After years staring down critics calling for longer warranties, BMW Australia has finally blinked and announced it is moving to a five-year, unlimited-kilometre factory warranty on all new BMW, Mini and BMW Motorrad models from November 1.

The new warranty replaces the brand’s former three-year unlimited-kilometre offering and, in good news for recent buyers, the car maker has extended the validity period to anyone who purchased a new BMW, MINI or BMW motorcycle on or after 1 October 2022.

The Bavarian luxury car brand is the latest German domino to fall in the warranty wars, with Audi moving to a five-year warranty in January this year and Mercedes-Benz doing likewise in 2020.

Only Porsche continues to offer some resistance to the ripple effect set off by Korean brand Genesis which launched its five-year warranty in 2019, a move emulated by Volvo in 2020, then Jaguar Land Rover and Lexus in 2021.

It's now only at the seriously well-heeled end of town that you can still find an old-world three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, including the likes of Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati and McLaren.

British specialist sports car brand Lotus even has the cheek to offer a two-year unlimited-kilometre warranty.     

BMW timed its new warranty announcement to coincide with the launch of its seventh-generation 7 Series luxury sedan and said via statement that the new warranty added to the established suite of BMW and Mini Beyond ownership packages offered complimentary with every new BMW and Mini model.

That suite of benefits and digital services includes emergency calls, use of cafe facilities at BMW dealerships and various digital assistance services accessed via the My BMW or Mini Apps.

The latter deliver updates in real time and provides the ability to control certain functions of the vehicle remotely, in addition to existing advanced remote services such as the ability to lock and unlock doors, sound the horn, flash the headlights and ventilate the cabin.

“The new warranty offering perfectly complements our extensive range of ownership benefits, making the purchase of a new BMW or Mini even more compelling while providing long term peace of mind for our customers during their ownership journey,” CEO of BMW Group Australia Wolfgang Buechel said. 

BMW Group Australia will also continue to offer its range of BMW Service Inclusive (BSI for cars and motorcycles) and Mini Service Inclusive (MSI) maintenance plans. 

These enable selected service and maintenance costs to be covered by a single, one-off advance payment and are available in different levels and packages.

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