I just bought a 2002 Honda Civic with 63Kmi from a dealer so it’s passed state inspection in Maryland. The 1st owner leased the car and put the most miles on it per mo. Probably used it for work. It has been state inspected regularly to keep registration current.
Should I buy the offered extended warranty for this car which will only cover it for an additional 30months or 30,000miles? I can get coverage on Power Train up to Bumper to Bumper coverage. I don’t plan to do much highway driving at all. It will primarily be driven in Washington DC short distances. And of course I plan to have regular scheduled maintenance done on the car.
Save your money and skip the warranty. These things are profit generators. Put the money in the bank instead, and if you need to have something repaired the money will be there. If you buy the warranty, you are giving your money to the dealer, and he will put it in his bank.
Where would you rather see your money?
Yaay! Thank you for confirming my gut intuition!!
You don’t say how much the extended warranty costs, so I can’t say for sure if it is a good deal or not. However, my rule of thumb is that extended warranties are never worth it, especially for a car like this that has a reputation for reliability.
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
You bought a Honda, why do you think you’ll need an extended warranty?
It is good to be warranty free. I liked owning a house because I could fix anything that was broken or didn’t work right. I couldn’t be denied a new anything. If we bought warranties for everything we owned, we couldn’t afford what we owned. When a warranty prevents theft or breakage, I might consider one.
The insurance companies know better than anyone how often a car will have problems and the cost of correcting them. They are not going to insure a car for less than they know it is going to cost them on average to insure that make and brand.
The only way to win against an insurance company it so die soon after you sign the policy.You see the financial downside of warranties. However if it makes you sleep better at night then it may be worth it. Also if the low chance repair of $2500 for an automatic transmission repair comes up in that short period(unlikely) and you cannot spring for it maybe.
No one states this fact except the cost of extended warranties are usually marked up about 50-100%. They are highly negotiable.
I will only say that this Honda falls into their bad years for automatic transmission failures. Fortunately this model still scores average in major transmission repairs according to Consumer Reports.
A Chevy Cavalier scores better in transmission repairs.
If any car I bought couldn’t last 100k trouble free miles…I’d NEVER buy from that manufacturer again.