A while back we purchased a used 2001 Mazda Tribute. It had about 42,000 miles on it. The dealer pushed an after market warranty on us. The warranty cost about $800. After the fact I was a little irritated, feeling that the warranty was likely a waste of money. It was only good for major things (engine overhauls and the like) and good for 36 months. With such low mileage we really shouldn’t need it, right? Besides, this was for a secondary vehicle that wouldn’t have a lot of miles put on it.
This weekend, at about 65,000 miles, the transmission turned to a toasted hunk of metal swimming in blackened fluid. The replacement job is going to be $2900.
Our deductible is a mere $100.
The repair shop said that the warranty company was the easiest they’ve ever dealt with, and the whole thing was arranged in less than five minutes.
I take back every negative thing I said about buying that warranty (and all the less than charitable thoughts about my husband who is the one who caved under the sales guy). I do have less than nice thoughts about our vehicle’s manufacturer(s). (guy at the repair shop is baffled as to why the tranny fried so soon)
A used car warranty saves my ass once. I bought a used Saturn and paid maybe 800 bucks for the extended warranty.
Three months after I bought the car it developed a rod knock. It required a partial engine rebuild and some other stuff. It would have cost me nearly 3000 (including the labor), but with my deductible it cost me 100 bucks.
And I’m glad I looked that up, because it claims the coverage includes towing (we have the 3 star package IIRC). . . I thought we were on the hook for that.
My husband and I bought a ProScan (RCA) HDTV set several years ago, a 36-inch glass CRT set with a 4x3 screen. Fortunately, when the thing failed, it was still under warranty (just barely, by a few days). RCA was unable to get parts with which to fix the set, so they replaced it with a much nicer 42-inch HDTV rear-projection set which is 16x9, a format that we prefer. I was stunned. Most of the warranty claims I’ve filed in the past resulted in endless dickering and unsatisfactory service. I’m not extremely keen on RCA products, but their warranty service is first-rate.