I purchased a 2003 BMW in 06-2008 and at the same time purchased a warranty by Auto Services Company. I since then have had to have work done to my car several times most recently within the past 7 days. Our mechanic contacted ASC and he was told that the warranty would not cover the work needed on the car. We then contacted ASC and were told the same thing. The car is consuming large amounts of oil due to elastic failure of the piston rings which is allowing the motor oil to seep from the engine block into the combustion chambers. According to our copy of the warranty, failed piston rings are explicitly covered and no restrictions on type of failure are mentioned. However, the Claims Manager of ASC has told us that piston rings are only covered if they are actually broken and that elastic failure is "normal wear & tear" and therefore not covered. Per the warranty, there is no written restriction regarding "normal wear" for internal engine components. My husband who has years in the auto parts/repair of cars, including but no limited to BMWs, is quite familiar with the appearance of a worn piston ring vs a defective one. One distinct difference is evident in the cylinder bores themselves. If the piston rings were worn out, there would be corresponding wear in the engine block within the cylinders themselves. This is not the case for our car, the original bore "crosshatching" created when the engine was first assembled is still present and well defined, where as if the rings were subject to the amount of wear necessary to cause them to lose elasticity the bores would be worn smooth, and possibly even gouged; and furthermore, according to several technicians this degree of "normal" wear is more commonly found in cars with more than twice the accumulated mileage than our car has. One should therefore conclude that the failure of the piston rings is due to loss of elasticity is due to material defect and not normal wear. We rented a rental car based on their word that they would cover the repairs and reimburse us for the rental car. Needless to say, I am looking at a repair bill of over $5500-
$ 8500 and 2 weeks of a rental car expense (at the minimum).