Extended Warranty

[snordhol]

Extended Warranty

I’m nearing the dreaded 36,000 mile mark on my 2007 Frontier SE CC 4x4 where the ‘bumper to bumper’ falls off while you’re driving down the road. Does anyone have experience with extended warranties, or if they are even necessary?

Thanks in Advance

[goodtimes]

I have only bought one extended warranty. For the $1,300 price tag, I had just over $6,000 worth of work covered between the 36K miles where it kicked in, and the 55K miles when I sold the truck.

I don't know why I bought that warranty, but I'm glad I did. I declined the option when I bought the replacement vehicle (jeep wrangler). At just over 100K miles now, the extended warranty would not have paid for a single repair on the jeep -- it hasn't needed any.

In general, extended warranties bring more money into the business than the business pays out (no surprise there). So, in aggregate, people lose money compared to just paying out of pocket for the repairs. Still, if your vehicle model/year has a track record of having expensive maintenance issues which the extended warranty would cover, then it might be worth the cost.

[mcm4090]

I bought a Nissan Extended warranty when I got my truck. I have almost 60,000 on the truck now and never had to use it. I don't regret getting it since new vehicle have so many electronics on them and anything can go wrong.

[AZ-Ted]

Under the extended warranty, I've had the motor mounts replaced, and an AC hose replaced. I'm still "under water" (I paid more for the warranty than I've would have had to pay for repairs), but I've got another 30K worth of coverage before I'm out of warranty.

I view buying an extended warranty as similar to buying insurance - you might not use it, but if you need it, it will be there.

[RonapRhys]

It's a difficult call, really. It's one where you've got to balance all the costs. On TVs and the like, I never buy them. In fact, I never buy them at all. I try to pick vehicles, electronics, appliances, and the like that are reliable as hell. From there, I really try to take good care of them. It's not just the cost of the warranty, but the cost of not investing that money (not that I would invest it, but in a true financial sense). How much is not having that money and/or paying interest as the cost of the warranty might be financed worth?

[soonenough]

Be very careful about who you buy a warranty from. I bought one on the last car I owned, and not knowing anything about them, bought one from an aftermarket (3rd party) provider. Knowing what I know now, I think the OEM ext warranties are better generally speaking.

Make sure you know what the deductible is for the warranty (usually anywhere from $0 - $100), and find out whether it's per-visit or per-issue. If it's per-visit, then you can show up with a laundry list of things that need to be fixed and they'll do them all for one fee. But if it's per-issue, they will literally charge you a deductible for every single thing that needs to be fixed. That can get expensive very quickly if your vehicle frequently needs repairs.

Also, make absolutely sure you look at the list of what's not covered by the warranty. Some of them have a long list of things that are not covered, and from a financial standpoint, that makes it very difficult to recover your money on the investment unless you have a serious problem like needing a new engine, transmission, etc. To me, if I'm gonna spend the money on an extended warranty, it better be exactly like the factory warranty in terms of coverage and out of pocket costs.

Lastly, find out what happens if you sell the vehicle before the warranty period ends. Some of them will give you a portion of your money back based on how many claims you've had. Some are also transferable, which may be a decent selling point if you're going to sell it private party.

[castiron58]

just like insurance...sometimes u need it sometimes u don't. when u do my freind, you will be glad u have it. I like to keep nissans upwards of 9-10 years so u never know, after all they are machines and machines break sometimes, even nissans.