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Prepaid Maintenance Plans

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,315
edited March 2015 in General
imagePrepaid Maintenance Plans

The only certain things in life are death, taxes and scheduled car maintenance. Some people like to pay up front for the inevitable.

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  • mavikukemavikuke Member Posts: 1
    Waste of money. If you sell or trade your car you will lose unused coupons. ACURA refused to refund me money for unused but valid coupons.
  • Joe123456Joe123456 Member Posts: 1
    Waste of Money. I was chatted by Subaru Finance when I bought my car 3 years ago. They told me the maintenance plan is 6 years and did not tell me anything about expiration. Last time I mainted my car I was told that my maint. plan has expired and it is 3 years. 3 Years only 6 times of services. Each one is over $300. 3k miles maint should be the expansive one, but it should not be over $300. other services are just oil change, it should less than $100 as I paid my 1st service just about $60. Subaru ROBed me over $1000. Such... Come On Subaru..!!!

    Never Never Never buy this!!
  • MichaellMichaell Moderator Posts: 240,997
    Joe123456 said:

    Waste of Money. I was chatted by Subaru Finance when I bought my car 3 years ago. They told me the maintenance plan is 6 years and did not tell me anything about expiration. Last time I mainted my car I was told that my maint. plan has expired and it is 3 years. 3 Years only 6 times of services. Each one is over $300. 3k miles maint should be the expansive one, but it should not be over $300. other services are just oil change, it should less than $100 as I paid my 1st service just about $60. Subaru ROBed me over $1000. Such... Come On Subaru..!!!

    Never Never Never buy this!!

    I dunno. My daughter added this when she bought her MINI Countryman 5+ years ago. It's nice knowing that the only money I've spent on maintenance or service at the dealer was to replace the key fob batteries ($15) and the $250 (!) to install and program a new auto battery a few months back. Yeah, it was probably overpriced, but since my daughter was making the payments, it really wasn't my money at risk.

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  • nomorebimmernomorebimmer Member Posts: 1
    I can't comment on other cars but DO NOT BUY BMW Maintenance Plan!! I bought it when I bought my CPO 2 years go. It was supposed to cover up to 75k miles for the my spark plugs. Few months ago I noticed the car vibrates alot when cold start so I took it to the dealer and asked to replace the spark plugs. They told me it was not spark plug, but instead it was the battery, so I paid to replace the battery. Last weekend the maintenance is due so I took the car to the dealer for oil change and spark plug replaced. I was told the spark plugs are due to be replaced, BUT the maintenance plan i purchased expired 2 months ago, so I would have to pay for it.
    First of all no one told me the plan will expire when they were selling me this additional items. Second, why would something I PAID FOR actually expired, not to mentioned I DID ask to have them replaced long before it was expired?? I called BMW North America and they also told me that's how it work. The best they can do is document my comment. What a joke. I asked the guy can he explained what exactly did I paid for and he he couldn't give me a straight answer.

    If you paid for your lunch at 11, but get there after 1 pm and was told your order expired because lunch time is over you will have to buy it again, WTF will you fell?
  • DemoDemo Member Posts: 1
    Just purchased a car had it for 3 months, just found out I sign for a few packages costing $5800. Can I cancel this package? To reduce my buyout.
  • rickdonrickdon Member Posts: 123
    To me, the prepaid maintenance plans are a waste of money. Just follow the recommended maintenance stated in your manual and your car will be fine.
  • RedMenace96RedMenace96 Member Posts: 1
    Not worth it. Just did my sit at home and check the internet research. For Toyota, all it covers is oil and filter, and rotate the tires. Everything else is an 'inspect' item, and you will pay. In fact, I think you still have to pay for oil (you get the labor for free?) the wording in two different spots contradicts. The prepaid maintenance comes close to being fair (not a bargain) only at inflated dealership prices for service. If you took that money to a private shop, you would get the maintenance for half. As usual.
    My car is a 2017 Corolla. A good prediction is that if routine maintenance is done, it will run trouble free. I will save money on all those 'inspections'.
  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 236,760
    RedMenace96 said:

    Not worth it. Just did my sit at home and check the internet research. For Toyota, all it covers is oil and filter, and rotate the tires. Everything else is an 'inspect' item, and you will pay. In fact, I think you still have to pay for oil (you get the labor for free?) the wording in two different spots contradicts. The prepaid maintenance comes close to being fair (not a bargain) only at inflated dealership prices for service. If you took that money to a private shop, you would get the maintenance for half. As usual.
    My car is a 2017 Corolla. A good prediction is that if routine maintenance is done, it will run trouble free. I will save money on all those 'inspections'.

    Toyota already includes two years of maintenance with every vehicle.

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  • BMWforLIFEBMWforLIFE Member Posts: 2
    I love the BMW extended warranty. You can extend both the regular warranty and prepaid maintenance. For either, you have to call before certain mileage points are reached in order to extend but you can do that multiple times if you don't want to pay more upfront. They have changed the deal since years past when more was included with the original purchase but you can still get the same coverage for an additional fee. I find it to be cheaper in the long run. I add the maintenance every time because it includes brakes/rotors, wipers and other wear and tear items which by themselves aren't cheap. Adding the overall warranty has changed the most because what you purchase your after 4yr/50,000 miles comes with a 200$ deductible. You can buy it down to 100$ or 0$ but that is way too expensive. It used to be a 50$ deductible many years ago. Times change but it's nice to know I can still drive up to 100,000 miles with the peace of mind I only have to pay for tires.
  • BMWforLIFEBMWforLIFE Member Posts: 2
    nomorebimmer said:

    I can't comment on other cars but DO NOT BUY BMW Maintenance Plan!! I bought it when I bought my CPO 2 years go. It was supposed to cover up to 75k miles for the my spark plugs. Few months ago I noticed the car vibrates alot when cold start so I took it to the dealer and asked to replace the spark plugs. They told me it was not spark plug, but instead it was the battery, so I paid to replace the battery. Last weekend the maintenance is due so I took the car to the dealer for oil change and spark plug replaced. I was told the spark plugs are due to be replaced, BUT the maintenance plan i purchased expired 2 months ago, so I would have to pay for it.
    First of all no one told me the plan will expire when they were selling me this additional items. Second, why would something I PAID FOR actually expired, not to mentioned I DID ask to have them replaced long before it was expired?? I called BMW North America and they also told me that's how it work. The best they can do is document my comment. What a joke. I asked the guy can he explained what exactly did I paid for and he he couldn't give me a straight answer.

    If you paid for your lunch at 11, but get there after 1 pm and was told your order expired because lunch time is over you will have to buy it again, WTF will you fell?

    Make sure you know what you are purchasing. Do your homework beforehand and ask questions during financing. No one will think your questions are out of line or that you aren't smart. Being well informed will give you more power as you go into a car purchase. BMW does have time frames for the warranties to expire but you can extended them if done before that date/mileage is reached.. Also, they cannot replace items just because you ask. They have to be out of spec per the BMW factory recommendations.
  • TiltedLuvr77TiltedLuvr77 Member Posts: 1
    I got the (aftermarket) Car Care Plan from my local Honda Dealership on a newer-used (4 years old, 60K) Nissan Rogue. It cost me $800 and covers oil changes + tire rotations parts and labor plus brake clean/adjusts all the way through 120K miles. That's 12 Synthetic 0W-20 changes which are around 70 or more dollars currently just about anywhere you go and 12 tire rotations (about 10-20 bucks). These prices only go up with inflation. So $75 x 12 is $900 and $15 x 12 is $180. That's $1080 of services without adjusting for inflation. It also covers replacement of electronic remote FOB and key which is $300+. So I'm getting $1380 of value for $800. It was a good deal for my particular vehicle. It's easiest to redeem at the dealership chain that sold it since they just apply the plan and zero the bill out. You can go to other shops and ask them to scan the repair order and receipt and email it in with the coupon from the service book. The maintenance plan underwriter will reimburse any national ASE certified chain or dealership service center. Some are willing to do it, some aren't -- that's their prerogative. I've been happy with the plan so far. Ageroerider was the company that underwrote the plan I bought.
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