Any experience with extended bumper to bumper auto warranty

[rphillips]

We've never bought an extended warranty on anything. We just bought a used, 2019 Toyota Rav4 Limited. So many bells, whistles, horns, buzzers, warning lights. Can get a so called bumper to bumper warranty good till 2029 or 150K. Some of that electronic stuff has got to go bad, and expensive to get fixed. What do you think? Wondering if they will always have excuses why they don't have to pay? .

[LAB3]

In 87 I bought a Shelby Charger GLHS which at the time was a bit of a hot rod. Along with it I bought an extended warranty which should have covered pretty much anything it needed aside from the obvious maintenance items.

It turned out to be a major hassle getting dealers to cover repairs and boy did that turd of a car need them! If it wasn't for the fact I had an uncle who was a big shot at Chrysler I'm quite sure there'd have been thousands of dollars that I would have had to shell out keeping that thing on the road. "Hey, Uncle Jim, they claim it's not covered under warranty again". An hour later: "You must really have some pull to make THAT happen!" "Pretty sad isn't it? I've got to call in a favor every time you guys try to stiff me!"

[trent]

In my experience ......lol

Ive been what I think is extremely lucky when its came to vehicles, the last four or five vehicles between wife and I have been trouble free well beyond any warranty deal.

But have known people that have had major problems and big headache.

One guy I know said he got stiffed over the reasoning called " Consequential damages"

His warranty covered half of what he thought it should, lot of people told him to fight it and that the warranty should cover 100%

He didn't want to mess with it and forked out some money, he's fine with it , he says the vehicle has never gave him anything else to deal with and is happy about it ?

[rphillips]

Thanks, Well, with all the stuff on this thing, things are gon'na tare up. I's afraid after these guys get your money, they'd usually have a reason (excuse) for not paying. And not much way to fight them, just argue...But this electronic stuff taring up, regular mechanics may not be able to fix, and have to go to a stealership and pay their way out of line prices for repairs ain't good either...Decisions decisions... Already wishing we didn't get this thing

[bccap]

I bought a used Cadillac once that came with an extended warranty that was transferable. But it was a G.M. warranty. Just before the warranty was up I took it in and had them go over the whole car. They resewed some part of the seats, repaired the heated seats, and a few mechanical issues I was unaware of ..... I was impressed. But it wasn't a third party warranty it was a G.M. one and they didn't bat an eye about the work .....

[Rob S.]

I bought a used Cadillac once that came with an extended warranty that was transferable. But it was a G.M. warranty. Just before the warranty was up I took it in and had them go over the whole car. They resewed some part of the seats, repaired the heated seats, and a few mechanical issues I was unaware of ..... I was impressed. But it wasn't a third party warranty it was a G.M. one and they didn't bat an eye about the work .....

In 2011 we bought a new Caddy and the warranty was a dream. Always had a free loaner, or just wait in their lounge if it was quick and bulk up on their free danishes and bagels. Last thing they did before returning it was run it through their own car wash.
Things got expensive after warranty ran out. Almost made it worthwhile to buy a new car.

[Brendan W]

A lot of the problem with extended warranty is the mismatch between customer expectations and the policy fine print.
The policy seller will not spend too much time there as he upsell pricewalks you out the door in the euphoria of your new chariot.
It's a value proposition. What reasonably foreseeable big ticket event will they cover and what does it cost?
For example is the ABS pump and controller included. The seatbelt controller? The dashboard display? A/C evaporator? Diagnostics, parts and labour or parts only?
You might be surprised to find that what you think is a mechanical component is in fact not, in warranty land.
And what you think is a non service item, actually is.
In my experience you get treated as a function of your annual dollar value to the dealership.
If you get a new model every year or so, you will walk on water, no stone left unturned for Sir this and Sir that.
As your renewal interval heads off towards a decade or more and you do more of your own servicing you and your problems start to become less important to them. It's not personal, just the money.
Third party warranty has to be close to bottom feeder.

[unfocused]

None of the after-market programs are worth their weight... Purchase a factory extended warranty if available.

[argonsagas]

A lot of the problem with extended warranty is the mismatch between customer expectations and the policy fine print.
The policy seller will not spend too much time there as he upsell pricewalks you out the door in the euphoria of your new chariot.
It's a value proposition. What reasonably foreseeable big ticket event will they cover and what does it cost?
For example is the ABS pump and controller included. The seatbelt controller? The dashboard display? A/C evaporator? Diagnostics, parts and labour or parts only?
You might be surprised to find that what you think is a mechanical component is in fact not, in warranty land.
And what you think is a non service item, actually is.
In my experience you get treated as a function of your annual dollar value to the dealership.
If you get a new model every year or so, you will walk on water, no stone left unturned for Sir this and Sir that.
As your renewal interval heads off towards a decade or more and you do more of your own servicing you and your problems start to become less important to them. It's not personal, just the money.
Third party warranty has to be close to bottom feeder.

That covers it nicely.
The last line is a very strong point.
I have had only limited experience with after-market warranties, but know others who bought it and for all of us it was all bad.


I have a story about them:


I bought an extension on a factory warranty when I bought a 1986 Toyota Celica. That was the first year for them going front-wheel drive and I got one of the first in Canada.

What a bargain that warranty turned out to be!

The car was blue, and I called it a blue lemon, as that was what it was in every way.

This is no exaggeration: by the time I disposed of it every mechanical part in the car (even the door locks!) had failed at least once and the only electrical parts that never needed repair were the driver seat and the radio.

The problems began three weeks after I got it.The muffler came loose because of rusty mounts and/or brackets. Rust?? How was that even possible as the car was only a few weeks old?
I had to wait a week while they sourced the parts needed. They gave me a rental.

Next, the main computer module quit and there was no replacement in Canada. Every new car was sold, so they could not cannibalize anything. They gave me a rental for more than a month while waiting for new parts to come from Japan.

A seal went in the transmission, leaking oil onto the clutch and destroying it. A twenty mile tow back to the dealership and another rental.

In the first three months of ownership I only drove it for five weeks.

The worst problem was the front axles: the cover shields kept breaking apart, letting in dirt and water, so the joints broke or seized. The joints were integral so the entire axle had to be replaced at $1000 cost, each time. Four axles were replaced under warranty.

I kept the car for seven years as I loved driving it, but the problems were a never-ending concern.

When the fifth front axle gave up the extended warranty had expired so I complained to Toyota Canada about the huge amount of problems the car had experienced. I even told them the total repair costs under the warranty had literally exceeded the purchase price of the car....not including maintenance costs.

.The manager at Toyota head office asked me to send copies of all the work orders. The work had all been done at dealerships and I had kept all the orders/receipts.. I separated the ones done under warranty and the maintenance ones.
She called me on the phone when the package arrived, almost stunned at the package size as it weighed more than a pound and contained nearly two hundred pages. (many of the work orders were two pages, occasionally three)

The car was out of warranty, but she sent me a good faith cheque for $500 to cover the cost of a used axle which was sourced, and which the dealership installed .

[Don R]

My friend was a dealer mechanic that did the 21 point inspections on premium used cars. He said it seemed like every extended warranty issue was met with an excuse of some kind. The sales guys were always trying to lean on him to pass the cars without getting much work into them. He often had to go up front and find the owner.

[Brendan W]

My son sold cars and trucks for a big constructor main dealer.
Salesmen live in a strange world of list price, sticker price, discount, dealer finance, extras, extended warranty etc etc.
On a thirty grand sale they are looking at a few hundred at best.
If for any reason a shop order is raised against a vehicle, that ultimately comes out of the salesman's cut.
Shop hours and parts will eat up the few hundred very quick.
You start to see why they will do a lot to sell you all sorts of high margin stuff like mudflaps, special wheels, extended warranty and try to prevent any visits to the shop.
Their cut on that extra junk is in many cases more than the cut on the sale of the vehicle itself.

[Redman]

About 20 years ago we were buying a used two year old Chvy Astro van from a dealer lot. Salesman seemed like an actuall decent human being. WHen we were going in to talk to the "manager" for the final paperwork, the salesman pulled us aside and said that the manager was probably gonna try to sell us some sort of warrentee, and that we should know that the price IS negotiable. And yep, the manager did try to sell us a warrentee for some price, but I said NO. Later I got looking at the van, and thought that about the only one thing that can work on without removing many other things was the windshield wiper motor. A couple hours later I told the manager I was interested in the warrentee if it was more like a certain amount that I stated, and he agreed to something close to what I suggested. So I got it. It was for another couple years and so many thousand miles, I dont recall specific.

Well, about a year and a half later, we did not have any need for it, but then the alternator started making noise, then more noise. I stopped at the dealer with the warrentee in hand. THey looked/listned to it and said the warrentee would not cover it beause it hadnt actaully failed. That was annoying. So I drove away.
A few days larter it started making more noise and more noise, and then went all quite.... and battery light came one.... so I drove to the dealer and drove right into the service bays.... and told them the pully and serpinteen belt is out on the road about a mile back. THe warrentee covered a new alternator (shaft messed up) and pully and belt. (was about 20 years ago, so maybe confusing some details....)

[rphillips]

Thank ya'll for the input. From what I've got from here and other places, I think I'll pass on the extended warranty. I would probably think more seriously about it if it were a "Toyota" extended warranty. This being one from an aftermarket Co. I've never heard of I just got to pass. Scary part is all that new electronic stuff that I'm thinking will have to go to a Stealership for repairs. Thinking just the local mechanics may not be able to deal with that new kind of stuff.