I mean, how can you neglect maintenance in 30 days time? Warranty co says you didn’t maintain car in 30 days of driving? You didn’t own it long enough to skip service. OP drove it 300 miles? Or 8000? They sure were happy to sell you warranty on a used car.
No proof on prior service! Well, they can refund your warranty cost and deny claim.
I know that a Carfax or Autocheck record may not be complete or accurate it would be interesting to see one.
In Tn when you buy a used car even from the dealer it’s sold “As Is” no warranty most of the time, some places give you their 30-60-90 day warranty but mostly As Is… Now most do offer a Warranty for a price, but some are built in to the price… That being said some have a grace period of 30 days or whatever…
Now there is no law that says that I can open up a davesmopar used cars tote the note car lot and go to the auction and buy worn out pieces of crap cars for next to nothing and if it has motor noise change oil and dump thick gear oil in the engine to make it quite and sell it as good, or pour brake fluid in the transmission to swell the seals/O-rings and help it shift (for a short time, DO NOT DO THIS) and sell the car with no issues… Then sell an aftermarket warranty on said car and let the warranty company deal with the rod and or main knock, spun bearing, slipping transmission etc etc etc… Warranty company’s use the grace period to cover their butts also…
And I agree most warranty company’s are all but worthless, but I have also delt with quite a few that really took care of there customers…
Hindsight is 2020, but I really wish I had taken notes on the good warranty company’s… I have delt with 100’s and 100’s of them, but I have never been able to remember names very well… lol
No, the point is many warranties don’t go into effect until 30 days after you buy them.
Honest Bob’s Used Cars has a piece of junk on the lot that they know needs a transmission. Joe comes in looking for a car, they sell him the one with the bad trans, sell him a $1500 service contract saying “If something should ever go wrong with this car, the service contract will cover it. You can’t lose!”
5 days later the transmission gives up and Joe calls Service Contract to get the car fixed. Company says “Nope, trans must have been bad when you bought the car, claim denied.” Honest Bob says “Sorry, used cars are sold As-Is.”
Smart extended warranty companies have a 30 day activation period to avoid being in the middle of situations like that.
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What state is that in? I never lived in a state where warranty (new or used) doesn’t start the day the vehicle is delivered.
When did you buy an extended warranty for a used vehicle?
I think this how it works? Several experts here blowing smoke out their holes. The OP explained their warranty fine print?
Any state you want. Any aftermarket service plan can (and many do) have a clause that states coverage is not in effect until 30 days after the plan is purchased. It’s not like AAA where you can sign up at 10:00 and call at 10:01 and say come and change my tire.
I dunno but there comes a time to just fix them, warranty or not. Must have been 1966 that my dad bought a 56 two door Chevy wagon for a commuter car. The trans went out shortly afterwards and he either brought it back or traded for a falcon. It was a rare and solid car and wish he would have just put a trans in or stored it or something. Green.
Are you talking serviced plan or warranty? Because that’s not what you said and I replied to.
This is what you said…
> No, the point is many warranties don’t go into effect until 30 days after you buy them.
Sounds like the previous owner, “who only owned it for one week”, knew that there was a problem but your remedy depends on where you bought it, who bought it from and the terms of the purchase.
For example, some States require Used Car Dealers to offer a short term warranty.but that doesn’t apply to Individual to Individual to sales.
Further even if it’s an Individual to Individual sale, unless they’re selling it “As Is”, the Seller may still be on the hook for “Undisclosed reasonably known defects”.
Time to consult an attorney!.
OP, did you obtained a pre-purchase inspection by your own mechanic?
How thorough of an inspection can you offer for one hour of pay?
An hour’s pre-purchase inspection by a pro-mechanic is not going to be very thorough; but much better than no inspection at all. Pro mechanics have a lot of experience judging engines simply by listening to what they sound like.
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Yes, you are right, the terms “warranty” and “service plan” have been mistakenly interchanged throughout this entire discussion, starting with the OP saying he has an extended warranty. There’s no manufacturer warranty that can be extended when buying a 9 year old car. The owner is most certainly dealing with a service plan. And yet I’m willing to bet that even the people who sold him the service plan call it a warranty.
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As you have correctly pointed out, these “extended warranty” plans are nothing but a scam, except perhaps for the manufacturer’s extended warranty on a Certified Pre-Owned vehicle…and even those are sometimes unfairly denied due to pre-existing conditions.
Under the scenario which you mention, which happens way-too-often, I might add, the customer has purchased the vehicle in good faith, and taken the dealer at their word that this is a good quality used car, it’s been inspected by their mechanic, blah blah. If a scam is occurring, it is the dealer who should pay the price, not the customer. Most of the customers who buy used cars with an “extended warranty” do so because a major unplanned repair would be financially devastating to them, and because the dealership salesman tells the customer that this will cover anything that goes wrong with the car.
It would appear that there is really no situation in which the purchaser of a used car could ever obtain coverage for any mechanical breakdown under this type of “extended warranty”. If the breakdown occurs too quickly, i.e. within the first month, claim denied due to the 30-day waiting period. If the breakdown occurs within the first few months, claim denied, either as a pre-existing condition, or because the customer cannot provide proof of maintenance since the car was sold new. And of course, if the breakdown occurs after the first few months, again the warranty company will request maintenance records going back to when the car was new, and when the current owner is unable to provide them–since you don’t receive maintenance records with a used car–then claim denied. What a joke!
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One thing I am not clear on, is the OP’s engine locked up solid, or can it be turned over? If it is still able to be turned, it should be possible to repair this engine–even if a new crankshaft and bearings, etc are needed–for a lot less than the cost to replace with even a used engine.
At least the short block, I’m a little concerned about the cam bearings if the engine was starved of oil, they use the same oil… lol
At any rate, it has to come out and a reasonable inspection done of the rest of the engine. I dunno though I know we have some pretty qualified people here but I’m not sure I wouldn’t want a crate engine instead. What are they, maybe $10,000?
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Right around $10,000 for a crate engine from GM, at least that’s what you can find them from GM, Jegs, or Summit racing for.