I have a call in to my local dealer for the factory extended warranty options. Is anyone using a 3rd party like Endurance? It seems like a minefield of scams out there.

 

There's been many, many threads on that very subject, scroll through the "search" and have at lots of reading as to whether they are worth it and which ones will actually cover issues if you run across them

 

Waste of money IMO. Keep the money you'd spend for warranty on a pre-paid Amex and you'll have money left over when that warranty would've expired.

Extended warranty only makes sense if you plan to sell the car private party and want some buffer should the next owner f up your car before the lemon law period expires.

 

Let me break this down into "digestible, logical pieces".

These warranties are decided on the basis of "what is the likelihood of a repair" and "what is the averaged price of said repair", as figured by actuaries (computational/mathematical people brilliant in statistics) to get a good guesstimation of what the company would probably pay out on each Jag they cover. That would be a "break even" point. Then you have to add to it their administrative costs AND a HUGE mark up by both the company insuring it AND the company selling it then you have YOUR cost of the warranty. This does not include the massive fraud as many of the policies are far less that reputable and usually carry with them a deductible to ensure that the insuring company will always win. Don't think because you have a warranty that your issue will absolutely be covered! Read the fine print and know the company you're dealing with otherwise it may not be worth the paper it is written on and it could cost many thousands dollars in the purchase.

Two things are givens with ALL extended warranties - they are sold by companies who make massive profits by them, they are not in business to lose money.

#2 - the dealers who sell these warranties LOVE to do so as the mark-ups can exceed 300% (meaning they mark them up 3x what they pay for them). Car dealerships make little money on each car sold their profits are in selling these warranties, parts, and ridiculous service rates charged.

As said you are FAR better off simply putting aside a little money each month into an account than ever buying an EW. You may hear of a few anecdotal people who had it work in their favor, just like lottery winners, but remember they are not in business to break even or lose money. These are most often bought as "piece of mind" but with little to no thought of what is involved other than "it may save me in a catastrophic failure" which the likelihood is extremely low... just search the forum to see how many engines or trannies blew. If it makes you feel better spending $3500-$5000 on "piece of mind" knock yourself dead but how may that have done so experienced issues resulting in repair costs anywhere that number??? The answer is "VERY few". They are selling "F.U.D" (fear, uncertainty, and doubt)