Related to my SUV purchase: Extended Warranty offered, do I take it? Help!

[murphy55d]

As you may or may not have known, I bought myself an SUV. Now, I have not signed the final papers yet, and they have offered me an extended warranty over the 30 day one they offer on all their used cars. They say it is $1700 for a 3 year warranty which covers everything except things like brakes, tires, etc which wear out over time. It covers the engine, transmission, everything like that though. It's a 96 Bravada w/ 42,000 miles, 1 previous owner.

I thought that price was a little high... but in case anything happens, who knows the money I'd be in.

Do you think I should take it? Thoughts on this are greatly appreciated as I don't know much about this kinda thing.

Thanks guys.

 

[shimsham]

i would. better to pay a few bucks a month for the piece of mind, then having to plunk down hundreds/thousands of dollars at once should something go wrong.

 

[Francodman]

http://www.1SourceAutoWarranty.com

 

[Lyle]

Get yourself an extended warranty, but not from the dealer. I bought one from www.warrantybynet.com on a used Expedition I bought which covered me for 6 years from the date I picked it and up to 100,000 miles (had 18,000 miles when purchased). This cost me a little over $1000. No dealer offered program I know of can touch an aftermarket program on price, and coverage is almost always the same. Even the dealer I bought from said it was a good deal.

 

[murphy55d]

I checked both 1source and Warranty by net and they're pretty much the same price as what I've been quoted from the dealer. Probably due to the age of the vehicle.

 

[NinjaGnome]

I would get it if I were you.

 

[cliftonite]

 

[Ornery]

As a rule, I NEVER buy extended warranties. I do research on the quality of what I want to buy, then make the purchase based on that. If what I'm buying is truly the best out there, why would I fret about it breaking? If you've done your research, used CarFAX and what not, then put your faith in your decision. I may some day buy a warranty for something, if it's priced ridiculously cheap, but it looks like they want enough money for a short block in this case! Sheesh!

 

[StageLeft]

Absolutely not. Don't forget that they are maknig money on the warranty, not you. The odds are stacked towards the house. Sure a dead engine will cost you more than $1700, but realistically you won't get your money back. Plus, Ive just heard that it can be a HEADACHE to get money out of some of these warranty companies. One guy posted a while back about some work he needed done (It was a lot of money), and the warranty service was going to cost him about the same amount because they would only cover something like $35/hour for labor (nobody charges that little), and a max price on repairs depending on severity and things like that. Basically for him the warranty as a load of crap.

Take that $1700 and put it in a savings account for repairs.

 

[captains]

buy the extended warranty........something will break and then you'll be glad u did get it and let me say this again....something will break

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: captains
buy the extended warranty........something will break and then you'll be glad u did get it and let me say this again....something will break

True, but statistically speaking $1700 of stuff will not break; that's how the warranty service makes money.

It really depends on how much piece of mind is worth to him or whether something catastrophic would put him in the poor house, but I can think of better uses for $1700.

 

[Sundog]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Absolutely not. Don't forget that they are maknig money on the warranty, not you. The odds are stacked towards the house. Sure a dead engine will cost you more than $1700, but realistically you won't get your money back. Plus, Ive just heard that it can be a HEADACHE to get money out of some of these warranty companies. One guy posted a while back about some work he needed done (It was a lot of money), and the warranty service was going to cost him about the same amount because they would only cover something like $35/hour for labor (nobody charges that little), and a max price on repairs depending on severity and things like that. Basically for him the warranty as a load of crap.

Take that $1700 and put it in a savings account for repairs.

Yeah, you know everyone had always said that to me also. We have bought 3 new vehicles in the past 6 years (Chevy, Ford, Dodge) and have paid for the extended warranty on all of them (all $1400-$1700 each).

Guess what, every single one has paid for itself. Every one!

In fact, my 3 year old Chevy (50K miles) ext. warranty just paid for itself 2X over since going from 36K to 50K miles in the last year.


My advice, if you are going to put miles on the vehicle....get it.

 

[K1052]

The price of the extended warranty is also negotiable to a certain degree.

At least it was when I bought from a GM dealer.

 

[StageLeft]

Yeah, you know everyone had always said that to me also. We have bought 3 new vehicles in the past 6 years (Chevy, Ford, Dodge) and have paid for the extended warranty on all of them (all $1400-$1700 each).

Guess what, every single one has paid for itself. Every one!

In fact, my 3 year old Chevy (50K miles) ext. warranty just paid for itself 2X over since going from 36K to 50K miles in the last year.


My advice, if you are going to put miles on the vehicle....get it.

You are a statistical anomaly. If these things always paid for themselves the warranty sellers would be out of business. If you pay $1700 for a warranty and during the 3 years your engine dies twice and you lose your transmission you'll be damn glad you had one. However, chances are that you're going to lose money with it.

It's up to him if he thinks that it's worth statistically losing money to have piece of mind knowing that he's covered for 3 years, and you can't really put a price tag on piece of mind, but from a numerical standpoint he stands to lose out by buying the warranty.

 

[murphy55d]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Absolutely not. Don't forget that they are maknig money on the warranty, not you. The odds are stacked towards the house. Sure a dead engine will cost you more than $1700, but realistically you won't get your money back. Plus, Ive just heard that it can be a HEADACHE to get money out of some of these warranty companies. One guy posted a while back about some work he needed done (It was a lot of money), and the warranty service was going to cost him about the same amount because they would only cover something like $35/hour for labor (nobody charges that little), and a max price on repairs depending on severity and things like that. Basically for him the warranty as a load of crap.

Take that $1700 and put it in a savings account for repairs.

Well it's not like I'm going to hand the guy a check for $1700. It will be factored into my loan amount only adding like 35 bucks a month to my payment.

It isn't that I don't "have faith" in what I bought, it's just that things can and sometimes do go wrong with vehicles. Depending on what, it can be costly. I'm still not sure what I want to do yet.

 

[Lucky]

Originally posted by: Lyle
Get yourself an extended warranty, but not from the dealer. I bought one from www.warrantybynet.com on a used Expedition I bought which covered me for 6 years from the date I picked it and up to 100,000 miles (had 18,000 miles when purchased). This cost me a little over $1000. No dealer offered program I know of can touch an aftermarket program on price, and coverage is almost always the same. Even the dealer I bought from said it was a good deal.

there's a reason why it was so cheap. these companies often go out of business, completely shafting millions of people. Even if the warranty is sold through the dealership, it's insured by a third party. The dealership wont be responsible if they go under. Good article in yesterday's wall street journal about this.

 

[Lucky]

oh, and besides that, $1700 is waaay too high for that situation. put $25/month into a savings account every month.

 

[Ness]

Don't get it, or tell them you want to pay for it outright. Adding 1700 into a loan automatically makes it MUCH MUCH MORE.

Additionally, if you are worried, you should open a new savings account, plop 1700 in there, and earn intrest on it. By the time something happens that will require a pretty penny to fix, you should have gotten some good intrest, maybe enough intrest alone to cover smaller repairs. The difference here is that if nothing happens, then you get your money back, whereas the warranty people would have already invested it and made piles of cash that you will never see or hear about.

Furthermore, you should research some consumer reviews and ask questions to other people that own them and find out if there are a rash of problems at the mileage range you are at. My dad has a Nissan Sentra that didn't need one repair other than basic stuff (brakes, tires, belts) until 100k. Long after a warranty would have been up.


Basically, if you are confident enough in its condition to buy it, you should be confident enough to reject the warranty and set aside some money "in case".

 

[RossMAN]

3 years for $1700 doesn't seem like a bargain to me.

If it were for 5 or 6 years then I would buy it.

I vote pass.

 

[Sundog]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Yeah, you know everyone had always said that to me also. We have bought 3 new vehicles in the past 6 years (Chevy, Ford, Dodge) and have paid for the extended warranty on all of them (all $1400-$1700 each).

Guess what, every single one has paid for itself. Every one!

In fact, my 3 year old Chevy (50K miles) ext. warranty just paid for itself 2X over since going from 36K to 50K miles in the last year.


My advice, if you are going to put miles on the vehicle....get it.

You are a statistical anomaly. If these things always paid for themselves the warranty sellers would be out of business. If you pay $1700 for a warranty and during the 3 years your engine dies twice and you lose your transmission you'll be damn glad you had one. However, chances are that you're going to lose money with it.

It's up to him if he thinks that it's worth statistically losing money to have piece of mind knowing that he's covered for 3 years, and you can't really put a price tag on piece of mind, but from a numerical standpoint he stands to lose out by buying the warranty.

Well I won't go into the transmission *cough*shredded 4th cluth hub washer*cough* problem. But will say that I had a relatively simple problem that ended up being some major $$$$. A little thing as simple as an intake manifold gasket gone bad that dumps fuel into the crankcase.:|

Statistical anomoly my buttinsky! There is not an American made vehicle that I would buy without an extended warranty. The only new vehicle we have gotten without one, is a Honda Civic.



BTW: That $1400-$1700 for the ext. warranty was for the 5 year/100,000 miles ones.

 

[Vic]

Never buy an extended warranty from the dealer. Ever seen the movie Fargo? Remember the "TruCoat"? That's what extended warranties are to dealers. A pure profit item that they could adjust price on to suit any particular sale.

 

[Ness]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
3 years for $1700 doesn't seem like a bargain to me.

If it were for 5 or 6 years then I would buy it.

I vote pass.

The master has spoken