Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I never buy the extended warranty. Most new vehicles come with 100k mile warranties or such. Good enough for me!
Sadly not to many cover you to 100 anymore. Or it is only power train coverage it seems a lot are 3/36 and maybe 5/60 for power train now. Except of course Hyundai/Kia. I'm not sure about BMW, jag, MB, etc never considered one....
I never buy the extended warranty. Most new vehicles come with 100k mile warranties or such. Good enough for me!
No. Most vehicles come with a 3/36 warranty. It doesn't take much of a failure to rack up thousands in repair bills.
I've been buying extended warranties since 1986. It bounds the cost of ownership for cheap money. I always shop them so I'm not getting gouged by the dealer finance guy who is looking for that last chance to gouge me. 7 cars. 700,000 miles. I'm way ahead.
I bought a $35,000 car two years ago. The 7 year/100K extended warranty was $1,420. My ownership costs are scheduled maintenance, tires, and brakes. If something beyond that goes wrong, let the dealership figure it out.
I have homeowners insurance. My house has never burned to the ground. Did I waste my money? Nope.
I never buy any extended warranty for anything, in the vast majority of cases they are a complete waste of money. A 2 year old Japanese car with low mileage? That was a really stupid move, what are the chances this car will need a $2,000 car repair before the warranty expires? And that is even assuming every nickle is covered by the warranty which is not always the case.
An extended warranty buys you peace of mind more than anything else. If the thought of breakdowns and repairs keep you up at night, then it's worth it IMO.
Me, I've bought extended warranties twice. The first time, the extended warranty covered:
- Headgasket, CV joint. Taking out the cost of the warranty, that saved me $1K
Second time:
- Bad valve clearance (engine pulled and heads rebuilt), 2 axles, radio faceplate, front bushings, F/R endlinks, driver's side strut. That saved me over $7K.
Was it worth it? Absolutely. Both were Subarus, btw.
The only extended warranty I would even think of "purchasing" is a FACTORY EXTENDED WARRANTY. And i would want it thrown in on the deal. I wouldn't offer more than $200 if I had to buy it.
MOST if not all aftermarket extended warranties aren't worth the paper they are written on.
When GM extended their factory power train warranty from 36k miles to 100k miles, it was estimated to cost them $1,000 *per vehicle* in additional claims costs, spread out over every car they sold. Keep in mind, that was only power train coverage, not bumper-to-bumper coverage, like many extended warranties cover.
I remember my former employer's *cost* per vehicle being about a grand for 7/70 coverage, and that was pretty easy to blow up with a single repair - one model year we had a fan-clutch recall that sucked up $800 per vehicle in claims costs.. So if you're getting an extended warranty for free or $200, based on my own experiences, that's below the cost to offer the warranty.
When I was in the business of paying factory warranty claims, I found that nearly all dealer service personnel (and my co-workers) bought the factory extended warranty. It was also quite common for dealerships to go over vehicles with a fine-toothed comb on the last service before the warranty expired, to get "free" repairs, which was good for everyone involved - the customer gets a car that's 100% right, the dealer gets service work without having to "sell" repairs, and the manufacturer gets happy customers.
It was also quite common for dealerships to go over vehicles with a fine-toothed comb on the last service before the warranty expired, to get "free" repairs, which was good for everyone involved - the customer gets a car that's 100% right, the dealer gets service work without having to "sell" repairs, and the manufacturer gets happy customers.
I bought an 2 year extended GM warranty for a '94 Seville... I think it was in '02. Warranty was about $2K.
Got the car and took it to a Cadillac dealer and told him to go over it with the finest tooth comb he had.
The repair bill was almost $6K on a car I bought for something like $11K.
I paid a small deductible. I don't think I made any repairs after that... it was a very nice car.
Both times we bought one, the cost of repairs exceeded the cost of the warranty. It was worth it. We didn't buy one this time. We're closing in on 36K so we're considering it.
Over the years I've turned down about $20,000 of extended warranties on vehicles alone. My non-warranty repairs that might have been covered during that time...about $300. I paid that out of pocket and didn't have to fight for reimbursement. For me, it would have been an extremely poor investment.
I always buy the extended warranty because I don't drive cars without a warranty. Always come out even or ahead.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
