BMW maintenance plan no longer transferrable to 2nd owner

[Mook]

One of the best innovations in car buying in recent years is the rise of no-cost scheduled maintenance programs. Many people feel really anxious about taking their car in for service, and these deals help mitigate that somewhat. Obviously, it's not free for automakers to implement the offers, and now BMW is altering the way its four-year, 50,000-mile Maintenance Program works for some owners. "To keep such an offer sustainable we had to make a change," said Kenn Sparks, Manager of Business Communications at BMW North America, to Autoblog via email.

The original person to buy or lease the model isn't going to see any difference, but the program is no longer transferable to a second owner, unless that person is in the owners household. Those people include includes parents, siblings, grandparents and grandchildren, in addition to someone like a spouse or children. The original owner just has to advise BMW of new user. "The program change will affect 2nd owners and for them BMW is introducing an optional full-maintenance product that covers the vehicle up to 100,000 miles," said Sparks.

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/08/12/bmw-maintenance-plan-no-longer-transferrable-to-2nd-owner/

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[Jack]

As a BMW owner this fucking sucks. I've bought 3 used BMW's and have taken advantage of their free maintenance, which is a thing of beauty.. Now I'll seriously have to rethink my car buying habits.

 

[Mook]

I figured this would not sit well with you.

 

[cacicgtp7]

they're trying to push new car sales, thus screw the used car buyer and thinking they can get the same benefits.

 

[ragingclue]

"To keep such an offer sustainable, we had to make a change"... Really? Isn't BMW swimming in money (relatively speaking) these days? That scheduled maintenance plan includes little of large cost, they wanted me to wait on one oil change because even though it had been 18k since the last one, the stupid computer wasn't telling them to yet.... I believe there is some somewhat costly stuff that comes up with the 100k plan (brakes maybe?) but the plan to 50k shouldn't exactly be costing BMW and arm and a leg IIRC.

 

[Gav'sPurpleZ]

i just heard a commercial on the radio today that stated oil change "special" on a 3 series was $79.95.

cheaper to do it yourself ? oh well

 

[syP]

Cadillacs free maintenance is covered 4/50,000 no matter how many owners

 

[l0wb00st]

I also couldn't buy the BMW extended warranty for my 335d as the second owner of the car. That's the main reason I got rid of it.

 

[willizm]

they're trying to push new car sales, thus screw the used car buyer and thinking they can get the same benefits.

Not for new cars, but for certified pre owned cars. If you are in the market to buy a couple year old bmw it's another means for the dealerships to market their CPO cars over buying private party. Next BMW will begin restrictions on CPO Warranties for transferring to a new owner further making the dealerships a better choice over private party sales.

 

[cacicgtp7]

i just heard a commercial on the radio today that stated oil change "special" on a 3 series was $79.95.

cheaper to do it yourself ? oh well

You're probably going to disagree with me, but that's actually not a terrible price.

IIRC on my E90 it's 7 qts (maybe 7.5) of "special" German synthetic oil that has some special certification on it LL01 or something. (basically just euro spec Castrol). And then it's kind of a pain in the ass to take off all the plastic under the car to get to the filter.

The oil itself is pricey so by the time you DIY you're around 50-55 bucks. Another 30 not to do the labor isn't half bad. IMO

 

[Gav'sPurpleZ]

You're probably going to disagree with me, but that's actually not a terrible price.

IIRC on my E90 it's 7 qts (maybe 7.5) of "special" German synthetic oil that has some special certification on it LL01 or something. (basically just euro spec Castrol). And then it's kind of a pain in the ass to take off all the plastic under the car to get to the filter.

The oil itself is pricey so by the time you DIY you're around 50-55 bucks. Another 30 not to do the labor isn't half bad. IMO

i have ZERO experience with BMW or the costs of maintenance.... just stating something i heard earlier.

my Buddy used to have a 97 3 series and it used 7 qts of oil.... so i guess 80 bucks isnt that bad.

 

[Rebel]

i just heard a commercial on the radio today that stated oil change "special" on a 3 series was $79.95.

cheaper to do it yourself ? oh well

You're probably going to disagree with me, but that's actually not a terrible price.

IIRC on my E90 it's 7 qts (maybe 7.5) of "special" German synthetic oil that has some special certification on it LL01 or something. (basically just euro spec Castrol). And then it's kind of a pain in the ass to take off all the plastic under the car to get to the filter.

The oil itself is pricey so by the time you DIY you're around 50-55 bucks. Another 30 not to do the labor isn't half bad. IMO

Was going to say the same thing. The plastic cover is also definitely a pain.

 

[Mike K]

You're probably going to disagree with me, but that's actually not a terrible price.

IIRC on my E90 it's 7 qts (maybe 7.5) of "special" German synthetic oil that has some special certification on it LL01 or something. (basically just euro spec Castrol). And then it's kind of a pain in the ass to take off all the plastic under the car to get to the filter.

The oil itself is pricey so by the time you DIY you're around 50-55 bucks. Another 30 not to do the labor isn't half bad. IMO

Yeah it's actually a great price. One of the BMW dealers out here charged $88 for a change and I took it in fully expecting them to be like "oh it doesn't cover this car" but they did it. That's not bad at all when you consider the oil lasts for 10k+ miles. Maybe I'm just used to the Audi's $200 oil change.

It's actually worse than the loss of maintenance too. They're un-certifying CPO cars that are bought from non-BMW dealerships. So say someone like me with car ADD buys a 535 CPO and then sells it to a non-BMW dealership 6 months later, the warranty on that car is gone. It is no longer a CPO car.

Kind of BS really. It's a cash grab and for what? Is BMW really hurting for market share? Maybe they're trying to control the buyer experience which I suppose I could understand but you're really punishing future customers because today's used 5 series buyer might be tomorrow's new 7 series buyer.

 

[cacicgtp7]

^ that was the other thing I forgot to mention was the "15K" oil changes. Manual does actually state 15K for an oil change but I usually do it around 8-9K. Love that though.

 

[Rebel]

So I read this the other day and the article states this applies to new 15 cars. Doesn't mention anything about 14 and older.