OT Mini Cooper extended warranty….buy or self insure?

[scaredyclassic]

I have a mini almost out of warranty. It’s had 3 leaks from seals in last year and would’ve cost 3k if I’d been out of warranty.

I can buy another 24 m warranty for 3k.

I’d prefer to sell the car but wife would then want a Porsche so cheaper to keep it.

cars only worth 8k selling back to dealer.

Is it worth the risk to self insure? Or is the fact that it’s a known leaker tip the scales toward the extended warranty not being a sucker bet in this particular case?

I’m willing to take some risk but I’ll be irritated if car needs over 6k in work…

[spdrun]

“Buy the Porsche yourself if you can afford it … do I look like a walking ATM?”

Translation: you should have got a better prenup.

[svelte]

Rolling the dice either way, which way do you want to bet?

I can tell you I’ve lost money on every extended auto warranty I’ve purchased. But then we are very easy on our cars, too.

If you think about the odds a bit deeper, the companies offering the insurance have done their homework and you can be absolutely sure that they didn’t set the price where they’d lose money, on average. Therefore the odds say don’t buy it.

So the question becomes – how much is peace of mind worth to you?

[svelte]

And you might chose to think of it this way. Even if you don’t buy the warranty and get stuck with $3k worth of bills to replace seals over the next three years, you’ve STILL saved $$ over buying the Porsche! 🙂

[Coronita]

Find out what the deductible and exclusions are on that extended warranty. Chances are. Seals aren’t covered.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=flu]Find out what the deductible and exclusions are on that extended warranty. Chances are. Seals aren’t covered.[/quote]

It’s through mini, same I think as reg. Warranty which has covered seals. But I’ll read the fine print.

I will never be able to just relax and enjoy money.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=svelte]And you might chose to think of it this way. Even if you don’t buy the warranty and get stuck with $3k worth of bills to replace seals over the next three years, you’ve STILL saved $$ over buying the Porsche! :-)[/quote]

Agree. That’s the weird thing about financial decisions. Hemmed in by somewhat irrational human constraints. She just likes the mini even though it just leaks like crazy

And anyway, she earns way more than me. She could just go buy whatever she wanted but she likes to have a nervous geek manage family finances I guess. And with our income approaching all time high, this decision should be peanuts to me. But I still sweat small stuff, and it’s giving me a slight headache….whether our income is 100k or 400k, once a tightwad, always a tightwad…and my family role in general is to constrain spending generally kind of like an idealized republican congress.

Sales tax alone on the Porsche will be way more than the warranty.
I’m leaning toward the warranty. I’m still scaredycat.

[Ribbles]

Not to come down on your car, but…

Wifey runs a European auto repair place. They work on everything from Boxsters to Lamborghinis. She always wanted a Mini. The grumpy old mechanics (20-30 years experience each) told her “never buy a mini.” She was then offered a crazy good deal on one, through a connection at the shop, which had just had its motor replaced (at about 50k miles), and the mechanics still said “do not do this.”

They’re most definitely fun, though.

[Coronita]

Mini’s are really good cars from a performance perspective (even for a FWD car)….But, they are a bear to maintain. It’s German afterall. There’s a reason why mini’s are really cheap preowned.

Unless you like wrenching on it yourself, I’d say get rid of it.

Get the P-car for the wife. She’s a doctor if I remember. I think you guys can afford it. If I weren’t racing it regularly, I would be in one. That said, I love my new ND Miata. And it’s about to get a whole lot more fun soon, when Edelbrock releases the CARB legal supercharger.

$25 oil changes, and onlly about $120 per tire * 4, roughly every 4 months… I haven’t looked back at something German.

[Ribbles]

[quote=flu]…when Edelbrock releases the CARB legal supercharger.[/quote]
Oooh, really? That might be the trigger for me.

[Coronita]

[quote=Ribbles][quote=flu]…when Edelbrock releases the CARB legal supercharger.[/quote]
Oooh, really? That might be the trigger for me.[/quote]

Yup. Actually there are 4 blower options now.

BBR Turbo (via Flyin Miata) $5700. Supposedly they are working on a CARB tune). If I weren’t going SC route, I’d get that.
https://www.flyinmiata.com/miata-performance-parts/nd/bbr.html

Edelbrock SC:
https://www.flyinmiata.com/edelbrock-supercharger-for-nd.html

If you get the CARB tune professionally installed, it also comes with a 3year/36k warranty on it and the car’s powertrain from the time you bought the car new. (because you’ll be voiding the manufacturer’s powertrain warranty).

Edelbrock is finishing the CARB tune any day now.

There’s a local tuning shop working on a race tune too.

Turbosource: Non-CARB. But by far the most powerful tune so far at 250/250 roughly.
http://www.turbosource.com/

AVO Turboworld: Non-CARB https://www.avoturboworld.com/

I’ve already spent about $4k in non engine mods…
When it’s said and done, my bill will be around $10k in mods with the blower… Even with stock engine, I’m running about 3-4 seconds quicker than in my NA with a supercharger. The ND is just a much better car.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=Ribbles]Not to come down on your car, but…

Wifey runs a European auto repair place. They work on everything from Boxsters to Lamborghinis. She always wanted a Mini. The grumpy old mechanics (20-30 years experience each) told her “never buy a mini.” She was then offered a crazy good deal on one, through a connection at the shop, which had just had its motor replaced (at about 50k miles), and the mechanics still said “do not do this.”

They’re most definitely fun, though.[/quote]

sounds like a warranty vote

i bought my kid a brand new corolla when he graduated. i told him id much rather we both have 15k paid for cars than i just have a paid for 30k car w him making payments. or worse, me making payments on a 60,000 car.

its not like im being unselfish. honestly i think i get more pleasure from this arrangement.

it seems better to me to blow money on yr kids while youre still alive than die later and leave him $ when he likely needs it less.

driving Porsches would make that more difficult for me.

at the end of the day, keeping an old mini, which has already suffered huge depreciation, w an extended warranty is probably cheaper overall than new car sales tax…and its steep depreciation.

middle one a soph. in college, need to buy him a car too probably…

[scaredyclassic]

i was never very gracious or comfortable at accepting parental help when i was younger, or even now, where my kids are comfortable, extremely grateful and open to it.

when my dad was alive,and helped me, id feel guilty or want to repay him.

he said, the way you can repay me is by helping your children.

i guess i took it to heart.

[Coronita]

There’s the option to lease. And then you don’t need to deal with maintenance and reliability. You might even be able to deduct part of it.

[scaredyclassic]

if i lease now, prob about 14,400 in total payments for 3 years.

if i keep current car, i have 9500 more in .9 perc payments plus 3k warranty fee for 12.5 total, and then the car maybe worth 4k in 2020, so 12.5 minus 4k is 8.5k total cost.

thats 5900 bucks difference over 3 years. plus i just spent 700 on tires. so like 6600.

am i being too cheap?

6600 might buy amost a,half a new corolla!

[Author]

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