Did your extended warranty pay off?

[jejb]

Okay, the particulars for me (the OP here). 18 Laramie 2500 CTD certified pre-owned that I bought back in April. It is loaded! 24K miles on it right now. The Mopar warranty I'm looking at is the Max Care 8yr/100K, $100 ded for $1950. I'd pay cash for it. I only average 7500 miles a year on my 2500's, almost all of them pulling one of our trailers. I kept my last 3/4 ton 17 years, and I bought it new. Had 120K on it when I sold it.

 

[indept]

Okay, the particulars for me (the OP here). 18 Laramie 2500 CTD certified pre-owned that I bought back in April. It is loaded! 24K miles on it right now. The Mopar warranty I'm looking at is the Max Care 8yr/100K, $100 ded for $1950. I'd pay cash for it. I only average 7500 miles a year on my 2500's, almost all of them pulling one of our trailers. I kept my last 3/4 ton 17 years, and I bought it new. Had 120K on it when I sold it.

So basically you will put 60,000 miles by the time you max out the 8 years, reading here, the electronics are pretty solid and will most likely last 8 years and your powertrain warranty ( I'm assuming your diesel has the same 5yr/60k my 2017 hemi has) will cover 5 of the 8 years your warranty covers and so the odds tell you not to buy it. You can trust me here since I'm odd,.
I have the maxcare lifetime on my truck, but only bought it because it's lifetime, if it was a standard x year/ x miles I would not have bought it.
We used to have a 2007 Chrysler pacifica ( which was a crossover back then, not the new Pacifica minivan). We had the Added care Lifetime on that, it was the first year of a redesign so it was worth it. We spent 1800 on it and got about 4500 in repairs done so that one was worth it. Traded it in on a new Rav 4 limited last december. No regrets on the Pacifica warranty.

 

[retired]

I would take that $1950 and put it in a savings account and only use it for repairs once the standard warranty is up. if you need a repair remember to put another $100 into the account tho. Thing that bugs me about max care is you really are only adding the difference in years so on yours you are adding only 3 years not a full 8 years. They sell these warranties because they make money on them. I know there is a clause that if you don't use it you get money back but as soon as you use it that goes out the window so it is a gamble. do you use it on a $500 repair or just pay out of pocket and hope you don't have any more go wrong. I had that same warranty on my 2014 jeep rubicon and it paid for a radiator and heated seat element. neither of those were covered under the 3/36000 bumper to bumper and they happened at under 40,000 but over 36,000 so I figured I would be using more warranty so I used the max care. each was $100 deductible so ultimately it saved me around $500 out of pocket but guess what there went my ability to cash my warranty out. Was not worth it for me.

 

[Bdunn]

Piece of mind guy. I drive lots of miles. I got my 2019 PW in November of last year, and it has 39k miles on it. I keep my trucks for over 200k, typically, so I’m thinking it will be worth it for me.

 

[retired]

Piece of mind guy. I drive lots of miles. I got my 2019 PW in November of last year, and it has 39k miles on it. I keep my trucks for over 200k, typically, so I’m thinking it will be worth it for me.

yes I would say for high mileage drivers like yourself have the best chance of getting your money's worth out of one. I always think I put a lot of miles on ie ~20,000 a year but then there are guys that really put the miles on.

 

[ArmyGrunt66]

Simple question:

If such and such company offered an extended warranty and lost money offering them, why would they keep offering them? Like car insurance, we’re all paying into our car insurance policies and in the end, such and such car insurance company has to earn a profit or go bankrupt offering a faulty product or service.

Kevin

 

[Grad12]

Here's my take. I had an electrical issue once where the rear down to find the issue was costly. It was covered. Parking brake broke. Covered. Since then I had another electrical issue with the headlights, but it was beyond the extended warranty. All in all, I probably came out just past even.

Now, I would never, ever buy a new vehicle without it now. My wife, bless her, only drives Fords. Her 2015 Explorer had, and I'm not kidding, 16 grand worth of work. We paid ~1500$ in deductibles. When the extended warranty was up, we got rid of that car. I won't tell you what she bought after.

There are too many components that we can't fix or service anymore, too many expensive chips and sensors. If I could buy a lifetime warranty at this point I would. Next truck, whatever it is (10 years down the road let's hope), I'll try and get a full lifetime warranty. Good luck to you.

 

[Docwagon1776]

Still trying to make up my mind on an extended warranty from Mopar. I don't really want to get into the specifics about years/miles/company in this thread. I've read some great threads here about that kind of stuff already. Just looking for a real high level response. I expect it to turn out mostly that is has not paid off, but still curious. If you've had several over the years, just respond about your most recent Ram one, if possible.

Also, if you have had to use it, were you ever asked for maint records (oil changes, etc)?

Thanks

I worked for an extended warranty company, both as an independent business and later as a subsidiary of Kemper Insurance. The 'high level response' you get here is nothing compared to the actuary charts the warranty companies have and will likely have self-selection bias toward those who believe it's paid off. What you will get is anecdotes, and multiple anecdotes =/= data. if you're just seeking justification for a decision already made, buy your warranty. If you can't afford repairs, then pay extra for the risk reduction by insuring against the loss. But you will pay extra, if a warranty "made money" for the majority of users...how would warranty companies stay afloat? Let alone afford all the extra logistics and layers of profit vs just repair costs?


Long term, you will lose money. Some individuals may come out ahead. The same is true of a casino, and casinos have higher payout rates. Literally. Slot machines payout a higher percentage of money fed into them then the extended warranty business does.

If you like anecdotes, I bought the lifetime (no longer offered) on my truck. After tax it was roughly $2200. Had I taken that money and invested in an S&P 500 index fund I would have an inflation adjusted $3900 today (minus any tax burden, of course). To date I've used the warranty once, for an ignition coil. Total cost was $350. I paid only the $100 deductible, so I got a payout of $250. We'll ignore I likely could have used an independent shop at a lower cost.

I am still down $1950 in real dollars and $3650 if you count opportunity costs (which you shouuld). Since I have the lifetime, and intend to keep the truck for the foreseeable future, there's still time for it to pay off. I will *probably* get ahead in real dollars at some point unless it gets totaled out. It's much less likely I get ahead in terms of opportunity costs...but I balance that by keeping less money in an emergency fund and investing it. And that's only because it's a lifetime warranty.

I would not buy a set term warranty. Keep an emergency fund so you can 'self-insure' and keep the gains for yourself. If you can't maintain an emergency fund, then you can't really afford a new vehicle anyway and are just inflicting more financial damage to yourself long term.

 

[18MegaRam]

I just wish they would stop calling me. It's at least twice a day, every day, and they change numbers every time. So there is no blocking them. They must have been bill collectors in their previous profession.

 

[kltk1]

I worked for an extended warranty company, both as an independent business and later as a subsidiary of Kemper Insurance. The 'high level response' you get here is nothing compared to the actuary charts the warranty companies have and will likely have self-selection bias toward those who believe it's paid off. What you will get is anecdotes, and multiple anecdotes =/= data. if you're just seeking justification for a decision already made, buy your warranty. If you can't afford repairs, then pay extra for the risk reduction by insuring against the loss. But you will pay extra, if a warranty "made money" for the majority of users...how would warranty companies stay afloat? Let alone afford all the extra logistics and layers of profit vs just repair costs?


Long term, you will lose money. Some individuals may come out ahead. The same is true of a casino, and casinos have higher payout rates. Literally. Slot machines payout a higher percentage of money fed into them then the extended warranty business does.

If you like anecdotes, I bought the lifetime (no longer offered) on my truck. After tax it was roughly $2200. Had I taken that money and invested in an S&P 500 index fund I would have an inflation adjusted $3900 today (minus any tax burden, of course). To date I've used the warranty once, for an ignition coil. Total cost was $350. I paid only the $100 deductible, so I got a payout of $250. We'll ignore I likely could have used an independent shop at a lower cost.

I am still down $1950 in real dollars and $3650 if you count opportunity costs (which you shouuld). Since I have the lifetime, and intend to keep the truck for the foreseeable future, there's still time for it to pay off. I will *probably* get ahead in real dollars at some point unless it gets totaled out. It's much less likely I get ahead in terms of opportunity costs...but I balance that by keeping less money in an emergency fund and investing it. And that's only because it's a lifetime warranty.

I would not buy a set term warranty. Keep an emergency fund so you can 'self-insure' and keep the gains for yourself. If you can't maintain an emergency fund, then you can't really afford a new vehicle anyway and are just inflicting more financial damage to yourself long term.

Agreed. Like you, I bought my truck, tow a travel trailer and plan on keeping it a long time (more than ten years) and expect I’ll get back, at some point, what I paid for the warranty although I don’t expect that to be anytime soon. We also wanted it for the protection against issues when traveling. Much easier to swallow $100 while on a trip than the full cost of a new trans.

That said, I likely would not have bought a warranty if it weren’t for the lifetime unlimited mileage warranty from FCA. Being able to go to any RAM dealer is comforting.

In the end, it comes down to comfort level and the type of owner you are. If you’re going to trade your vehicle for something else within ten years, I doubt it’s worth it. If you’re going to keep your vehicle long term, or can find a warranty that covers unlimited miles, then it’s probably worth it if you’re going to put on big miles.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ludville1]

Everyone loves to brag when they come out ahead. And no one wants to admit they got skinned. So how do you think this thread is going to play out? Probably like the 100 before it.

We've already heard the horror story of the $12,000 engine. That one is pretty much a staple.

Then there is always that dude who got his ass saved. But said dude never discloses what the Extended Warranty (plus finance charges) cost him.

And there's always the guy who thinks his repair cost him only $100. Again, conviently omitting what the EW cost him in the first place.

We haven't yet heard from "The Piece of Mind Guy" yet, tho.

I listen to a lot of talk radio. My friend Dave Ramsey says if you can't afford to fix your vehicle, you can't afford to own that vehicle.

Exactly. Insurance companies get rich by collecting your premiums, not by paying out claims.

 

[lipidboy]

My FCA Unlimited mileage unlimited time for original owner paid for a new ZF 8 speed transmission at 39,000 miles on my 2015 1500 short bed regular cab Hemi. I would have bought this warranty again for my 2019 Durango R/T if it were still offered...

 

[duneop]

I had to take my truck in multiple times for the radio. The GPS antenna was up in the dash and it would break from the heating and cooling. Normally not a big deal to replace but the warranty was worth it because funny enough none of the dealerships knew how to diagnose a GPS antenna. So they would just replace one head unit after another trying to fix the problem. Also had the automatic door locks break and a blender door for the ventilation system. So was it worth it? Probably not. But because they just throw parts at it until something gets fixed it did work out to be cheaper. Makes the multiple dealerships pay the labour costs for you. Unfortunately all the TIPMs went out after the 5 year bumper to bumper expired on me.

 

[dpinvidic]

You do know that the reason the dealers push so hard for this, is that it is a money maker for them and the insurance company.
Your wasting your money for the first three years (Car rental is not that much $$)
So then consider how long you will keep it. Keeping a car for 4 or 5 yrs only gives you a 1 or 2 year exposure to repair costs. I have never gotten it for any vehicle, and have never needed it.
So it comes down to do you want to go to Vegas to gamble or do it at the dealer???

By the way, a refurbished NAV radio for my 2014 is about $1600. They are easy to swap out or replace with aftermarket.
https://www.infotainment.com/produc...n-8-4an-ra4-radio-upgrade?variant=42165401287

 

[miles01]

I have had several extended warranties in the past.
Only two I used.
1986 Toyota, repair to heating system was almost as much as the extended warranty cost but I paid $100 deductible.

My wife’s 2002 explorer, timing chain, rear end bearings, and transfer case, this is the only vehicle it was worth having the extended warranty because all happened after the base warranty and were only $100 deductible for each repair.

I haven’t bought extended warranties in years now because of the cost, over $5,000 for my wife’s current explorer and same for my ram.
I can pay a for a lot of repairs for $10,000 versus extended warranty I may never use or repair will be less then the cost of the warranty.

 

[CPTII]

I had one, once. It didn’t cost much when I bought the truck. Long story short, I was stationed in Hawaii and labor was higher than the mainland, so I had to pay the cost difference. Also, it did not cover software updates, so that was all at my expense.

 

[sam darakjy]

I have the five year unlimited on my 2018 Ram 2500. I will be full timing and working remotely within a year and the miles will be adding up.

 

[ePhoenix]

I bought my 2016 Limited in December 2015 and seeing the list of electronic gadgets on the packing list, I did not hesitate. Until now, I got the driver's mirror and the front park assist sensors replaced. It probably does not amount to the almost 5K (CAN) paid but there are still 2 years of warranty to go and since almost everything is covered, it made sense to me, especially that air suspension that was plagued on the 2014 model.

 

[Chris Vanderhoof]

Paid $2800 for full warranty for 3 years or to 150 k miles. Front end replaced including front diff, axles, control arms labor and rental car for two days. Bill was $6200. I paid $100 for deductable. Dashboard electronics blinking, bill was $1200, I paid $100. Radio stopped working, bill $900, I paid $100. Gear shift knob broke, bill $625, I paid $100. Is it worth it, you ask? This time, definitely a yes.

 

[LarryA]

Starting in 2000
Had a 2000 Mitsubishi Monterro Sport. No extended warranty, owed for 10 years no issues
2004 Mazda 3, no issues, had only 4 years
2008 MB C350, AC issue $500, covered under warranty, traded in after 9 years
2008 RX350 no issues, traded after 4 years
2014 BMW X3 no issues, still have, wife's car. Likely will trade it in next year
2017 Ram 1500, minor rear defroster issue covered under warranty

Net net I'm miles ahead vs what I would have paid for extra warrantees, even keeping 2 German cars for 9 plus years