Dennis H.

extended warranty. Is it this year or next year 2002? I believe I have a 3 year or 40000 mile factory warranty. Anyone ever get an extended warranty from their dealer and approximately how much will it cost and what does it cover? TIA

Skydive@AI

1) You probably shouldn't buy it from the dealer. They just resell, and take a substantial profit. WarrantyDirect.com claims to be the online arm of the underwriter that wholesales those warranties to most of the automotive industry. There are other purveyors out there, but when I researched it, I could find almost no independent information about track record on the others, but WD is a bit more expensive. I bought the "Diamond" coverage on a previous car, and had no problems with claims. The person who bought that car from me has also made a couple of claims without issue. They do research title and damage history before issuing a policy, so if your car has questionable records, they may choose not to write a policy.

2) For most people, it makes sense to purchase an extended warranty a few months before the factory warranty expires. There is a considerable discount to be had if your factory policy is still in effect at the time of purchase. However, many of these policies are based on model years, not calendar years. So... if you buy a 10 Yr./100K policy, you are really only getting 7 years and/or 60K additional coverage. Be sure of what you are getting. WD for example, is total odemeter, and calendar based.. so a 6 year/100K policy is 6 years from policy purchase, or 100K from zero miles. So if your car has 39K on it at the time of purchase, and you have a 40K factory policy, you are really only buying 60K miles...

A couple of months ago, there was a discussion here about a AWer who bought and was subsequently had a claim denied, by the particular carrier who advertises here.