[310m3]

Wanted to share my 1st experience with Fidelity extended warranty...

After purchasing it, I had some buyer's remorse, fearing they may try to weasel their way out when I needed them to cover a repair.

The battery light came on last Thursday on my way to work.

Knowing it was the alternator going bad, I went to my nearest BMW shop which happened to be a BMW dealer (South Bay BMW) and dropped it off.

I call Fidelity and confirm that the alternator is covered for sure, not so sure about the PS hose.

Just in case, I do some math in my head...

Alternator will be ~$350, labor will be free in my garage.
Total $350 if i DYI.
My deductible is $100.
$100 < $350

So this is a no-brainer to have the dealer take care of it IF Fidelity covers it w/o making some lame excuse.

Dealer finds a bad alternator (part# 12-31-7-831-436) and also finds a small leak at the PS expansion hose (part# 32-41-2-283-893).

Dealer service advisor tells me Fidelity is a great company and I should not be worried about anything, that most likely, both items will be covered.

Fidelity sent out a rep, covered both items and instead of paying $500 or ~$1200 (the dealer total), I walked away from all of this paying just $100.


For those of you considering an extended warranty, I strongly recommend Fidelity. I've read mixed reviews but my experience (along with what my service advisor said) gave me a strong indication that they are a solid company.

*****************************
Background on why I purchased this warranty..

When I picked up my 06 M3 last August, one of the concerns I had was paying for repairs.

I know one of the downsides of owning a BMW (or some of the $$$ euro brands) is cost of ownership, specifically repairs in this case. I know some of you feel where I am coming from.

Although I purchased the car while it was covered under the factory warranty and with just 22k miles, I thought it would be a good idea to cover my a$$ just in case.

I shopped for extended warranties and was blown away by how expensive they were. Many were in the +$4k range for 4 yrs/48 mile coverage.

At this point, I was thinking "I'll just deal with repairs as they come and DYI most of the repairs".

Then I contacted a friend that works at a Porsche dealer who was able to give me great pricing and changed my mind.

Purchased the Fidelity Platinum plan for 4 years/48k miles with $100 deductible for a very reasonable price.