When is it worth purchasing an extended warranty on a used vehicle?

Is it ever worth purchasing an extended warranty on a used vehicle that is relatively reliable (toyota, honda, etc.)?

Reply to
techman41973
Loading thread data ...

I bought my 'Toyota Certified Used Vehicle' from Lithia Toyota in Medford, Oregon. I also (first car buying experience, give me a break..) was conned, er, talked into buying the 'extended warranty' offered by Lithia.

Like a moron -- I bought it.

Since I drove a lot -- and it was a miles/years thing -- I went past the piles in a pretty short amount of time. That was $2k down the drain pretty fast.

The few issues I did have with the car, I caused myself by using way to much injector cleaning thinking I was doing a good thing when I wasn't. Also, since Lithia seems to employ morons in the service department, it took them '10 hours' to diagnose and thankfully, that

10 hours x 95.00/hr was covered under the warranty and the replacement of the cracked/dirty injector was as well. They told me that I should feel thankful I had the warranty because had I not, I guess they really thought I would have paid $1000 just to DIAGNOSE a bad injector. Ray O can chime in but that just seems absurd....

In an ideal world, a dealer wouldn't possibly think $1000 to diagnose a vehicle is sane -- but Lithia can and does.

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend it. I wish I hadn't purchased it on mine.

(2002 Toyota Corolla, CE purchased with 62,000 miles -- 144k strong today!)

Reply to
mrsteveo

If the vehicle has a lot of bells and whistles it might be worth considering an extended warranty.

My last car was a Ford and the warranty just about paid for itself in repairs.

I just purchased a Honda with Navigation and a few other options. I did get the extended warranty, but I debate every day if it was worth the extra cost because of Honda reliability.

However, the 99 Accord I had purchased used had the ECM fail and the warranty paid for it.

Reply to
trailer

in message

The last warranty I bought was a Nissan Stanza. Waste of money, never used it. Ron

Reply to
ronbon

in message

Lithia told me the ECU was thousands if it went bad. That convinced me it might be worth it.

I've found ones for my 1ZZFE automatic for $50 on eBay that claim they've been tested and work fine.

Reply to
mrsteveo

The last warranty I bought was a Nissan Stanza. Waste of money, never used it.

Ron

Have you used any of your life insurance policies yet??--waste of $$$ I guess.

Reply to
MLD

If you're buying a car and getting a Ceritfied Pre-Owned Toyota (has to be CERTIFIED) the warranty is free...

Reply to
Hachiroku

I actually did that about 15 years ago at a Honda dealer in Atlanta. I ended up selling the car after about 2-3 years (it was too small for a growing family) and the dealer gave me a full refund.

I have purchased several cars from them since-- and sent friends and neighbors. Best $700 they ever spent!

Reply to
Piso Mojado

...

The way I see it, buying an extended warranty is betting that you made a poor decision on the reliability of the vehicle. Tomes

Reply to
Tomes

I bought a Honda extended warranty because it was refundable. The catch is that it is refunded after the expiration in years, not miles, and only to the original owner, so they probably don't pay out very often.

I figured the real cost of the warranty was the interest on $1320 for 7 years.

Then I had a $200 repair that would be covered under the warranty. darn. I paid for that, to keep the refund alive.

Reply to
dold

It is rarely worth purchasing an extended warranty on a used vehicle. Put the cost of the extended warranty into a separate bank account and draw from it for repairs to the car if necessary.

Reply to
Ray O

I bought my 'Toyota Certified Used Vehicle' from Lithia Toyota in Medford, Oregon. I also (first car buying experience, give me a break..) was conned, er, talked into buying the 'extended warranty' offered by Lithia.

Like a moron -- I bought it.

Since I drove a lot -- and it was a miles/years thing -- I went past the piles in a pretty short amount of time. That was $2k down the drain pretty fast.

The few issues I did have with the car, I caused myself by using way to much injector cleaning thinking I was doing a good thing when I wasn't. Also, since Lithia seems to employ morons in the service department, it took them '10 hours' to diagnose and thankfully, that

10 hours x 95.00/hr was covered under the warranty and the replacement of the cracked/dirty injector was as well. They told me that I should feel thankful I had the warranty because had I not, I guess they really thought I would have paid $1000 just to DIAGNOSE a bad injector. Ray O can chime in but that just seems absurd....

In an ideal world, a dealer wouldn't possibly think $1000 to diagnose a vehicle is sane -- but Lithia can and does.

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend it. I wish I hadn't purchased it on mine.

(2002 Toyota Corolla, CE purchased with 62,000 miles -- 144k strong today!)

************** The problems you encountered is one of the reasons I tell people to lay off the injector cleaner there is a drivability problem that might be caused by dirty injectors.

What kind of symptoms did you experience?

And yes, 10 hours diagnosis time seems ridiculous. Since flat rate time includes diagnosis and testing, they should have only charged you for the flat rate time to diagnose and change the injectors.

Flat rate time is a double-edged sword. A shop may come out ahead with the majority of the vehicles they work on, but they should eat the extra labor in those few cases where they can't beat the flat rate time. If they want to charge extra when they can't beat flat rate, then a fair shop should give a credit or discount if they do beat flat rate time.

Reply to
Ray O

Lithia told me the ECU was thousands if it went bad. That convinced me it might be worth it.

I've found ones for my 1ZZFE automatic for $50 on eBay that claim they've been tested and work fine.

******* New ECU's do cost thousands if they go bad, but they rarely go bad. I think the failure rate is something like 1 or 2 per million vehicles. The replacement rate on ECU's is much higher because the technicians can't find something else wrong.
Reply to
Ray O

I agree. The two new Toyotas we've purchased didn't break even with the extended warranties. The Camry kept on costing us beyond the 100K in the form of a blown tranny at 107K. 7K outside of the EW.

They wouldn't touch it.

The money from both would have gone far in paying for the $2600.00 rebuilt unit and installation.

Reply to
witfal

I once had an ignition problem that I thought was due to a bad output transister on an acura integra ECU. I had tested the coil and replaced the ignitor. I pulled ECU and removed its cover and sat in awe at the quality of it's construction. I decided to look elsewhere and the problem turned out to be the coil that ohmed out as perfect. An O'Scope on the signal from ECU to Ignitor showed a good signal.

Reply to
AZ Nomad

Probably not worth the cost. The vast majority of these insurance policies (they're really not warranties, but insurance policies)

Possibly. However, if the repairs that were covered by a TSB, the repairs might have been done free or at a reduced cost. Plus, you might have had the repairs done more cheaply by a private garage.

That because the people who sell the insurance pay out so little on them. The vast majority of the money that you pay is for profit for the dealer and profit for the insurance company that sells the warranty. Plus, if your car gets wrecked, the insurance is lost.

These insurance plans are usually a waste of money.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

I purchased a Honda 8 year 120k extended warranty with zero deductible for my 2006 Odyssey. It cost about a grand. For one thing the van has a ton of bells and whistles. For the other, it is likely that I will sell it in year

7 and being able to sell it with a 1 year warranty should make it very easy to sell privately.

Reply to
Art

It should be very easy to sell privately without the insurance (warranty). Plus, if the van is wrecked or stolen, the insurance is useless. And, if you put the money in the stock market at 8% return, you'd have about $1600 at the end of 7 years.

Reply to
Jeff

They wouldn't sell extended warranties if they didn't make money on them. Use that one fact and decide for yourself if they are worth it.

Jack

Reply to
Retired VIP

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.