An extended warranty actually paid off!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I took my car into a dealership on Wednesday to have some scheduled maintenance done. When I picked up the car at the end of the day, I was told that the car needed some repairs (replacing the rear engine mount and the lower control arms) that would total about $1,100.

After recovering from that shock, it occurred to me that I might have actually bought an extended warranty for the car, which was used when I bought it. I pulled out my purchase contract (one of the few important documents I’ve actually kept track of in my life) and discovered that yes, I’d bought a two-year warranty (I’ve had the car just over a year) at the highest coverage possible (“platinum”) that basically covers just about anything and everything.

Still, I was skeptical, but I took the car back to the dealership today. They said they’d call my warranty company and verify that I was covered. I was sure they’d deny it, somehow. I even went on the internet and looked up the company and found some complaints against them. Ultimately, though, my dealership said they’d gotten authorization for the repairs. I held my breath.

Later in the afternoon, I got a call from the dealership. They said there might be a problem because they believed the warranty company closed at 4pm, and they didn’t think they’d be done with the repairs before then. This meant they wouldn’t get payment from the warranty company in time to release the car to me. “Aha,” I thought to myself, “there IS a catch!” Ultimately, the dealership agreed to give me a loaner over the weekend, but I kept seeing this scenario in my head where the warranty company would refuse to pay the bill after the work was done, and I’d really be stuck.

At 4:30, the dealership said they’d already submitted the paperwork to the warranty company, but had heard nothing, so they were going to go ahead and set me up with the loaner. And I knew that my long weekend of stressing about my car being held hostage was about to begin. But as I was leaving work to catch a ride back to the shop, they called again and said that the warranty company had come through, and that I’d just need to pay my $100 deductible, and off I’d go in my own car.

And that’s how it happened. I’m still a little in shock.

2

Extended warranty has been good for my laptop, which I break a lot. So they’ll be paying for this thing until 2013.

3

I bought a laptop November 2007 with extended warranty until November 2010.

In the 12 months up to October 2010 I had the following replaced for no extra charge:

CD drive
Screen
Keyboard
Battery - was amazed they did this because batteries are usually excluded
Hard drive - unfortunately they no longer used the same drive so they replaced it with a new one of double the capacity.

Thank you Apple Care

4

The consumer reports segment on our local news said that laptops are one of the few things for which an extended warranty is actually worth it.

5

I found a wireless mouse may be a good candidate for an extended warranty.

For me if you pay $25.00 for a wireless mouse, not the mouse itself, but rather, the part that plugs into the USB slot of the laptop, always bends a bit after about 4 or 5 months of use, then stops working.

Of course you can’t just buy that part, you have to buy a whole new mouse. So I got a replacement warranty for $1.49 for two years and they’ve replaced it twice so far :slight_smile:

6

I’m surprised they replaced them for that. Physical damage from pressure applied to USB devices and even to power adapters for laptops are normally considered negligence and can void computer warranties. This is largely in the case of laptops and desktop computers that I have serviced. That kind of pressure comes from leaving heavy power bricks dangling or moving the system with devices attached and usually leads to breaking the solder that keeps the power connector/usb ports attached to the motherboard. If I were working on one with signs of this type of damage, I would have to decline service on it by the base warranties of most manufacturers. I know some are adding bells and whistles these days to cover this, but it’s usually at extra cost.

Did they just do the swap without examining it? I guess with mice it’s not nearly as costly as replacing a motherboard in a computer, so they don’t have to be very careful.

7

Yeah, I got an extended warranty with my laptop. My girls were two, so when I saw the warranty covered accidents and drops for three years, I was sold. I had the keyboard replaced twice (it’s coming apart again, so I think the primary reason is because it sucks), the display replaced, the split lid replaced, and the motherboard replaced.

8

Sometimes you guess right and it works out. Generally, with vehicle warranties it’s like paying for all possible failures up front. For example, if you paid $1,000 for the extended warranty, you are now even with the board. Personally, I don’t want a warranty on anything including a new vehicle warranty. I want the best non-warranty price and I’m willing to self-insure.

9

I’m not a fan of them at all, but it is because of my experience at the Consumer Electronics Show. The extended warranty companies have the nicest booths, with the thickest carpet, the most attractive booth personnel and they throw the best parties.

The extended warranty business is a license to print money. If you’re the one person in five hundred who actually uses the thing? Wonderful! Otherwise you’re flushing your money down the crapper.

10

I never purchase extended warranties. I can not think of even a single time I bought one. I keep care of my stuff and try not to use it in ways for which it isn’t designed.

That said, I was given a monitor as a birthday gift a few years back from my mother, and she bought a three year extended warranty from Best Buy. The monitor went kaput after two years and ten months(!) and when I took it in, they couldn’t fix it. They also couldn’t replace it as that model had been taken off the shelves a year or two before. So instead, my 19" monitor with a TV tuner was swapped for a new 24" monitor with really great specs (the 19", not so much, it was cool for the TV tuner). I think I would have gotten the better end of that deal even had I paid for the original.

11

I totally used my extended warranty with my car. I came out ahead about $2500. I don’t buy extended warranties on anything else, though.

12

I never buy extended plans, but I did buy one for a Craftsman chainsaw a few years ago. I was inexperienced with chainsaws then so I cut up a frozen Hickory with the dullest chain in the world. The engine blew and I realized that it might still be covered. It was, and Sears gave me a shiny new chainsaw, and I felt like I had won the lottery.

13

Just a reminder for those of us that don’t buy extended warranties on anything: if you bought it on a credit (not debit, so far as I know) card, the credit card may extend the warranty for you. A lot of the gold/platinum/diamond/titanium/uranium/plutonium/einsteinium cards of the last few years have this as a cardholder benefit, usually an extra year or double the original, whichever is shorter. I’ve used it a couple times.

14

My dad bugged me into getting the extended warranty on my car - USUALLY a waste of money, but this time worth an asston of money. It’s replaced the coolant pump, some wheel hub thing, the fuel pump, and something else expensive.

15

Wow, so much for the durability of Apple computers. My last cheap laptop was seven years old when the screen finally went out, so we just bought a new (also cheap) laptop. No problems with either except for the screen on the old one.

16

There are two kinds of extended warranties for vehicles: third party and manufacturer. Dealerships usually push third party warranties, but in most cases they’re worthless. A vehicle warranty offered by the manufacturer is usually O.K.

17

I’m generally not a fan of extended warranties but my camera shop has a deal I just couldn’t turn down. I pay $20/filter when I buy them and any time in 2 years I can exchange it for a new one. I’ve set a calendar event in exchange so I don’t forget :slight_smile: Clearly they’re banking on most people forgetting but as long as I’m one that remembers it’s a great deal.

I’ve already cashed in one though - dropped my camera and the $100 filter saved my $1500 lens from any damage at all. The filter? Glass dust and an empty metal ring. Showed up at the camera store with the metal ring and left with my shiny new filter.

18

This was my fear, as well. I have a third-party warranty, but the went ahead an honored it. Color me surprised.

19

I had my transmission rebuilt 18 months ago. I paid extra for a 2 year warranty. Two weeks ago my transmission died and they rebuilt it again for $0. Score!

StG

20

I had an extended warranty on my Dell laptop with a rider for accidental damage. 2 years after I bought it, I spilled Coke on the keyboard and completely wrecked it. I called them up, told them what had happened, and they verified that I had the appropriate warranty and sent me a box to ship it for repairs. They wound up replacing basically the entire inside of the computer. I got it back and realized that I’d lost my OEM disks and couldn’t reinstall Windows XP. Called them again around 8:30 PM and an envelope containing the CDs for Windows and all the drivers showed up in my mailbox at 10:00 the next morning. The whole episode cost me $0. The extended warranty paid for itself four times over, because I would have had to buy a new laptop.

I have a Lenovo now and it also has an extended warranty with accidental damage coverage. When that runs out, I’m either buying an extension or a new computer.