Is extended warrantee worth it

Grey Jay · January 12, 2021

Hey folks, I have a 19 elevation that I have owned for almost two years. I was planning on ditching it after three years when trade in value didn't hurt so much, but now I am thinking of keeping it for five. Reliability of these trucks makes me nervous and I was thinking about buying the bumper to bumper warrantee. Has anyone done this? is it worth it?

BIGDOGx · January 12, 2021

39 minutes ago, Grey Jay said:

Hey folks, I have a 19 elevation that I have owned for almost two years. I was planning on ditching it after three years when trade in value didn't hurt so much, but now I am thinking of keeping it for five. Reliability of these trucks makes me nervous and I was thinking about buying the bumper to bumper warrantee. Has anyone done this? is it worth it?

If you are thinking of keeping it for only 5 years maybe not but any amount past 5 i would say yes, my truck has been pretty good but just this week i brought it in for a check over and to address some issues and they found the radiator leaking, my guess is that would of been a good grand out of my pocket so nearly my entire purchase price of the warranty was covered by using it on my final year of having it with a 7 year old truck. I have also had the ac/lines and evap go out past my 3 years which puts me in the positive. Doesn't take much use of it for it to pay off so imo yes buy it and get the gmpp platinum plan, aftermarket non gm warranties are trash and will be more trouble than they are worth imo!

Edited January 12, 2021 by BIGDOGx

redwngr · January 12, 2021

If it makes you sleep at night, it's worth it.

Imo, extended warranties don't make economic sense.

They are offered because they make money for the seller....who would be out of business if they weren't making money.

It's Tim · January 12, 2021

Better to put $3,000.00 in a "rainy day account" (like school systems do with your tax dollars). If the vehicle should need repairs the funds are easily available, when the vehicle is sold off the remaining funds are still yours.

No one ever became rich by giving money away, unless what they give away isn't theirs.

Edited January 12, 2021 by It's Tim

aseibel · January 12, 2021

I had this argument with my wife. I think they are a scam. Like redwngr said, they don't offer them because they lose money on them. Those plans are huge money makers for the dealerships. The best salesmen get promoted to the "finance manager" who takes you in the back room to sell them to you.

Similar to insurance, you hope to not need it. But if you ever do need it, it can help you out. Personally, I'd rather stick $2000 away in a bank account and not touch it.

End of the story, we bought the extended warranty on both of our vehicles because my wife wanted the peace of mind. Happy wife, happy life. I agreed to it because I plan to keep my truck for 10+ years. Halfway in, I haven't benefitted from it one cent.

So what helps you sleep better at night?

nfisherman · January 12, 2021

I don't buy extended warranties. I'd rather keep the $2 thousand or more in my pocket and pay for the repairs, if needed. I put about 25,000 miles per year on my vehicles. A lot of repairs seem to relate to time more than mileage. The warranties would usually expire based on mileage for me before I ever use them. A warranty may have paid off on a vehicle or two over my lifetime, but I've saved a lot of money over the years by not buying them.

Bob2C · January 12, 2021

Never bought one for any vehicle in my entire life. I do my own maintenance. Never needed a repair I couldn’t fix. I’m way ahead of the game at this point. They are a huge money maker. Only pay out 10 cents for every dollar they collect. Keep your money.

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MaverickZ71 · January 12, 2021

A long time ago in a galaxy far away, I had a new GM car that had a lot of troubles from day one. After a while, I bought the top-of-the-line GM protection plan extended warranty. Cost like $1200 at the time, which was a crap ton of $ for me at that particular time, while making big car payments. Ended up getting something like $4600 worth of warranty work done at no extra cost to me. And there were some things I didn't think they would cover that they replaced without even arguing about it. So in my opinion, it was $ very well spent. It all depends on your vehicle and how long you want to keep it, and how willing your dealer is to do warranty work.

KARNUT · January 12, 2021

When I’m about to close I say one more thing you have a deal. Extended warranty. Usually at a deep discount or at no additional cost. Last one on the wife’s Genesis. The radio, back up camera, navigation went out right at 7 years on a 100K, ten year bumper to bumper warranty. Would have been 700$. [emoji3]

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Grey Jay · January 12, 2021

I'm only planning to keep it 5 years max. I have a small travel trailer I tow with it. When my kids don't want to hang out camping I will go back to a small truck.

204Denali · January 12, 2021

The rainy day fund has been my thoughts forever. I never purchase the extended warranty. I do a lot of the fixes myself, but those I cannot (typically electrical) even after some high repair bills I still come out on top compared to the price of the warranty.

Domestic repairs when they do come up are quite manageable in my opinion compared to luxury/german cars, so even when coming out of pocket its not that bad (usually). I should say I can't even complain about German, ive owned all the luxury brands and still do, and even still, fixing when they come up down the road vs. extended warranty still did not warrant the warranty purchase.

Just put some funds aside every year so your always prepared, and if all goes well and you never use it, then you have some play money down the road or simply just roll it into your next car

Silverado4x4 · January 12, 2021

36 minutes ago, Grey Jay said:

I'm only planning to keep it 5 years max. I have a small travel trailer I tow with it. When my kids don't want to hang out camping I will go back to a small truck.

Think of it this way your truck already has a warranty for 3 years or 36,000 miles so if you buy the warranty lets say 2000 dollars and its for 5 years you will get no use out of the purchased warranty for the first 3 years due to the factory warranty so your spending 2000 dollars for 2 years of coverage. I know that's not your case but I wouldn't buy one but if you do be careful those type of warranty's can be a scam from some fly by night company and the older your truck is the more money they are. Be careful and do your research.

I like the ones you see on tv they wont let you have the time to read the small print to read the deductible some are hundreds of dollars you have to pay out per claim.

Edited January 12, 2021 by Silverado4x4

Swofford · January 12, 2021

So this subject is based on whatever impulse/emotional state that the buyer is in at the time of purchase. I, personally, don't get pulled into these. Yes, I have done a ton of work on vehicles in my life... some building from the group up. Having said that though, I am getting older and vehicles have a ton of technical electronics added, especially in the past few years.

A week ago, I purchased a 2020 Silverado LT Z71... and I did not purchase the additional stuff that the dealership was pushing. My reasoning was as follows:

1. The vehicle was a certified pre-owned vehicle from a Chevrolet dealership.

2. The vehicle had only 1295 miles on the clock when I bought it. (no, I don't know why the previous owner sold/traded it in after just a month...maybe they wanted a different model?)

3. Not only did the vehicle come with 34,705 miles and 35 months of the original warranty left and passed on to me, but (according to the dealership) the GM certified pre-owned process also adds an additional 12 months and 12K miles to what is left and the powertrain/roadside assistance warranty expands to 100K miles. So it appears that I bought an almost new (could we say new-in-the box) truck with almost 4 years/47K miles of bumper-to-bumper and 6 yr/100K miles of powertrain/roadside assistance. (all this has to be verified/validated (or argued) once the actual myChevy files get updated.

4. The cost of the add-on packages were pricey and, other than looking at the 150K mile bumper-to-bumper package didn't make any sense... but the powertrain was already covered to 100K...so why bother...

Now... a recommendation that I could offer to others might be to consider a method that we used as part of a small corporation that I was part of that shared ownership/usage of a set of aircraft....

While the planes were owned outright, we still needed to pay for fuel, insurance, annual inspections, repairs required by FAA updates/regulations/mandates/breakage, and also for engine rebuild/replacement as the powerplant approached/exceeded the TBO hours.

For each aircraft, we set a 'per hour' rate... which meant for each flying/engine hour of usage logged by each pilot in the aircraft, they were charged/contributed/paid the 'per hour' rate (example $32.50/hour or whatever), This rate was set by analyzing all the costs for each craft and was adjusted up/down, annually.

If you still wanted the peace of mind, but didn't want to purchase the add-on, you could just determine an amount that you wanted to save/put-back each month into a kitty /savings account. Yes, this would require discipline, but it would pay you back, instead of the dealership/insurance company etc... figure out your annual insurance policy costs, an average monthly gas cost and then add in a reasonable monthly contribution amount for repairs/maintenance. Example: (may be high/may be low)... Annual insurance estimate - $800. Monthly fuel $150($1800 annually), and then add in say another $100 monthly ($1200 annually) into the account. Assuming the fuel money is depleted each month, then at the end of the first year, you would end up with $2000 in the account. If you pay your insurance annually, you may find out that you actually save a little, so after paying that, you end up with $1200 in the account to pay for any repairs. At the end of the Bumper-to-bumper period, you would have $3600 in the account (plus insurance savings and fuel money unused, plus a little interest). Now add in 2-3 more years , assuming the powertrain is completely covered through 60K without you having to pay for that...and you have between $5K and $6.2K in the account... which could cover a new engine/transmission/etc... or use to add to the trade-in/down payment for your next vehicle...

You could break it all down into a 'per mile' basis cost... and just contribute that amount each month based on the miles you drove that month.... but that requires more analysis to be accurate...

Any way, just a comment and a potential approach that could be take... but then again, this is an opinion and like rear-ends... everyone has one, right?

Edited January 12, 2021 by Swofford

blckblt · January 13, 2021

18 hours ago, Swofford said:

So this subject is based on whatever impulse/emotional state that the buyer is in at the time of purchase. I, personally, don't get pulled into these. Yes, I have done a ton of work on vehicles in my life... some building from the group up. Having said that though, I am getting older and vehicles have a ton of technical electronics added, especially in the past few years.

A week ago, I purchased a 2020 Silverado LT Z71... and I did not purchase the additional stuff that the dealership was pushing. My reasoning was as follows:

1. The vehicle was a certified pre-owned vehicle from a Chevrolet dealership.

2. The vehicle had only 1295 miles on the clock when I bought it. (no, I don't know why the previous owner sold/traded it in after just a month...maybe they wanted a different model?)

3. Not only did the vehicle come with 34,705 miles and 35 months of the original warranty left and passed on to me, but (according to the dealership) the GM certified pre-owned process also adds an additional 12 months and 12K miles to what is left and the powertrain/roadside assistance warranty expands to 100K miles. So it appears that I bought an almost new (could we say new-in-the box) truck with almost 4 years/47K miles of bumper-to-bumper and 6 yr/100K miles of powertrain/roadside assistance. (all this has to be verified/validated (or argued) once the actual myChevy files get updated.

4. The cost of the add-on packages were pricey and, other than looking at the 150K mile bumper-to-bumper package didn't make any sense... but the powertrain was already covered to 100K...so why bother...

Now... a recommendation that I could offer to others might be to consider a method that we used as part of a small corporation that I was part of that shared ownership/usage of a set of aircraft....

While the planes were owned outright, we still needed to pay for fuel, insurance, annual inspections, repairs required by FAA updates/regulations/mandates/breakage, and also for engine rebuild/replacement as the powerplant approached/exceeded the TBO hours.

For each aircraft, we set a 'per hour' rate... which meant for each flying/engine hour of usage logged by each pilot in the aircraft, they were charged/contributed/paid the 'per hour' rate (example $32.50/hour or whatever), This rate was set by analyzing all the costs for each craft and was adjusted up/down, annually.

If you still wanted the peace of mind, but didn't want to purchase the add-on, you could just determine an amount that you wanted to save/put-back each month into a kitty /savings account. Yes, this would require discipline, but it would pay you back, instead of the dealership/insurance company etc... figure out your annual insurance policy costs, an average monthly gas cost and then add in a reasonable monthly contribution amount for repairs/maintenance. Example: (may be high/may be low)... Annual insurance estimate - $800. Monthly fuel $150($1800 annually), and then add in say another $100 monthly ($1200 annually) into the account. Assuming the fuel money is depleted each month, then at the end of the first year, you would end up with $2000 in the account. If you pay your insurance annually, you may find out that you actually save a little, so after paying that, you end up with $1200 in the account to pay for any repairs. At the end of the Bumper-to-bumper period, you would have $3600 in the account (plus insurance savings and fuel money unused, plus a little interest). Now add in 2-3 more years , assuming the powertrain is completely covered through 60K without you having to pay for that...and you have between $5K and $6.2K in the account... which could cover a new engine/transmission/etc... or use to add to the trade-in/down payment for your next vehicle...

You could break it all down into a 'per mile' basis cost... and just contribute that amount each month based on the miles you drove that month.... but that requires more analysis to be accurate...

Any way, just a comment and a potential approach that could be take... but then again, this is an opinion and like rear-ends... everyone has one, right?

I have friend that bought a brand new 2500 last year and it was the same thing with the mileage but the mileage was even less (around 300 miles).

The person that bought it had a trust fund set up for them. They couldn't directly withdraw the money but could use it for buying a vehicle. So they bought the most expensive 2500 (gas engine) on the lot and added a bunch of accessories. Didn't barely drive it. Then sold it back to the dealer after a month. 75k new and my friend got if for about 55k. He also traded a toyota highlander for more than he paid for 3 years prior.....