I am new to trucks, and I just recently bought a RAM 1500 limited. I have been reading about RAMs, and many seem to have reliability issues (not sure if I did my homework right .. or this is how generally trucks are). 1. Is it worth getting the extended warranty? 2. What does it generally cost? I have been quoted $4100 for the 7 year 100K miles (bumper-to-bumper warranty). 3. When can I get it? Do I have 3 years from the date of purchase or 1 year?
Welcome to the world of trucks! Pretty sure i will own a truck for the rest of my life!
The Limited is a nice ride. Mine is pretty close; I just bought a 2019 Longhorn hemi with 7000 miles. This is my second Ram and honestly the first one was a complete disaster, a 2015 Laramie Ecodiesel. Of the 18 months i owned that truck it was in the shop 10 months with engine problems. Why would i buy another Ram, you might ask?
1. Because as a whole the Ram has developed a strong reputation and the reliability seems to be on par with other vendors. GM has their trans problems, Ford had a couple of engine problems, etc. The Hemi has a couple of known issues but owners seem very happy with them and overall reliability is pretty good i think.
2. 95% of my problems were Ecodiesel related. The ED was a disaster which i can detail if anyone is interested but i loved the rest of the truck and i think the interior is best in class. Since i spend a lot of time on the freeway the interior was a care-about for me.
Which brings me to warranty. My truck is a CPO so has 7yr / 100K powertrain warranty already, plus a 39month / 39K bumper to bumper. The problem is that the powertrain warranty is largely mechanical and new trucks have a huge amount of electronics in them. I need to keep this truck forever and i have a pretty big payment so no room for repairs in the budget. So i ended up buying the 7yr/100K bumper-to-bumper. from the dealer. I paid ~$2900 for the Platinum plan, a bit more since i rolled it into my loan. Which means i can pay monthly and not pay after it is totaled or if i sell it. I had a similar quote from a second dealer and a quote for $3700 from a 3rd party. The dealer from whom i bought the truck did quote something like $4500 to start with, which would have been a non-starter for me.
I probably left a little money on the table. Mostly i bought piece of mind at the cost of ~$37/mon or something like that. For a cheaper or older truck or one that i would use a couple of years and sell i would not have bothered. But since my wife says this is the last truck until the boat pulls up to the beach house i got something i loved and protected it.
Good luck and enjoy your truck!