[Chrono9084]

Hello everyone! In about a week I will be picking up my first BMW. I have been lurking on these boards for a few weeks and doing a bunch of research but my signing date is fast approaching and I am struggling to find all of the answers I am looking for. I was hoping I might be able to get some feedback here.

I spoke with a leasing agent today and she walked me through all of the coverage options available to me. I am pretty sure most/all of them are not worth the money in the end but I wanted to double check and make sure that I am not being stupid. The packages offered are: Wheel/Tire coverage, BMW Maintenance*, Dent Repair, Zurich Shield - Elite Plus (interior/exterior protection), Key Replacement, Lease Wear & Tear Protection, and Multi-Coverage (Dent/Key/Tire/Wheel/Windshield). I am assuming you guys know what these are...if not...I can post a snapshot of the worksheet.

The only one I am seriously considering is the Maintenance plan due to the coverage of brakes. I typically dont have to replace brakes until closer to 100k miles historically. What are you guys seeing for average brake lifespan for these and the average cost for replacement? Are any of the other coverages worth the money?

Regarding music storage, I was planning on purchasing a lightning flash drive (256GB) to store my music on and plan on leaving it plugged into the lightning port in the center storage container. Has anyone done something similar and have any advice?

I know I have other questions but my brain is fried from a long day of work so I may have more questions to post tomorrow. Thanks in advance!

[wolvesatthedoor]

Originally Posted by Chrono9084

Hello everyone! In about a week I will be picking up my first BMW. I have been lurking on these boards for a few weeks and doing a bunch of research but my signing date is fast approaching and I am struggling to find all of the answers I am looking for. I was hoping I might be able to get some feedback here.

I spoke with a leasing agent today and she walked me through all of the coverage options available to me. I am pretty sure most/all of them are not worth the money in the end but I wanted to double check and make sure that I am not being stupid. The packages offered are: Wheel/Tire coverage, BMW Maintenance*, Dent Repair, Zurich Shield - Elite Plus (interior/exterior protection), Key Replacement, Lease Wear & Tear Protection, and Multi-Coverage (Dent/Key/Tire/Wheel/Windshield). I am assuming you guys know what these are...if not...I can post a snapshot of the worksheet.

The only one I am seriously considering is the Maintenance plan due to the coverage of brakes. I typically dont have to replace brakes until closer to 100k miles historically. What are you guys seeing for average brake lifespan for these and the average cost for replacement? Are any of the other coverages worth the money?

Regarding music storage, I was planning on purchasing a lightning flash drive (256GB) to store my music on and plan on leaving it plugged into the lightning port in the center storage container. Has anyone done something similar and have any advice?

I know I have other questions but my brain is fried from a long day of work so I may have more questions to post tomorrow. Thanks in advance!

Chrono9084 Same exact situation here, (delivery supposedly end of next week) I have also been wondering about the break coverage more than anything as well as I see some posts on here with the system recommending a break job at only 15-20k miles which is mind boggling to me unless you drive like Mario Andretti daily. Following...

[tturedraider]

Pass on the brake coverage. The odds of needing brakes before a three year lease is up are virtually nil. Consider the wear and tear coverage. How are the roads in Minneapolis? What size wheels will your car have? Are you going to have a dedicated set of winter wheels and tires? The tire and wheel coverage could be worth considering.

[_E90S65_]

The M340i is a very capable beast. As your first Bimmer, you guys will love it.

I recommend the Lease Wear & Tear Protection, as you can return the vehicle with bald tires, door dings, curb rash, window stars, or lose a spare key as long as it's within the allowed $$ amount. I forget if it's $3K or $5K.

How aggressively do you drive?
I don't think Maintenance Plan is worth it on a 3-year lease, even if you do 15K miles annually.

[calbears]

Originally Posted by _E90S65_

The M340i is a very capable beast. As your first Bimmer, you guys will love it.

I recommend the Lease Wear & Tear Protection, as you can return the vehicle with bald tires, door dings, curb rash, window stars, or lose a spary key as long as it's within the allowed $$ amount. I forget if it's $3K or $5K.

How aggressively do you drive?
I don't think Maintenance Plan is worth it on a 3-year lease, even if you do 15K miles annually.

Believe it's a bit above $5k

[bap340i]

Originally Posted by Chrono9084

Hello everyone! In about a week I will be picking up my first BMW. I have been lurking on these boards for a few weeks and doing a bunch of research but my signing date is fast approaching and I am struggling to find all of the answers I am looking for. I was hoping I might be able to get some feedback here.

I spoke with a leasing agent today and she walked me through all of the coverage options available to me. I am pretty sure most/all of them are not worth the money in the end but I wanted to double check and make sure that I am not being stupid. The packages offered are: Wheel/Tire coverage, BMW Maintenance*, Dent Repair, Zurich Shield - Elite Plus (interior/exterior protection), Key Replacement, Lease Wear & Tear Protection, and Multi-Coverage (Dent/Key/Tire/Wheel/Windshield). I am assuming you guys know what these are...if not...I can post a snapshot of the worksheet.

The only one I am seriously considering is the Maintenance plan due to the coverage of brakes. I typically dont have to replace brakes until closer to 100k miles historically. What are you guys seeing for average brake lifespan for these and the average cost for replacement? Are any of the other coverages worth the money?

Regarding music storage, I was planning on purchasing a lightning flash drive (256GB) to store my music on and plan on leaving it plugged into the lightning port in the center storage container. Has anyone done something similar and have any advice?

I know I have other questions but my brain is fried from a long day of work so I may have more questions to post tomorrow. Thanks in advance!

I have seen exactly one M340i on the road here so hope to see yours soon. In general all of these packages are designed to make money for the dealer, not you. Not sure your age, but I am probably older. They didn't even try to sell me anything.

1. Wheel/Tire - we have potholes, not the epic ones they have out East but when you are proud to have the widest range of temperatures in the country, your roads pay a price. Over the last 6 BMW's I have not had to replace a tire or wheel due to a pothole. YMMV.
2. BMW Maintenance - don't really understand the universal fear of brake jobs. The least accomplished mechanic is working on your brakes, easy to do yourself. I would check out Orr, Imola, and Eurotech to get an idea of what they would charge. There are some names that come up often in the TCBC group on Facebook that also work on cars locally. You should get to three years on the original brakes, maybe not four, assuming you drive 12,000 miles or more each year.
3. The rest of what you mentioned is based on how often you have had damage to your car, lost a key, had a dent. Keys are expensive, but big enough kind of hard to lose. You can also just use your phone or digital key if concerned. The spray on protectant is not worth it.

For me none of those things would be worth prepaying for. The primary reason for the reply though is your plan to have a USB music store. I had a USB device plugged in as you are planning. Works great. But one problem is that it stops working whenever something else needs to speak - like navigation, Waze, V1 Driver. My Iphone through Carplay works great, but a USB device gets knocked off frequently (not always) when some other source needs to use audio. Reasonably simple to get it back, but Waze, V1 and Nav are all very chatty in the metro. Not sure what others experience with USB connected music storage.

Minnetonka or Motorworks?

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by Chrono9084

I spoke with a leasing agent today and she walked me through all of the coverage options available to me. I am pretty sure most/all of them are not worth the money in the end but I wanted to double check and make sure that I am not being stupid. The packages offered are: Wheel/Tire coverage, BMW Maintenance*, Dent Repair, Zurich Shield - Elite Plus (interior/exterior protection), Key Replacement, Lease Wear & Tear Protection, and Multi-Coverage (Dent/Key/Tire/Wheel/Windshield). I am assuming you guys know what these are...if not...I can post a snapshot of the worksheet.

Mine was a purchase and I declined everything from F&I. For a lease, the lease wear and tear may be of some value, provided your F&I does not marked up, and willing to share some of the profit margins.

[Moonbags]

The only one of these I ever go for is the wheel & tire. Combined with a set of runflats (which I don't recommend) you can basically wait until tread is at 60 percent, go drive through a construction site, and pop by your BMW dealer for a cappucino and $2k in new tires without skipping a beat.

I'm on the Michelins though, so I wouldn't do that. But my wife does like to curb up wheels and I'm pretty anal about my car looking perfect. In fact, I've never NOT used wheel and tire cover. Just don't overpay for it.

[CCM11285]

Get out the door with lowest cost possible 🙂

[Seaford]

The answer is simple - all the insurances are a waste of money if you never need them

Personally I always take wheel and tyre cover and that has always paid for itself. Last bmw had all four alloys refurbished and both rear tyres replaced as they had nails in them - nice to have new tyres about 14,000 miles into ownership. Current bmw has had one alloy refurbished…..

As mentioned above replacing brake pads is a simple job but BMW OEM pads are expensive - be really sure what is covered in your policy; my service plan in the UK (which is very good value by the way if you are planning on keeping the vehicle for a while) does not include pads, but includes the labour cost of replacing them..

[BklynNYBMW]

Hello. I received the same thing when I was about to pick up my car. The only thing I would consider is the wheel and tire package especially if you ordered those lovely 19 inch wheels. I passed on that and went with the standard wheels due to the bad roads here in the NYC area. If you have bad roads like I do here, then the tire and wheel package should be considered. I would pass on the rest. Just my 2 cents.
__________________________________________________ ___________________
2017 X6 5.0 MSport, Carbon Black Metallic w/ black leather. All options except vented seats and B/O sound system. AKA the Tumbler
2021 M340i xdrive. Tanzanite Blue with W/Oyster with Red Calipers. All options except Adaptive M suspension, Driver Assistance Professional Package, Cooling and High Performance Tire package. AKA Blue Angel
*Retired 04/30/21: 2018 340i MSport Xdrive sedan. Glacier Silver w/Oyster. All options except active cruise control and window shades. AKA Airstream

[Chrono9084]

tturedraider The roads here are pretty good considering the weather we get. I am generally driving over pothole filled roads. I will not have a dedicated set of winter tires though....

_E90S65_ calbears It is $5000 BUT it mentions that any itemized wear and use charges that exceed $1000 and any "portion of a charge" for a missing part that exceeds $300 is excluded from coverage. That leaves ALOT up to interpretation. Would a set of tires be considered as 4 separate items or one item? If the later were true, I would think they could deny that.

bap340i Minnetonka. In my Audi I can control which things talk to me and generally mute them all so nothing interrupts the music. Is that possible in this car?

[DenverBMW]

I recommend all protection packages and i also recommend none of them. The thing is it is going have different value for each person. At the end of the day they will either save you or you will never use them, its like car insurance.

People who have never had any tire issues won't see the value you it. People who have blown out a whole wheel on a huge pot hole will swear by it.

People who have never had a cracked windshield, curb rash rims, had scratches on there paint of door dings wont see the value in lease end protection but people who have had a $10k lease end bill will know the value. I will say if you plan on doing a lease take over or buyout to get into a new lease half way through then this one will be a waste if you do not make it to the end of your lease.

People who have kids who have ruined interiors will find the value in appearance protection.

Maintenance packages so save money if you are going to follow all maintenance recommendations and do the service at the dealer, if you have other plans then it doesn't have the same value.

They all have their value if anything happens to you. Its just like insurance on anything else.

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by DenverBMW

They all have their value if anything happens to you. Its just like insurance on anything else.

Lease end charges of $10k is a lot, is there an example of how the breakdown looks like?

My guess is front and rear bumper paint jobs + 20-inch rims and max performance tires + keyed quad panels?!?

And lessee does need multiple insurance products in this case, as I recall lease end wear and tear maxes out@$5k payout, right?

[DenverBMW]

Originally Posted by bavarianride

Lease end charges of $10k is a lot, is there an example of how the breakdown looks like?

My guess is front and rear bumper paint jobs + 20-inch rims and max performance tires + keyed quad panels?!?

And lessee does need multiple insurance products in this case, as I recall lease end wear and tear maxes out@$5k payout, right?

In Canada ours maxes out at $7500.

For $10k i don't remember the breakdown just remember being amazed it could be that much. I will say the protection still won't cover a broken bumper so i guess i over exaggerated.

[bap340i]

bap340i Minnetonka. In my Audi I can control which things talk to me and generally mute them all so nothing interrupts the music. Is that possible in this car?[/QUOTE]

Yes, I think you can mute almost everything. It only happens with my USB device and easy enough to just use CarPlay. Most likely my issue is a combination of CarPlay and USB not sharing. Good luck with your car.

[calbears]

Originally Posted by DenverBMW

In Canada ours maxes out at $7500.

For $10k i don't remember the breakdown just remember being amazed it could be that much. I will say the protection still won't cover a broken bumper so i guess i over exaggerated.

I've seen $18k on a convertible that had giant dents on the roof panels

[Chrono9084]

Originally Posted by bap340i

I have seen exactly one M340i on the road here so hope to see yours soon. In general all of these packages are designed to make money for the dealer, not you. Not sure your age, but I am probably older. They didn't even try to sell me anything.

1. Wheel/Tire - we have potholes, not the epic ones they have out East but when you are proud to have the widest range of temperatures in the country, your roads pay a price. Over the last 6 BMW's I have not had to replace a tire or wheel due to a pothole. YMMV.
2. BMW Maintenance - don't really understand the universal fear of brake jobs. The least accomplished mechanic is working on your brakes, easy to do yourself. I would check out Orr, Imola, and Eurotech to get an idea of what they would charge. There are some names that come up often in the TCBC group on Facebook that also work on cars locally. You should get to three years on the original brakes, maybe not four, assuming you drive 12,000 miles or more each year.
3. The rest of what you mentioned is based on how often you have had damage to your car, lost a key, had a dent. Keys are expensive, but big enough kind of hard to lose. You can also just use your phone or digital key if concerned. The spray on protectant is not worth it.

For me none of those things would be worth prepaying for. The primary reason for the reply though is your plan to have a USB music store. I had a USB device plugged in as you are planning. Works great. But one problem is that it stops working whenever something else needs to speak - like navigation, Waze, V1 Driver. My Iphone through Carplay works great, but a USB device gets knocked off frequently (not always) when some other source needs to use audio. Reasonably simple to get it back, but Waze, V1 and Nav are all very chatty in the metro. Not sure what others experience with USB connected music storage.

Minnetonka or Motorworks?

bap340i So I picked up the car last night and the USB drive is working out very well. One question for you, do you know the specifics on where the playlists need to reside in order to be found by iDrive? I cant seem to find it in the manual. I know it was tricky in my Audi so I assume it is pretty specific in this vehicle as well.

[bap340i]

Originally Posted by Chrono9084

bap340i So I picked up the car last night and the USB drive is working out very well. One question for you, do you know the specifics on where the playlists need to reside in order to be found by iDrive? I cant seem to find it in the manual. I know it was tricky in my Audi so I assume it is pretty specific in this vehicle as well.

I thought the native BMW interface was not very intuitive. Did you try searching for them under Media? I think once the playlist is 'discovered' it creates an index or something like that. Congratulations on the car!

[Chrono9084]

Originally Posted by bap340i

I thought the native BMW interface was not very intuitive. Did you try searching for them under Media? I think once the playlist is 'discovered' it creates an index or something like that. Congratulations on the car!

I'll have to try that later today. Thanks!

[HD81]

Guys it's been a while since I posted here so my apologies if its in the wrong thread. I figured since its a general thread, I could post this question here.

So I currently own an F30 but soon to be a proud owner of 2021 M340i xdrive. My question is, does anyone know why the 2021 builds aren't assembled in Germany, but in Mexico instead and whether that messes with the overall quality of the vehicle?

Also, I noticed that a recent software update deleted the burbles and pops that the 2020 models made. Wtf is that about??

Thanks in advance guys. If I did post in the wrong thread, if someone could point me in the right direction, I'll happily remove my post and re-post where it belongs

[iceRN09]

Originally Posted by HD81

Guys it's been a while since I posted here so my apologies if its in the wrong thread. I figured since its a general thread, I could post this question here.

So I currently own an F30 but soon to be a proud owner of 2021 M340i xdrive. My question is, does anyone know why the 2021 builds aren't assembled in Germany, but in Mexico instead and whether that messes with the overall quality of the vehicle?

Also, I noticed that a recent software update deleted the burbles and pops that the 2020 models made. Wtf is that about??

Thanks in advance guys. If I did post in the wrong thread, if someone could point me in the right direction, I'll happily remove my post and re-post where it belongs

There are still some M340i being built from Germany. I found it in the forum. I have no clue with regards to quality but I do prefer a Germany built car. They just know how its done longer than the Mexican plant. I bought an X5 too so its made in the USA. No complaint so far. Yes 2021 burbles way less. 2020 sounds better