Are PiP Extended Warranties Worth It?

No. Save your money. Extended warranties are insurance policies priced to make a profit for the seller, not for the buyer. Do you get more "peace of mind" from cash in your wallet, or cash in a dealer's wallet?

 

You can save about $800 getting your warranty through PriusChat.

You have 3 years (any time before the three year warranty expires) to buy your extended warranty.

 

Would make sense to wait to see if there are any PiP-specific issues (figuring any other issues would have already been found with the 2010 Priuses). There's a small chance of the price going up in three years, but off-set that with having to pay up front if you buy it now.

 

In California we are fortunate to have a mandated factory warranty (no charge) for the battery and "hybrid components" of 10 years or 150,000 miles, whichever occurs first. Since this represents the greatest cost item, I would think that a California resident would not get as much value from the extended warranty. I haven't studied what is covered in the "hybrid system." Perhaps someone on PC can help with this.

 

I bought an extended warrantee. I was going to wait 3 years for my manufacture warrantee to run out, see how things went, then buy it from Prius chat. The Dealer shoved the usual higher price for the same plan in front of me, and I told them I could get it for a little over $1,000. Next they offered me the same policy for $980 and threw in another $700 one, I wouldn’t have bought anyway, for enticement. The catch of course was buy it now, So I asked for a final price of $950 and got it. Now why buy an extended warrantee in the first place. From what I hear this car is super trouble free, but if you look at all the sophisticated electronics in it, even a small replacement is going to cost big time especially with the high labor costs. It was good peace of mind for me.

 

The standard warranty is:
3/36 "Bumper to Bumper": Almost everything except the 12V battery, tires, and, of course, bumpers

5/60 Powertrain: Engine and transaxle (transmission)
8/100 Hybrid System, including Battery and Inverter (expensive electricity converter under the hood with big orange cables)
10/150 Hybrid battery and emissions parts (California and CARB states only). Some emissions parts are warranted 15 years.

After 36,000 miles, there are a lot of things that can fail, but not many that will cost $1,000+. Wheel bearing and brake-related failures are probably the expensive things. Rear hatch struts often fail, but cost at most $250 to replace.

After 60,000 miles, the expensive part is the transaxle. They've been known to fail and they cost a few thousand to replace. Engine failures are rare.

My own experience is that I've owned four cars that I bought either new or very low mileage, and none of them ever needed expensive repairs until mileage/age got very high, then everything went to hell at once, and it was death by 1,000 cuts ($300 here, $450 there, etc)

Of course you take a risk if you don't buy an extended warranty, but it's basically betting $1,000 that your car will need $2,000 to $3,500 in repairs between 60,000 and 125,000 miles. Odds are at least 10:1 that you won't. I have friends who've taken Toyotas 150,000 miles without a single repair, just maintenance. If you do buy an extended warranty, make sure it's the genuine Toyota one, which every dealer supports hassle-free. Many Toyota dealers sell these via Internet at low prices, and there are different coverage levels for mileage and years, from 5/100K to 8/125K.

 

for PiP if the warranty will cover capacity loss then yes it's worth it.

 

Unfortunately no one will cover capacity loss of a battery, short of failure. Toyota already gives 10 years or 150,000 miles in CARB states. That's as good as your going to get. Batteries loose capacity as time goes by.
Needing an extended warranty for a car that has high mileage is one reason, but I never put high mileage on any of my cars, but I did keep them for many years, this also puts the car at risk for failures. The older they become the more they fail, but then again I drove expensive American made junk.

 

Consumer Reports generally advises against extended warranties, except for products known to be especially unreliable. Toyota has stellar quality. Yes, nothing's perfect, and once in a while an extended warranty pays off. But so seldom that in the long term you'll pay more buying extended warranties for everything than buying them for nothing.

The complete list of problems I've had with my 2004 Prius:

The O2 sensor triggered an error code the first day. Remedy was to re-set it and drive until the crap was burned off.
Cruise-control stalk broke. Fixed under warranty.
Rear headrest stuck and wouldn't move up and down. Fixed for free.
12-v. battery replaced, at my expense, at the 4-year mark and again at the 8-year mark. Now I have it on a battery minder.

If I was buying a PiP or any other Toyota product, I would not buy the extended warranty.

 

My credit union just "offered" me their own non-factory warranty for 5/100 for $2000! So that's only 2 years past the warranty, and not a factory policy. That's ridiculous.

I agree that the Toyotas are so reliable, particularly the Prius, which by now is a well-studied model. I got an online (ie wholesale cost) 7/100 warranty for my Honda Odyssey because the 2011 was a new model and the power doors and lift gate concerned me... and actually the motor on the tailgate went out already after one year. And I got one back in the day for a Honda Pilot too, due to it's new variable 4-wheel drive system. Ironically, that one broke even (minus time value) because I had various issues, including 3 of 4 engine mounts that broke thankfully right before the expiration of the warranty. That alone was a $1000 repair covered for $0.

But I'm not going to get a policy on this Prius. '06 Prius never had any issues either...

 

I didn't buy it on my '04, bought it on my '06 and used it once just before I sold it to replace the hatch struts at a cost of $295.43 installed. I'd have been way ahead to have passed on the extended warranty. I did not buy it for my PiP, but will monitor the repairs if needed over the first three years and maybe buy it then.

 

I got a $1000 starter for my 97 Tacoma truck.

 

This is my 4th Toyota ('96 Rav4, '04 Sienna, '05 Prius, '12 PiP). I have never bought an extended warranty. I've never had major repairs that would've been covered by the extended warranty. By the time I have needed any significant repairs, I was well past the 100K or 125K mile limit, so those repairs wouldn't have been covered anyways.

 

I think a better question is 'Are there any extended warranties that are worth it?'. I would say 'NO!' (But that is for a different discussion).

I am counting on a quality product from Toyota and I expect them to stand behind their product (especially considering the PiP is a flagship product that is sure to generate a lot of feedback used by future customers).

 

It is my understanding that the battery is not covered under the extended warranty. So I will most likely not, unless it is reasonable prices. It's a pretty tried and true design so the risk is low that you will actually be able to use the warranty. Reguarding the value of extended warranties. I have gotten them with a few, not all, cars and it has paid off. If I have three repairs after the normal warranty expires, which I have, then it pays to do it. For example I just purchased a Chevy Sonic and purchased a 8yr/120k extended warranty for $1400. Its a new car and I have not purchased a Chevy before so I mitigated my risk. My last one was a Toyota Sienna, which I did buy the warranty and it paid for itself with, one remote electric door + motor, alternator, fuel pump and 2 sets of no flat tires. I sold that car when the warranty expired. My Subaru's(3x) go thru wheel bearings and seals so that paid off as well. I did not buy the extended warranty on, Camry/ 2 x Tercels - which worked out well.

Maybe I just have bad luck with cars but it has worked for me - I also try to have most of my work done at the dealers who love to swap out parts under warranty! Extending the life of the car.

 

I don't think the Prius Plug-in battery is a "tried and true design", at least not in the real world yet. The Toyota hybrids use NiMH batteries traditionally and Li-ion batteries are new to Toyota hybrids. Having said that, Toyota has a reputation of reliable and conservative engineering, so I expect there won't be any major issues.

I bought a 10 year/100K extended warranty for the 2004 Prius. I think all the repairs I had done were within the standard warranty, so I never used it and it is now expired. In retrospect, I could have save the cost of the extended warranty. This time, I don't plan on getting the extended warranty.

 

The problem is that individual experience, while we can relate to it, does not tell us nearly so much as a range of experience. The first rule to keep in mind is that the price of an extended warranty us set at an amount which will NOT loose money for the insurer, overall. So that is an indication of the odds of a need for repair, overall. The killer happens when you are the one in 40 who needs an expensive repair (I saw those odds somewhere).

If you can afford to set aside enough money for an expensive repair and keep it available, AND if it turns out not to be needed, you still have the money! The odds will be good that you win that bargain.

On the other hand, if you cannot afford an expensive repair, but can afford an extended warranty, you might gamble better to get the extended warranty.

If you just want to gamble that you won't need the extended warranty, you probably will win. But you had best have a "Plan B" just in case.

 

Well said Allannde Thanks!
I'll take the chance!

 

New starter only costs $87.5 on ebay.
Starter Toyota T-100, Tacoma 3.4L 1995-2004 1.8kW NEW | eBay

Don't know you got rip on the repair or the extended warranty.