6 months my wife took out an extended warranty on her SEAT AROSA auto. It cost about £300 . So far SEAT have made £300 profit on the deal.
Today MAZDA offered me an extended warranty on my Mazda 6 auto estate. To extend cover for 24 months (ie to the car's 5th birthday) is £578. This includes breakdown cover.
Is it worth it?
If I don't take it out, I will still spend £200 approximately on breakdown cover over two years. So far (touch wood) nothing has gone wrong with the Mazda, except for flaky paint on all four alloys which they replaced without murmur.
What do people think?
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If its the diesel version, I'd do it without a second thought! Have a look in the technical forum regarding the Mazda diesel engine and the 6.
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I looked at a warranty for a 2 litre diesel, just out of manufacturer's warranty, as we use it for our main family car. I felt the £550 for a year was too much and would be a fair chunk towards a problem, so haven't bothered. If it had been nearer £200 I would have taken them up on the offer.
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You're buying peace of mind, that's all.
If you're the sort of person who would lie awake at night worrying about what might happen then go ahead and buy the warranty and sleep easy.
On the other hand if you can afford, and you're prepared to cheerfully pay for, a new auto box / high pressure injection pump etc from the dealer or else spend time hunting around to find the cheapest place to fix the car, then don't buy it.
You'll be getting breakdown cover included, but the downside is that, realistically, buying the warranty ties you to the dealer for servicing.
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i bought a jazz 1.4 from the dealer within 6 months had a abs module replaced under warranty, the part and the fitting would have cost £1200, if out of warranty, then i exteneded the warranty with warranty direct this included the optional airbag and emmision cover and included break down cover and wear and tear all for £290.
yes it pay for your peace of mind so far the jazz has been reliable touch wood
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all for £290.
Is that per year? We were quoted something like £500 for 2yrs cover by Honda (although I *think* it was a Warranty Direct policy). Again it included breakdown cover which I pay £70/yr for, so the real cost was less.
I asked our dealer service manager about it and he said he wouldn't bother. I'm a bit nervous about the gearbox bearing issues I keep reading about but if anything fails within 5yrs then I've only heard good things about Honda making goodwill payments, so my fingers are crossed too!
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Personally, at that price, I would go for it.
Even one minor repair per year will cost you that much at todays prices. And if you have a big failure it could save you thousands.
I've taken out an extended policy with BMW before at £300 per year, and the car probably had in excess of £5000 of work done under the warranty, with repeated variable valve timing problems.
When they upped the price to £700 per year I declined though :-)
From reading the small print of the likes of Warranty Direct policies, they seem to be very exhaustive, and cover virtually everything that is not wear and tear. I noticed that some do not have a very generous maximum claim limit though - of the order of a couple of thousand per claim. It might be worth checking that out before signing.
Martin
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virtually everything that is not wear and tear
virtually everything can be classed as wear & tear :)
Most 3rd party warranties are not worth taking. However, I *think* manufacturer backed policies are better.
Next time I'll buy a car with 5-yr warranty.
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>>Even one minor repair per year will cost you that much at todays prices.
Yes, and it won't be covered. So you'll be paying twice.
Much better to buy a £750 Mondeo.
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A relative who has a 01 E46 320 nearly fell off his stilletos when he got BMW's price for an extended warranty - he took a policy out with Warranty Direct. When he eventually had a mega claim (injectors etc) it was completely seamlessly dealt with by the garage and WD, cheque came through in 3 working days.
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I have a warranty bolted on to my AA membership. Seem to think it costs about £80 a year. Don't know if it's any good or not as I've never had to use it being a Mondeo owner! ;-)
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Toyota have just sent me the renewal for my Avensis 2.2. They want £680 for 10k miles or £720 for unlimited. A search of Warranty Direct got this down to £344 but in Toyotas defence, the car has had a new clutch, two window regulators and an air box hose. Maybe this is why it seems so steep. I've dropped them a mail if they have any latitude with the price.
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last time i bought a toyota extended warranty it was significantly cheaper bought through a toyota dealer rather than buying the same policy via the mailshots toyota themselves send out
if you ring toyota they will cheerfully advise its cheaper to go to the dealer to buy it
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Update. Did a search round and came up with Warranty Direct who quoted £344 online for the extra care cover. After a phone call and a bit of haggling, go this down to £220 for 13 months cover. I don't think I could have got a similar deal from Toyota.
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Deal done? Alternatively, tuck away in a limited-access high-rate savings account whatever you would spend on a warranty. Keep it strictly for car expenditure. That's assuming your car is properly maintained anyway and, perhaps, that you don't have a common-rail diesel.
Edited by Roger Jones on 21/05/2008 at 15:08
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Check money saving expert forum - this question frequently comes up there and members always recommend same advise - these 3rd party warranty providers are notorious for refusing claims.
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