Just bought a Nissan Rogue S 2013. Should I consider buying the extended warranty for $2K? It’s for 7 years total, bump-to-bumper. I plan to keep the car up to 10 years. I have until end of June to decide.
The best feeling in the world is to be warranty-free. If we had one for everything we owned then we couldn’t afford to have anything we owned. There’s too many ways to negate them for me to worry about ever having a warranty.
Put that $2k into a 3 year CD account that you can consider to be your Auto Repair Fund.
Even with the current low interest rates, these funds will appreciate somewhat in value between now and when the standard warranty coverage runs out. Then, transfer the money into a regular (liquid) savings account that will still be considered as your Auto Repair Fund.
Cars nowadays are extremely reliable and free of the need to repair them–IF you maintain them properly–but by doing what I suggested, you will have funds available for repairs if necessary. And, if repairs are not necessary, then you will be able to enjoy this money for other things–unlike if you spent it on an extended warranty.
Save your money–both literally and figuratively.
I agree, I’ve never bought one, they are HUGE money-makers for the dealer. You can wait, you have until the factory warranty runs out to decide. If you do get one, ONLY get a Nissan-backed warranty, there are lots of problems with ‘third party’ warranties.
But I’d skip it altogether.
How much of the original factory warranty is left (time and miles)? My guess that should be sufficient. Did you run a carfax and get a pre-purchase inspection? Any accidents? Was it a rental? As others have said, keep your money in the bank.
Never bought one…never will.
You said it was for 7 years…And the mileage is probably UP TO 100K miles. That’s an awful lot of money for such a short period.
I agree with other posters here. Don’t buy it. Waste of money for 99% of cars. I own 3 cars from 3 different continents with over 90,000 miles and haven’t spent $2000 on ANY of them over those miles.
I’ll be the lone dissenter. I’ve never bought one and probably never will, but with the electronics today, its not hard to get a $2000 repair bill if you are unlucky enough. You have to look at what the current bumper to bumper warranty is such as 50K, then the drive train warranty which is probably 70 to 100K, and the 70K emissions warranty. So you aren’t really concerned about the drive train which is unlikely to give you problems for 100K but after the bumper to bumper, you’ve got HVAC, expensive alternators, computers, seat heaters, radios, and so on that could be an issue. For most its not, but for the unlucky few, it is an issue.
I agree though, I would never buy a third party one but only the manufacturer. Then you look at the deductible, then the fine print that says what is NOT covered. Then you look at what could cause the claim to be denied like not using the dealer for ALL services, and so on. Just like tornados, it won’t hit everyone but if you are among the unlucky ones, that’s what insurance is for. Its not to make money on but to recover from a catastrophy. So if its a good solid plan, and it makes you feel better, and you can afford it, fine. On the other hand, I would question the wisdom of keeping a car that long if you don’t have to. Might be cheaper in the long run to trade more frequently and let someone else worry about the repairs if you are that concerned about it.
As @VDCDriver says, put it into an account. I’ve done this with appliances and electronics, etc. and the account after 10 years has over $1200 in it and the amount paid out in repairs that would have been covered by “warranty” comes to $135 so far.
The strangest extended warranty I was ever offered was on a Sears canister vacuum cleaner. We had an upright vacuum cleaner, which was great on carpet, but the cleaner didn’t provide much suction when using the upholstery nozzle to clean the car. Besides, it was inconvenient to lug the upright outside to clean the car (we didn’t have a garage). We were walking through Sears and I saw a special on a canister vacuum cleaner for $19.95. When I inquired about the vacuum cleaner, I was told the price was cheap because it only included the canister and the hose–the rest of the tools had been lost. I bought it figuring that the tools from the upright we owned would work which they did. I had the vacuum for a week and was offered this tremendous deal on an extended warranty. For only $20 a year for the next five years, the vacuum would be covered no matter what went wrong. I took a pass.
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Exactly!
I can’t recall what the product was, but when I was buying some cheap item at Best Buy (for something like $25), I was asked if I wanted to purchase an extended warranty on that item for $20 per year. The item in question came with a 1 year warranty to begin with, so the extended warranty wouldn’t even result in any potential benefit for the first year.
When I pointed out to the clerk that this was not a particularly good deal, and that I would “gamble” on the product lasting for more than one year, his response was to sigh and to say, “I know, but they make us offer these stupid plans that make very little sense”.
Just consider this. The company selling you that “extended warranty” is not interested in your well beaning, but their own profit. They know that on average those how buy that product (it is insurance not warranty) will return far less to their customers than they pay out. That is how they can afford all those sales adds and big buildings housing all their employees.
A few (very few) customers will get back more than they pay in, but most will pay out and never collect anything or a very small % of the money you paid for that insurance. That’s how they make their money.
A few (very few) customers will get back more than they pay in, but most will pay out and never collect anything or a very small % of the money you paid for that insurance.
Some 20 years ago when I did some consulting to insurance companies…this was when these extended warranties were really starting to take hold. Back then…it was something like 100 to 1 difference (people paying…and people collecting more then they paid). It was so profitable for these companies…the major companies (All-State, State Farm.) all started their own divisions selling this type of insurance. And it is still one of their highest profit making insurances.
Its just an up sell at the store, take it easy on the clerks. Selling a $20 insurance plan for an $80 weed eater is just trying to make an extra $20 on the sale. Everyone knows that, but the poor clerk is required to ask. No need to go into a big diatribe, just politely say no thanks. Clerks are someones sons and daughters just trying to do their job and deal with all kinds of people. Think you had a bad day? Ask one of the Home Depot clerks how their day went once.
Sometimes extended warranties are worth it. They’re negotiable just like the price of the car is. When my SO picked up her Hyundai last year, she got a 10 year/100k mile bumper-bumper extended warranty and clear bra paint chip protectors installed for $50 more than the price of the clear bra alone. And since she went in wanting the clear bra in the first place, she got her extended warranty for 50 bucks. I call that worth it, especially with all the electronic doodads in her car that will cost a lot of money to fix if they die.
2k sounds very expensive for a 4 year warranty (it already comes with 3, so you’re only getting 4 years for the extra cash). But if you can talk them down in price, or get them to throw some accessories that you wanted anyway in there and have the price work out so that the warranty ends up being cheap, then go for it.
Are you sure that they didn’t give your SO a good deal on the extended warranty, only to screw her on some other part of the sale?
I was a dealership mechanic for several years, and I know all the tricks. Many people drive off in their new car, thinking they got a deal, when in fact all the sales guy did was manipulate the numbers so that it SEEMED like they were getting a good deal.
Hyundais come with a 100k/10 year powertrain warranty, so the added warranty was for much less than would be included on cars with 3yr/36k warranties.
When buying my Toyota I was “offered” an extended warranty for 4 years or 30,000 miles for $1500. I declined since at the rate we drive 4 years would only be another 28,000 miles during which nothing would likely go wrong.
This was a Toyota warranty, and thus more trustworthy than a 3rd party one.
Where these warranties might work is when you buy an unreliable car and barely do the basic maintenance and your entire family consists of rough drivers. You’ll run the vehicle into the ground and would be able to collect payment for some repair bills.
When I was at the Benz dealer, the only customers that came out ahead, as far as extended warranties go, were those customers who had their engine and/or transmission replaced.
I will not speak about the quality, as there may very well be Benz fanatics reading this.