can I still get an extended warranty

[knvs]

I'm just curious if anyone know if I can still get an extended warranty on my car. I had one with Western General but it expired in May, and they only had 7 year plans. Does anyone know if its still possible to get one. If so where and from whom?

[Polestar]

A search for auto warranty companies will get hundreds of hits.
The problem with most of them is threefold:
First, they may not be around tomorrow ( many go bankrupt). Second, you don't actually get the coverage you think you get. Third, the part must have a catastrophic failure to be fixed.
If your car has over 50K or perhaps 75K, you will not be able to purchase an "exclusionary" policy. (Much like a "bumper to bumper" policy. and really what you want) What you will be offered is a policy that covers a list of parts. This may sound ok, except when you read the fine print. The part cannot fail due to normal wear and tear ( if a part made it to 50K, most failures, one assumes, are due to wear and tear) Also, a covered part is not covered if it failed as the result of an uncovered part affecting it That is an awfully big loop hole in my opinion.
Catastophic failure means the part must have faild. In otherwords, even if the part is not working properly, if it is working, they won't fix it.
I had an extended policy. It cost $2500 for 3yr/36,000mi. I cancelled it and took the advice of seting the money aside for a repair fund that I administer.

[J Irwan]

Originally posted by Polestar
A search for auto warranty companies will get hundreds of hits.
The problem with most of them is threefold:
First, they may not be around tomorrow ( many go bankrupt). Second, you don't actually get the coverage you think you get. Third, the part must have a catastrophic failure to be fixed.
If your car has over 50K or perhaps 75K, you will not be able to purchase an "exclusionary" policy. (Much like a "bumper to bumper" policy. and really what you want) What you will be offered is a policy that covers a list of parts. This may sound ok, except when you read the fine print. The part cannot fail due to normal wear and tear ( if a part made it to 50K, most failures, one assumes, are due to wear and tear) Also, a covered part is not covered if it failed as the result of an uncovered part affecting it That is an awfully big loop hole in my opinion.
Catastophic failure means the part must have faild. In otherwords, even if the part is not working properly, if it is working, they won't fix it.
I had an extended policy. It cost $2500 for 3yr/36,000mi. I cancelled it and took the advice of seting the money aside for a repair fund that I administer.


Not really......
Most company have the policy of replacing the defective unit after it broke, in other word the will not replace anything for preventative maintenance.

For example, when I had the headgasket leak, when its leaked I have the warranty company paid for it.

But if I want to get it replace for the sake of preventing something from happening then it will not be covered.

Bottom line is has to be broken in the first place before they can replace it.

IT doesn't have to be in catastrophic condition (that your car become undriveable).


Also my transmission start flaring, so they warranty company also paid for it. Do I have to wait until it won't shift to any gear before they could authorized the repair.. . Hell no...
At the time my car still driveable but the shifting/flaring just got worse...

Another example, by AC condensor was leaking, so I have the dealer make the claim and everything was covered under the warranty(afttermarket warrantY). However my SA advise me to replace the receiver-dryer since they will have to opened up the AC system. Otherwise if some moiisture is trapped in the reciever-dryer it will cause some probem in the future.
The warranty company couldn't cover this because technically still working, although it is common knowledge for the mechanic to replace it at the same time the condensor is replaced. so I paid $130 for the condensor out of my pocket.


You may purchase the warranty from not so good company.


For others who is shopping for aftermarket warranty:
Here are some tips:

1. Read all the conifition to make a claim. (most company have policy that I explained above).
2. Make sure they cover dealer labor rate not (same only cover $60-$75 /hr tops)
3. It would best if you could talk to your SA about the particular Warranty company, and get some info how they been dealing in the past (if they ever dealt in the first place). I known some cases some dealer refuses to work certain warranty company because of the ridiculous lenghty process they have to go through to get the claim paid.
4. Ask the warranty company how are they going to pay for the repair (reimbursement vs direct bill). Certain warranty company will have you paid first then they will mail the check.
5. Make sure you read all the fine print for exclusion and pay attention to deductible,

FYI: my warranty company was pretty easy to deal with (never gave my SA any grief or hassle), and the claim process is very straight forward. What's best is that $0 deductible and all the bill is pay directly with their corporate CC.



Hope this helps.

Regards,

[!!!!!NJ Drive]

Originally posted by J Irwan
FYI: my warranty company was pretty easy to deal with (never gave my SA any grief or hassle), and the claim process is very straight forward. What's best is that $0 deductible and all the bill is pay directly with their corporate CC.



Hope this helps.

Regards, with all that said could you share who your warrenty company is?

[J Irwan]

Originally posted by !!!!!NJ Drive
with all that said could you share who your warrenty company is?


Warranty Direct..


Unfortunately they no longer carry warranty program for high performance model of BMW and Benz (so no coverage of M and AMG models) but if you have Audi S-line then you're still covered.


Regardz,

[Polestar]

Not really......

I believe you. I'm sure there are honest companies, but there are so many horror stories out there that I had no idea who to trust.

I've tried, on other MB forums, to get recommendations for a warranty co., but the majority of responses were, "don't waste your money"

For those of us that have cars that can no longer be Starmarked, it would, I think, be a great help to have a "safe" list of warranty companies.

I searched for independent reviews of warranty companies, ratios of money paid in claims to company income, etc, but never found what I felt I could trust.

[Polestar]

I had a long talk with a sales rep. from Warranty Warehouse yesterday.

Anybody have personal experience with their coverage?