Are you folks seeing these too? I don’t think a day goes by where I don’t see one or two. There’s a repair guy who explains that cars fail all the time for all sorts of reasons and who know what part it will be, intake manifold, engine block, etc. (Mostly he mentions stuff which is actually unlikely to fail, done that way I presume b/c most car owners know what the engine block is, but not much else in the engine compartment.)
Anyway they are selling the idea to pay a certain amount per month to them, and in exchange they will repair your car when it breaks. Sort of like car repair insurance. It’s only available on cars less than a certain age, 10 years is the limit I think. Anyone here ever tried this approach? It seems like it might be pretty good (or at least comforting) for a lot of car owners.
I see them all the time. The frequency has increased in the last few years, it seems. It plays on people who don’t have the discipline to create an adequate emergency savings account that they won’t touch. It also plays to people who budget their lives based on monthly payments.
Odds are really against it being worth the money. Also, many of the companies offering the insurance are not very trustworthy. But for a small minority, it might be worth it.
I’ve only noticed them in the past year or two, thought it might have something to do w/Covid & cars. I wonder what the monthly premium would be for something like a 6 year old Honda Civic, and what the fine-print gotcha’s are?
I’ve wondered if local auto repair shops don’t already offer this service to their customers?
I have seen them, and have been cold called by the companies that sell them in the past. $4500 for insurance over the next 50k miles when I just got the trans rebuilt for $2500. Odds were more on their side than mine.
I still get calls about my factory warranty expiring. Really? On which 2005 model is the warranty about to expire?
I’ve also noticed home appliance “insurance” advertised lately. One step above home appliance rent to own. Either way, probably cheaper to just buy the new fridge outright.
These so-called “extended warranty plans”, “vehicle breakdown protection plans”, etc. are a poorly-regulated type of pseudo-insurance, which almost never pays off for the consumer. Even when a covered breakdown occurs, the default reaction of the insurance company is going to be a denial, or a request to produce proof of maintenance going back to when the vehicle was new.
Getting the insurance to cover anything requires jumping through a lot of hoops and being able to provide whatever maintenance records are requested–which few car owners can do. Even assuming that all of the recommended maintenance was done on time, proving it is exceedingly difficult, especially if you bought the car used. This discussion board is full of examples where people purchased one of these “extended warranty plans” when they bought their used car, and when it came time to use the coverage, the claim was denied because they could not provide proof of oil changes or other maintenance going back to when the car was new.
If you are considering this type of coverage, I would recommend putting the money into a bank account instead, and that way you will be covered in the event that the car breaks down, and you’ll be covered if it doesn’t.
There is a lot of profit in selling this junk, including a hefty commission for the salesman that talked you into it.If you can’t aqfford car repairs because you have not saved any money, buy a cheaper car and pay that profit to yourself for a car repair fund, Some of these companies ell a boatload of these policies at what seems like an attractive prices and then take all the money out of the company with salaries and bonuses and simply close their business and abandon their Rented offices and cancel their business phones and disappear without even bothering to declare bankruptcy.
That is what happened with the policy I thought I had purchased with my 2012 Camry. The only reason the NY Attorney Generals Office was able to get my money back was because the dealer could not prove they had purchased the policy for me. I think the salesman who was long gone simply put the money in his pocket.
The warranty was supposed to be fully refundable if you did not make a claim against it in the 8 years it covered. The company that wrote it did not last 8 years. I had an 8 year Toyota platinum warranty but the refund was guaranteed by a third party warranty company that I had never heard of or told about and I was never given any paperwork for.
If the dealership would have actually purchased this worthless warranty for me, the dealership would have been held harmless because they were simply a selling agent.
Once, when I had some time to kill, I answered the phone and told the chick on the other end of the line… Oh, thank God you called!
I was hoping that I could be get some coverage now that the factory warranty on my '52 Hudson has expired.
Lifetime warranty=when it breaks that is the end of it’s life.
Too bad I did not keep my 67 Pontiac, purchased a Sears battery that was warranted for as long as you owned the car.
Excludes wear and tear items can cover a lot of ground from the insurer side of it. How many even read much less comprehend what that really means in the fine print.
From the consumer side of things, many can be downright unreasonable with claims. Never change the oil or check anything else and when the claim is denied many will state “meticulously maintained” while backpedaling the story.
I’ve seen many go ballistic over warranty not paying for oil changes, collision damage, or damage done by others be it a DIYer or other shop.
Speaking of scam telephone calls, have any of you folks been getting a frequent message, sometimes daily, left on your answering machine saying "We are reaching out to you regarding ???(something about) benefits " . But you can’t understand what they are saying b/c their message has a lot of electronic buzzing noises, and they leave no call back number? I must have received 50 of those, and I have never been able to understand what they are talking about. I expect it is some sort of scam.
No. But I did recently get a strange call on my cell phone. A guy with a foreign accent said “FedEx delivery”. I said “What?” “Fedex Deliveryyy.” I’m thinking how is this going to even work as a scam? “OK”, I said. “So leave it. You know the address, right?” Guy starts speaking (probably cursing me) in a foreign language and hangs up . Weird.
A few years ago I got an email from Fed Ex about a delivery problem and to call this number as I was expecting a delivery I called and it was a scam that put a virus on my computer needless to say I never fell for it again.
I bet I get 3 or four calls a day on my cell phone. I just don’t answer unless I see who it is. As far as the warranty ads, yeah sure especially on the daytime shows, along with personal injury attorneys, and dental implants. I have noticed though the reverse mortgage ads have subsided a little and they are even saying they are “loans” but but but loans you don’t need to pay back. I really don’t watch TV much day or night but have it on for background.
All of these though are targeting the folks that are least likely to afford a large payout or maybe scaring people with the $6000 cost of an engine. I have no experience with any of them so really can’t evaluate it. Just hope the people do their research first. Yes I have put in a few transmissions over 3 1/2 million miles but only a couple engines. So it’s kind of a scare tactic IMHO.
. Weird.