Extended warranties on new cars

[shmokes]

What's your take?  I'm torn.  I just had my '06 Civic delivered today.  I opted not to extend the bumper-to-bumper warranty beyond the 3-year 36,000 warranty (powertrain is 5-year 60,000 I believe) and I basically have until it hits 100 miles on the odometer to change my mind before it costs more money.  Would you extend it to 7-year 120,000 for $1100?  In the end I decided against it cos Hondas are so damned reliable.  My biggest concern is that I make great money right now, but when my warranty runs out I'll be in law school, hopefully jobless and my wife will be bringing home all the bacon, so we'll have a lot less money.  So anything major that goes wrong at that point will hit us hard.

Still $1100 is a kick in the ass, especially if chances are low of ever recouping the costs.

What do you all think?  I've done my research and the company is top-notch, so I'm not worried about hastles, or being restricted to certain mechanics, etc.  Assuming that I can go to any mechanic I want, including Honda dealers for repairs, do you think I should extend the warranty?

[pointdablame]

I'd probably take the warranty as I think that it's a negligible cost at the beginning of the car purchase, but the repair bills at the end of the car's life can be ugly... and its often at a time when you can't get a new car, even if you want to.

That being said though.. it IS a Honda, and you probably won't need it.

[JackTucky]

I only bought one since  a friend hooked me up.

If you never buy one, you'll be way ahead.

I hear the Best Buy ones are all the rage.  You buy an Ipod, wait until it's discontinued, drop it in the toilet, get a new one.

Jacktucky

[AtomSmasher]

I've never gotten an extended warranty, but then I've only bought 2 new cars in my life and one of those I planned on modifing the engine voiding the warrenty.  But, if I were to consider a warranty I would make sure it is through the manufacturer, not a dealership warranty.  I've heard too many stories of people getting extended warranties from the dealership only to find either the dealership went out of business, so theres no one to honor the warranty, or theres a bunch of added fine print so if you didn't get your oil changed at the dealership then the warranty is voided.

That said, if you can easily afford the extra couple bucks a month now and doubt you'll have extra cash in 3-7 years, then more then doubling the length of the warranty for only $1100 would probably be worth it, if just for peace of mind.

[NinjaEpisode]

If you intend to pay the car off and keep it for a period of time, it's worth it.

Fortunately, you can opt to shell out that money right before your normal factory warranty wears out.

We just shelled out 2 grand to extend the warranty on our Vue, but after having gone through 3 wheel bearings and 4 wheel speed sensors in just under 36000 miles, that was enough for me to decide to do it.  Wheel bearings alone can run ya a few hundred a piece w/labor.

[TOK]

I've only every replaced wheel bearings on one car, but it was under 30 bucks for inner and outer. Your mechanic is either beating the crap out of the replacements putting them and causing them to fail, or you have some other issue and they're treating the symptoms instead of the problem (same wheel every time?).

Schmokes, the dealership wouldn't be selling you a warranty if they weren't making money on it. You got a reliable car, and as long as you spend a bare minimum of time maintaining it, you'll get over 150,000 miles out of it. The only Honda's I'd opt for an extended warranty on are the V6 automatic Accord and van. There are transmission problems with that combo.

My sister drove an older Civic for 8 years and 175,000 miles and that car got absolutely no love unless it broke. Good luck.

[ha-Y-n]

we just got a Nissan Armada and we were thinking of not extending the warranty, but after some thinking through we decided it would be better to get the coverage when the vehicle is new.  we were told if we waited longer coverage would be more expensive and it would cover less. 

Pay now so you don't need to pay later

good luck

[shmokes]

It's true that coverage costs more the longer you wait.  The first bump in cost, as indicated above, occurs when the odometer ticks past the 100 mile mark.  After that it can only be extended to 6 years and costs 3-400, after a year the price jumps again and continues jumping on a sliding scale depending on the age of the car.  Obviously the price of a 7-year warranty today takes into consideration the existing three year warranty.  Extending it now for 7 years is considerably cheaper than insuring it for three more years at the end of the factory 36-month warranty.

[DrewKaree]

Is it an extension of the standard warranty, or a sliding-scale extension where things are no longer covered after x amount of miles, while other things are covered for that 7/120k amount? 

If it's the exact same as the standard warranty, I'd pay the money.  $1100 is a drop in the bucket at this point, and you could EASILY end up with a covered repair that could cost that much or more if not under warranty.

The disclaimer I'll throw in there is that you'd probably be better off saving the additional monthly increase and sticking it into a savings account specifically for car repairs, but if you're like most folks, that might never happen, or if it does, it might be the first place you dip into for things that come up, such as "need new books for law school, I'll just borrow it from here and pay it back later". 

[ha-Y-n]

The disclaimer I'll throw in there is that you'd probably be better off saving the additional monthly increase and sticking it into a savings account specifically for car repairs, but if you're like most folks, that might never happen, or if it does, it might be the first place you dip into for things that come up, such as "need new books for law school, I'll just borrow it from here and pay it back later". 

or arcade stuff

[NinjaEpisode]

I've only every replaced wheel bearings on one car, but it was under 30 bucks for inner and outer. Your mechanic is either beating the crap out of the replacements putting them and causing them to fail, or you have some other issue and they're treating the symptoms instead of the problem (same wheel every time?).

2 left, 1 right.

I just replaced the wheel bearings on my '01 S-10 this last week, both fronts, $100 a pop.  It's a fully assembled hub bearing, not just the bearings themselves.

[missioncontrol]

Muphy's law

Whatever can go wrong probibly will....

If you buy it nothing will happen...if you don't buy it something will happen....

I'd buy it

[CCM]

I always like to have my vehicles covered bumper to bumper for the term of the 5 year loan.  I don't want to have to shell out big repair bills in years 4 and 5 in addition to still making my monthly payments. 

I've always just rolled the warranty amount into my loan, so the increase in my monthly payment is negligible.   I don't know if that is still an option for you since you have taken delivery of the vehicle.

My last car I used the warranty a lot (approx. $5000) in years 4 and 5, so the warranty more than paid for itself.  I've had my current car for 4 years, and I haven't had to use the warranty once.

[RayB]

Pfff. Take that $1100, stick it in a GIC, then after your warranty expires *IF* the car needs a major repair, cash out the GIC.

Extended warranties are there for a reason: Pure profit for the dealers.

They are always full of exceptions anyway. "Wear and tear" parts aren't normally covered, and those are the things that old cars usually need after several years. Things like the clutch.

[lokki]

Don't buy the extended warranty that the manufacturer sells you. If you want the warranty buy it from a third party it is cheaper and provides the same coverage.
I got mine from Geico and it was about 1/3 what the dealership wanted. (I got the extended warranty when i bought the car, they helped cancel it and get the money back).

Check this out.

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/warranty.htm

Good luck

[HaRuMaN]

We have a '99 Honda Civic with 216K miles on it...  haven't had any problems to speak of.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I have bad luck, so I bought the manufacturer extended warranty on my '06 Scion xA (Toyota). I've got 7 years with nothing to worry about.

My last car, which I also purchased (not leased) had a catastrophic engine failure immediately after my regular warranty ran out. It would have been covered had I bought the extended.



mrC

[shmokes]

Well...I only took a three year loan on the vehicle, so I don't have to worry about the car killing over while I'm still paying on it.  Also, I'm not looking at the extended warranty the dealership offered me, though I've never dealt with a better dealership in my life.  I'm looking at a third party.

Anyway, I'm leaning toward not getting it.  I think I'll just take my chances.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Well...I only took a three year loan on the vehicle, so I don't have to worry about the car killing over while I'm still paying on it.

The real problem is having the car keel over and being left with a non-running hunk of junk. Even after it's paid off.

You're economic situation now, though...where you currently HAVE the cash, and you may NOT have the cash later, would certainly make me consider the ext. warranty.

It's definitely a risk without it, as $1100 is just one trip to the mechanic, in most instances.



mrC

[shmokes]

Well...my economic situation right now isn't quite as rosy as I may be leading people to believe.  I just plunked $7k on a down payment and added a $400/mo. car payment to my budget where before there was none.  I'm fortunate to be able to afford to do that and only finance for 36 months, but right at this moment I'm pretty broke.  If I get the extended warranty (remember I wouldn't be buying from the dealership so rolling it into my financing isn't an option) it'll be going on the AmEx.