Hello everyone,
I’m looking at purchasing a 2009 Nissan Altima 2.5S. The dealership offers extented warranty for 5 years or 100,000 at $1,400. Should I buy extented warranty?
Thanks for your input.
Chances Are Greater That You’ll Need The Warranty At The End Of 100,000 Miles, Not Before You Get There.
Is this car brand new or used? Your manufacturer’s included warranty covers you through that period of time that most major “defects” will show up. Once any of those are corrected you should be good to go until things start to wear out, probably after the 100,000 mile mark.
These waranties are not portable. Do you have other vehicles? What if the other car breaks and not the one that’s covered?
A better idea is to bank the money, let it grow, and self-insure yourself. The exception to this occurs when a vehicle with dubious reliability is purchased. I don’t know if an Altima 2.5S is such a vehicle. We have no asian cars or dealers anywhere near here.
CSA
Extended warranties are mostly about additional profit for the seller, and usually don’t provide much protection for the buyer. Read the fine print, especially the section labeled “Exclusions.”
I wouldn’t buy an extended warranty on a new car. If you’re worried about the long-term reliability of this vehicle why are you buying it? Ask the dealer why you need this if a Nissan Altima 2.5S is a reliable vehicle?
NO car should need major repairs in 5 years or 100K miles.
Put the $1,400 in the bank instead. If you need it for some large repair bill it will still be there. If you don’t need it for some large repair bill it will still be there.
If you give the $1,400 to the dealer he puts it in his bank. Where would you rather have the money?
If you’re considering financing the $1,400 as part of the deal you should have your head examined. Rolling the warranty into the sale will make the warranty cost MUCH more than $1,400.
This is a 2009 car and it has only 1,000 miles.
I fully agree with the replies from CSA and mcparadise.
The odds are very much against you that you’ll ever come out ahead if you purchase it.
Use the search key to see numerous discussions in this forum about extended warranties and all the concerns associated with them.
And Another Thing . . . Is This A Nissan Corp. Warranty Or After Market Policy?
I personally would never even consider anything but a Manucaturer’s service contract.
At the time of purchase it’s normal to want the best for your new car, but consider this. Most of these manufacturer’s extended warranties are available to you during the car’s included warranty period, perhaps at a little greater cost. I’d call and see how much the company wants if you buy at a later date (call them directly, not through the dealer). Then take some time seeing how your car goes and think about it for a while.
Probably the most important thing you can do is to have the car checked out by an independent party to be sure there has been no repairs made, resulting from collision, running over something, etcetera. Waranties of any kind won’t cover this and I’m always leery of a 1,000 mile trade-in(?). Was it a demo or program car? What are they telling you about the reason they have a car with 1,000 miles on it?
CSA
The car was traded in by an 80 year old lady a couple of weeks ago. The salesman said she didn’t like the car so she traded in with a Honda Accord. He also said she’s has a lot of money :). By the way, this Altima I’m looking at is at a Honda dealership.
Sounds Good. We’ve Heard That One. However, Never Trust A Used Car Salesman, Even If He/She Is A Friend Or Relative. Cover Yourself.
CSA
If it was a Volvo you were buying I’d say yes. Volvo’s start needing expensive repairs before they reach 100K miles and 5 years. For a Honda, I’d say no.
For the Altima, I’d say no. On this site issues with Altima’s are pretty rare and there are a bunch on the road. If you want take the $1,400 and buy some stock with it. If you ever need a major repair perhaps the stock will go up and you’ll have the $$$ to cover it.
What is the warranty that is included with the car? 3 years and 36K miles is pretty common now, so you are paying 2 years more coverage.
Check with Nissan, I believe the factory warranty is still in effect for the 2nd buyer. If not, I’d go look at a brand new Altima from a Nissan dealer.
Thanks for your input everyone. I test drove the car yesterday and probably stop by another dealership and test drive the same car to see if there’s any difference.
Since this is a used car at a Honda dealership, I assume the extended warranty is not a Nissan warranty. In that case, I would definitely not buy it. While there must be some OK 3rd-party extended warranties out there, I hear mostly horror stories about them.
Even if it is a Nissan-backed warranty, I’d pass, put that money into a car repair account, bet most of it will be there at 100k miles.
I Never Buy Used Cars From Dealers Without Going For An Extended Overnight “Test Drive”.
It gives me a chance to try the car on all types of roads and at all different speeds. There’s also plenty of time to have it checked by an independent mechanic/body man.
I take the Owner’s Manual into the house in the evening and familiarize myself with the car. In the morning I get to experience a “cold start”, look for drips, and check out anything I’ve learned from the manual. I never hurry to get the car back and I’ve never had a complaint. I won’t buy without such a test drive. I insist on it or I’d walk away.
When I’m done, I know whether or not the car is in good condition, whether or not it fits me, and I’ve overcome having “buyer’s remorse”.
The time to check out a car is before the purchase, not after the purchase. I’ve bought some and returned some. Most dealers will understand this thorough approach and if not, go somewhere else.
CSA
I just called a Nissan dealership and they confirmed that warranty is transferrable to subsequent owners as long as the car is still within the years and mileage.
Yes, the factory warranty is transferable. Just expect to have major pressure put on you to buy an extended warranty, regardless of new/used, make or model. Extended warranties are one of the major ways dealerships make profits on their cars. High profit to the dealer = poor value to the buyer.
The OP wrote:
I just called a Nissan dealership and they confirmed that
warranty is transferrable to subsequent owners as long as
the car is still within the years and mileage.
It sounds like you’re still looking to buy the warranty.
I’m puzzled. You asked this forum if the warranty was worth buying. Every reply was filled with “NO” and/or red caution flags.
If you’re still thinking of buying it, please do a search through this forum to get a sense of the bad experiences people have had with extended warranties.
If you need to buy it so you can sleep better at night, that’s fine. But don’t be surprised when it doesn’t help you in ways the salesperson is telling you it will.
No, I’m not interested in the extented warranty anymore. I only called to confirm about the original manufacture’s warranty.
With only 1,000 miles you are getting pretty much the full warranty on miles, when was the car put into service? You need to find this out to see how many years you still have on the mfg’s warranty. If you are getting a really good price on the car it sounds OK to me.
I’m suspect of the salesman’s story. To be sure I’d have the car inspected by your own independant mechanic. In particular look for flood or accident damage. Things can happen in a few months and 1,000 miles; little old lady or not.
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 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
For $1400 you could buy the warranty.
Or, you could buy a new fridge, or a new washer and dryer set(unless it’s a front load pair, then you’d just be able to buy the washer), a night out at the movies for a family of 4(I kid, but it IS pretty expensive to go to the theaters when you could buy the DVD for the cost of a couple tickets)