Need Input!! Extended warranty or waste of $$?

Sort of proves that the extended warranties are not always the best option for folks. If they offered bumper to bumper coverage as with the factory warranty at the same cost of the extended, many more folks would go with them. But at that cost they would loose money. They are smart than the consumer in the end...

 

Try not to think like a lawyer and use common sense instead. Most members come here only to discover they've overpaid for extended warranty at the dealer and this is plain obvious from the many posts here. Moreover, members of this forum represent only a small slice of Prius owners so of course dealers are pretty much their only option.

It's a generally accepted fact that extended warranties make money for the companies rather than the customers (purely as a matter of economics), yet this is still very much speculation as we don't know more than the underwriter, who will of course not provide us the hard data. Try to think along this same line.

 

I agree completely with the point you make in your second paragraph, but not so much on the first point.

There are multiple PC forum members that have enjoyed the discount provided by Troy (and other dealers) that offer the extended warranty at greatly reduced margins.

A quick, general google search easily turns up dealers just like Troy that advertise the warranty at a discount below MSRP. Today's ever-increasing digital age provides (at an ever-accelerating pace) the ability to utilize the internet to cross quote every potential purchase from pencils to books to cars to boats (including vehicle warranties).

Irrespective of formal professional training, I respectfully disagree that it is "common-sense" to conclude that "most" extended warranty purchasers have obtained it from the dealer at MSRP.

 

If you think *most* people do research like that before buying cars and/or extended warranties, I'm afraid you are sorely mistaken.

 

Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. To discuss such further would be pure speculation on both of our parts...

 

I agree 100%. Extended warranties are rarely thought of until people meet the finance manager. This has been going on for many years. People buy them based on the fear a dealer puts in the consumers mind.

 

I have little doubt the lion's share of the Toyota brand extended warranty business is through the dealer who sold the car, simply because the dealer can roll the cost of the the warranty into the car purchase loan.

That puts the car dealer in a very advantageous position among the people who buy for "peace of mind," which usually means car buyers without liquid savings to cover rare expensive repairs, and similarly inability or unwillingness to pay cash for the warranty -- even if it is cheaper by a different route.

 

This is very clear to most. Some people just like to argue that they are right.