My 2016 F-type R that I bought used, recently, now has a little over 4,020 miles on it. But it will go out of the 5-year factory warranty end of October 2020. It was put into service in late 2015.

I plan to only drive it 2000, 'maybe' 3000 miles a year and who knows how long I will have it, but at that rate, it would take around 10 years to even get to 30k. I am used to putting 30k on a car every year, because of my commute, but I recently retired. I rarely keep any car that long.

So, bring out the horror stories of expensive things that happened to you in the first 20-30k miles, but that could be covered by a good aftermarket warranty.

I need some data to decide if I am going to spend $3500 for a basic drivetrain warranty, maybe $5000 for more coverage, or just blow an aftermarket warranty off, completely...

any real-world experiences are appreciated.

Another consideration: I do want to ECU tune and pulley the motor. Yes, I know that would void the factory warranty at least. Won't be racing or punishing it on hot days, but do want to optimize the car for fun. Another reason to try to figure out if I want to cover the car or not...

 

Approx 24000 miles now.
Early days I had a wheel stud break and a front hub needed replacement.
Both covered by warranty.....but peanuts.

 

Thanks! interesting, at about what mileage did that occur?

and I forgot the last request:

if you help me out by submitting something, try to recall whether an action or some sort of abuse or activity might have caused it, or if it was just a bad surprise caused by a faulty part.

for instance, on one of my rear body panels, at 3666 miles, the edge of the part where it meets another part, has small paint chips coming off the edge. Nothing was done to the car to cause that, and the failure looks simply like paint failure from the factory,.

 

Wheel stud likely within 5000m . Was told if I’d used an impact wrench it possibly would have come free. Not sure about that.
The wheel bearing was spotted at an annual inspection. Likely approx 15-18000m.
No unique circumstances I’m aware of.
Done a # of track days , kept up regular service, likely more than usual brake flushes and pad inspection due to track days.
At 4000m yours is barely broken in...

 

I bought an extended afermarket from dealer amd consider it a waste of money. ReD Shield treated myself and the dealer as if we were fraudsters and tried to deny the one and only claim. They eventually aproved half about $ 900 for a watert pump turning down the supercharger rattle as not loud enough! If I had taken it to my now mechanic I would have paid $550. Also both dealer and my mechanic say rattle is not currently a major problem. Wasted $3600! I have low miles for a '14 22500.

 

From my experience...
Before purchasing any extended service plan, talk to your repair shop and ask what company they like ( a.k.a. get paid) to work with. Provide a copy of the contract and let the technician / manager ,go over the fine print.
If you are going to purchase a plan thru a JLR dealership, you can do some price comparison. They DO have some negotiating room in the pricing. Dealerships I have spoken to sell Allstate or CNA.
good luck.hope this helps.

 

Those paint chips are caused by misalignment of the body panels. That may be covered under warranty. My big concern about your example is that mileage on the car is actually too low to determine if there will be a production related failure. You generally want to see 5-8k spirited driven miles on an engine to ensure that it is solid.

 

I was in a similar situation and researched and stressed over buying an aftermarket warranty ( insurance policy)
It is my belief that these cars are very reliable if cared for properly. Your mileage is so low that I doubt the car has seen any previous abuse and even if there was little to no maintenance it wouldn’t matter.
In the end I decided to use the warranty money on upgrades instead and plan on performing extra maintenance such as more frequent Diff, Trans and Brake fluid changes.
The horror stories about engine and differential failures is a little concerning but percentage wise it’s very low.
Best of luck with whatever you decide

MM

 

I avoid extended warranties because of reasons noted above. Their business model is to take the money and deny coverage. I think there's a decent commission on the sale, if it's anything like for appliances. I had a co-worker years ago that had worked for a time at Circuit City. He'd make as much commission on a $30 extended warranty as on the $300 appliance it was for.

 

As Unhingd said, this was somewhat common on early models, related to that joint being ‘too tight.’ My car developed it pretty quickly, but I decided I’d rather live with it than have the dealer remove the rear bumper fascia to repaint it. Pretty minor in my case, but noticeable if you look for it.

 

I would agree. I have worked a number of jobs where I made the majority of my commission off of the warranties. Computer sales it was probably 50% although I will say that was one place where I saw people using their warranties regularly. On cars I would only do it if its a very reputable company that doesn't seem to have any issues paying for stuff. Not sure that exists outside the car manufacturer. $5000 does buy quite a few normal repairs. BUT, once you get into bigger stuff it won't go very far on a car like this. Tough call.

 

Based on my experience, it's better for you to create your own fund starting with the price of the extended service contract, then make regular payments to yourself monthly. After a year or two, you can have several thousand dollars available for most repairs should the need arise.

 

+1. Wise advice. A 5 year old car that has barely break in miles is likely to have problems from just sitting rather than being run.

 

agree with this fully, sorry I did not offer context. I have had loooooong discussions with the BMW service manager at Stevens Creek years ago about this very same thing. (I"m generally BMW guy) Who pays, who does not? It is great advice that I myself give people all the time, and I appreciate it. Its been so long, I have to re-do all the research, and I am doing it. My fave indy shop, the owner is out for surgery.

but...this thread?...was hoping for real-world Jag-Factory-F-Up -related problems that arose in the first 20-30k miles that were horribly expensive (and happened to multiple people) that would make a $3k-$5k investment worthwhile, compared to tens of thousands of dollars In unexpected repairs. Example: I bought an FD RX7 from a guy years ago where he had claimed more than $20k in repairs, and the warranty company paid out. It was worth it for him.

 

interesting. thanks for that. well, I am going in for a gas-tube-filler inspection soon. I'll bring up the paint chips

problem is, with that one, since I live on a semi-rural shared private road with deferred maintenance, I decided to get some PPF installed last week. The panel in question was PPF'd. they will likely refute it is a factory issue. I guess it depends on the service manager's mood....

 

interesting. So far, this has come up as the only "repeat" factory issue. We shall see how I do with the service manager when I meet him.

meanwhile, I have a very adept paint guy I know. I could address it if and when I think it needs it, and it would A] match and B} not cost a fortune.

thanks!

 

which is why I plan to drive it weekly, if not daily... :-)

 

great advice I also give to people, especially those who buy an older 80k BMW for 1/10th the original price. Trying to let them know that the repair bills do not have to be a barrier, since they just got a $100k discount on the car. But, these cars are way past the miles or years where a warranty company would cover them. In my case, buying the warranty is not a $$ issue. But,,, investing in one, or not, then I might incur 10s of thousands of $$ in repair bills that the factory warranty has covered for many of you? That would be worth investing in a warranty for.

In this case, for a change, I bought a car that is still warranty-able, both--years-wise and miles-wise. Trying to figure out if there are 10s of thousands of dollars of expected repairs in the first 20k - 30k miles, that are somewhat common. With RX7s it was turbos, The air separator tank cracking, and the solenoids that control boost. With the V10 M5s and M6s it was rod bearings, SMG pumps and oil pumps--maybe the diff. (and the service manager at BMW considers them to be the "reliable" M5s and M6s)

For the F-type R, sounds so far like-- "no".

maybe injectors and supercharger bearings, a lone wheel bearing, maybe breaking a stud, the paint chipping on corners that are too tight? But those are not 10s of thousands of $$.... I could do those out of pocket. Good to know.

anyone else have a real-world bad-surprise expense in the early years of ownership?

how are people getting their engine replaced? I have seen a few posts....

flogging the car at a racetrack? or just driving in boring traffic and it dies on you?

 

IMHO after-market warranties are a massive waste of money.
I bought my MY 2015 F-Type V6S sight unseen from interstate when it was 20 months old so with 16 months to go on the crappy 3 year warranty we got in Oz back then.
It had one, count 'em one warranty fix issue before the warranty ran out - the common worn SC torsion isolator / coupler rattle problem.
Since then it has had one, count 'em one issue - a cracked coolant tube. Had it fixed by the independent mechanic when he fitted my Eurotoys crank pulley so only one hour's labour charge. I bought a new tube in the meantime for a whopping $60 including postage from England, then when the repair eventually failed after 2.5 years I fitted the new one myself.
That's it for potential after-market warranty claims!
In effect I have followed NBCat's advice - saved my pennies for any potential repair costs rather than spend a packet on an after-warranty - and so far I am waaaaaay ahead.

 

I got an aftermarket warranty (supposed to be full manufacturer cover) which took mine to 5 years. I made a claim on it this year for a couple of things, one of which were done last year but I had forgotten I had the insurance and just paid for it. From memory I had a leak in an oil sensor (what's a Jag without a leak?) which was maybe a $400 thing. Then I had a wheel bearing go which was a $1,000 thing. I think the wheel bearing may have been contributed to by the service guys forgetting to put the wheel nuts on properly and me driving with a wonky wheel for a few weeks.

Under original warranty I had a squeak in the rear panel fixed.

I had my XKR to 5 years with an extended warranty, that had a problem with the adaptive headlamps which was fixed. It would have been a few grand I think, if they replaced the whole unit. They may have only replaced the module.

I'm keeping mine after the extended warranty runs out, I think even $5K a year on repairs is cheaper than the depreciation on a new one.