Anyone have any experience with Endurance extended Warranties? I got a quote from them today and ended up buying a 5yr/100K mile policy for my '07 MCS. It will take me to 2019 or 213K miles. Sounded like a good deal at the time, but just wondering if anyone on the forum had used them. I have 30 days to cancel for a full refund if I decide against it. From what I read on the forum, the policy could pay for itself with 2-3 trips to the dealer. Any thoughts?

 

Yes that is a most horrible warranty company that I've ever dealt with. They wouldn't pay any of my customers claims. Said everything was normal wear and wouldn't cover anything.
Get your money back and find a new company.

 

Well! That about sums up my thoughts on extended warranties, with the possible exception of a factory warranty. (But you have to read all the fine print...)

I will never buy an extended warranty. I'd take that money,and just put it away. If you don't use it, take a nice vacation...

 

Usually the only good extended warranties are the factory ones, because they extend the original bumper-to-bumper coverage. The only difference is you have to pay a deductible (like $100) per claim, which can turn out to be cheap if you have a major drivetrain or computer/electrical issue. The other extended "warranty" companies are just insurance - usually bad insurance.

I hope someone here can give you the name of a MINI dealer who will sell you an extended warranty at a deep discount like some domestic and Honda dealers do. Last weekend, I shopped extended warranties for an elderly friend and his Accord. The dealer he bought the car from quoted $1,930 for an extension from the original 36-month, 36,000-mile warranty to 84 months and 80,000 miles. I made two calls to out-of-state Honda dealers and bought a 96-month, 80,000-mile warranty from one of them for $740. That's a little less than $150/year for some pretty solid peace of mind for this gentleman. YMMV.

 

The reason I started this thread was to get some info on this outfit. The salesman, of course, talked a good game and made it sound good, but I am having doubts now. I'll probably call in the morning and cancel and ask for my money back. Not many (good) warranties out there for a high mileage vehicle. I had a 100K warranty on my Vette, but ran out of years way before 100K.

 

Warranty deductibles suck. You're paying possibly thousands of dollars up front just to pay hundreds when you need the coverage? Do preventative maintenance, change fluids often.

 

I got a ext wtty on my 07 through route 66...seems reputable.

 

I encourage you to look into a 3rd party warranty that your local dealer (or independent shop) sells/uses. Mainly because they deal with them already and know how well the approve claims. I came out really good all things considered with a warranty from Easy Care.

 

Maintenance won't prevent things like a radio failure that costs $2,000 to replace because only a factory unit will fit or a $1,500 ECU replacement caused by a $2 component failure on a circuit board. And here's a real case for you: The electronic odometer on my father-in-law's 6-year-old Chevy truck failed; the repair is $600, because the whole cluster must be replaced. He would be happy to pay $100 (the deductible) for the fix. Of course, that wouldn't cover the original $900 cost of the extended warranty (which he didn't buy), but he would be money ahead on the next claim on a truck he'll probably keep forever.

 

Totally agree I work at a dealership and it's important that your ext wtty is compatible with your local shop. I feel bad because a lot of people with get these warranty that they got sold via cold call or mailer and find out that the coverage is limited or they will only pay a certain amount regardless of what the claim comes out.

They are great to have, I have helped a lot of people with them but be careful with what you get

 

I know several people who have purchased third party extended warranties, and in every case, when they went to make a claim, the warranty company found a way to avoid paying the claim, in one case, even after they had agreed to pay for an engine rebuild. My sister and brother in law purchased a Chevy (that was made by Isuzu). When the car was just out of factory warranty, the engine took a crap, and needed to be rebuilt. The warranty company approved the repairs at a reputable shop they used, and the work was done. When they faxed the bill to the warranty company, they came back and asked for the towing bill. My brother in law was able to nurse the car to the shop via secondary roads, running on 2 of 4 cylinders. The warranty company came back and said if the car was drivable, it didn't need the repairs that were done, and denied the claim. This is why I purchased a one year old MCS with a factory extended warranty.

 

I've heard some of the stories about various companies and understand some of the problems that have come up. But, that being said, I'm looking for input from people that have dealt with this particular company. So far WMW is the only one with first hand knowledge. I just questioned the rep a few minutes ago about aggregate charges against certain components and was assured the entire policy amount (12K) could be used for any one component if needed. The BBB (for what it's worth rates them as A+) showed 36 complaints in the last 12 months and they were resolved. Problem is I am an old phart that's retired and am looking for ways to keep my Mini on the road in case of a major service/repair expense.

$100 deductible.

 

I got a 30month 30k warranty about 2 years ago on a 2002 R50 with 38k miles on it. Over 9 months I had 4 claims ($250 deductible, for just the "big things" and to keep initial policy cheaper) on my $1300 policy. I paid the $1000 in deductibles but in tern had just over $11k in ROs for the 9 months I was repairing it. So it worked for me. I should have kept the car as it had virtually everything new at that point and was a sub $10k car. All work was done at MINI so it had a 2yr unlimited mile warranty but I was just tired of the unreliability of a car that had low miles but had actually sat for years on end and rotted away. Upon trading the car in I was able to recoup $7-800 from the "unused" portion of the warranty because I did not use the full amount of miles. So if I need another Extended warranty on a MINI at my current dealer you bet it will be Easy Care (if they would even write me a policy again, lol).

So they can pay off, it was unfortunate it had to. Or you can get those letters in the mail that look half official or the cold calls from scammy companies. Do research and see what works best for you.

 

My 2012 MCS is at 35,000 miles and I'm debating extending the factory warranty. I can buy this from any dealer, right? Offer today was 5yr/100000 for $2580 -- I think I can probably do better. Anyone else?

 

The extended warranty on my '12 was going to start at almost $4k. I was disgusted. Hell my Scion tC had a refundable warranty (no deductible) for about half that. Never used it, got my money back. Let's see you offer that Mini, I didn't think so.

Of course with 15K oil change intervals the price of the warranty has to cover turbos and engines so I guess that sounds right.

 

Well here's our Endurance story that just happened yesterday.
A little background. My wife's mini is a 2007 Mini Cooper S and has had an extended warranty through EasyCare bought at the dealership when the car was bought new. Everything that has been repaired on the car has been through our local mini dealership and covered. When the car was approaching 75k the warranty was just about up and we went to renew but EasyCare wouldn't offer an extension. They would have been our first choice. So we went with Endurance and got a 54k/48 month Platinum (their top of the line) for $4,748 with a $100 deductible. This just happened back in September 2013.


We'll earlier this week the check engine light came on and we made an appointment for yesterday at the mini dealership to figure out what the problem was. They said that the Mass Airflow Sensor needed to be replaced so along with some of the recall notices that needed to be completed we told them to fix it and here was our extended warranty information. Upon calling them, Endurance said that they could get a MAS for $293 not the $463 that the dealership was charging and they would mail it out to us to be replaced. We had never heard of such a thing. Since it was a weekend, they wanted us to wait for 4 days for the part to arrive and another day for it to be repaired for a total of 5 days for it to be repaired. This was unacceptable to us and had never happened to us before with Easy Care. In talking to them on the phone they said that the contract states that "Replacement parts may be new, remanufactured or replacement parts of like kind and quality." That's fine as long as they have the same warranty as the mini parts but nowhere does it say that they will be mailing parts to be replaced in the car. They also wouldn't cover a rental car in the meantime. The only cover a rental car for the length of labor hours not time to get parts. They said they would only cover up to the amount of the part, $293, not the $463 and we would have to pay the difference along with the deducible. I then spoke to a supervisor who went on making excuses about how the dealership was charging too much and it should only cost $293 for the part. I expect the dealership to charge more than Joe Blows garage and I also expect them to make a profit on what they do. No business still in business sell items at cost. I'm sure the extended warranty wasn't sold to me at cost. I also explained that every mini dealership within 200 miles of my house charges the same amount for parts and labor so what your saying is that we will never be able to have our car repaired at any Mini dealership again even though your contract states that we can have the car repaired anywhere. We decided to just have the dealership to the repair and not have the 5 day wait and hassle and pay the difference and we are reviewing other repair shops in the area and also if we should cancel the policy and get the prorated amount back.


I would not recommend them at all and I would be interested in hearing others feedback on this issue. Thanks.

 

I got the warranty when I purchased two new Mini's at the same time. One for me and the wife.

They are the ones through Mini to 100K.

I am not much for warranties, but I have no track record with Mini, drove Toyota in the past for many years. It is only money. I would rather not break down and not use them, but just in case I was told that going to 100K it would pay for itself with what it covered.

I think having a dealer that recognizes them is huge. My dealer is large and has a great body shop as well. Awards that put them ahead of many in the country. But we will see as it is unproven. Only about 5K on my Mini. Time will tell.

I learned long ago, if you buy an extended warranty get it from the car manufacturer not some third party. Many dealers don't handle third part unless of they sold them to you and made a profit.

I don't take any issue with the Mini Warranties. I just hope I keep going as the car ages. I don't regret getting the Mini one. But there is nothing wrong with the pay as you go method either. Better off? Who knows. Life seems to be a gamble. And I don't gamble.

 

Having recently purchased my car with 34K on the clock I looked into a warranty through AAA. While I doubt I'll take it, they offered 4 year for around $4K IIRC. Had I opted in within 30 days of purchasing the car, I could have gotten a better price and they are offering a $200 discount if I buy before midnight tomorrow, (12/31). I did look the company up (AutoGuard) and they did have good reviews. I can say that a bargain price is probably no bargain at all. CAVEAT EMPTOR people.

And I'm always skeptical of the "normal wear and tear" clause. After all these are only "insurance" companies.