I have always had factory extended warranties on my past Japanese cars and have had good luck with them paying for themselves many times over. Considering only the CPO Jaguars have factory extended (2 year) warranties, I'm looking around (reluctantly) for the "better" or the 3rd party warranties out there for our cars. It will be for a 2010 XK with over 6 months of warranty left. I've heard of Easy Care Total Care/Gold from the Jaguar salespeople. I've also heard of Fidelity and even Toyota Extra Care. With all the companies out there, are there any that seem to be more popular and of course reliable and not fly by night outfits? I understand they are pricey but can be useful for the big items. Any suggestions?

 

Boca:

When I bought my 2009 Jaguar XKR in May of this year, the warranty had just ended. I called the Jaguar dealer, and did plenty of research on 3rd party warranties.

Fidelity appears to be one of the more respected 3rd party warranties. Every warranty has what is called an "administrator" and with the Fidelity Warranty it is administered by Jim Moran & Associates out of Florida. The Fidelity Warranty Services, Inc. has NOTHING to do with the Fidelity name of investments from Boston, MA.

Moran is highly respected. Moran (Fidelity) would have been my choice. Since my 2009 had a very good service record and low mileage (13,500 when purchased) I did not take any extended warranty. It is now 5 months later and I have only put 1000 miles on the XKR. I took the car to the local Jag dealer for a complete checkup back in June and they reported no problems or expected problems.

Perhaps I am taking my chances. I don't drive the car hard, and I will probably average 5000 to 6000 miles per year. I have 5 vehicles so I have many choices of transportation. All cars are low mileage cars and my insurance rate is very low priced due to mileage, age of drivers and an insurance bundle on homeowners policies.

What I found is that many 3rd Party warranties will deal on pricing. What one dealer charges may be very different from other dealers. Also in Florida where you live there are special laws regarding 3rd party auto warranties and they are always explained in the contract. Be sure to get a copy of the complete contract before signing and sending money. Read them carefully and make sure that you fully understand the contract and the process of filing claims.

There are many other 3rd party warranties and find that most are independant sales teams that apply lots of pressure to buy. Remember your dealing with an insurance company so they have the odds stacked in their favor for making money. Be careful on what and who you deal with in these warranties. There is allot of "spin" in the sales pitch.

Hope this helps. There are several threads on ths topic here on the forums. It's a topic that surfaces quite regularly.

 

Easy Care - I had this warranty on my Porsche and it was great, so I got one on my jag when I bought it new

 

Me and Fidelity are having a falling out on my XK. With their top plan, they still shafted me for $400 in rental fees. Took the Jag dealer a week to get parts for repair, and Fidelity does not cover rentals while "Waiting for parts", only physical work times... When some of our parts come from overseas this is a problem. They also insist sending a representative to the dealership every time to see if they are being lied to.....yet more delays before work can start. I'll probably avoid them from now on.

Perhaps the best aftermarket I ever had was through "Zurich" (The owner and parent company of Universal Underwriters). Dealing directly with Zurich was a pleasure. No questions asked, bumper to bumper, and a person with a credit card on the other end of the phone every time my Audi dealership called (And with my Audi, they called an awful lot!). Audi never had to explain anything... They called with the reported problem, then called with the repair total, then called me to come get my car and return the brand new Audi loaner they sent me home in...

Vince

 

In at least some cases this can be dependant on the relationship with the particular dealer/repair shop being used. If a shop has a history of inflated claims, pattern repairs, or other problems then....well...you know.

Cheers
DD

 

If you want to evaluate, one thing to do is go to ripoff report.com and search for the extended warranty company you're thinking about. I think they are all in there. I'm afraid these things are revenue generators for the dealerships and a waste of money for the consumer.

 

Everyone has to remember this is insurance and the administrators have the odds in their favor for profitability.

As homeowners we buy what is called homeowners insurance. In the last 38 years, I paid the insurance premium and only had one claim.

As car owners we buy what is called car insurance. How many of us actually have claims against the insurance company for car damage?

The 3rd party warranties are no different. They are in business to make money.

The one and only question is, will your car break down in order to cover the cost of the warranty. In most cases, the claims against the warranty is much less than the cost.

These warranties do not cover normal maintenance items like oil changes, tire repair, wiper blades etc. There are many "exclusions" to these polices. That is why it is so important to review the contract and coverage before signing and paying for the 3rd party warranty.

 

The other issue, of course, is that the actual contracts are in mouse type, written by lawyers. You really need a lawyer to go over it with you to understand all the things the don't cover, cover partially or can weasel their way out of. IMHO, the factory warranties are solid but the after market plans are designed to take your money not fix your car.

 

Yeah, like any other insurance policy, you gotta be careful!

Speaking broadly I'd say the these service contracts ( or "extended warranties"... a very misleading misnomer) have vastly improved since the late 70s-early 80s. For years many of them were SO bad it was, frankly, hard to believe they were even legal. Eventually the industry realized that people simply wouldn't continue to buy a product that was so terrible.....so they made changes. No doubt these changes were....um...."helped along" by various state attorneys general, insurance commisioners, etc.

Despite industry improvements caution is still required. And, in many cases, the problem isn't the policy itself but, rather, that the policy is misrepresented at time of sale. Still, after 30 years in the repair business, I can positively attest that many consumers have benefitted greatly from these insurance policies.

A few things to watch for with second and third rate policies, especially if covering a somewhat older, higher mileage car.

- Use of used parts or aftermarket parts.

- "Worn" versus "failed". On some policies, for example, a broken piston ring would be covered, a worn-out piston ring would not

- Bare minimum repairs, *especially* if the policy is about to expire. Example: replacing only worn clutch plates in a transmission when, traditionally, a full overhaul would be the usual procedure.

- No coverage for secondary damage in some cases. For example, the failed brake caliper is a covered repair but the fluid-soaked brake pads are not.


I could spend hours on the subject

Cheers
DD

 

How much do you think it is worth (dollar wise) to get a car certified through Jaguar (CPO car) in order to get the extra 2 years of a Jaguar factory warranty? I know it has been done, but cost Jaguar money to do it.

 

From what I can tell by the 2010 XKs I was looking at, the CPO cars are asking $8K to $10K more than I just paid for mine.

 

Here's an interesting thread on the Jaguar Select Warranty:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...nty-scam-3513/

 

They might ask that much more, but I believe it costs Jaguar around $2250 to get the car CPO'D.

 

The number one reason NEW cars cost so much is because they include the factory warranty. The manufacturer (for the most part) will pay for repairs, some being costly for the duration of the warranty. This is why cars that are out of warranty and especially the really older models plummet in value. Of course depreciation is a factor, but factory warranties keep prices up. I'm thinking in the case of our cars, it's best to get the lowest mileage car you can find (and of course afford) so that if choking on an expensive warranty is not for you, you have a "better chance" of escaping the higer costs that come with a high mileage car, especially a Jaguar. I have never owned a car for any length of time without a warranty with the exception of my Lexus which is basically a "forever car" without any issues after way over 100,000 miles. I've never heard one good thing about 3rd party warranties, but Jaguars are expensive to fix. My expected plan is to wait until the factory warranty runs close to expiring and then make a decision. The good thing about the 2010 XKs and even the early 2006-2009s are they are relatively reliable. I will be choosing the 2010 to avoid the condensate line and dash issues, but will probably be paying $10,000+ more for that improvement. It's basically a dice shoot but getting a well cared car with reasonable miles with service records is the most important part of the equation.

 

I got my 2007 XK with 5600 miles (give or take a few) and got rid of it with 58K. I never had anything go wrong that would have required the use of the $2000+ extended warranty I purchased. On my 2010, I think I'll roll the dice. The car's original warranty is good until next April so I'll have some time to evaluate reliability.

 

When I do any research on 2010+ XK reliability, all I come up with on a regular basis is dead batteries. Is it that the normal owner is not aware how fragile the electrical system is on our cars and that it requires a constant battery charge source if the car will be sitting for any length of time?
PS....

1) Without fail, Almost every car fax service record I check for the XKs involves checking the battery and charging system

2) The research I've done on 2010 XKs shows as one of the recalls Campaign K100 Option E which basically says: Replace BMS (battery monitoring system) as well as some additional software updates. As seen, the battery charging system is still a "work in progress".

 

Yeah, I noticed that. And I replaced the battery in my 07 three times in three years. Not a big deal because the battery warranty covered it. And you can tell the battery is going before it gets to the "won't start" condition. Weird electrical things start happening. Warning lights, nav screen malfunctions, etc. Every time that happened to me, a new battery fixed it.

 

Chazaroo. Did you ever bother with the C Tek or other battery charging systems to keep your battery fully charged all the time?

 

No, never tried it. Mine was a daily driver so I figured it was unnecessary. One thing that seemed to effect the electronics was charging my iPhone in the car. That would periodically cause gremlins to pop up.

 

I had premium Easy Care for my Acura. They were extremely "easy" to deal with. I did not have a deductible and they covered 100% of every issue I dealt with. Sadly my Jag has too many miles so I will be purchasing a Penn Gold warranty in spring. Any one have dealings with them?