is it worth to get an extended warranty?

wonder if it's wise to get an extended warranty on my new subaru impreza wagon 06- manual? it has 600 km on it.

1sourceautowarranty had quoted about $1500(USD) for 10-year term, is it worth ? I felt that the dealer's extended warranty is a bit way too much for me.

I am living in Toronto, Canada, bought my car from willowdale Subaru on Yonge St.

Reply to
grape
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What does it cover, and what kilometre limit?

Larry Van Wormer

Reply to
Larry Van Wormer

The factory waanty usually can be purchased throughout the 3/36000 period.

Reply to
Edward Hayes

I don't know if GEICO services Canada and what services are allowed there but in some states here in the US GEICO offers a 100K miles - unlimeted time warranty (if it takes you 9 years to get to 100K miles you can be covered), with a precise list of what is excluded. IIRC most cars are $40-$50 a year(? - maybe 6 month coverage). If you have GEICO it might be worth a call.

I would be very cautious of 3rd party warranties. Some folks have been left twisting in the wind when the warranty company went bankrupt. many are only accepted at the selling dealership - tricky if you move. I'd likely just put the funds a warranty would cost in the bank or in 2-3 staggered CDs. Most extended warranties are calculated to yield the company 50% profit. And most of them 'overlap' much of the manufacturers warranty anyway.

Carl

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

Get the Subaru warranty. One big repair and it pays for itself. Subaru has a lot of pricey parts to break. I didnt get one on my 94 Trooper and didnt need it but I got it on my OBW. Already it paid for blown strut.

Reply to
bigjim

Whatever you do, don't buy the warranty because the dealer's finance guy scared you into thinking you can't live without it. Really, what does this say about how the dealer feels about the cars they represent? The dealer is in business to make $$$$$.

Will you need the extended warranty? Maybe. Probably not. Is this the last car you'll ever buy? How long do you intend to own the car? How many km do you drive per year? Do you drive hard?

I would recommend keeping your money in the bank, let it earn a little interest, or whatever. I would be willing to bet that if you are driving the car like a normal person, and as long you don't run the engine without oil, you won't be likely have any signifigant repairs to cover. At least nothing that would cost more than the warranty, thus making the warranty completely unjustified.

Reply to
j

Subaru constantly bugs me to buy extended warranty. Why, because these warranties are high profit items. If you are afraid of a big hit or a big car repair will cripple your personal economy, maybe they are for you, but, I prefer to be personally insured and expect to come out ahead in the long run.

Reply to
Frank Logullo

I would second the advice, "don't buy the warranty because the dealer's financed guy scared you ..." But, consider that with modern cars there are many repairs that can turn out to be quite expensive. The question is, therefore, can you fiancially and psychologically tolerate such surprise expenses. If not, the peace of mind of an extended warranty may be worthwile to you.

Also, check around on price before you buy. I don't have any specific dealers to recommend for Subaru, but found with a Toyota Prius through chat rooms that there are dealers willing to discount a roughly $1600 list price genuine Toyota plan to less than $1000. It is worth checking. As others have mentioned, such contracts are a big profit item for the dealer.

Ed P

Reply to
Ed P

thanx for the reply.

I've seen car acted up by normal driving, I think it really depends on your luck, not much on driving style (sure, wreckless driving will damage it).

My intention goal is to keep it for 10 years, like my old camry, which's been driven for 11 years until the engine acted abnormal 2 months ago. everything on my old camry is either broken or mulfunction, the air condition never worked since 2000, abs is gone, brake light constantly on, air bag warning led is red. But so far the only major repair done is the igniting system, and once a broken CV joint. others are just routine replacement, like drive belt, spark plugs blah blah blah, and the old camry has 390 thousand km on it.

Dont know about Subaru, I've heard it had HG problem which is expensive to get done, and lots of parts are expensive too....so it makes me wonder if its wise to get an extended warranty on it

Reply to
grape

what do you meant by *personally insured*?

Reply to
grape

Reply to
grape

Whether to purchase an extended warranty is entirely a personal decision. Throughout one's life, if you always declined extended warranties BUT put money equal to the warranty premium in an interesting earning account that was reserved for expensive, surprise repairs, you would most likely come out ahead. But if you don't consistently set money aside for repairs or can't easily handle such surprise expenses, then extended warranties offer value.

Personally, I tend to avoid sevice contracts. But I bought them for a '99 Dodge Grand Caravan and '04 Prius. While I liked the Dodge enough to buy it, repair history suggested that the service contract would be a reasonable buy. On the other hand, the Prius uses new and complicated technology and I don't want to personally face, for example, a $3000 expense to replace a failed Multifunction Display dash.

As to 3rd party warranties, it depends. I wouldn't even consider one where extremely new technology is involved, as with the hybrids. No one has any experience with how the 3rd party contracts will handle high-tech repairs. But the real issues are: Will the 3rd party contract company still be around when you need them? Will the repair garage you want to use accept the plan? Does the contract clearly state what is and what is not covered?

When I was a service writer some years ago, I found the 3rd-party plan our dealer sold in general easy enough to work with. The exceptions tended to be failures that led to differences of opinion as to how much precautionary measures should be taken. For example, flushing the freon lines after an AC compressor bearing failure. The contract company tended to want to play the odds more than our shop did. On the other hand, many people have been burned when otherwise reputable contract companies when out of business and left their contract holders stranded.

Perhaps people on this group can report their experience with contracts from big companies such as GEICO.

Ed P

Reply to
Ed P

What I mean is you have enough cash available to cover repair yourself. On the whole you should be ahead since the profit margin in extended warranties is probably 50%. Look at it as paying yourself that 50%. I remember reading a automobile trade magazine a few years back advertising a radio. They said if the dealer installed it as an option, he could make more money off the radio than the sale of the car. I'd like to see the warranty ads.

Service of course is a separate matter. I do what I can but leave rest to pros. That also means, if I have a good foreign car specialist and he's cheaper than the Subaru dealer, I go there.

Reply to
Frank Logullo

The problem with these, at least with the "official" Subaru warranty, is that it doesn't cover many of the items that I think will probably fail in the first 100,000 miles, such as O2 sensors, MAF sensor, etc. Other than maybe the alternator and a few other misc items, the odds are nothing else major will break that the warranty covers in that time. I've considered buying it, but I don't think they'd be selling it if the odds were in our favor.

Reply to
Dino

that it doesn't cover many of the items that I think will probably fail in the first 100,000 miles, such as O2 sensors, MAF sensor, etc.

Reply to
bigjim

Reply to
grape

The O2 sensors and MAF aren't covered after 36K. Only the cat and control units is covered after that, and only to 80K.

You're correct, the Gold covers everything. However the standard Extended warranty does not.

Reply to
Dino

The Gold is described here:

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Subaru wants $1200 for a standard extended warranty for my '05. Wonder how much the Gold costs...

Reply to
Dino

I got the gold 5 yr 100k warranty for about $1100. You can bargain on the warranty as well. Once I hedged and said "I'll wait" the price dropped. Of that $1100 I've already got back over $100 for the blown strut replacement. If the abs unit goes the warranty will be greatly appreciated. The outback in made in the US by mediocre American workers.If it were a japan built toyota or isuzu the extended warranty may not be worth it.

Reply to
bigjim

Which mediocre workers make the struts? Do mediocre workers at Bosch make the ABS?

you're funny!

Carl

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

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