.

There may be a few mechanics on here that work at dealerships...... but ultimately it boils down to what your dealer tells me.

I know how it is with dealers that don't live up to your needs, but there has to be more than one dealer in the Atlanta area. Did a quick google search and there are three of them? I guess I'm fortunate as my dealer (Thompson BMW) provides exceptional service.


Anyway, I would just give the service dept a quick call and ask them. They will most likely need the VIN to check as there are many different packages available.


Good luck.

[gqgambler]

Originally Posted by wmr71

I haven't asked as my overall dealer experience has been beyond horrible here in Atlanta. So much that I even replaced all my coils, which are covered under warranty, even though I have the BMW platinum extended warranty as the time and brain damage incurred dealing with the dealerships is greater than spending $140 on parts and changing them out on my own, which i did. I couldn't imagine going back in for any more occasions as each coil or pair of coils went bad as its just not worth it.

I guess I could ask but this forum has very good folks that contribute a wealth of knowledge so this is where I started.

you have quite a few dealers in ATL, they can't all be bad. I'm sure the forum can give you some recommendations. Sometimes a drive is worth it. I bypass two closer dealers for service because I get treated well and my issues taken care of at the dealer; bonus I get some driving time in too. You bought the car with the extended maintenance, you might as well have flushed the money down the drain if you don't use it for every single penny of work that it will cover.

[alphaod]

Transmission, transfer box, differentials I think are all “lifetime” fluids according to BMW so I highly doubt those would be covered.

[puckybadger]

I have the same plan. Every 10K miles take it in, the SA will do a key read and all scheduled maintenance service will be displayed. No need to think about anything. I now have 106K miles and have had 5 oil changes, spark plugs, front and rear brakes including new rotors, new wipers every year, cabin and micro filters, etc.

[Speenybean]

Originally Posted by puckybadger

I have the same plan. Every 10K miles take it in, the SA will do a key read and all scheduled maintenance service will be displayed. No need to think about anything. I now have 106K miles and have had 5 oil changes, spark plugs, front and rear brakes including new rotors, new wipers every year, cabin and micro filters, etc.

You have 106k miles on a 50i?? Wow how is that thing running? Any problems with it up until
Now?

[wmr71]

thank so much for all of your responses. I'm interested in changing the fluids as I believe my car was used for towing prior to my ownership.

gqgambler & andrewmr- you've evidently had very little experience with the publicly traded dealerships as they only care about one thing and thats stock price as the customer service experience doesn't mean shit to them. the current dealer I am going to has had 4 GMs in the last 12 months if that tells you anything. the other issue is Atlanta is one of the worst cities for traffic so I get plenty of seat time on my 11 mile commute so adding to that isn't very exciting. and you could be right about the maintenance plan, however the platinum extended warranty paid for itself in the first claim as the power steering pump went out as well as a leaking oil pan and some coils and spark plugs

[andrewmr]

Originally Posted by wmr71

thank so much for all of your responses. I'm interested in changing the fluids as I believe my car was used for towing prior to my ownership.

gqgambler & andrewmr- you've evidently had very little experience with the publicly traded dealerships as they only care about one thing and thats stock price as the customer service experience doesn't mean shit to them. the current dealer I am going to has had 4 GMs in the last 12 months if that tells you anything. the other issue is Atlanta is one of the worst cities for traffic so I get plenty of seat time on my 11 mile commute so adding to that isn't very exciting. and you could be right about the maintenance plan, however the platinum extended warranty paid for itself in the first claim as the power steering pump went out as well as a leaking oil pan and some coils and spark plugs

I'm not sure you fully understand how things work.

When dealers don't get acceptable scores from customers, they loose allocations. Lost allocations mean lost sales/customers. And so on.....

If you are not happy with your current dealer, try one of the other two.


If you are concerned about prior towing duties then take it to an independent shop and have them replace all the fluids and you can est assured all is well.

[gqgambler]

Originally Posted by andrewmr

I'm not sure you fully understand how things work.

When dealers don't get acceptable scores from customers, they loose allocations. Lost allocations mean lost sales/customers. And so on.....

If you are not happy with your current dealer, try one of the other two.

I second this. I've had crappy dealers and been quick to leave them. If they don't value service, they don't value the customer and that's a problem. They probably have customers going through a rotating door like their GMs, but those customers are going somewhere if they stick with the BMW brand. My current dealer has long standing people in place that I've gone through several sales with; even the loaner counter has had guys there for years that I see and chat with. As much as I value time, the drive to me is worth it to get things taken care of right and get treated well. Any issues I've had with the dealer (very few), my SAs address right away and takes care of. They've appealed to higher up level reps to get things approved for me as well. Don't like your dealer, shop around.

And at least half of your repairs would have been covered under your regular warranty so your plan hasn't really paid for itself. A pump failure and leaky oil pan (not caused by damage) could have been covered under warranty, and a good SA could argue that coils and plugs that went out earlier than expected were defective and should be replaced under standard warranty.

[andrewmr]

Originally Posted by wmr71

thank so much for all of your responses. I'm interested in changing the fluids as I believe my car was used for towing prior to my ownership.

gqgambler & andrewmr- you've evidently had very little experience with the publicly traded dealerships as they only care about one thing and thats stock price as the customer service experience doesn't mean shit to them. the current dealer I am going to has had 4 GMs in the last 12 months if that tells you anything. the other issue is Atlanta is one of the worst cities for traffic so I get plenty of seat time on my 11 mile commute so adding to that isn't very exciting. and you could be right about the maintenance plan, however the platinum extended warranty paid for itself in the first claim as the power steering pump went out as well as a leaking oil pan and some coils and spark plugs

I assume you mention this as the other dealers are farther away.

Reach out to the dealer, when loaners aren't available I've had dealers offer to come get the car... you never know until you ask.

[wmr71]

thanks so much for the feedback. the fluid change is easy as I was only trying to see if it was something a dealer would do as the fluids alone are over $400 before labor so it is a sizable expenditure.

and yes, the 2 dealers I have used are the ones closest to me without going too far out of the way only to get jammed in miserable traffic. the current dealer had my car in 4 different times from Jan 2019 - Mar 2019 before I finally lost my mind and told the SA that the miss wasn't caused by a bad air filter and that is was plugs or coils that, for some reason, weren't triggering a CEL. I had to leave the dealership and flog the absolute hell out of the car for about 5 miles before I finally got a drivetrain malfunction to where the SA took it seriously when I limped it back in the service bay 15 mins later and said " I told you it wasn't the air filter"

honestly, it truly is my concern that I might have to go through the same thing each time to only have the car finally repaired on the 2nd or 3rd visit which is time consuming and keeps my car our of my possession for weeks at a time.

gqgambler - as far as the warranty items, at the time all of these repairs were made my car was out of factory warranty as my car was put in service in Dec 2015 and now has 67k miles. It came out of warranty in early 2018 and these issues happened in late 2018 & early 2019

andrewmr - I actually thought about asking the other dealers if they happened to have a service to pick the car up and drop a loaner off on the same flatbed but haven't explored that yet. You're lucky as I have a close friend who uses Thompson and says they are top notch - I'll report back what I find out about any dealer who would be willing to pick my car up

keep it between the lines folks!

[leo95se]

Originally Posted by alphaod

Transmission, transfer box, differentials I think are all “lifetime” fluids according to BMW so I highly doubt those would be covered.

Correct.. until there is a leak. And if you’re lucky; the leak will be under warranty. It really comes down to your dealer.. bring in donuts

[gqgambler]

So you mileaged out of warranty? 4years/50k would have taken you until the end of this year if in service Dec '15. You must do a lot of driving on top of your 11 mile commute to get to 67k on the odometer.

[gqgambler]

Originally Posted by leo95se

Correct.. until there is a leak. And if you’re lucky; the leak will be under warranty. It really comes down to your dealer.. bring in donuts

Lol...I always look forward to getting my donuts from the dealer.

[wmr71]

it was a BMW executive car that had 40k miles on it when purchased in May 2017