prius - expensive to fix

Dealers always say that - moments after the salesperson got through telling me how reliable Toyotas are, the finance manager told me that I was likely to need repairs costing many thousands of dollars the moment the warranty expired. But of course he could help out by selling me an overpriced extended warranty. I laughed at him and left.

 

But the engine and transaxle rarely fail so it's about equal to a non-hybrid whose transmissions DO fail. All cars are expensive to fix.

 

How much was it? Toyota will sell them direct without sales tax, they will give you a quote online. If it was a good deal then I'd keep it, but they usually make $$$ off extended warranties.

 

You can still cancel the extended warranty, and buy one within the 36K.

 

Depending on where you live, you may be able to cancel the extended warranty and get your money back. If you still want one, dealers typically charge about twice what you can get the identical warranty for online. I believe you can even get one though a Prius Chat sponsor.

 

what car is "cheap" to fix?

 

Only on my very first car purchase. After its somewhat expensive repairs happened only way, way, way beyond the offered extended warranty (i.e. not covered), I had absolutely no anxiety about refusing the extended warranties on every subsequent purchase.

In the long term, car repairs are expensive. But new car depreciation is even more expensive, and the primary benefit of extended warranties is to the dealer's bottom line, not yours.

So set aside some of your car budget for future repairs. Over your lifetime, this will be cheaper than warranties or premature new cars.

 

that would be wrong. the extended warranty is prorated. using simple math. you get an extended warranty for 100 months for $1000 or $10 a month and cancel it after 30 months, you would be refunded $700

keep in mind, this is an example but you will get something back and not sure what you mean by "paying it off quicker" because even if you pay off the loan, you still get the unused portion of your extended warranty back as it cannot be transfered if you sell it

 

definitely check into it. some states require the unused portion of an extended warranty to be refunded. besides it would not make sense. anyone who gets an extended warranty would either have to keep the car for the entire term or risk buying something they cant use. not gonna happen

 

OP - The salesperson was accurate in a sense - depending on the issue, the car can be expensive to fix. However, the car is incredibly reliable and there are a few ways that repairs can be less than conventional cars - I have over 75k miles on my 2009 and I'm not even close to needing brakes.

 

If I could go back in time and cancel mine I would in a heartbeat. 7 years, 84K miles and only issue was the water pump that wasn't replaced (for free) under recall until it broke. $2K donated to the stealership.

 

BS, BS, BS story. My dealer was trying to do the same. They were saying two stories pretty much alike to yours. They were trying to sell me an extended warranty and service. With extended warranty they were saying the same S that this is something what I need and it will not change my monthly payment etc. I replied ok, but at the end of the day these money will be out of my pocket anyway (even if my monthly payment will not change), and when I asked the dealer to give me an example why would I need it, they couldn't answer clearly - so I said F it. The second story was about terribly expensive 30K service which is not covered by Toyota's 2 years complimentary service. I opened the manual, and for 30K service was pretty much the same stuff, like oil and oil filter change, tire rotation, maybe cabin (or engine) filter change (don't remember right now) and that was it. So the dealer also couldn't justify 30K "expensive" service so the answer was the same as for the extended warranty.
It is up to you, but I would say cancel the extended warranty. The only money you'll loose is the interest which they already charged on top of EW sum.

 

Here in California, an in several other states as well, "all that hybrid junk" is already warranted to 100,000+ miles, so your extended warranty doesn't necessarily cover them. You should read your warranty booklet for your state, or review it with some of us.

 

Yes, that's how much they usually give to change your mind. The sooner the better because even if you will change your mind today, it will take up to 30 days to your dealer to process the cancellation papers and they still going to put an interest on your extra couple $K charged for the EW.
The amount of EW is small in the total cost of your car, probably less than 7-8%, and in that case of course you will not see a huge difference in your monthly payment, since it is basically mainly depends on your credit score and the amount of your downpayment. The bottom line is whether you want to save the money you spent on extended warranty or not. If you think that the car is not reliable etc. then stick with the EW (even it still be debatable; it was a thread here not so long time ago, from one person who got it, and later found out that the hybrid components were not covered by the EW), otherwise cancel the EW and keep these money to yourself. I am sure you will find a better way to spend them.