Extended Warranties

My '99 RX300 has 80k miles- nothing but oil,filters and brake pads.

My 2001 Rx with Nav has 76000 with nothing but oil changes and brake pads, but one ignition key is flaky due to bad plastic cover.... cheers, Curly

When you buy an extended warranty, the company is betting the car won't break, and you're betting it will. The company sets the odds, so guess who's going to come out ahead on average? In general, those things are a bad bet. There are often lots of caveats and conditions, and in general Toyota/Lexus makes a very reliable car. If it were me, I'd pass on the offer.

Extended warranties are nothing more than a mechanical breakdown insurance policy. Your chances of ever having enough ***covered*** repairs just to break even with the policy's high cost are historicaly very slim.

Yes, there are anecdotal exceptions. It's always a crap-shoot, but you're playing against the house and the house traditionally wins.

These also are not bumper-to-bumper warranties like your orig>My RX300SE with Sat Nav has just had its 3rd birthday and is consequently

Thanks to all who have posted replies. You have helped me decide to decline the 'offer'. I am happily assured that my Lex should be reliable and problem free. I just hope posing this question doesn't spoil my chances!.

I thought Lexi warranties were four years?

Not in the UK - 3 years or 60,000 miles and then can be extended at your own cost until the car is a maximum of 7 years old or 140,000 miles.

consequently

The first car I owned with an extended warranty was a '98 Audi A4. For my $1,500 investment they had to dump over $5,200 into repairs in one year... and the damn thing STILL didn't run right.

That being said, I just bought an extended warranty for my 2003 IS300 Sportcross. I doubt I'll need it, but when I considered that if a CD gets jammed in the changer, and that the navigation system depends on the OEM Lexus stereo, I might just make up the warranty with only that one repair.

That being said, $1,400 for 10 years, 100,000 miles covering everything except the exhaust system and maintenance parts isn't a bad deal. Probably get my money back when I sell the car since the warranty is transferrable.

It's a 'pays your money - takes your chance' thing I suppose at the end of the day (like all types of insurance which are optional) but $1240 for

100,000 miles might be a good buy. In the UK it is £2480 for 4 years (ie upto maximum of 7 years) which is around $4,500 - $5000. And we dont seem to suffer the oil gelling/sludging problem that seems so prevalent in the US.

This is what I suggest:

Open a new checking account. Preferably a free one if you can.

Listen very carefully to what the salesman says. That's what he is.

If you intend to keep the car for a year, take the cost of the year's extended warranty and put it in your new checking account.

If you intend to keep the car for two years, take the cost of the two years of extended warranty and put THAT in your new checking account.

You get the idea...

Then, when you need to do anything at the garage (not gas or oil or wipers or tires, just repairs) write a check from your new account to cover the cost.

At the end, take the money you have left and splurge!

CB

(1992 ES300, just over 346K...MILES -- best car I ever had)