Mrs. Lee got an aftermarket warranty thrown in as part of the deal on a BMW 328i long ago. It was not a CPO car, but she is a ruthless negotiator. I think she had $5k worth of warranty work done before it ran out. So she came out ahead. My 530i still has another 14 mos. of unlimited miles CPO warranty. I will likely buy another when it runs out. The dealers tend to stand behind the aftermarket warranties they sell. I'd never buy one of those that blows up everyone's phone. I've met really poor people who were maying $140/mo for a CarShield warranty on a car that was not worth fixing, even if that warranty ever came through.

We bought a 2020 Subaru and for the first time we bought the extended warranty. So many electronics that I felt the peace of mind was worth the money.

I never believed in extended warranties but I've always been able to work on my own cars.

I have a newer Honda that I am thinking of getting Honda Care(Honda extended warranty) before the standard expires.

Too many electronic parts cost more than the warranty would cost.

I would only go with an extended warranty from the manufacturer. Read the fine print but also do some searches on car forums for the vehicle your looking at.

Do not buy any 3rd party warranty sold by a dealer. They are high profit items for the dealer and generally worthless.

Only consider an extension of the factory warranty through the manufacturer. Extended warranties are available from many manufacturers anytime within the warranty period. Wait until you are over 30,000 and make an informed decision based on how reliable it is up until then.

quote:

Originally posted by stuffgeek:
Extended warranty typically start at date of purchase not the end of your factory warranty. Also you can purchase the warranty from any dealership - shop around. I bought my Toyota extended warranty from a dealer in another state from where I bought the car - my dealer could/would not match it.

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Do not buy without shopping around. I paid half what it would cost at local dealer, ended up buying local. It was $50 more than out of state place though a car forum connection. Figured I rather save 49% instead of 49.5% to keep money locally.

Most importantly there is no requirement to buy these at initial purchase (at least with Ford) and can be purchased years after purchase. The earlier you buy the cheaper it is, but I personally could have waited til warranty was near end and pay extra, but would have had 3 years to figure out if I thought she was unreliable and warranted additional warranty. I purchased after a year of ownership just to keep cost down, but I knew I'd be keeping her.

I'd always want whatever third party warranty a dealer will stand behind and help me with, if a pre-owned car is not CPO'able. So, if you want a warranty, you're going to have negotiate it as part of the deal. I don't care if it's a 1000% profit for the dealer. I care what it adds to my out-the-door cost vs. what I can repair on my own. When Mrs. Lee had a turbo die on her X1, it was a dealer-only part for $1900. I can't get that elsewhere any cheaper. So it's a dealer job, and we were happy to have their warranty to handle it.

I don’t buy extended warranties for anything, but you can purchase an automobile factory warranty online a lot cheaper than buying one from a dealership.

I'd rather have the $2k in my pocket, and maybe if I need something fixed, I've got some control. Rather than give it to them and beg for a repair later. And then they pull out the small print and show me how the thing I need isn't covered.

Some people probably win with warranties, but I don't gamble.

The company that sells that warranty has invested incredible sums of money and talent using data scientists and actuaries to determine what the repairs they actually will cover will cost, and how long to cover, and then what they should charge. The end result is a healthy margin for them, and the dealership selling the plan, on that $1900.

The odds favor the house.

I was in the car business for over 20 years and I endorse them if from the manufacturer. Dealerships can mark these up over 100%. Do some shopping, dealers sell on the internet for a lot less.

If you get a number on the net from a reputable dealer, take that number to a local dealer and see if they will match it. In many cases they will.

You can get them much cheaper buying from dealers online. I've bought them for Toyota's from a Toyota dealer and it's genuine Toyota Platinum Care. Send me an email if you want his info, I'm actually about to contact him for a warranty for my wife's Hybrid.

My last purchase was a used 2017 F-150 Supercab. My wife sanctioned purchasing the Ford warranty, since we looking ahead to retirement and this was going to be a long term buy for me (the wife will be due for new vehicle, before another truck hits the driveway).

I’ll be digging out the paperwork in the near future and verifying the fine print. When we recently dropped the tailgate, we noticed a small area of paint flaking.

PS: the same dealer has a comparable F-150 in current used inventory at approximately +$10K more and 10K miles, than mine when I purchased mine 3 years ago.....

The last vehicle I purchased I got one,if I recall it was about $1300. Had to use it twice while I had the vehicle, once for a transmission repair, the second was for the radiator fan. More than paid for itself.

I went with the Mopar factory extended warranty for my new Challenger. $800. $250 deductible. Good for 60K miles. Bumper to bumper so pretty much everything but cosmetics, brakes and battery.
Too many electronic goodies and an AWD unit. For $800 I figured it was a good buy. If I wanted to spend more money, I could have bought coverage for 100K miles.

I bought a extended warranty from Infiniti for our Q70 and it’s MORE than paid for itself.

You don't have to buy an extended warranty or gap offered by a dealership's finance office. Most of the time, these warranties are a big profit center for the dealership.

However, I actually have an anecdote where a CPO with an extended warranty paid for itself several times over.

My wife had bought a Nissan Altima with a Jatco CVT transmission. Long story short, before we got rid of her Altima, the dealer had rebuilt the transmission three times under warranty in less than 70k miles. After that experience, we are sticking with Aisin in a Camry from now on. There is no way that dealership made money on her warranty, she came out way ahead.

My daughter ended up getting the transfer case on her Ford Edge replaced for free with less than 100 miles left on the extended warranty! So that was a good deal.

My two cents: Probably better to get an extended warranty through the manufacturer than a third party. An extended warranty would be of more value if you intend to keep the car for a long time, or it gets driven particularly hard, or if you want the "peace of mind" that comes from knowing you won't get hit with a big repair bill.

Extended warranties are guaranteed profit for the dealership and warranty company whether its a factory backed extended warranty or third party. 99.9% of the time you will never use your warranty so the warranty company wins and pockets your money. There are occasions where the buyer wins because something breaks and the warranty company pays for the repair. But just like a casino wins 99% of the time so does the warranty company. Another issue is the denial of claims especially if they're expensive repairs. Ive read of more than one incident where claims have been denied so read your policy very carefully and find out for yourself exactly what is and is not covered. Don't rely on the sales person to tell you read the contract and read it again and don't assume bumper to bumper really means bumper to bumper.

At my age, I don't even buy green bananas.

Plenty of dealership experience here, 47 years in Fixed Operations aka Service, Parts and Body Shop.

Many good points have been brought up except one, third party warranties with the clause “Like kind and quality” for replacement parts which translates to their ability procure and install a used part from the same year or newer with similar or less miles on it.

I have a lot of stories regarding the “quality” of the used parts, some good, some not so good.

Best way I could and would sum that up, “The car the donor parts came from didn’t hit the junk yard because the ash tray was was filled up.”

When it comes to Honda warranties shop online way cheaper than at the dealership. My Ridgeline I already had a wheel bearing did at 68k covered. And with all the electronics and sensor it was a big brainer for the $1050. It makes sense when you plan on keep the vehicle till the rims fall off.