What is the fine for going 120 in a 55 mph zone? I was driving down a road near my home last week and looked down and the speedometer on my truck read 120! Since an old lady on a Rascal actually passed me, I knew I had a problem. Yeah, finally get to take advantage of my 8 year, 75,000 mile extended warranty that I bought with 2004 Chevy Silverado, that I bought new. Is it healthy to want something to go wrong with your truck so you can get it fixed for free? While I may not be that bad, I was kinda tickled when I got my truck fixed today and did not have to pay a cent!
When I bought the extended warranty, I did a lot of second guessing as to whether or not it was a good decision. Sure it gives me a little piece of mind but it did cost $1200. So I may have to break my speedometer another 10 times to get me money’s worth out of it. The jury is still out. Have you ever bought the extended warranty on a new auto? If so, would you do it again?
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Tags: Frugal Living3 Comments
3 responses so far ↓
I’ve bought the extended warranty on my 2002 Acura TL-S, 2005 Chevy Malibu, 2004 VW Passat and 2006 Honda Ridgeline. But I didn’t get one for the 2005 MINI Cooper and I don’t think I’ll be getting one on anymore new vehicles and here’s why.
The salesperson pushes you to buy up front and says you can just roll it into your payments. Well, you don’t need to use that warranty for at least 3 years until the manufacturer’s warranty runs out. I spend around $1200-1500 for each warranty and have yet to actually use it on any vehicle.
I traded in the Acura with 95k miles and cashed out the 100k extended warranty to get about $200-300 cash back. When we sold the Malibu, we only had about 22000 miles on it so I got about $700 back. I can’t remember how much we got from the VW. For the Ridgeline, I can cash it out at any time for a full refund (it’s a Honda warranty) as long as I don’t make a claim against it.
I’ve actually considered cashing out the warranty and putting the money towards debt because I have 2 more years on the warranty. I can always buy a warranty when the factory one runs out, and that’s where the salesperson pressure comes in. They make it look like you can’t get this warranty after you leave the dealership. They’re wrong, which I proved when I bought my Acura warranty 5000 miles out of the factory warranty. I got it for dealer invoice.
So I probably won’t get a warranty until at least when the factory warranty runs out.
Great points Clever Dude! I was aware that you could buy the extended warranty after the purchase but I was not aware that in some cases, you could cash them if you decide you did not want them or sold the vehicle. That is good to know. And that is an excellent tip on buying the extended only after the factory warranty runs out. I wish I had considered that at the time I was buying my truck.
Also, that is a great deal on your Honda where you can get a full refund if you don’t make a claim against it! That is a no-brainer, I wish Chevy had a similar policy.
Hi Kyle
Here in France I don’t think you can get such a warranty.
I had to replace my speedometer completely in 2006, and it cost me 600 euros. Bad memory!