Three-twelve

I already know I have a small leak and the alterntaor pulley/tensioner is whistling.Is that enough to buy one? Still cant decide..

Audi0s

Just like that? Not even close? I mean I thought these things were ridic to fix

S4Johnson

Definitely. Audi=Another Unexpected Debt Incurred

TTMoose

I got one, and made up for 10% the first month of repairs.

Redfoot

But if I had to guess, relative minor repairs over the next 4/50 is gonna make it a close call.
And that's wishing for a 2nd best case scenario.

charliemike71

It's insurance. Expensive insurance but insurance nonetheless. Personally, I think it's worth it.

S4iowa

If you do work your self, it could be a break even or even cost you more for the warranty

Audi0s

will pay for it over time, no? Especially at 135 an hr. Even control arms, valve cover gaskets, and an alt tensioner would be in the 2k range.

Bruce M

NOTE: I sell warranties, and am biased :END NOTE

Generally speaking, the B6 S4's have been one of the better Audis as far as horrific repair costs. The D2 S8 is probably the best in terms of the newer Audis, and some of the C5 A6 non-turbo cars are good too.

The downside is that parts are VERY expensive, as is labor. So a few small repairs can quickly add up to a couple of thousand, and one big repair can easily top $2K.

Assuming you treat the warranty as part repair fund, part sleep-well-at-night catastrophe protection (do people get pissed at paying homeowners if a tornado doesn't knock their house down??), then it's a reasonable deal.

$3500 for 4/50K is a lot...I can likely get you into a 5/100K for less, and that would be exlusionary. Let's say $3200.

I would predict you'll get $2000-$2500 back in paid claims (conservatively), over 5 years and 50K+ miles of exclusionary coverage. That would be a few minor-to-medium things going wrong (a few seals or gaskets, a seat heater, an fan blower motor as examples) over the 5 years, nothing terrible.

So that means you actually spent around $750 for five years of sleep-well-at-night catastrophe protection.

To me, that's a pretty fair deal. If you sell the car, you can cash in or sell the warranty remainder. If your car is ultra-reliable, you "lose", or your sleep-well-at-night protection was more expensive. If you have one big failure, or a lot of smaller ones, you "win".

Bruce

codrus

Warranty companies track the repair costs of cars closely and set the premiums at a level where they expect to make back the average payout plus admin costs plus a profit. That's how the business works.

What you're buying is risk management -- you know that the most you're going to pay (assuming an honest warranty company) is the premiums plus deductible, no matter what fails on the car (minus the exclusions).