[tisme]

My dealer has offered me the following extras for my new 330d MSport for when it comes next month. What do you guys think of them?

3 Years Run Flat Tyre insurance £399 (car is just ovet £40k, it would have been £349 if under £40k). Insurance covers blowouts, not wear and tear.

3 Years total loss gap insurance £549 (car is just ovet £40k, it would have been £499 if under £40k). Insurance covers difference between new price and market value if I wrap the cap up in 3 years.

Supagard inside and out £399.

I'm only tempted by the supagard, or something similar; the rest seems a bit of a rip off. Any comments?

I'm also weighing up the service packs - I do 10,000 miles a year.

[xenon]

Tyre insurance - not worth it (so many exclusions / get-out clauses)
Supagard - I had this on mine but can't see any difference - not worth it
Service Pack - on 10000 miles a year you won't get your money back (with average 15000 mile service intervals)
Gap Insurance - Yes. Most definately yes. absolutely yes. yes.

[DaveC]

I'd go with what Xenon said.

[dazzapb]

Ditto, However I did a combo deal on GAP (25K shortfall) and tyre insurance (£300 per claim) for £600. Make sure if you go for any that you get a deal, haggle!!!!!! Those costs are inflated big time!

I did regret getting the tyre insurance in hindsight, as I wanted to change to run flats at some point, and you have to source new tyres (or get them approved at least) through the insurance company otherwise new tyres aren't covered. So you may pay a higher premuim on replacement tyres.

Having said that I did get a screw in one of my tyres a month back and I had it replaced with a new tyre (value was around £300) - only problem was supply of the Bridgestone RFT's! So at least I have used the policy

[beemerbird]

Tyre insurance - used it when my Bridgestone Potenza developed a bulge in the side wall. Replaced with no questions asked. That said I did not pay for the tyre insurance, it was part of the deal on a new E92 335d with my dealer - was when I asked anyhow. Try and get it thrown in for n'owt.

Yes on the gap insurance.

Supaguard - Have had it and it's ok but not worth the money really imo.

On your annual mileage which is similar to mine, I wouldn't bother with the service pack. An honest sales guy advised me not to bother as well would you believe.

On the money you're saving opting out of the above, how about spending it on getting the car detailed? Just a thought.

[xenon]

Originally Posted by beemerbird

On the money you're saving opting out of the above, how about spending it on getting the car detailed? Just a thought.

Cleaned!!!

I hate that Americanism of "detailing"! It doesn't even make sense!

Originally Posted by SniffPetrol

There was anger this week in one of those bland new-build houses with a criss-crossy brick driveway that all people who post photos of their cars on the internet seem to live in as a tedious car geek annoyingly overused the word ‘detail’.

Spip Misby, a 27-year-old IT consultant who lives with his mum and dad, has long been obsessed with ‘detailing’ his Audi A3 but sources close to the Misby household say his irritating habit of using a strangely meaningless word to describe what is essentially the act of washing and then polishing something has now reached unacceptable heights.

‘Frankly it was bad enough when he just crapped on about “detailing” his bloody car again,’ said his father, Jennifer. ‘But when he announced that he was going to reward his mother’s dinner-making efforts by “detailing” the dirty dishes that was the final straw’.

Spip’s sister, David, was quick to add to her father’s ire. ‘My brother seems to mistakenly believe that the word “detailing” is a synonym for “really cleaning something” . Except I’ve checked in the dictionary and as far as I can work out, “detailing” actually refers to small decorative features on a building, work of art or other object and in no way means spending all pissing weekend rubbing a sponge and some cloths over your stupid twatting car’.

Spies in the Misby camp say that following the “detailing” of dirty pans and crockery, Spip retired to the bathroom to spend a typically suspicious amount of time in the shower, probably ‘detailing’ his cock.

[beemerbird]

Beats saying snow foamed, rubbed 'all over' with a clay bar, followed by a rigorous application of polish etc, etc.

What do you expect from a 27 year old, still living at home and drives an expensive Golf (meow). Can respect a guy who details his cock though tbh.

At first, I thought you'd seen yer arse this morning and didn't like the view.

[xenon]

Originally Posted by beemerbird

At first, I thought you'd seen yer arse this morning and didn't like the view.

I'm quite sure that I wouldn't like the view but fortunately I don't have the requisite number of strategically-placed mirrors to confirm. I could ask my wife what she thinks....

[Mr Plum]

I'd give Supaguard a nice wide berth personally. For a number of reasons

1. If you really want it - have a look at how much you can buy the kits on ebay - less than £20...

2. Supaguard is only a sealant so is entirely dependent on the preparation done before it is applied. I know someone who has a new M3 that was supaguarded but the numpty that applied it polished the car so badly before applying it that they managed to burn through the paint with a rotary polisher and introduce lots of swirls and buffer trails - and then supaguarded on top.....nice...

3. The second you have the car washed with anything much stronger than the approved wash that comes with it the sealant will start to break down and disappear.

Just my opinion but I'd rather clean my car myself....

[beemerbird]

Originally Posted by xenon

I'm quite sure that I wouldn't like the view but fortunately I don't have the requisite number of strategically-placed mirrors to confirm. I could ask my wife what she thinks....

Argghh one of those men........ shove botty in face. Yep, I've got one of those at home as well. Considering most men have pert botties, then not a problem. Besides a long cheval mirror is ideal for viewing the teeth impressions.

[xenon]

Originally Posted by beemerbird

Considering most men have pert botties

I'll take your word for that.

Originally Posted by beemerbird

Besides a long cheval mirror is ideal for viewing the teeth impressions.

And that.

[mjh93sa]

As others have said, definitely go for some form of GAP or RTI insurance.

As regards the service packs, at 10k I think you'll be struggling to make it pay. My 330d MSport is currently looking at something like the 2 year service interval as I don't think I'll quite do the 20000 miles that the computer seems to be cooking up. It must need a few more trips with booforty to drop it down a bit

[rogerxp]

I've had Supagaurd before, thought it was OK, seemed to keep the flies off the bumper pretty well, but I'm probably get a professional guy (independent) to do it next time (with whatever product he/she recommends).

The rest is just insurance, great if you need to claim, a complete waste of money if you don't. If you get the whole lot it adds nearly a grand to the car's price. I'd decide which one's you'd prefer then haggle like crazy, it's not too difficult to get the prices reduces, especially on a bundle.

I've bought tyre insurance and GAP insurance before and then changed my car after 12 months, twice - completely wasted my cash (my fault). I actually bought GAP on my current car in a bid to make me keep it beyond 12 months!!!!!!!!

[Turbo Power]

Don't bother with Supaguard it really is a waste of time.
If you want GAP insurance don't buy it from BMW, the real cost of this insurance is no more than £200. The stealers make good money from customers who buy from them. I bought GAP insurance for my CSL from click4gap. I was quite surprised how cheap it was. A few links below so you can compare quotes.


http://www.click4gap.co.uk/

http://www.car2cover.co.uk

http://www.surfandprotect.com/motor/...ce/default.asp

[CD]

Originally Posted by beemerbird

On the money you're saving opting out of the above, how about spending it on getting the car detailed? Just a thought.

Definately +1

i wish i had known about the independant detailing chaps before taking BMW up on their 'supaguard'

i had the car detailed for £250 and the job was far better than it looked original upon collection !!

[dar2008]

Tyre Insurance - Never had a blowout in >20years of driving (famous last words), so I don't think I'd get that.

Supaguard - my dealer through this in FOC and despite the negative comments in and around the forum, I'm actually very pleased with the shine,... and it's certainly a lot easier to clean the flies off the front of the car!

Gap Insurance - My dealer quoted me approx £900 for my E93 M3. I said no way would I pay more than £500, so they agreed, just like that (wish I'd said £300 now!)

Service Cover - On 10k miles, it's probably not worth it, you'll be at least 18mths between services anyway.

[rogerxp]

I mentioned cheaper GAP insurance to the dealer when I got mine. They said that the BMW version uses a 'guaranteed' value of your vehicle upon a claim whereas others use a 'market' value or something. There was a subtle difference in the wording which could work out costly; to be honest I didn't look into it too much so I could have been fed a line (what, by a Dealer?!?!?) but went for the BMW one as it was easier. Think I paid £300 on my used car (value new £23,000) which they claimed to be £800 officially.

[mjh93sa]

Be wary of the difference between finance GAP insurance and RTI insurance.

Finance GAP will only pay what you still owe on the car beyond the insurance payout. RTI will pay the difference between the insurance payout and the invoice cost (hence RTI - Return to Invoice).

[_KG_]

Originally Posted by rogerxp

I mentioned cheaper GAP insurance to the dealer when I got mine. They said that the BMW version uses a 'guaranteed' value of your vehicle upon a claim whereas others use a 'market' value or something. There was a subtle difference in the wording which could work out costly; to be honest I didn't look into it too much so I could have been fed a line (what, by a Dealer?!?!?) but went for the BMW one as it was easier. Think I paid £300 on my used car (value new £23,000) which they claimed to be £800 officially.

Most companies selling GAP insurance offer 'Return to Invoice' policies. I had it on my Golf and my Z4 through Click4Gap and they both times they were considerably cheaper than the dealers quotes.

Which reminds me I haven't got it sorted for my 3-er yet....

EDIT - Beat me to it above, just had to nip outside for 10 minutes, but didn't submit my post before i went.

[rogerxp]

Yeah, that must be what was being explained to me. So, I paid £23k for my car, total it after 2 years when my car is worth £15k. Insurance pays out £12k and some GAP insurance pays out £3k whereas others will pay out £11k.

We're not saying the third party GAP (or BMW - who use a third paty anyway) policies are one or the other but you need to check what it exactly covers.

[rogerxp]

Just checked my wording. My policy is underwritten by 'St Andrew's Group' and states...

"Shortfall means you can rest assured in the event of your vehicle being written off, any shortfall between the vehicle invoice price and your car insurance pay out could be covered".

Mmm, not sure I like the word 'could'!!!

[CrimsonRedE93]

I have my gap insurance with www.click4gap.co.uk/ as well they seem to be reputable and much cheaper than BMW.