BMW Extended Warranty / Roadside Assistance (Again!)

My GS will be 5 years old next week.
So far I have maintained the BMW Extended Insured Warranty, and associated breakdown cover.
Usually (with the exception of Covid years) I do TWO Euro tours a year. As such it's seemed quite cost effective (I have also had 4 Warranty claims, so it's paid it's way!)
However my accelerating dissatisfaction with my local BMW dealer is making me want to go to an good Independent Specialist for servicing (not to save money, but just to be sure it's being serviced correctly!)

I have been reading the BMW T's&C's and it does indeed appear that you CAN get your bike serviced by an INDIE so long as they use genuine parts etc, and you have a receipt. Altho I guess you will lose the goodwill (not that I have experienced much of that recently!) of your Motorrad dealer should you need them...

£400 for an Annual breakdown and extended Warranty isn't too scary if you're doing the miles (I'm on 7k miles/annum on my GS, as I use my V85 quite a bit too but just in UK) and the two out-of-UK trips I guess... (last year my mates paid a fair chunk of cash just for a single month of Euro breakdown cover)

What's the current view? Keen to hear experiences and feedback from the collective please?
Used it on my 2017 gsa two years ago when the ECU packed up in Austria , had to pay up front for repairs and claim it back via local BMW dealer once I got home , thick end of £1100 but zero issues and I was paid within 7 days
 
I have had three LCs in 7 years. Two of them had problems and involved warranty and extended warranty claims, totaling about £4K. Both also broke down at the same time and involved repair/recovery. However, my 1250 has been a gem. There are many wise words above about the pros and cons of the extended warranty/Euro breakdown cover. My contribution would be this: if you can afford it, get it.
 
* THREE...yes THREE Throttle Bodies (at £520 ea according to Bowker PLUS Labour!)
Seriously NOT wanting to be argumentative, but bike is 5 years old, had an initial 3yrs Warranty, possibly 2, can't recall when they changed.
Three throttle bodies covered under extended warranty would imply that each lasted , on average, less than a year.
Surely as a replacement part they would carry an individual warranty for that replacement part??

Regardless of that the fact, your bike has had four TBs which seems weird considering many bikes survive on the originals.

Conclusion can only be one of the following:-
Rider doing something wrong, either riding or storing
Dealer doing something wrong at service time to cause problem
Dealer saying that something is wrong - because it will be covered by warranty;)
Rider is really unlucky and not subject to the law of averages - stick some butter in fridge.
 
Seriously NOT wanting to be argumentative, but bike is 5 years old, had an initial 3yrs Warranty, possibly 2, can't recall when they changed.
Three throttle bodies covered under extended warranty would imply that each lasted , on average, less than a year.
Surely as a replacement part they would carry an individual warranty for that replacement part??

Regardless of that the fact, your bike has had four TBs which seems weird considering many bikes survive on the originals.

Conclusion can only be one of the following:-
Rider doing something wrong, either riding or storing
Dealer doing something wrong at service time to cause problem
Dealer saying that something is wrong - because it will be covered by warranty;)
Rider is really unlucky and not subject to the law of averages - stick some butter in fridge.
Ha! So first one failed in Portugal. Bike failed to start, eventually it did, and went into limp mode, and then, after cycling the ignition a few times, cleared itself.
Got home, Replaced by Bowker
New part lasted just a couple of months, and failed in France!
Just cycling the ignition caused the error to clear this time.
Third time in Transylvania! Usual error on TFT dash (pic below)
Replaced by Bowker. I asked them to look deeper, check the connections, is there a loom or ECU issue? Did the part fail early-life for a reason? Could they to a root-cause analysis? They refused to take it seriously and just swapped the part again.
The new one put in around June this year, and so far has been ok.

It always got me home. I have a GS-911, and the fault (every time) was
3A1441Throttle valve 2 (left), Initialization
The fault is not present now.

The bike is treated well, serviced on or ahead of schedule, run mostly on premium fuel, and garaged. Hardly ever jet-washed, or put away wet. Overall condition is excellent. I have had 6 BMW bikes, and this is the only one with such issues (so no rider blame as far as I can see!)fault in engine control.jpg
 
Seriously NOT wanting to be argumentative, but bike is 5 years old, had an initial 3yrs Warranty, possibly 2, can't recall when they changed.
Three throttle bodies covered under extended warranty would imply that each lasted , on average, less than a year.
Surely as a replacement part they would carry an individual warranty for that replacement part??

Regardless of that the fact, your bike has had four TBs which seems weird considering many bikes survive on the originals.

Conclusion can only be one of the following:-
Rider doing something wrong, either riding or storing
Dealer doing something wrong at service time to cause problem
Dealer saying that something is wrong - because it will be covered by warranty;)
Rider is really unlucky and not subject to the law of averages - stick some butter in fridge.
Mine showed as a TB fault when scanned but it was a buggered ECU ,a fairly common issue on 2018 models with non Bosch branded ECU fitted
 
Mine showed as a TB fault when scanned but it was a buggered ECU ,a fairly common issue on 2018 models with non Bosch branded ECU fitted
Thanks, Neil, That's interesting (and worrying!!!) :)

I just checked my GS-911, and it says
Controller Type:Engine Controller
Controller:0F8B10
Serial Number:0170240773
Manufacturer:Bosch GmbH
So looks like mine is a Bosch.
I am concerned that BMW failed to look for root cause. I am concerned that the fault may lie in the ECU or loom...
 
Thanks, Neil, That's interesting (and worrying!!!) :)

I just checked my GS-911, and it says
Controller Type:Engine Controller
Controller:0F8B10
Serial Number:0170240773
Manufacturer:Bosch GmbH
So looks like mine is a Bosch.
I am concerned that BMW failed to look for root cause. I am concerned that the fault may lie in the ECU or loom...
Mine was the fourth or fifth that the dealer in Kaprun had dealt with
 
I have an 05 plate GS. I took out the BMW warranty when I bought it second hand with £100 excess. I have continued with the warranty up to this year 2023. In that time I broke down in Scotland (battery) they recovered the bike to Glasgow, supplied a hire car and then transported the bike back to London with a new battery. I have had a new shaft plus clutch, which they said is best to change while the bike is apart. Recently the servo was playing up and it was transported to the BMW dealer, ABS Modulator fitted and just the normal £100 excess. The bike has done 75000 miles and in good nick because I have looked after it. I get it serviced at an Independent using BMW parts.
 
Just out of interest how much are people paying for their bmw extended warranty .
 
Just out of interest how much are people paying for their bmw extended warranty .

50p.

Why not get a quote for yourself and tell everyone. Do be sure to include:

Make and model.

Age of bike.

Current mileage.

Excess chosen.

Cover selected.

Shoe size.

Waist measurement (don’t breath in).

:beerjug:
 
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50p.

Why not get a quote for yourself and tell everyone. Do be sure to include:

Make and model.

Age of bike.

Excess chosen.

Current mileage.

Cover selected.

Shoe size.

Waist measurement (don’t breath in).

:beerjug:
I’ve had a extended policy since the one I received when I bought the bike in 2016 (2011 gsa )
just wondering what other people are paying .
at present my prem is 45.00 Pm .I’ve had a couple of claims ,last year the starter started playing up
so made a claim ,as said before the process was painless . The bike is on 47000 no excess with breakdown cover .
 
I’ve had a extended policy since the one I received when I bought the bike in 2016 (2011 gsa )
just wondering what other people are paying .
at present my prem is 45.00 Pm .I’ve had a couple of claims ,last year the starter started playing up
so made a claim ,as said before the process was painless . The bike is on 47000 no excess with breakdown cover .
Mine was £400+ PA

The cover was good, the wait time from fault to fix was not good though, with an average of 14 days with no bike each time, the longest period being 6 months !
 
I think £395 annum, incl European breakdown cover
£100 excess on any claims
 
get your own quote at https://www.motorrad-warranty.co.uk/

the premium varies with the excess you choose and if you include breakdown cover

my bike 2016 R1200RS, £36 a month, 100XS with breakdown

£50 cheaper if you pay 12 months up front
You get basic breakdown cover automatically included (half mile from home recovery to a BMW dealer). You pay extra for Home Start / EU cover / loan vehicle.
 
So the bmw insured warranty is £400 per year, it has European cover but you must pay for repairs and claim back in the UK, the bmw approved used warranty which comes with approved used bikes is free (it is not really free the dealer pays an up front £500 fee to bmw , or not in the case of a certain North East dealer I dealt with ) and you get 2 years cover to the same level as near as dammit as the oem warranty.

Would be nice if bmw gave the same level of cover for owners who have bought new and after the 2 or now 3 year warranty expires they can obtain the same level of cover as the approved used warranty for 2 years for a one off £500 fee
 
My GSA is 10 years old and I've renewed the warranty every year and did so again last month.
I've not had to use it so far, touch wood, but an issue with my previous RT showed me the warranty's worth for my circumstances.
I am completely useless when it comes to anything mechanics related, I can't even fix a puncture so I'm happy to pay the premium purely for piece of mind.
Having the extended warranty has also saved me thousands of £s as any time I've considered changing my bike for a newer model I've come to the conclusion that there's no point as I already have bike with a warranty and breakdown cover.

What does surprise me is that the price to renew has only gone up once in those 10 years.

I had never thought of it like this before - bikes can and will go wrong, so long as it's not a servicable item, I will think of the extended warranty in these terms. I don't want to be paying £000's when the bike is not worth that much and then have to make a decision of 'should i get a new one when this one is now costing more to repair than it's worth' - I like to keep my bikes for many years as I am not bothered about the latest tech on my bike - besides, I don't think there is much more they can add to a bike considering what they have on them now.
 
I had never thought of it like this before - bikes can and will go wrong, so long as it's not a servicable item, I will think of the extended warranty in these terms. I don't want to be paying £000's when the bike is not worth that much and then have to make a decision of 'should i get a new one when this one is now costing more to repair than it's worth' - I like to keep my bikes for many years as I am not bothered about the latest tech on my bike - besides, I don't think there is much more they can add to a bike considering what they have on them now.
if you have a GS911 and a pre LC bike, 90% everything is pretty much DIY fixable

Post LC, you need a GS911 Just to read the fault codes, and then almost all of it is electronic and costs a small fortune to fix
 
I had never thought of it like this before - bikes can and will go wrong, so long as it's not a servicable item, I will think of the extended warranty in these terms. I don't want to be paying £000's when the bike is not worth that much and then have to make a decision of 'should i get a new one when this one is now costing more to repair than it's worth' - I like to keep my bikes for many years as I am not bothered about the latest tech on my bike - besides, I don't think there is much more they can add to a bike considering what they have on them now.

Insurance *, a contract of indemnity, is always a ‘Cost versus benefit’ analysis. In short, does the premium cost outweigh the potential benefit? Nobody can decide that for you.


* Other than for the compulsory covers, like Third Party Motor insurance, where you have no choice but to buy it.
 
if you have a GS911 and a pre LC bike, 90% everything is pretty much DIY fixable

Post LC, you need a GS911 Just to read the fault codes, and then almost all of it is electronic and costs a small fortune to fix
I’ve just purchased the Motoscan app with the Bluetooth connector and the adapter from the round pin type around the 100 quid mark ,works ok ,you can see and remove fault codes , delete service reminders calibrate suspension purge abs thingy along with other features . This works with the lc version of bmw bikes .
a lot cheaper than the 911 and not limited to a set No of bikes .
 


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