The $400 Headlight

Re: The $400 Headlight

Dianne’s “The extended 100K mile warranty doesn't cover this event. Bummer!” comment illustrates an additional area where you can save big dollars on car maintenance costs…

Don’t let your sales rep or finance rep talk you into buying an extended warranty. These products are designed solely to significantly increase the dealer’s profit and are of little to no value to the customer.

Take the money that you would have spent for the extended warranty and put it in the bank or invest it. If you ever need expensive post-warranty service (which would not be until ~3 years bumper-to-bumper, ~5 years for power train and ~8 years for the hybrid system) you could then draw from your deposit (which has now grown in value due to investment gains) and pay for the repair.

If you never need expensive post-warranty service (this is the mostly likely outcome) then you’ll end up with a few thousand dollars in your pocket… rather than in your dealer’s bottom line and your salesperson paycheck.

 

irrational advice

That's irrational advice.

I don't service my cars free. I might get a small break as an employee, but not that much of a break.

My oil changes are $25.
My 15K service was $94.
My 30K was $148.
My 45K was $120.
My 60K was $190.
My 75K was $109.
I did tires at 35K and again at 77K.

I have 88K on my car today, so the 90K service is soon coming.
I do drive a lot, I know. I didn't expect to need the warranty BUT, at $1000 it was a great investment. Major medical on my car and peace of mind knowing that if a part failed, Toyota was picking up the tab for everything, even my loaner car.

I plan to have service go thru my entire freakin' car at 99K and make sure everything's perfect before the warranty vanishes.

I never in a million years expected to keep my car THIS long but with the HOV stickers still being extended a mystery after Jan 1, 2011, I have to. I'll drive the car till my wheels fall off. And, I am just the woman to MAKe the wheels fall off, LOL!

Warranty thoughts:
1. If you don't plan to hang onto it till the wheels fall off, buy it for the next guy. If the person you sell the car to is a tad concerned with use, wear, and coverage, flashing the warranty docs saying "gee, mister buyer, look. Toyota will back up this car to 8 years, 125K no matter what..." -- what a fabulous selling tool! That will sell YOUR car for more $ retail. If you plan to trade the car into a dealership, it won't be worth a plug nickel to the dealership. It's not traneferable to a dealer - only a private party buyer.

2. Buy it for peace of mind. I seldom use my medical insurance (HMO) but I pay $130 a month for it anyway. Capische?

Dianne

 

Re: The $400 Headlight

Actuarilly, extended warrantees are a looser for the buyer. They are an absolute profit center for the dealer. If the car model is a basic POS then indeed they might pay off, but in most cases the dealer wins,,, always!

If you have faith in the car there is no reason for the warrantee except for peace of mind.

Having said that, we bought the extended with the Prius on the theory that while repairs would be unlikely, the cost might be substantial. The dealer was also offering a 100% refund such that if we didn't use the warrantee, they would refund 100% of the price at the end of the warrantee period. Not a bad deal in my mind.

Just keep in mind, the dealer is in business to make money, nothing wrong with that, but they make money at EVERY end of EVERY transaction. If I can figure out how to keep a few $$ in my pocket rather than theirs, so be it.

Icarus

 

Re: The $400 Headlight

That's a misleading thought, depending on what's paid for the warranty.

Example: the 100K warranty has a dealership cost of let's say $900. If we sell the warranty for $1100, we make a 200 profit. If you don't use the warranty, TOYOTA becomes the profit center. Not the dealership.

If you sell the warranty as a dealership for, let's say, $1500, you risk all the way along the way the warranty being cancelled and refunded early (pro rates of course) when folks total their car, trade their car in, sell their car, have their car repo'ed, or just plan cancel for whatever reasons. What you make today can be depleted later in an instant by cancelled plans from the year before... so you have to keep the coffers full for chargebacks. It happens more than you think.

And, FYI: you can have all the faith in the car you like. Your faith in the car won't keep worn or faulty parts from breaking.

I'm not defending warranty purchases. I am defending the thought behind doing it... as the consumer and the one who might have to sell the car later in a market with cars that might have lower mile competition -- and worse: used Certified Toyotas like mine that are only warranteed to 100K. Ha! I'd beat them out if I had a 125K warranty.

 

Re: The $400 Headlight

I respectfully disagree,

First, like 'Vegas the odds are stacked in favour of the dealer. (Little pun intended) Do some people walk away winners?, sometimes. Do most walk away losers?,, sure, that is how the house keeps the lights on.

So a car dealer sells a warrantee and pockets $200 "free cash" for selling a piece of paper, that has no intrinsic value at the point of sale, and no cost to anyone. So for the first 30k miles Toyota corporate picks up any and all warranted repairs and the dealer gets paid for labour and parts, both with a mark-up I'm sure. (No loss to the dealer there!)

Now let's assume that between 30 and 100k (or the end of the extended warrantee) the car needs $500 worth of parts an labour. The dealer gets paid from the warrantee agent (as these are all just insurance policies in point of fact!) making a mark-up on the parts and labour for these repairs as well. Clearly, in this scenario everyone has one EXCEPT the car owner! Dealer made the initial profit, and made a profit on the extended warrantee parts and service, and the underwriter bet correctly and made $500.

Let's change things up a bit. Let's suggest that the car is a lemon, and needed $3000 worth of work between 30 and 100k. The dealer gets a mark-up on a still bigger repair bill, and the warrantee underwriter takes the hit. In reality, just like the health care industry, the ability of warrantee companies to GET OUT of paying legitimate claims is legion, so there is a disincentive to pay all claims. Now in this scenario, once again, the dealer made the initial profit on the warrantee, PLUS even more profit on the repairs along the way so he wins. Indeed in this case even the poor owner wins, and the underwriter takes the loss.

The reality is that the underwrite wins way more than he loses,, and that is as it should be, but the owner wins only rarely. I think that people are scared into buying these products in some measure because they are sold by fear, as well as the reputation of some cars (and car companies) as being a POS.

As far as I know, few of these policies are written such that after the 30k period people can redeem them for cash, or they get refunded due to a total accident. These are insurance policies, usually underwritten by some large company, or pooled by a series of dealers, or even a large individual dealer who is betting against you.

I stand by my previous statement: These are profit centers for the dealers (and the underwriters) pure and simple. Does that mean someone shouldn't buy one? I think the answer is up to your own level of security (and fear) I am merely suggesting that you are more likely to make an informed choice IF you know the facts, not just the hype and the fear tactics. The more I think of it, the more it does sound like the moronic health care debate we have going on right now!

Icarus

 

Re: The $400 Headlight

I will have to say that I have the extended warranty on my Infiniti and it has paid for itself at least once. It covers everything (including the nav system that failed after the basic warranty went out). For the car that I bought it has been a great thing. It also extended roadside assistance (which I have never needed) as well as loaner car access (and I usually get to pick my loaner).

I also wish that I had just purchased a used prius that had an extended warranty from the factory but I needed HOV stickers first and went after the best car that met those needs. While I know that it would not cover the HID light that just failed this week it would cover other things (should they come up).

While I cannot argue the econmics of extended warranties (they have to be profitable or they would not exist) I do think that they are pretty nice thing to have.

 

Re: The $400 Headlight

As I suggest, everyone has to make their own choice. There are times when folks win. I guess if you take the chances of failure of drive train in years or Hybrid components in 8 what other major components are there and how much do they cost. For example, is a major CPU part of the Hybrid system? Some say yes other say no. I contend that with out the CPU the hybrid system can't work, ergo it must be part of the hybrid system.

So if you cover the engine/drive train for 5 and the Hybrid (depending on definition) then there is less for the extended warrantee to cover, making it even less likely to be useful. In the real world, you must ask yourself this question. "If after 8 years or 150k miles if I needed $1000 repair to the car would I do it? Or after the same 8/150k would I spend the $1000, plus some more to keep the car rolling?"

The reality is that few people drive cars that long, (I do, I'm close to 500k on my VW pickup truck, 200k on a Subaru). Selling a used car with at 50k miles with an extended warrantee doesn't increase the value the cost of the warrantee. Selling it with 149k doesn't make it as much more valuable as the warrantee cost.

Clearly, as has been suggested, if you want the peace of mind, then go for it,, We did, but I wouldn't do it again!

The great irony is you go to Best Buy and buy a $50 item and they want to sell you the 15% extended warrantee! They don't fix anything anyway, they toss it and give you another.

Icarus

 

Re: The $400 Headlight

Dianne –

When it comes to deciding if one should buy an extended warranty, a purely financial proposition, I’d categorize buying a warranty to get “peace of mind†as irrational.

Giving a car dealership your money so that you can have peace of mind is, from my point of view, ridicules. The alternative, keeping your money in your pocket ready for when you need it and then choosing how you want spend it is a much better approach to establishing peace of mind. Who wants to hassle with trying to get a warranty company to approve repairs? Who wants to ask permission from a third party if it‘s OK to fix my car? What kind of peace of mind is it when you don’t know if your repair costs are covered until after your car is in the shop and torn apart?

Besides, telling a potential customer that buying an extended warranty will give you “peace of mind†is a well-known and well-worn sales tactic.

If you run the numbers from a risk analysis and return on investment perspective most buyers would come out ahead by skipping the extending warranty and keeping their money in their pocket. The warranty companies run the numbers and know this. That why they sell extended warranties.

Saying that you seldom use your health insurance is like saying “I seldom use my homeowner’s fire insurance†or “I seldom use my auto insurance.â€

If you were to get seriously ill without health insurance you could easily find yourself unable to work, facing 100’s of thousands of dollars in medical bills, and headed towards financial ruin. Worse, you’d likely be cut off from the medical procedures that you may need to save your life. This is why you need health insurance.

If you were to total your new Prius you would be looking at ~$30K out of pocket to replace it. Worse, if you killed someone in the process of totaling your Prius you might be facing a $1M liability claim. Again, you would be headed towards financial ruin. Having auto insurance is a must for most people.

The some logic applies to buying homeowner’s fire insurance It’s a financial must for most people.

If your seven year old Prius needs $600 (or $1,000 or even $2,000) worth of out of warranty repairs then it’s not the end of your financial world. If you had put away the money that you saved by avoiding paying up front for an extended warranty then you’re financially ahead of the game.

 

SAVE YOUR SELF HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS! I'm not joking! Our 2005 (with over 180,000 miles), passenger side headlight went out over 2 years ago and we refused to pay the high price ($380 just for the bulb) of having it fixed. Toyota refused to work with us on the price saying 2006 and newer Prius' bulbs were approximatley $170, but 2005 and older were $380. Long story short, we had to buckle down and get it fixed (thankfully we never got a ticket!). I found this AMAZING website partsgeek and got the bulb for $53.00 (and it was delivered less than 24 hours after ordering)! No kidding! Thankfully my husband is handy and was able to install it (with some difficulty, but with the help of the owners manual and a small mirror). If you aren't handy, then buy the bulb anyway and take it to your mechanic to have it installed. It'll be WAY cheaper than going to the dealer where they're going to suck you dry for a gosh darn light bulb.

 

Re: The $400 Headlight

Our 07 Prius had the same problem, 1 intermittent headlight.
The dealer replaced everything under warranty.
My 06 Prius is still going fine.

 

Re: The $400 Headlight

I have an 05 Prius that I just noticed has the driver side headlight out.

The boyfriend googled how to replace it, and when he got to the part that says, "remove the 14 screws securing the bumper cover", I had to hold back a gasp...

REALLY? Is that what it's going to take? grrrrrrrr.....

 

Re: The $400 Headlight

No, it's overkill. If you can squeeze your hand in the space, it's possible to change it with only loosening a few underhood items.

You can also remove the headlight assembly completely without removing the whole bumper cover. See the directions here.

 

Re: The $400 Headlight

Luscious Garage | Blog | Prius headlight problem, D4R HID bulbs *still overpriced, not covered under warranty* includes a video of the HID lights replaced w/o removing the bumper.

 

I have problem with my 2006 Prius HID. I believe that it's probably the ballast. If you still own your old Prius, I'd like to chat. Please reply. Thanks.