New Prius Owner here. Picked the car up this past Saturday but got talked into buying the 7 year extended warranty platinum coverage. Based on what the guy at the dealership said, the amount paid for the coverage will be refunded (minus $50 processing fee) at the end of the warranty period if there's no warranty claims at all. We paid $1549 for it and if we decided to cancel it in the first 30 days, we'll get full refund too. Can you guys advise whether we need to keep it or cancel it?
Congrats on the purchase. More info on extended warranty here: http://priuschat.com/forums/sponsor...rius-extended-warranty-service-contracts.html
The street price for the Toyota Financial warranty (7yr/100K miles/$0 deductible is just under $1000. Also you can purchase it anytime before the 36 month / 36,000 mile warranty expires. You do not have to purchase it from the selling dealer. But make sure that what you have is the Genuine Toyota Financial Platinum warranty (there isn't a refund at the end). The other warranties aren't worth the paper they are printed on.
I would get out of it now. Extended warranties are calculated so dealer and the manufacture profit and you lose. The car will not need $1,000 or $1549 of repairs over time. If you use the warranty for a $100 repairs you will not get your refund at the end. If you start paying for those $100 repairs out of pocket hoping you will get your money, you will lose. Take your $1549 and put it in the bank for possible repairs. If you never use it will have collected interest.
FYI - I have 47,000 miles on my 2010 Prius and zero repairs. I repredict in 15 more months I will be at 100,000 miles and zero repairs. It is a Toyota, the most reliable cars in the world. I put 305,000 on my last Toyota and nothing broke until it was over 200,000 miles. Over the 305,000 I never spent more then $1,000 on total repairs.
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When the dealer was trying to sell the warranty to me he was essentially saying this car is an unreliable piece of junk and that I needed to protect myself from certain financial ruin before the car reaches 120,000 miles (3-4 years in my case). I was put in the position of saying that I alone have confidence that Toyota sells cars that last beyond 120k miles. I shouldn't have been the only one in the room that had confidence in Toyota. All of my other cars have over 250k miles without any warranty-related problems (except the Honda required a transmission at 220k). I really hate dealers for many reasons and my recent Prius purchase was no different. My next new car will be delivered to my door by a smiling delivery person with keys in hand.
I hate dealers also. They add zero value. They are the second worse hated profession in the world because of their antics.
I told the dealer that I was not worried about the first 7 years or 70k miles, I was worried about 100-200k miles, and if he wanted to sell me a 20yr or 200k warranty for $1,500 I would buy it. He decline my offer. TED
In Manhattan Beach, when he tried to sell me the extended warranty, I answered, "It's a Toyota." When he persisted, I pointed out when I bought my wife's Civic, the answer of "It's a Honda" was enough to end the discussion, and was he telling me that Toyotas aren't as good as Hondas. Too subtle. Her persisted. The extended warranty they tried to hit me up for was $2000 for 5 years, refundable if no claims, for which my monthlies would go up $100/month. I pointed out to him that if I put that same $100/month in a sock, at the end of the 5 years I would have $6000 back. Too subtle. He tried to reduce the price of the warranty. I told him I was not interested. He tried to reduce it again. I told him he was talking me out of buying the car at all. He tried one more time. I told him if he mentioned it one more time I was going to buy the car from another dealer that very same day. THEN he stopped. A few weeks later, the dealership phoned to ask my opinion of the buying experience. I don't think they liked the answer. The only thing I ever went back to that dealership for after that was the offer of free car washes. And now that I no longer work down the street from them, they won't get any business from me.
If it was a German car, it might be a good idea, but not for a Toyota. Cancel it. My sister-in-law bought one for a new Honda CRV. She balked at first then the finance guy reduced the price considerably and she went for it. I told her to cancel it in the 30 day period and she did.
Going in today to cancel my warranty, I purchased last Saturday and called on Tuesday to tell them I would be in tonigh. FI guy sorta stretched the truth, told me we had to purchase that day to get the deal he offered. Also he didn't bother to explain, I was buying a non Toyota Warranty. Plus the cost was about $500 more than I was quoted from this site. I was pleased with the salesman and sales manager, but FI guy sure want get any good comments on my survey.
I bought the 7 years/100,000 mile extended warranty for $1,400. I was thinking about canceling it too, but it may come in handy with all the coverage that the plan has.
My dealer tried to sell me a 5 yr/120k mile comprehensive warranty (same as the 3/36 already on the car) for $1920. When I said "no thank you" he looked at me like I had 3 heads! He then proceeded to tell me how the car has so much high tech stuff that I am basically a fool for not buying it. He then brought out a diagram with different prices listed for specific replacement parts. Again I said "no thank you". I told him I have 160k on my 2005 Prius and I haven't put a dime into repairs - only regular maintenance. He said "you've been lucky"... It is interesting how the sales team tells you how great the car is and the finance team tells you how unreliable it is.
All dealers are scumbags. If their lips are moving they are lying!!! When poeple walk into a dealer they need to keep this in mind.
