I am buying a 2002 civic ex in good to excellent condition, with 57,000 miles and the dealer wants to sell me a Honda extended warranty. Do I really need this since these are highly reliable cars??
Depends how much it costs, what it covers, and for how long. In general that car is pretty much bulletproof, so it’s not the end of the world if you didn’t get one. I’d want at least a 1 year warranty though in case the last owner abused it and it has any kind of tranmission problems.
In most cases an extended warranty is a waste of money. A lot could depend on how well the Honda was maintained and driven, the cost of the policy, etc.
The one thing that should be done before even considering buying the policy is to obtain a copy of the policy and take it home. Spend a few days reading all of the fine print about deductibles, what is or is not covered, etc. so everything is crystal clear.
You should not have any problems with the car and if this is one of those 1500-2000 dollar policies then you’re better off just simply socking the money away into an interest bearing account for use if needed. My feeling is that you will still have that money in place by the time the warranty period expired.
The car seems to be well cared for and it has only had one owner. The policy is from Honda and is the same as what is offered when a car is new. It costs $1295 for a three year-36,000 and $985 for a 2 year-24000 both have a $100 deductible.
Is this car a stick-shift or automatic?
Put the $1200 in a seperate bank account entitled “car repair warranty account”. Then if something should fail that would have been warranty covered, you’ll have the cash to fix it, if not you’ll have the cash for yourself. Why give them the money in case something happens? Give it to yourself instead.
automatic
Yeah I am sort of feeling this way but it’s hard to know what is best to do because I really can’t know how conscientious the former owner was with service.
Well, will not get more then 60 day lemon law coverage except I feel the dealer is reputable.
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 peop;le 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 price 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
It costs $1295 for a three year-36,000 and $985 for a 2 year-24000 both have a $100 deductible.
thank you thats good advice
Currently, I own a VW Jetta diesel 05 and I a darn glade I bought the warranty it has more then payed for IT’S $1400 price hence, my concerns as to whether I should get one for this Honda.
Good article >>> http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/new-cars/buying-advice/extended-warranties-4-08/overview/extended-warranties-ov.htm
Consumer Reports examined this issue in their Annual Auto Issue, which was published a couple of months ago. They concluded that for the more reliable makes of cars (and Honda is obviously one of them), the purchaser of an extended warranty almost always loses money BIG TIME.
On the other hand, for the less reliable makes (hint: most European makes and some American brands), the purchaser may actually come out ahead–slightly–by buying an extended warranty. They gave a specific example, using Pontiac as one of the less reliable makes of car, and they concluded that a Pontiac owner might save a few hundred dollars over the course of the extended warranty.
CR also made the point that an extended warranty from the car’s manufacturer is definitely preferable to one from a third party insurance company, as those companies have a tendency to disallow most legitimate claims, and many of them have gone out of business with the customer’s money in their till.
Personally, I would skip it, if you can verify that it was indeed a one-owner car and IF YOU CAN VIEW THE MAINTENANCE RECORDS. Any used car is a “pig in a poke” if you have no idea of how well it was maintained.
i would second the bank account for car repair fund instead of buying this warranty.
UNLESS you know the dealer and they are giving you the ‘family discount’; but it does NOT sound like that to me from what you have said so far.