Extended Warranty

[fe2o3ez]

So I'm not typically one to purchase extended warranties. I typically say "No" before a cashier can ask me about the store-sponsored warranties, and I usually havent held on to a car long enough for it to matter. However, here is my current dilemma:

* I have a 2010 Nissan Frontier, and I love it.
* It's been paid off for over 2 years. Certified Used Vehicle price today would be about $23-25k.
* It has 27k miles on it and is in great shape. It is a commuting vehicle for me, and I use it for home projects, but that's it.
* My hope is that - since I only log about 10k miles per year - I will be able to keep it around for my son to have when he turns 16, in 8 years.
* The 3yr/36k manufacturer's warranty is up next month. I called to get the numbers about an extended warranty, since I want to keep the truck around a while.
* I was told I could have a 3-5 year extension of the original warranty for $2200-2500 depending on which plan I want.
* Let's assume that if I dont use the money for the warranty, it would stay in Savings. No debt involved.

Would you buy the warranty?

[YLTL_Dan]

I'd keep the money in savings as warranty plans are designed to make money for the seller. It sounds like you have taken great shape of the truck so you should get quite a few miles out of it. My wife's 4runner is up to 150k miles, and we haven't paid $2,500 on repairs for its entire life.

[sherylgray]

Extended warranties are always preferred for the expensive vehicles which people buy for long term. For inexpensive cars which people normally buy for rough use extended warranties is of least use.

[bjl584]

I used to own a 1999 Chevy Blazer. I bought it used in 2001 and purchased a bumper to bumper extended warranty for around $1500.

I ended up need around $2300 worth of work done to the vehicle about 2 years after I bought it. All of it was covered under the warranty, so buying it more than paid for itself.

[MonkeyMama]

Nope - I don't do warranties. Seems like a huge waste of money, to me.

[siggy_freud]

Extended warranties rarely pay for themselves. If they did, they wouldn't be offered. They're there to make money on, plain and simple. Some people end up benefiting, however the majority don't. Also consider that extended warranties are usually offered through a third party, and NOT the car's manufacturer. You need to read the fine print about what is and isn't covered. Often you'll find that the extended warranty isn't nearly as robust as the manufacturer's warranty.

Some people find comfort in having that warranty, and to them the money is worth it. I'd rather keep the cash and pay for a repair outright (or do it myself), should the need arise.

[reedda]

Make sure you read all the fine print. We purchased an extended warranty for one of our vehicles, and just recently took it in for work. They quoted us $1500, as none of the work was covered under the now-completely-useless-warranty.

I'm not familiar with car parts, but for one part the warranty stated they covered part of the part, but not the whole part, but you can't buy the two pieces of the part separately, so therefore, they won't cover the part. Ridiculous.

Anyway, I say keep your savings, or set aside a separate car emergency savings fund. That's what I hope to do.

[thesimplemoneyblog]

Make sure you read all the fine print. We purchased an extended warranty for one of our vehicles, and just recently took it in for work. They quoted us $1500, as none of the work was covered under the now-completely-useless-warranty.

I'm not familiar with car parts, but for one part the warranty stated they covered part of the part, but not the whole part, but you can't buy the two pieces of the part separately, so therefore, they won't cover the part. Ridiculous.

Anyway, I say keep your savings, or set aside a separate car emergency savings fund. That's what I hope to do.

Yeah, great plan. I think the separate car emergency fund (or contained within a regular emergency fund that you just contribute the extra car amount to the account each month) sounds great.