Extended warranty advice, please.

An extended warranty backed by the FACTORY is worth considering. Extended warranty's backed by the dealer or a private company are usually a total waste of your money.

Generally even the manufacturer backed program is a crap-shoot. In some cases you can decide on the extended warranty any time during the original warranty period. If this is the case, I'd see how the vehicle pans out for the first 50-75% of the warranty and if it looks like it might be a problem, decide whether to buy the extended or trade it before the warranty expires. Just because you have a warranty that is supposed to cover the COST of repairs if the vehicle fails doesn't make a lemon any more palatable as far as I'm concerned.

In MY experience, problems that ARE problems crop up within the first year or 12000 miles, in one way or another -or are so widespread as to be common knowlege.

On 30 Aug 2012 21:00:30 GMT, "S.LaRocca" wrote:

Whatever you do, DO NOT buy it from the selling dealer unless you have extra money to throw their way.

When I bought my 2008 GC, I had to visit the dealers finance department despite having everything set up with my credit union. The finance department made a hard sell for the extended factory warranty and a simlarly hard sell for the paint sealant, and interior protection. In reality, all vehicles get the paint sealant and interior protection. The dealer's lot guy does the protection sealers on every vehicle shortly after it rolls off the auto-transporter. What your money buys is the warranty, and that's not much considering that to maintain those paint and interior coverages, you have to let them annually re-treat the vehicle at a parts and labor $$ cost to you. Wax your car regularly, keep the interior clean and use good quality products, like Pinnacle, Wolfgang, Blackfire, or Meguiars, to name a few, and you will be fine. Order online from somewhere like

to save. There are others. As an aside, the giant microfiber drying towels they sell are fantastic. I can dry the entire van with only two or three squeezes of the towel. That compared to every few strokes when using a sheepskin chamois. There is a world of difference between the microfiber towels sold at discount chains, WalMart, and auto parts chains. Absorbency, construction, and life cycle. They are not cheap, but you get what you pay for. I am still using the orginal ones after 4 years of weekly car washes.

As to the warranty, do some research online, google: "genuine chrysler factory warranty". There are several CJD dealers out there, generally, but not all, in smaller rural markets, who are selling the warranties to make a few extra bucks for the dealership's bottom line. These dealers will sell you a GENUINE CHRYSLER CORP FACTORY WARRANTY for 40+% less than the selling dealer you are working with. With the warranty purchase, you provide the online dealer with the VIN and your personal information, and they do the same thing the finance department at the selling dealer does; enter and process it into the computer. When I purchased the car, I tried to negotiate with the finance guy, telling him I could get the same product for less online. He wanted no part. His attitude was that no sale at all was more acceptable than taking a cut in his normal commission on these items. Anyway, what you will get, based on my experience, is the exact same warranty down to the product number. It comes in the mail from Chrysler, within a week or two of purchase. You get a choice of coverages, and deductibles. Since I keep my cars for 10+ years, I opted for an lifetime upgrade. Basically, as long as I own the car (it is non-transferrable though). I paid less for that coverage than what the local dealer was offering for considerably less coverage. I bought mine through Wittrock CJD in Iowa (URL below). I have had my car serviced at several different Dodge dealers. When they pull up my VIN in the computer, it shows my Chrysler Corp warranty and all the pertinent information about it. All I have ever done is pay my deductible. I don't think the service department's computer even shows who I bought the policy from, as all they say is, "I see you have a service policy in effect" when they write up the service order.

When I researched the seller of my warranty, I thoroughly vetted them. They typically will not have the name of the actual dealership prominently displayed in their online ad, just the online web name they have chosen. I backtraced their phone number to the city and state, got the address, and verified, using google street view, that it was a CJD dealership. I got the name of the person handling the online warranty sale from an email I got from him, and then called the dealership and verified that he was an employee and that they do sell online, and that he was authorized to make such sales. FWIW, many dealerships also have an online parts department selling genuine CJD parts at well under dealer retail.

You do have to be very careful, as many of the independent warranty companies are making their ads look a lot like they are selling an authorized extended factory warranty. The independent warranties, leave a lot to be desired. There was recently a news report about an auto warranty company that went bankrupt, leaving many folks up the creek without a paddle.

Do you research and you can save at least a thousand dollars.

Here are a few that a quick search turned up.

Eau Claire CJD, Eau Claire WI Harold Zeigler CJD, Plainwell MI Wittrock CJD Motors, Carroll IA Sudbay CJD, Gloucester MA Siemans CJD, Bridgman MI etc, etc, etc.

Thank you very much for the info.

Not tue. Not at all. The product is expensive enough, and the labour as well, that the dealers do NOT do it on all vehicles. Perhaps on vehicles on the show-room floor - but not lot stock. I know. For certain. I was a dealership service manager for 10 years

If you are lucky. Some of the "trade suppliers" sell overpriced crap too.

Again, that depends on your dealer. Some ARE smart enough to know that 5% of something is a lot more than 15% of nothing.