Best warranty

Any suggestions for a car for a 27 year old girl who drives 20K or more per year? Which company has the best warranty? This could be a new car or a 2/3 year old car. Thanks.

Best warranty and best reliability are not necessarily the same thing. If you have access to Consumer Reports you can check long-term vehicle reliability for just about any make and/or model.

My daughter is just about your age, and, after much research, she recently bought a new Toyota Yaris. I concur with her decision wholeheartedly. There are other reliable cars on the market, but the Yaris fit her particular needs.

Here are some reliable cars, new or lightly used:

Honda Civic, Honda Fit, Honda Accord.

Toyota Yaris, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry, Toyota Prius.

Nissan Sentra, Nissan Altima, Nissan Maxima.

Hyundai Elantra, Hyundai Sonata.

Kia Spectra, Kia Optima.

There are more. This is just a short list.

Take your time, do some research, and have fun shopping. As a former car salesperson please let me warn you; don’t take a salesperson’s word for ANYTHING. They will say whatever it takes to close a deal, even if it’s not true.

DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH, and make sure you have the facts and figures before you walk into the showroom. This can save you a LOT of money.

What ever you do add AAA to the mix.

Sorry, but I disagree. AAA is not a cure-all, and could be just another expense you don’t need.

I’ve been driving for almost 40 years, and have never needed, or used, AAA.

Many new cars come with services similar to AAA, which makes them (AAA) redundant. Read the warranty, and everything else, carefully, if you buy a new car.

If you buy used, do the same thing. Many warranties offer protection for second buyers, with mileage and time limitations, of course.

Save your money.

I sold my 03 ford ranger that I had the ford extended warrenty on, 6 yr 60,000 bumper to bumper pretty much and as a selling point was able to transfer the warranty to the new owner, If it was me concerned about a warranty I would go for one like I sold, factory warrenty!, I get tons of offers for aftermarket ones and none has looked good enough for me to go for.

Kia, Hyundai and GM all have 100,000 mile powertrain warranties. GM’s bumper-to-bumper warranty is 36,000 miles; Hyundai/Kia is 60,000 miles.

Well any car can have major expensive repairs.

The profit to the salesman and company is usually over 50%. So for every $1,000 you spend the insurance company has less than $500 to pay for repairs or they will loose money, something insurance companies do not do. Some people will get nothing back and some will get a lot more than they pay.  Most will get far less. In addition you need to keep in mind that the insurer has worded it to eliminate as many expensive things as they can.

Remember that the seller is out to make money and they get to write the rules and set the price.  They are not going to sell them at a loss so one way or another they are going to have you pay more than they will pay out.  

Would you gamble with a car dealer who gets to set all the rules and knows all the odds?   

Your decision has to do with the value of the piece of mind it gives you. If that is worth the cost then buy it. Don't expect it to cover everything however, most are written to keep cost down and exempt what they know will cost them money. 

Good Luck