End of warranty dilemma.

[moonigan]

Currently pondering what to do when the 3 yr. warranty runs out on my car. I can quite honestly say this is the best car I've owned and upto now its been trouble free. Having looked at the costs of the extended warranty I'm struggling to justify the costs.

The extended warranty is the same as the BMW Mondial warranty and comes with two options (Full or Named Component) and then each of those has three levels of excess: No Excess, £150, £250. Having had previous experience of the BMW warranty and having spent over £1000 in the past 6 months on my mini after letting the warranty lapse I'd always recommend the No excess but for the B8 this is a whopping £2.5K PA. The other policies are £2K and £1.5K PA (based on less than 10K PA).

Sure I could run the risk and put the money in a pot but with all the tech that is on the B8 it wouldn't take much for the pot to get eaten. So I now faced with selling a car which at this point in my eyes is irreplaceable. What is everyone else planning on doing when the manufacturers warranty runs out?

Cheers
Paul

[geordie jay]

Its sods law mate....you spend the money on a new warranty and you end up not using it.or you decide not to take warranty and you have nothing but trouble theres no asking tge audience or phoning a friend coz the decision is yours

[RS_Four]

Exactly same decision as I'm faced with in September... Don't want to get rid but some good deals out there which warranty money could otherwise go towards as a deposit...

[Noyjatat]

If you would hit 50-60K miles under warranty I would recommend taking it.

[Baywrasse]

I face the same decision my car will only of done 11.5k miles by September so am thinking to go for the 2 year extended warranty depending on the cost. Because there is nothing concrete about the new RS4 do you pay the money and extend warranty and wait for it to come and accept the depreciation or other option would be to sell or trade for an RS6 now?

[Stevebgt1]

I think you have to consider the miles on the car more so than the fact it is 36 months old . Not being funny but if Audi cant put a car together thats good for 50k miles or 4/5 years old , then they're doing summat wrong .

[RIV]

Luckily I've got the 5 year warranty so ok for 2 more yet, it's all a gamble as you never know what can go wrong, hopefully nothing too serious, mines been in for replacement rear seat fasteners and new sat nav Ariel that needed spraying body colour, not bad in 3 years. Gearbox is the most likely expensive part to fail.

[moonigan]

Luckily I've got the 5 year warranty so ok for 2 more yet, it's all a gamble as you never know what can go wrong, hopefully nothing too serious, mines been in for replacement rear seat fasteners and new sat nav Ariel that needed spraying body colour, not bad in 3 years. Gearbox is the most likely expensive part to fail.

With hindsight I wish I had taken the extended warranty when new but I've never kept a car for more than 3 years so saw it as money wasted at the time. Definitely eating those words now.

[johnnydog]

My B7 was 8 years old when I sold it after getting my B8. It had been problem free after the 3 year warranty had expired. So when I thought about changing to a B8, I didn't even consider an extended warranty.
Fortunately, the supplying dealer of my B8 specified the 5year 90k extended Audi warranty when the car was new - I still wonder why they paid the extended warranty premium because the purchase price when I got it at 90 days old was quite reasonable compared to other lesser spec'd cars available at the time.
To date, it's not had any warranty issues, but it's peace of mind knowing that I'm covered until 2020.
Whether I would pay for one at the stage you're talking about - probably not.
It's worth remembering that if you bought the car through the Audi network, and have had it serviced on time by Audi, then dealerships may tend to look on issues favourably to keep your business, and can offer 'goodwill' or a decent contribution towards any repairs out of warranty. Dealerships have a monthly 'goodwill pot' from Audi that they can use at their discretion.

[Madelvic]

I'm having the same debate. I've had a B6 and B8 S4 and both cost me a lot of money to fix but 5 to 6 years in

My S4 needed a new mechatronic and the part alone was something like £4.5k. Without haggling Edinburgh Audi offered to pick up 70% of the cost and I still paid out £2k

Only conclusion I have come to is to ensure all the stamps are Audi. An alternative approach is to 'bank' the warranty cost - if you need repairs then use it if not you have a deposit

[MB2]

Also make sure you take out the Audi MOT insurance which is free - that gives you some extra cover on various bits & pcs until 10 yrs/100k

[LotusPhil]

Warranty wise (Quentin Wilsons mob) have contacted me about a warranty for my 2013 RS4 which is slightly cheaper than the audi warranty but Im not sure theres enough of a "saving" by going this route compared to Audi.

[johnnydog]

I would stick with Audi's warranty. Some extended warranty companies are very rigid in their view of what is covered and what isn't, even if the major components are in black and white, it's the more minor warranty issues that they may quibble on. At least with an Audi warranty, if you bought the car from Audi and have been a good customer with the servicing, they will be more likely to look after you if you have any warranty issues.