New A7 (Audi Care & extended warranty)
08-05-2014, 05:56 PM
#11
I think of an extended warranty as an insurance policy with no cash value, not an investment. If you buy the extended warranty up front, they hold your money for 50,000 miles or 5 years, which ever comes first and do not pay interest on your money. Insurance companies have to make money, so they look at expected average repairs in the two following years or, 50,000-70,000 miles, and they have to collect enough money to cover those costs plus a profit. Definitely read the fine print as to what they cover.
I never buy extended warranties up front, or ever really. I prefer to have my money in an investment where I collect the interest/dividends, and I self insure after the factory warranty runs out. I like options and flexibility with my money, not constraints. Consider it this way, you have 3 options at the end of the factory warranty, if you have not bought anything extra up front. If the car has had a lot of problems up to 50,000 miles, then you might want to sell it or trade it at that point. If you want to keep the car beyond 50,000 miles, you can buy the extended warrenty at that time, although it will cost a little more than if you bought it up front. Or lastly you just self insure from there forward.
Nothing is free, certainly not car repairs. Remember you have even paid for the original factory warranty; it is covered in the purchase price of the car. If you buy the extended warranty you pay for the repairs up front in the premium, plus a profit to the insurance company for which you get in return a little emotional relief if a costly repair is needed. If you self insure, you pay the repairs. In all cases you pay for all repairs.
I never buy extended warranties up front, or ever really. I prefer to have my money in an investment where I collect the interest/dividends, and I self insure after the factory warranty runs out. I like options and flexibility with my money, not constraints. Consider it this way, you have 3 options at the end of the factory warranty, if you have not bought anything extra up front. If the car has had a lot of problems up to 50,000 miles, then you might want to sell it or trade it at that point. If you want to keep the car beyond 50,000 miles, you can buy the extended warrenty at that time, although it will cost a little more than if you bought it up front. Or lastly you just self insure from there forward.
Nothing is free, certainly not car repairs. Remember you have even paid for the original factory warranty; it is covered in the purchase price of the car. If you buy the extended warranty you pay for the repairs up front in the premium, plus a profit to the insurance company for which you get in return a little emotional relief if a costly repair is needed. If you self insure, you pay the repairs. In all cases you pay for all repairs.
08-05-2014, 07:36 PM
#12
arguments against warranties
Well written. Keep in mind that the people that issue such a policy have figured out very precisely the overall cost, added the price of administering the policy and added a profit margin. So unless you know something that they do not or if the cost of a repair is going to have a significant impact on you - or perhaps if peace of mind = $$ for you than get it. Otherwise put the premium in the bank. On average you will pay less!
08-06-2014, 08:57 AM
#13
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Don't know about you, but I constantly get mailings and emails as well from the Audi dealer in Denver for 15% discounts on repairs, batteries, and tires. I also get them from the local BMW dealer who also offer a flat 15% discount on all service on cars older than 10 years. My BMW is a 1999, 328i. You don't have to pay the "book rate" for repairs today. There are also independent shops who provide basic maintenance much cheaper than dealers. These are options after Audi Care and the factory warranty expire. Though I admit that self-insuring is not attactive to everyone. Just remember that you pay for all reparis, one way or another.
08-06-2014, 04:25 PM
#14
AudiWorld Senior Member
Don't know about you, but I constantly get mailings and emails as well from the Audi dealer in Denver for 15% discounts on repairs, batteries, and tires. I also get them from the local BMW dealer who also offer a flat 15% discount on all service on cars older than 10 years. My BMW is a 1999, 328i. You don't have to pay the "book rate" for repairs today. There are also independent shops who provide basic maintenance much cheaper than dealers. These are options after Audi Care and the factory warranty expire. Though I admit that self-insuring is not attactive to everyone. Just remember that you pay for all reparis, one way or another.
The cost of the parts is just astronomical, even if we assume they will be available. I sure wouldn't keep my A7 beyond the expiry of the standard factory or the most comprehensive extended warranty.
08-06-2014, 05:41 PM
#15
I will ask the service manager aboput this the next time I'm there.
08-06-2014, 07:00 PM
#16
08-07-2014, 03:14 AM
#17
AudiWorld Senior Member
Going off topic here and I know the question wasn't directed to me, but I've had my A6 TDI for a year now and absolutely love the torque, fuel economy and everything else about the car (including the distinctive diesel sound). There are a few other threads where TDI and 3.0T owners go back and forth about the virtues of each engine, but I don't think I've read one thread or review where owners or test-drivers don't swear by the TDI as the engine of choice (I'm sure most 3.0T owners are equally passionate about their cars, however, I owned a 3.0T A6 previously and would without a doubt choose the TDI over the 3.0T if I were shopping for another new Audi). Once you get the "diesel-bug" it's tough to go back to gas - less than a year after getting the TDI, we replaced my wife's SUV with a ML350 Bluetec (diesel) and I'm already thinking of a nice Jetta TDI for my daughter who doesn't start driving for another couple years 
Last edited by audi40; 08-07-2014 at 03:17 AM.
08-07-2014, 08:07 AM
#18
As Audi40 said, lots of passionate discussions. (Look at A6 thread with a guy getting a TDI loaner car). For many years I have driven diesels in Europe in rental cars and noticed the last few years that sometimes i could hardly tell what type of engine. Huge improvement for diesels. The TDI with the high pressure common rail fuel injection and PZT injectors is an amazingly high tech engine. (I think there are ~10 fuel injections/cycle!) I bet the fuel pump and injectors are $$$.
We very much like our TDI. We also have a '06 A6 with the 3.2 gas engine. The big difference is that the 3.2l gas has 243lb.ft torque at 3250 RPM (255hp) while the TDI has 428 lb.ft torque at 1750 RPM (and 240hp). I occasionally use the paddle shifters on the '06 3.2 gas A6 to anticipate a downshift, however, never thought of needing to downshift manually in the TDI.
So if you care about high torque at low RPM the TDI is superior. If you like, enjoy and use high revs go with the gas. For us in daily use, urban and highway use, the choice is obvious, better acceleration at ~ 30 - 50 mph and most importantly longer range (~33 average and ~39 mpg on highway).
Test drive them back to back to back and then decide.
Interesting about fraction of Audis with TDI at the moment - for Q7 about 24%, for A6 about 19% and A8 at 11%. (In most European countries about the reverse.)
We very much like our TDI. We also have a '06 A6 with the 3.2 gas engine. The big difference is that the 3.2l gas has 243lb.ft torque at 3250 RPM (255hp) while the TDI has 428 lb.ft torque at 1750 RPM (and 240hp). I occasionally use the paddle shifters on the '06 3.2 gas A6 to anticipate a downshift, however, never thought of needing to downshift manually in the TDI.
So if you care about high torque at low RPM the TDI is superior. If you like, enjoy and use high revs go with the gas. For us in daily use, urban and highway use, the choice is obvious, better acceleration at ~ 30 - 50 mph and most importantly longer range (~33 average and ~39 mpg on highway).
Test drive them back to back to back and then decide.
Interesting about fraction of Audis with TDI at the moment - for Q7 about 24%, for A6 about 19% and A8 at 11%. (In most European countries about the reverse.)
08-15-2014, 03:57 PM
#19
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On my last 2008 BMW 535, I purchased a route 66 extended warranty at 47 months and 42,000 miles. For $2500 it extended the warranty to 100,000 total miles or a total of 60 months extra. $0 deductible. The warranty really worked, I had all the service done at the BMW dealership with absolutely no payment problems. I know it seems too good to be true but it worked for me. You can only get them through credit unions because there is virtually no markup. Private message me if you want more details. I plan to keep my car also for 9 to 10 years and will definitely consider this depending on the repair history of A7. Any dealer extended warranty is a huge ripoff- IMHO. Dave in NJ
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