OT buying an extended warranty on viehicle

CBBC

Member
So I'm trying to decide on a newer small SUV. I've come down to two viehicles, 2015 Nissan Rouge 81,000 km and a 2015 Kia Sorento. 71,000 km.

The Kia is in the lead here and I will likely make the deal soon. It is a higher trim, leather and all the features. It has a V6 verses the I4 of the Rouge. I've also got the Sorento price lower than the Rouge by about $700.

The clincher is, the 5 year 100,000 km warranty is over in August of the year. I can buy an extended warranty for an other year or for another 5 years / 200,000 km. Is there any value in this or really is this just a way for the dealerships to make extra money?

We had lots of issues with our Dodge Journey beyond the first 5 years .... but they are completely different viehicles.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, Grant
 
The research I've done on this topic shows me that there are bad extended warranties and worse extended warranties. They are priced to produce a handsome profit for the seller (not necessarily a bad thing), and have specific wording that protects them from losing money. If a person with an extended warranty blows up an engine or transmission they will be very pleased with themselves that they bought the coverage. But that rarely happens. The more common problem with modern vehicles is electrical or computer related, and the warranty won't help you much with that.
 
You asked. My feelings on warranties are they're what the manufacturer thinks of their product. If they are proud enough to warrant it they must have spent time in determining that it would do this and that for a given length of time.

Unless you are talking about things like big box store returns, "I think" warranties are an arbitrary hassle and vague aspects can make for a real PIA in executing. Fine print and subjective assumptions on either party's part can make for disappointments. Besides, the way things are built today, I don't ever recall having to execute a warranty even if something had one.

I just bought a 2009 Honda Element with 108k miles. First time I bought something and didn't have to do a thing.....oh wait, one of the (pair) of map reading light bulbs was out...couple of bucks. Go to the owner's site and read about 200k+ miles and counting, bla bla.

So not long after the purchase I get numerous shady looking envelopes with all this tough talk on the outside.......after market outfit looking to add warranty protection......by the way they solicit my business tells me they are "shady" in the first place.....how could I trust them to honor their warranty without a lot of hassle.....nope. I'll pass.
 
My thoughts on extended warranties is don't make the decision on a vehicle by vehicle basis. Make the decision in total. Either always buy it or never buy it. I never buy it. The money saved over time more than covers the one vehicle you wished you had purchased it for. The same goes for appliances or any other purchase where an extended warranty is offered. You are money ahead over your lifetime if you never purchase it. Yes there will be that one car or appliance that you wished you had it but you will also have thousands of dollars saved that more than cover it.
 
CBBC,

I offer my experience with extended warranty.

We paid extra, aroung 1200 bucks for an extended warranty on a VW diesel. Turns out it needed an EGR pipe that had cracked.

The response from the warranty company was it was a "hose". Therefore it was not "covered". I took the VW parts diagram and showed them that VW parts listed it as a "pipe" therefore it qualified as a reimbursable expense.

They eventually agreed it was a hard part, however their business was undergoing bankruptcy, thus I could not register for compensation,

The BBB was of no use. The warranty business was protected,somehow.

I will not buy an extended warranty, ever again. Minnesota laws apply, here, but the company took my money, and I fought to get it back. I was screwed out of any warranty.

I think their business model is to gather enough people to pay, then fight the legitimate claims, then hide beneath momma's apron to deny any claim, file bankruptcy, then start over again.

D.

Not legal advise, just my experience.
 
The first thing you need to do learn who is offering the warranty. These companies tend to go broke and disappear every 2-3 years. As the poster below said most are bad - some are even worse. Go to the shop area of the dealership and ask how much work they do under the warranty they are trying to sell you and see if it actually covers the full cost of the repair. A lot will "specify" the covered amount of a repair - new engine $2000 even though the engine is $5000.

I'd go with the Kia also. I've owned two Kia Sorento Minivans and my wife has run the wheels off of them. The first one was a 2008 with over 160K miles and besides brakes, tires and fluid changes it had one repair - the idler pulley on the engine. The current one is a 2014 (last year of the old body style) and has 85K miles - one set of front brakes, fluid changes and tires. Nothing else I've owned even comes close.


I bought the 2008 extremely cheap thinking if this Kia turns into the POS I think might be I'll still get my money back out of it in a trade. It was the exact opposite of what I feared it would be. Kia and Hyundai both made a massive step forward in quality in 2006 and 2007 model years. Now they top the charts in quality and reliability.
 
They are making money selling it to you, therefore you can save money by not buying it, if your lucky! Driving habits and regular maintenance can effect this.
 
Need to look closely at what the warranty does and does not cover. Some for instance, cover housings but few or no internal components. Also be sure warranty company is reputable and been around a while. Some of these shysters open, sell a bunch of high dollar warranties, then disappear or file bankruptcy. Just depends on how paranoid you are about needing it. I have bought some in the past and never used it, have also had some that I did use. To the tune of several thousand dollars. Your call.
 
Law of average is not worth the $$$ or they couldn't sell them. Kinda like fire insurance on your house in that chances are you'll never need it but nice to have if you do. I don't buy extended warranties.
 
I would google search those models and see what all problems pop up. I know there were some years of the KIA the engines were locking up before 100,000 mi.
I would only recommend a warranty offered by the manufacture that made the car. Aftermarket ones would be a certain crap shoot. My not be possible on a used car though ? My sister bought one for her Subaru and it covered paying for all 4 new tires when one got cut by something on the road. She called me from the tire shop and was getting them put on. I told her to check on it , but this was after the fact. They did reimburse her for most all of what she paid. I had some on past cars and got money back for the warranty if not used. If you can get one of these how could you loose ?
Parts and labor are so expensive anymore the first repair might pay for itself.
 
right. i would only buy an extended warranty from a big national firm. some auto insurance companies sell them too.

Preferably see if you can buy one from Kia or NIssan factory extended warrantees.
 
Thanks guys. Not expecting so many responses.
Apparently it's the manufactures extended warranty they are offering because it is still under basic warranty period. But I'll need to check that out...
Having said that I could see the salesman salivating at the chance to up sell me.

I must say it easier to buy farm equipment than a family car.
I'm going to stop into my mechanics place today and ask if he's had any problems with the Kias engine, but from what I've read it was the earlier years. Seems to be very few problems and recalls on this car.... especially compared to the Journey.

Thanks all. Grant
 
only get an extended warranty from a major company. some insurance companies sell them.. or see if you can get a factory warranty but those are expensive. the ones many used car dealers sell or you get daily in the junkmail box aren't worth much.

on the other hand i would not buy kia.. anyway. i work for a major auto parts manufacturer. i'm not convinced the korean brands are there yet. at the same time I wouldn't buy GM either... they really haven't fixed much since the bailout and will go bankrupt or will need bailed out again (i hope the goooberment isn't that dumb to do it 2x)... but i digress

out of curiosity what kind of prices are you looking at? Future SIL just bought a 2017 ford Escape SEL with 13000 miles and certified extended warranty for around $15,500... not a big Ford fan either but that is a good deal..
 
Extended warranties are simply insurance. Obviously most policies cost more than they end up paying out, that's how insurance companies make money. To say they're not worth anything is just plain wrong. But it's a gamble, you may or may not ever need it.
I have a friend that bought one for a Ford F350 6.0 Diesel. It had the all too common cooler problem that cost thousands upon thousands of dollars to repair. He never paid a cent.
 

I've never bought a extended warranty until recently.
In January we purchased a used 2018 F-150 with 15,000 miles, it still has 1 1/2 years and 21,000 miles but we purchased a extended warranty giving us 5 years and 105,000 miles of bumper to bumper protection..
Hopefully we won't need it but with the cost of repairs on newer vehicles today we felt it was worth the cost.

That said make sure it's a extended warranty offered by the factory or name brand dealership.
I wouldn't buy any kind of warranty from a used car lot or one sent in the mail.
 
OK the thing with warranties? It isn't the company being proud of what they sell. It's a selling point. Way back in the late 60's everything was 12 and 12. 12 month or 12,000 miles. Then a company sales started to lag. They knew that the average new vehicle would never be in for warranty. They also knew that for the drive line and engine that most catastrophic failures occurred before 8,000 miles. So to boost sales they went to a 4 year 45,000 mile warranty as a means of bringing in customers. It isn't what's best built. It's getting customers through the door.

So with today's vehicles an extended warranty is really just a money grab. And that's because the average car, once the original warranty expires will most likely reach 200,000 miles without a major covered failure. And the companies selling these warranties know that.

Rick
 
I read some of the comments and most of them have good points.
Kia not a major car maker...I believe one rolls off the assy line every 58 seconds.
Oops.
There goes another one.
As a retired wrench, I look at the warranty and what is covered. The newer the car, the better the warranty will be due to the odds of any failure are not great.
The cost of the warranty is an issue as well as the vehicle history. By now, the model typical vehicle failure mechanism history can be found on the web. Do your research.
If there are no major component failures, save the money. If your buying the first year engine/trans of a particular model, get the warranty.
The older the vehicle, the less warranty you will get.
 
sister bought a program Yukon engine went bad rebuilt at the dealer her cost 100.00 front hub bearing out no cost sometimes the warranty from the manufacture is not bad investment ;the mailers and diggers don't even bother
 
I have never bought an extended warranty on a vehicle and do not plan to do so.

If you decide to do so, do not consider ANY extended warranty other than that offered by the OEM.

Dean
 
Never had one until we bought a 2015 Chevrolet Traverse, and we did end up buying one through the dealer the day we finalized the deal on the car. At the time I was quite hesitant, but wife wanted to do it. Now, glad we did. It cost us $2,000 for bumper to bumper up to 150,000 miles. Tomorrow it goes in for a second repair that is covered under warranty, and it's estimated the bill will be over $2,000 for the second time. Meaning, we will be about $2,000 ahead by having the warranty. Car has 92,000 miles now, so still a fair chance we might get additional dollars out of the warranty company. All in all, I consider the extended warranty in my situation to be worth while.
 

Extended warranty????

Most car companies more more money selling extended warranties and financing cars than they do selling metal.

Buy the car, then drive it properly, watch the fluid levels. Save your money ahead of time for just in case you need some for repairs.

Extended warranties....if you have that kind of money to throw away, throw it at me!
LA in WI
 

I agree with MJMJ's commit also.
Extended warranty is a gamble, just like full coverage insurance on a vehicle or home owners insurance.
You buy insurance so not to take a chance on something bad happening.

As I said above I've never purchased a extended warranty before now but there's been time's we wish we would have.

Daughters 2010 Equinox trans failed at 95000 miles but was 3 months over it's 10 year 100000 mile warranty, new trans was $3500.
Son's 2012 Arcadia's sun roof leaked shorting out the electrical system, out of warranty, $1600 to repair, 6 months later the floor was wet after a hard rain, he left it set till it had dried and traded the car off.
95000 miles on my 04 F-450 and out of warranty when the egr cooler busted destroying the engine. They wanted $12000 to install a new engine, cost me $5000 to convert it to Cummins power.
This 2018 F-150 is first year of port fuel injection, first year of ceramic sprayed cylinder walls, the 10 spd auto trans hasn't been in production every long.
This time I felt spending $2000 for extended warranty would be cheap insurance.
 
The radio experts all want you to buy the warranty only from the manufacturer. We had one of the aftermarket companies go broke in St Louis .lots of people lost lots of money
 
Consumers Reports says ON AVERAGE you will see a 25% value on the purchase of an extended warranty.
Spend $2000, realize $500 in "free" repairs.
Now this is on aftermarket warranties.
They go in depth of all the traps, loopholes and exclusions that keep them from having to pay up.

Personally, I don't purchase them.
 
Consumer Reports Magazine just came out with a report of best and worst cars to buy. I would suggest you read it. They also had an issue that talked about extended warranty. In general I believe they discouraged purchasing one.
 
If you work for a major parts manufacturer have you ever seen a true inventory of Nissan CVT transmissions? They seem to be counted by the backlog. It takes weeks to get new/rebuilt unit when yours fails (and it will).


They make Dodge transmissions look good.



https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-t56728_ds923601
 
I have had two extended warranty's, after market. I basically broke even on them so I don't bother any more
 
I spent 10 years working for a dealership as credit manager. The factory warentees are very good. That is the only extended warentee I could recommend. As far as Kia being a piece of junk. That was correct on the first ones. Now, I would buy 1 of them before purchasing any Ford or dodge product. We saw dozens more tranny and engine problems on dodge and Ford units than any other brand.
 
A extended warranty is a good thing. But you have to do is read and understand the warranty because all extended warranty companies are different. Ask questions. make sure you know whats covered and whats not. And what you will be responsible for other than the deductible during a repair. Does it cover a loaner car if so how much. Who is responsible for calling in to start the repair process. I was a shop foreman i called all the extended warranties in for my techs. Had a good rapport with the inspectors that were sent to verify claims from the
extended warranty company's. So they are good to have just understand what you are buying. Hopefully you'll never need it but its good to have if you do.
 
That does sound like a good deal.
But putting that in CDN $ is probably $22,000 and then there is the bump up charge for being in Canada.... yes pretty much everything costs more here, so that car up here is about $24-29,000. Seems like a lot more but everything does cost more up here.
 
I am of the opinion that if you pay the premium to yourself, you will make money.
 
If your going to buy a EXTENDED WARRANTY Buy it from the dealership your going to be taking the car to. Never buy a EXTENDED WARRANTY from a your mailbox,email,phone call or any other place. Buy it from the dealership. It will be more than likely hassle free. Just understand what it does and does not cover. I see some folks on here have had bad experiences probably had crap warranties to start with because they didn't read and understand what was and was not covered. And another thing when you buy it from the dealership that you'll be taking your car to ,They should and will go to bat for you with a claims say that is questionable (pipe VS Hose). Another FYI when they work on your suspension say control arms because the bushings were bad. The warranty company will pay for a alignment also. Some cars with independent suspension can be costly to the dollar amount of 200 bucks. So and extended warranty is a good thing and i hate some folks have got bitten with bad ones. I have also read about the ones that go out of business every year. Money says it wasn't bought from a Franchised Dealership IE Chevrolet,Ford, Dodge,Kia,Honda. Not Joe blows corner buy here pay here dealer.
 
Grandson has a 2012 Kia Sorento fully loaded. Only problem he has had with it was that the deer that jumped in front of it did not have any liability insurance. He doesn't abuse it but literally runs the wheels off it, between work and commuting to college. Seems to have been good for the 30 k miles he has put on it. Real sharp looking SUV.
 
seems like all of the CVTs are hard to get. I've heard even dealers cannot get the CVTs for the mid-2000's Ford 500 (later taurus) and the "freestyle" cousin. I think the CVTs for some of the Dodge Calibers are hard to get too.

Haven't heard anything about the Honda CVTs but i would stay clear of any CVTs other than snowmobiles.

Dodge transmissions aren't bad. The early 1990's new 4speeds were not treated well by owners putting the wrong fluid in them and they got a bad wrap. Otherwise i've taken a few Dodge/Chrysler AUtomatics over 210,000 and a coupe over 160,000ish when i sold or they were wrecked that were working perfectly fine.
 
ah didn't realize you were one of our northern neighbors. your auto warranty laws and things may be different??

seems like a lot of "deals" on those Escapes around here.. maybe your "friendly Canadian Ford Dealer" has some too (in CND$) they have an "ok" rating in some of the reviews and CR.
 
(quoted from post at 06:56:01 03/14/19) So I'm trying to decide on a newer small SUV. I've come down to two viehicles, 2015 Nissan Rouge 81,000 km and a 2015 Kia Sorento. 71,000 km.

The Kia is in the lead here and I will likely make the deal soon. It is a higher trim, leather and all the features. It has a V6 verses the I4 of the Rouge. I've also got the Sorento price lower than the Rouge by about $700.

The clincher is, the 5 year 100,000 km warranty is over in August of the year. I can buy an extended warranty for an other year or for another 5 years / 200,000 km. Is there any value in this or really is this just a way for the dealerships to make extra money?

We had lots of issues with our Dodge Journey beyond the first 5 years .... but they are completely different viehicles.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, Grant
Personally I would take the vehicle and have it inspected and any repairs negotiated in the price. Extended warranties, as was mentioned, are full of loopholes and designed to protect the seller.
 
Most of the time we think only in terms of monetary cost and forget about the peace of mind knowing we do have coverage in the event of a major loss beyond the included warranty. But how much is one's peace of mind worth? Everyone is different.
 

American Auto Shield is the worst...

Its a crap shoot if you do get lucky you are into the first repair the amount you paid plus the deductible....

Its your insurance not the shop doing the repair so don't look for them to deal with the claim free are accept the insurance CO settlement as the final fee you pay...

The warranty co is always looking for a out...

The last one I did I got 2 hours shop time to deal with the CO plus the customer had to pull an additional $400 out of his pocket to cover what the warranty CO did not cover... I think the total was $700 out of pocket plus his deductible...

It started out as a leak from the front of the trans the customer had to authorize remove and inspect... The warranty CO declined up front they do not cover seals this one had a cracked converter we had them... It went well from there better than I thought it would and this is why...

I don't lie to the customer are the warranty CO. I am not going to fight them if the customer want a fight its his insurance not my insurance. I tell the adjuster up front I did not call for a fight just tell me what they will pay the customer has already agreed to pay what you don't pay...

The warranty CO likes to supply the parts most of the time bargain basement parts :( are used as was in this case... The used parts supplier is looking for outs also they required the used trans to have all the external seals replaced if it leaks who is responsible for the leak I can tell ya ME...

The reason we went with the warranty CO used junk was the part would stay under the warranty coverage till it times out so It looks like on paper I am not responsible for the trans unless it leaks from a seal I replaced, They did give me $150 to seal it.... It was a catch 22 don't seal it I am responsible seal it I am reasonable...

I have many story's some good and some real bad most of the time it depends on who you talk to the first time you call... I have had two identical cars whit the same problem and the same warranty CO both paid different all with end a weeks time... One guy got lucky the other got the shaft... BTW it was a dealer Toyota plan...

One time The Toyota warranty guy got under my skin it was a no crank needed a starter I drove the tow truck to the van got it started she drove it back to the shop they would not pay for road service only a tow... He pizzed me off I told him he was gonna pay for a tow now cuzz I was hooking it up and towing it to the dealer and I did the dealer paid me...

Everyone is in it for the money its your warranty and your problem what you pay for it is your gamble...
 
I sell cars for a living and have been in the industry for over a decade now. Dealers make good money on warranties, but really that isn't even part of the factor to determine if it's a good deal or not. What does matter is who is backing the warranty, how good it is, is there a deductible, and how much can you afford.

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but if you're considering a high mileage Kia or Nissan then you probably don't have tons of money sitting around. Especially if you're considering financing such a vehicle. So how much of a hiccup can you afford? It doesn't take more than one good repair bill to cover the cost of a warranty in most cases. Some of the Kia 6 bangers do have some issues so make sure to do some research there. If you have trouble with a monthly payment in the budget, you really ought to make sure you have a warranty in there budgeted too.

Is the extended warranty also from Kia? There are some pretty solid 3rd party warranties (Resource automotive I've worked with in the past and they were good), and there are some cruddy ones, and there are some that are only good at the dealer you buy it from, until they legally change their name and structure and leave you hanging.

You can often adjust the price of the warranty based on what deductible you pick. Again with your own budget, but generally I find that leaving a deductible in makes the overall cost much lower and still matches what someone can afford as an unexpected expense.

Generally I wouldn't want to own a modern vehicle without a warranty from any brand unless I had the means to own the car outright and pay any bill or absorb the loss and trade it in with damages.

Yes, you can sometimes negotiate the price, but high mile warranties have a real cost of several thousand dollars because there are better odds than not that many of them will pay out. It's really just insurance. Most are better than their reputation gets, but the just like with insurance, the cheaper the product, the cheaper the product....
 

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