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What's the general rule when buying extended warranties?

her209

her209

No Lifer
Say you buy a tv and it only comes with a 1-year manufacturer warranty. What is general rule regarding purchasing additional warranty and for how long?

Do you base it off of what you think it will cost in x years to replace it with the same or newer tv?
 
My general rule is don't buy them, but I make an exception for kids' electronics.
 
General rule is whatever you base it on the person issuing it has already done the math and will come out ahead. Thus normally don't get one.

I think there are clear exceptions. Bestbuy for example offers warranties based not on brand but on price. Therefore, a $1000 TV from Samsung costs the same for warranty as one from a crap brand. I think it makes more sense to consider it for the crap brand, assuming the issuer has done a cost-risk and blurred the lines across all TVs at a given price point.

I think it is a good idea to buy a warranty on a new console as well, considering their failure rates seem to be very high, but the manufacturers do not jack the warranty prices early on in a generation accordingly; I think they make far less money on their warranties early than later one when failure rates are much lower.
 
The rule of thumb is: DON'T. Period. It's a loser for the consumer and a huge money maker for the seller. Always buy with a credit card to get the warranty protection that offers.
 
We buy our big electronics at Costco which gives an extra year warranty. I never opt for extended warranties that cost anything.
 
I don't for electronics. I've bought one in my life and that was Applecare+ and it actually paid off. Other than that I've only bought one other extended warranty and that was for my wife's car. Every study I've read shows that consumers come out on the short end of the stick. My experience has agreed. So far, knock on wood, I've yet to have something die after the warranty but prematurely. My experience has been if it makes it the first year it's generally going to last quite a while.
 
Printer Bandit said:
if you buy with Amex, does it extend by 1 year?
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No. AmEx doubles the warranty, up to 1 year of additional coverage.

As for the original question: In the long run, you're better off skipping them, as you'll simply be self-insured. Using a CC with warranty extension also helps to provide some security. And some CC even come with accidental damage coverage. I dropped my new Nexus 4 and cracked the back glass within 2 months of purchasing it. My AmEx came through on that one.
 
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Cost.
I just bought a tv that came with a 1 year warranty. I purchased a 3 year extended warranty that starts after the manufacturers warranty ends. It was $99 at Costco through SquareTrade.
 
GagHalfrunt said:
The rule of thumb is: DON'T. Period. It's a loser for the consumer and a huge money maker for the seller. Always buy with a credit card to get the warranty protection that offers.
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I had never thought of that. Is this a fairly common credit card feature, or is it only from a few select cards?
 
The general rule is that they're a rip off. Just buy solid products from solid brands. So far I've been lucky doing it that way.

The only thing that has ever failed on me was a Toshiba 40" TV I bough 4 years ago. About 2 years later, the IR receiver for the remote died. It cost $125 to get fixed at a electronics shop whereas the extended warranty would have cost $99 or so and I probably would have had to pay a deductible of some sort. So I lost at the most $26 by not getting warranties, but considering I have lots of electronics in my house that have never failed me so who knows how much I have saved from not getting them in the first place.

FWIW, I now only buy TVs from Samsung or LG.
 
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Doppel said:
General rule is whatever you base it on the person issuing it has already done the math and will come out ahead. Thus normally don't get one.

I think there are clear exceptions. Bestbuy for example offers warranties based not on brand but on price. Therefore, a $1000 TV from Samsung costs the same for warranty as one from a crap brand. I think it makes more sense to consider it for the crap brand, assuming the issuer has done a cost-risk and blurred the lines across all TVs at a given price point.

I think it is a good idea to buy a warranty on a new console as well, considering their failure rates seem to be very high, but the manufacturers do not jack the warranty prices early on in a generation accordingly; I think they make far less money on their warranties early than later one when failure rates are much lower.
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I'm generally believe in the no warranty, except on any computer/laptop used for a home business (unless you always have the cash to buy a new computer the day yours breaks).

but if the cheap brand + warranty is still less than a name brand with no warranty, it might be worthwhile...I was glad I bought the ($39) warranty for my dynex LCD since I got to use it on a free in-home main-board replacement 😉
 
If your TV/electronics are going to go bad then it tends to be soon after you get it. Extended warranties aren't worth it unless maybe there's no way you could afford to replace it. But if that's the case you should be buying a smaller TV.
 
MaxPayne63 said:
If your TV/electronics are going to go bad then it tends to be soon after you get it. Extended warranties aren't worth it unless maybe there's no way you could afford to replace it. But if that's the case you should be buying a smaller TV.
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Why would one want to replace an extended warranty?
 
The last extended warranty I bought was for my Del U3011 monitor, since it cost me $1,200.00

It came in handy too. I had to RMA it due to color issues. If I didn't have that extended warranty I would have had to buy a new monitor.

But most of the time, I don't get extended warranties.
 
Jumpem said:
I had never thought of that. Is this a fairly common credit card feature, or is it only from a few select cards?
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All the major cards offer that now. Odds are your cards do and you don't even know it. If your cards don't that's a problem with the carrier, change to a different bank and you'll have it too.
 
I buy extended warranties on products that I tend to beat up (higher end laptops) and products that have parts that wear out and the warranty covers them (projectors...the bulb).

I've had pretty good luck with warranties, dealing exclusively with best buy (I used to be an employee, so I got all my stuff from there).

Had a laptop that my girlfriend accidentally crunched the screen on, got a new laptop. My projector had a 4 year warranty that included a free bulb replacement, so the warranty was almost nil. I also had a monitor that I bought from a coworker (who had gotten the extended warranty) and the monitor died like 6 months later.

In both the monitor and the laptop, I was able to convince management that they did not have a product in stock that was comparable to what I already had (they were replacing it due to cost), so I was able to get my original purchase price back for both (and in the case of the monitor, the original price was like 600, even though I paid my coworker something like 200).

So, I'd say it really depends. Something like a TV, I'd lean against it.
 
oldsmoboat said:
Cost.
I just bought a tv that came with a 1 year warranty. I purchased a 3 year extended warranty that starts after the manufacturers warranty ends. It was $99 at Costco through SquareTrade.
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The SquareTrade warranties at Costco are great. I bought a Samsung S4 at Costco, and 3 weeks later the screen broke. I called them and they had a check in the mail to me the next day, to buy a replacement!
I have always had bad luck with extended warranties. But, in this case, it was great.
 
Jumpem said:
For cars, always. For gas powered snow blowers it may be a good idea also. For everything else, no.
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I never purchased the extended warranty on my vehicles. Never had any reason to quite frankly. Any major issues you're likely to encounter will most likely be within the original warranty period anyway.
 
I don't buy warranties. I'm mechanically inclined enough to repair anything that breaks.

Warranties are expensive as hell and usually don't cover accidental damage.
 
Everyone has heard a story where where an extended warranty saved someone's ass, but over a lifetime of purchases you'll always come out ahead not getting them unless you're exceedingly unlucky.
 
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