The economic downturns of the past had caused warranty companys of all types to go bankrupt. This being the worst in my lifetime makes me believe any warranty company is at risk especially GE warranties which is supposed to be the most secure because of its total assets. Warranty companies claim that the holdings they own make them more secure which every company in the us has overstated. Ive been debating since i bought my car to get one but will not unless its backed by the manafacturer of the car.

 

i thought MINI offers extended warranty, no? i thought thats what my dealer said when i bought the car a month ago.

 

I always heard that these waranties were something to avoid. Your Mini is still inder waranty though, isnt it? The extended warranty is pretty nice, I will get it once my Mini gets close to expiration...

 

All extended warranties that I know of (and I used to work for a car dealer) are from 3rd party insurance companies, even if it carries the car company's "name". I've always felt they were to be avoided by the consumer (even when I worked for the dealer) and I think that is especially true today.

 

Listen to ANY financial adviser, finance talk radio, etc. and they will all tell you that extended warranties are a bad investment, whether you are talking about cars or electronics. When you buy one you are right-off-the-bat paying for a repair that you don't need now and may NEVER need in the future. Statisticians much better with math than most of us have already calculated that the warranty company will win and you will lose when you buy such a policy, otherwise how could they make a profit?

 

There are several Nigerian insurance companies that will cover all service and repair expenses for the life of the car.

Contact them and send them your bank account number with a signed release authorizing the transfer of funds so that they can wire you the money.

The rest of those insurance companies, domestic or foreign, are just as good though.....

 

When my MA was explaining the extended warranty to me he made a point of saying it was from a 3rd party.
I have never purchased an extended warranty on anything I've purchased. If something is going to go wrong with a purchase it usually happens in the first few years. I think if you are really set on considering the extending warranty then do like a previous poster is going to do and wait until the original is about up. You should then have a pretty good idea of if you have a car that is having a lot of problems. I agree that with this economy it probably isn't a good idea. If the company goes out of business you are out of luck. No way you are getting that money back.

 

So true - It like playing roulette, the house (insurance co.) will always win in the long run, but accassionally a player (mini owner) will get lucky and win(benefit from the extended warranty). I feel that most people who pay for the extended warranty are risk averse non-gamblers.

 

First, be aware that (like any insurance) the provider depends on taking in a LOT more in Premiums than it will ever have to pay out in claims.

If you still think that you want to pay more than most others will for 'repairs', then Research your choices:

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/warranty.htm

What irishone wrote above is great advice and always expect any dealer to offer you an 'EW'
as it is a high profit (mark-up) item for a car dealership.

 

I don't remember our Dealer offering us an EW...we did purchase the Tire & Wheel Warranty $350, we drive Local Roads, Freeways, and an Industrial Area, so we thought it was a good option.

 

Spot on, boys and girls.

Even tho many of these companies are very large and well secured, they don't have to wait for bad economic times, if losses exceed a predetermined amount they pull the plug. When they do, their only responsibility is to refund the portion of your premium not already used. For example, you paid $2k but had a $3k repair - they owe you nothing.

Also, know that if you haven't used your warranty - they may prorate the refund based on the portion of time already covered - for example you bought a 4 year program and three years have gone by, they may only owe you 25% - it depends on the terms of the agreement.

Lastly, understand that they only owe premiums based on what they were paid, not what you paid. IOW, you paid $2k for you warranty, but the dealer made $1k, they only owe you based on the $1k they were paid, and they'll pro-rate you from there.

All in all, I prefer to take my chances on my own dime..........

 

I didn't bite on the dealer's extended warranty offers for my Mini or my wife's Mazda3 (it was disconcerting that the Mazda dealer dropped the price of that offer twice before we finalized the deal-reminded me of a timeshare sales pitch long ago). The "free" maintenance warranty (36k miles) is different than the powertrain warranty (is that 48k or is it longer-I forget). I would've opted out of that if they'd reduced the price of the car. I can handle oil changes and wiper blades thank you very much. I say just save up your money for what goes wrong and then get it fixed locally. Why let them make money off you?

 

The only extended warranty company I’ve seen that’s worth spit is WarrantyDirect. I had one of theirs on a Ford van. Cost maybe $1100 and was for ten years. I had two claims; both went really easily. The last one was for a rear door latch that failed. Got it repaired by the dealer and Warranty Direct paid them directly. In the end, they had paid about $100 less in repairs than I paid them (of course I would have made some interest on that money) so all in all I was happy.

I lived with someone who had a “dealer” EW that of course was by a third party. They were a royal pain and never did pay on a claim.

It all depends on how risk averse you are. It is interesting to compare the EW rates of different cars, cuz they are really betting that the car is more reliable than you think it is. The MINI was kind of middle of the pack; comparable Hondas had EWs that were cheaper. Also, you need to factor in how you drive (you break a lot of stuff?) and the cost of local repairs.

Rob

 

Ian you forgot to put at the end of your funny Nigerian comment.

I am guessing you are referring to those BS Nigerian email scams that have been going around.

Back to the EW the only one that I know that is directly from the manufactuer is the Genuine Ford Extended Service Plan which is backed 100% by Ford Motor Company.

 

I hope you all didn't fall for that "health insurance" scam, either. Or "homeowner's insurance"...wow, what a rip-off. Better avoid auto insurance, too. You'll never get you money back.

Wow, you guys are funny. Better hide your money in your mattress, too.

 

I have the same mixed feelings about these companies going out of business, but I went ahead and bought one anyway. I bought one with Prizm called Total Protection Plan from a friend who has a small performance car dealership on the side. His commission on a $2300 policy is $1000, which he knocked off the price. The price was $1300 dollars for 7.5 years, 80,000 miles, and a $200 deductible per event. He had this same policy for his 2003 911 Turbo (this is the policy the local Porsche dealer sells) and they payed to replace his engine once ($24,000) and his transmission twice ($10,000 each). I have seen some of the repair cost from my friends with older Mini's, and it does not take long to get to $1,300.

 

Hey WYSIWYG, would you like to join my weekly poker game? We're not very good at poker.

 

A fool and his money are soon parted.

 

I'm at 40,000 miles, already have the extended 100,000 mile maintenance agreement but was wondering about extending the warranty, which is how I ended up here.

As far as the maintenance, I extended that when I read that a brake job alone is well over $1000 and the MA only cost me $1200. Plus I drive a lot of miles so that 36,000 MA would have been done in about 14 mos.

I called the dealer yesterday about extending the warranty when I hit 50k. I was quoted $2600 and $3200, with $50 or $100 deductibles, which are waived if you take it to the dealer.

That is a lot.. and of course they offered 10% down and 12 mos for 0% financing. But ****, that's over $200 per month for a year !!

I've only had a few minor issues with my car.

Between what I've read here, and the cost.. I'm leaning toward taking my chances.

I actually had thought about trading in for a new car, it would probably cost me less than that $2600 EW! But, they only have 2 new ones on the lot.. guess I could considering ordering one.. but I do love my Toro

 

That is only one of the reasons not to buy an extended warranty thru someone else.

 

If someone told you a brake job cost $1000 run as fast as you can away from them. I had new pads installed and fluid flushed and replaced with hi temp brake fluid. The pads for all 4 wheels were $240 and the labor and brake fluid came to about $250.00. Any decent repair shop can do a brake job on a Mini. There is nothing special about it.

 

Just like Mercedes, Mini does not recommend resurfacing their rotors, so a dealership service department will replace them when doing a brake job. I was quoted $1200 at two dealerships near me. You might get by with just replaceing the pads, but when it's part of the maintenance and it's recommended, I'm replacing the rotors.

 

You can get discs/rotors from the Tire Rack for less than $100 apiece and you sure don't need rear rotors until you've run about 80K miles nor do you need rear pads for that matter. But it's your money.

 

So, two front jobs and one rear job and my 100,000 mile extended maintenance has more than paid for itself in brakes alone.

 

A fool and his money are soon parted.