Car extended warranty

[Dave Lehnert]

I have never been too much on extended warranty but did purchase one with my last new car purchase. Offered it at a good price when I was not going to buy one. Always heard that an extended warrant could be purchased much cheaper on your own.

After seeing ads on TV, Anyone have experience purchasing an extended car warranty direct not through a dealer? Company, ease of filing a claim, did they pay without trouble?

[Kev Williams]

I've been going to ask the same questions about 'Car Shield', they're spending so much money on advertising, I'm having trouble figuring out if there will be any money left to pay claims? Unless of course the payments are outrageous... anyone use them?

When I bought the wife's 2013 Mustang GT 5 years ago, the sales manager (a friend of mine) deducted a ton from the sales price, which I turned around and spent on a 7 year bumper-to-bumper warranty, $3600, not bad considering any drive train issue would likely go beyond that. But I'm particularly interested in Car Shield... :)

[ChrisA Edwards]

I've bought OEM extended warranties, at vehicle time of purchase, and for the most part, they have paid for themselves.

I had a Dodge Caravan. At 31K miles it dropped it's first transmission, over the next 60K miles, it dropped 4 more transmission and dropped a rod requiring a new engine. My first set of tires lasted 61K miles and I was one my replacement set when I sold the vehicle. So I don't think I was hard pressing either the go or stop pedal.

I bought a Ford extended warranty with the promise, if I didn't use it, I would get 90% or the cost back. When I sold the truck at 97K miles, I went back to the dealership and they honored it and cut me a check on the spot.

I did get an aftermarket warranty on my Escalade, i don't think it was Carshield, and that was a pain to process a claim and get it paid. I did have several things go bad on the car and eventually did get paid.

I also question the CarShield ads and wider if they really provide the service they offer.

[Jim Becker]

I would NEVER buy an extended service contract (which is what these are technically/legally) from anyone other than the vehicle manufacturer. No third party contracts for me...many of them are not worth the ones and zeros they are printed on. I would absolutely would shop on price for the manufacturer's contracts as there are dealers who will discount them much better than the finance person at the dealership you're buying the vehicle from. You also have time to shop...there's no requirement to purchase at the same time as the vehicle for manufacturer backed contracts in most, if not all cases. Extended service contracts/"warrantees" are sometime governed by state insurance laws, too, so, provisions for pricing and transferability can be affected.

In the deep dark past, I never considered these contracts to be financially viable. The level of tech in vehicles these days combined with the fact that I keep them much longer now made me reconsider on that because post-OEM warranty, many components are hugely expensive and require replacement rather than being "repairable". But this is obviously a personal choice. If you like having insurance, then you'll probably like having the contract on a complex ride. If you prefer to self-insure, that's ok, too.

[Roger Feeley]

We’ve had extended warranties on two vehicles and both paid for themselves and more. As long as we use an ‘in-network’ repair place, we don’t have to file a claim. When the extended warranty on our current car runs out, we will probably get another car.

[Mike Henderson]

I bought a extended warranty from the vehicle manufacturer and it was worth it. Turned out the car was not the best from a reliability point of view.

Either that or the dealer was miking the warranty. Every time I took it in for service they found things to fix. Didn't cost me anything but it made me wonder.

Mike

[Dan Friedrichs]

Its easy to find anecdotes about them being "worth it", but obviously if they paid out more than they took in, they wouldn't be a viable product.

[Mike Henderson]

Its easy to find anecdotes about them being "worth it", but obviously if they paid out more than they took in, they wouldn't be a viable product.

That's true. I have a second car that I took an extended warranty on and have essentially never had a claim.

Mike

[Jim Becker]

Its easy to find anecdotes about them being "worth it", but obviously if they paid out more than they took in, they wouldn't be a viable product.

Hence, my reference to "insurance" above...an extended service contract is essentially an insurance policy where someone else takes the risk for a fee. The alternative is to keep the risk. There are winners and not-winners in both directions. ;)

[Bruce King]

After my Mom passed I found an extended warranty on her Toyota. It was the no deductible full bumper to bumper warranty just like a new car. The cost seemed way low and I figured out later that the car had been a dealer buy back due to problems. It had an electric rear window shade that didn’t work. I looked for an easy fix and found out they all break, nonrepairable unit, cost 1700. Called the warranty people and just as soon as I mentioned the shade, oh that’s not included. I said oh yes it is. Ended up in the dealer shop, I made them agree in writing that no repairs outside the warranty. The dealer also got authorization to replace a leaky steering box. Total was about 4200. No cost to me. The car was only worth 10k. I don’t get the warranty on anything except tires and TVs. By the time a TV breaks there is no replacement so you get the next best one.

[Jerome Stanek]

Car Shield is not a warranty company they are a broker for other companies. The people are really just paid actors. check out their rating on the BBB over 1000 complaints and they badger you to get the coverage. The best thing is to put the money in a bank account so if you have problems. The one truck I bought the dealer was pushing for an extended warranty that they said was bumper to bumper and when I asked if the bumper rusted would they cover it and they told me no. And I would only have to pay a small fee to repalce most parts. When I asked for a price list for different items I could buy them cheaper my self.

[Adam Herman]

i sprung for the ford warrenty on my GMC bought at a ford dealer. they replaced the transmission cooler lines, AC hoses, front differential. I am ahead on that one. they even have covered a couple tpms sensors.

[roger wiegand]

The only way the extended warranty companies stay in business is if they collect more in premiums and investment income than they spend in claims. So for most people, most of the time its a bad deal. (of course most people probably don't invest the money they might have spent on a policy, so it becomes an even worse deal). Substandard parts and work is another way they hedge their bet.

On some vehicles, especially if you have "inside" knowledge it can be a good deal-- for example I bought a "certified pre-owned" BMW many years ago. It came with an extended warranty, and they were apparently trying to make some kind of quota so they made me an offer I couldn't refuse on extending it for a further three years. Knowing that I was not buying a Toyota, and having spoken to both other owners and my mechanic I knew that I was going to have a long and frequent relationship with the shop. Turned out to be true, in a good year it wanted $4K worth of repairs, the bad years at least doubled that. I absolutely couldn't have afforded the car without the warranty extension. Loved driving it, but it was horrible on repair frequency and cost. That was through the dealer, so factory trained service guys and real parts.

Never bought an extended warranty again and no reason to regret not doing so. If I every buy another BMW (really unlikely) I might well spring for it.

[Bruce King]

I’m on my 6th BMW, never got an extended warranty and it never would have paid off. I do the repairs including all this spread out on 5 cars total over about 900k miles, valve cover gasket, water pumps, brakes, drive shaft, fuel pumps, wheel bearings, radiator, electrical problems and alternator. Sounds like a lot but isn’t with that many cars and miles. The new one is only a year old. Probably not going to do as much work on it in the future other than what I can reach under the hood. Over the years I did pay a private mechanic to do a clutch and another drive shaft. Many people end up with bad luck on these cars but I only had one that seemed to eat water pumps. It’s very important on these to replace belts, idler pulleys, coolant expansion tanks and hoses before they fail.

[John K Jordan]

I have never been too much on extended warranty but did purchase one with my last new car purchase. Offered it at a good price when I was not going to buy one. Always heard that an extended warrant could be purchased much cheaper on your own.


I normally don't buy extended warranties but buying a car that almost everything worked through the electronics scared me so I found a lifetime warranty with good customer ratings, at a reasonable price, zero deductible. The dealer sold me the manufacturer's extended warranty for the same price and same conditions as the 3rd party offer, far less than than their original offer. Perhaps most dealers are willing to negotiate.

[Scott Winners]

I bought a new GM vehicle with an extended third party warranty on it in 2004, and ended up saving money on repairs over the life of the vehicle/ warranty. It was a good vehicle too, a Holden Monaro made in Australia and rebadged for sale in the USA, far and away the best GM product I have ever owned.

I bought a new Toyota in 2015 and got the extended OE warranty with it, 7 years/ 75k miles. The fool thing puked a fuel pump in 2019 which was covered by the extended warranty though I was outside the factory 3 years/ 36k mile factory warranty. Just that one service ticket came in at $1400, I paid about $1800 for the warranty.

The other thing to think about, I work in the medical field and I travel to patient's homes to provide care. I MUST have a working vehicle. With the Toyota extended warranty I am guaranteed a service loaner. With the third party warranty on my previous GM, I got "free" rental car coverage up to however many dollars per day, but I had to find my own rental car, go get it, and fill out a form and send in receipts and wait for the check to come in the mail.

I agree somebody somewhere is making money by selling a lot of extended warranties and raking in more than they spend in repairs. Like a previous poster in this thread I can do anything that needs to be done on a 1969 whatever, but the new vehicles have a bunch of expensive electronics in them that are simply not repairable in the field.

[Lee Schierer]

I don't normally buy extended warranties for anything. However, when we purchased our Honda Pilot it had, power seats, seat hater, power windows , sun roof, power heated mirrors, power lift gate, a video display panel, radio with CD player, auto head lights, auto temp control, etc. With that many electronic things I was concerned about a costly failure. The extended warranty was really cheap at the time. In my case the warranty paid off when the starter failed at just under 100K miles and 8 years later. Replacing the starter didn't cost me a dime. YMMV.

[Dave Lehnert]

Great replies so far, Thanks.

For sure the insurance company, at the end of the day, is going to come out ahead. They would not be in business. Some will win, others will not.
In my case I own a 2013 Chevy Equinox. So far I have not needed the warranty. Best car I have ever owned.

Think I would rather have the warranty, just in case, but not need it vs having a bunch of problems and having the satisfaction of coming out ahead.

[Bill Dufour]

Does dodge still offer the lifetime factory warranty?
Bill D.

[Ron Selzer]

Bought a 97 Intrepid with the extended warranty, lost on that one. Bought a 99 Neon without an extended warranty, never needed it. Bought a 03 PT Cruiser with an extended warranty which paid out over 7000 dollars in repair bills. Bought a 04 Ram 1500 basic V8 Auto 8' bed no extended warranty and nothing needed until the 180k mark which would have been way out of warranty. Bought a 15 Mustang no extended warranty, no repairs yet at 97k

[Charlie Velasquez]

Its easy to find anecdotes about them being "worth it", but obviously if they paid out more than they took in, they wouldn't be a viable product.

True, but just like card counters at black jack if you know the risks, you can make an intelligent decision.

I know my wife.
When I have a new vehicle I tend to seek out parking spaces that are socially distant from other vehicles. My wife thinks the advantage of a compact is you can squeeze into spots other vehicles can’t.
If I am just accelerating from one a stop light and see the light 500’ ahead is just turning yellow, I tend to coast towards the light and then stop from my reduced speed. My wife feels if the speed limit is 40 mph, then she needs to be going 40 mph till the last 100’, then brake hard. When there is ice on the windshield I turn on the defrost, scrape the ice and snow off, then clear it all away. My wife will scrape off 80%, clearing her lines of sight, then trust to the defroster and windshield wipers to clear the rest. I don’t allow foodstuff in my truck. She always has a cappuccino and maybe toast or bagel in the car.

I knew from the time we started looking at a new vehicle for her we would investigate the extended dealer warranty.
It covered door dings, general maintenance and such. We filed the first claim three days after purchase when she lost her key. The push to start fob was quoted at $400. A month later following a construction truck, a small chip on the windshield, another $300. Regular detailing.

The warranty industry is an exercise in statistics. But you have more knowledge than they do about your driving habits. You know if the potential benefits are more likely than the average driver or not.

[Jim Becker]

Does dodge still offer the lifetime factory warranty?
Bill D.

No, FCA stopped selling the Mopar Maximum Care Extended Service Contracts in late 2018. They will offer 8 years/120K miles, however, which is pretty good. And also keep in mind that "lifetime" didn't mean the human's lifetime...it very specifically meant (in writing) that coverage continued until the cost of the repair exceeded the ACV of the vehicle at which point they would pay out the ACV and the contract was no longer in force.

[Bill Dufour]

Many things are not really covered with a warranty. if the high mileage engine is tired and smokes I do not think they would pay for a ring and valve job. have to add transmisson fluid every other day, not their problem since it still works.
Bil lD

[Jim Becker]

Bill, it comes down to the specifications in the contract document. Some extended service contracts (like the Mopar Maximum Care) are "exclusionary" and cover everything except a few very specifically listed wear items. Subaru's Gold plan is similar. Other contracts only cover things that are specifically listed. Contract provisions matter and folks should actually read them before making a purchase decision.

[Stan Calow]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned (I think) is that third party insurers can and do go out of business. That happened to the extended warranty my wife bought on her car. The insurer went bankrupt (or disappeared through some legal maneuver) after three years. Third party even though it was through a dealer. The only thing I buy the warranty for is tires, as we've had a lot of flats.

[Jim Becker]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned (I think) is that third party insurers can and do go out of business. That happened to the extended warranty my wife bought on her car. The insurer went bankrupt (or disappeared through some legal maneuver) after three years. Third party even though it was through a dealer. The only thing I buy the warranty for is tires, as we've had a lot of flats.
Yet another reason only to consider a vehicle manufacturer extended service contract rather than a third party contract.

[Rick Potter]

Paid $1800 for a private company extended warranty on my F250 Diesel.

Turbocharger seized up and took out some other parts. The mechanic found the remains of a Ziptie in the oil of the turbo lubrication system. This was factory original and never worked on by anyone, but the insurance adjuster denied any payment because there was 'contamination in the oil'. It had to have been in there from manufacture.

Cost me $5600 to fix, and the truck was 5 years old, so Ford turned me down also.

I will NEVER buy a warranty for a car that is not from the factory.

As an aside, when I bought '13, and a '14 Ford C-Max plug in hybrid new, Ford sold me 8 year 60K warrantys for $900 each. Just right for me, as we have several cars, and don't put that many miles on, but keep them about 8 or more years.

PS: Oh yeah, I forgot....the insurance would have covered me for 'volcano activity'.