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I don't know about the other countries in Europe, but here in Germany the warranty service is entirely different than in the States.
I was told that my original warranty is good for one year, and that does not include any maintenance (including all the compulsory maintenance checks, such as at 1200 miles). After the first year, the owner may extend the warranty for additional one or two years, but for a fee.
I know for a fact that my oil was changed at the 1200-mile check-up. Additionally, the BMW dealer insisted (no, he demanded) that only Catrol RS 10-60 Racing Oil be used, and advised me that any other type of oil would void my warranty. I was advised that if I could not supply them with this oil, they would be happy to supply it for me. I brought my own, and still paid $150 for the maintenance.
That may sound pretty unreasonable to American BMW owners, but you must remember that I can actually drive the M5 here to its limits. I live in the country-side in northern Bavaria, where there are more cows than people. When the weather is good and the roads favorable (no ice/snow), I routinely exceed 100mph driving my car to work on country roads. On the autobahn, I routinely cruise at 150mph (traffic permitting; the autobahns are pretty crowded now). My point is that since M5 owners in Germany routinely drive their cars to the limit, there is a logical reason why the warranty here is different.
OK, that's the bad news. The good news is that as a U.S. government employee working overseas I was permitted to purchase this car at dealer cost. Presuming that I stay in Germany for three years and put 15K miles on the car annually, I will have to pay about $1000 in maintenance costs during that three years. However, as I only paid a total of $62,500 (and no taxes) for the car brand-new, I think that's a fair trade-off.
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1200 mile service
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