Extended Warranty Worth It?

I bought it. I don't regret it. But, I wish I had bought it in the PriusChat store here for half the price!

 

It is a waste of money to buy it now from the dealer, you can pick up the extended warranty at any time before the 3yrs/ 36,000 miles, so it makes no sense at all to buy the warranty at the time you buy the car brand new.

Since I will be keeping my Prius now for a long time, I will pick up the warranty from Prius Chat when it gets close to the regular warranty running out.

My opinion is that nobody should EVER buy the extended warranty from the dealer when the car is brand spanking new. You are buying something that you will definately NOT use for at least 3yrs/ 36,000 miles, makes no sense at all.

 

The only reason you'd buy it now is that sometimes factory extended warranties go up in price.

However, given that the Prius is supposedly the most reliable vehicle on the planet, the warranty should be very very inexpensive and if it isn't, it's probably not a good gamble.

 

I bought it for peace of mind.

Now that I have it, nothing will happen to the car and I won't need it.

If I had not bought it, I'm sure I'd be the one in a million with the lemon car that would continue to have one expensive repair after another not covered under the regular warranty.

I get warranties for computer too. But nothing else. For most things they are a waste of money.

If you're going to buy it, buy it on Priuschat, not from dealer.

 

in my case they significantly lowered my interest rate at the time of purchase
which made buying the extended warranty a no brainer.

i have no regret at all buying it at the time because i simply did the math.
yes it cost more then what prius chat sells it for but when you thought it
through it was basically a wash either way. I could save with prius chat's
warranty or save a tiny bit more buying it from them. Plus i am already
agressively paying off the loan which saves even more money over time.

and for some reason, which i cannot explain, i feel better buying the warranty
from the same dealer i plan to service the car at for most of its life. i do not
expect to move anytime soon.

 

I always buy the extended warranties and every time it has pay’ed off. I had a turbo-charger go bad at 78,000 miles on a Volvo, and a catalectic convertor on a Camry at 81,000. So I was not going to tempt fate even with a car that has a solid record as the Prius.

 

Last April Consumer Reports did an article on that and basically said no. According to the article, if you put that money into some account to use if you need money for fixing it you'd probably be better off. The nice thing is that you have until the original warranty is about to expire before you get it; so you don't have to get it at the time of purchase.

That being said, I did get it at 35K miles from this site and don't regret it.

 

i bought it from the prius chat link. i haven't regretted it. ill regret it later when it expires, heh

 

If I put the money I paid in any account, it wouldn't pay to replace an inverter or ECU or battery pack if I needed to replace one.

 

The truth lies in statistics, not anecdotes. Extended warranties make money for the seller, not the buyer. But since you asked: I did not buy one and do not regret it.

 

It was worth it for me....

I used it on my Silver Pine 06 prius when it had about 45K for a window that lost its mind and did what it wanted... out of pocket without insurance would have been 850.00.

I just used it again on my Barcelona Red 06 that lost the MFD screen.... all visual, buttons and bluetooth went out.. all else works fine.
out of pocket without insurance would have been 3800.00.

Counting both cars, I figure I'm about 2800.00 ahead so far.

Although Toyota has an awesome track record, exposure with all these electronics and cutting edge technology is tremendous.

The two Items I had go out is childplay compared to what could have happened.

I've still got about 12 - 15K miles to go too.

 

Bought this today!


Here is your quote ETP, thank you!

7/100,000 $964


Keith Zwickl
Internet Sales Manger
(800) 530-5789
(620)560-6565
Midwest Superstore
Hutchinson Ks
[email protected]
Midwest Superstore | Hutchinson, KS | Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Toyota Dealership

 

Thats a good price too... mine was 6/100000K

 

Extended warranties are profitable for the dealer, the insurer and the shareholders of the company. They are clearly not an "investment" for the buyer. There's no chance of appreciation. I agree with Consumer Reports.

 

Thats one viewpoint... I invested 900.00 X 2 for two cars and so far, I"ve gotten back 850.00 + 3800.00.. thats a good return on my money.

I would have been out that money without insurance. And I'm still not out of time to save more.

Its all relative.. we've had this discussion before.
If your only interested in an investment for a return on your money.. better cancel all your insurance.

This is not an investment.. its insurance... and even when you invest.. thats a calculated risk and gamble too as you never really know what will happen in the future and only bank on calculated risks.
If your willing to take the risk.. no foul for not getting insurance until you need it.

Its all a gamble, everytime you drive to the store, its a gamble you will make it back alive. We all have to weigh what risks we are comfortable living with. So far, I don't regret getting insurance..

The insurance companies are betting you won't use it.. we are betting we will.

The money I"ve paid is pennies compared to what would be if something serious happened.

I can see not getting insurance if the price is too high, but to not get it just because its insurance is a worse bet.

If I go to vegas and have odds to win a 1000.00 with a 5.00 bet, I'll take it if the odds are reasonable, if the odds are the same and I have to bet 50.00 to win the same 1000.00, I may not take that bet.
The other factor is.. can I lose 5.00 and not weep vs. 50.00?

Some people live life putting out wildfires because they are "reactive" and others live "proactively". The Proactive person risks spending unnecessary monies to insure things will go well and be maintenance free, while other wait for things to break and then has to scramble and sacrifice because they are caught off guard... whos the wiser?

If you have plenty of money to cover your risks, you don't need insurance. If your like the wise ant and saves enough to cover yourself when times go bad, you don't need insurance.
But the prius has tremendous cost exposure.. more than most cars with older technology.... my bet is to buy insurance if its at a good price... in fact, I'm very nervous about going past the 100K mark without insurance.
Seems they want over a grand just to change out your HID light bulb... how much can it cost if something serious happens?

But "not" taking insurance is a risk too.. don't think your getting away without risks!
.

 

Well put. "The insurance companies are betting you won't use it....we are betting we will. They're right a vast majority of the time or they wouldn't sell it.

Just curious about the extended warranties. My guess is they cover the car up to a mileage within which they're confident there will be few problems with the car. Don't sell me a policy that covers the car up to 100,000 miles or 125,000 miles. Every Toyota I've owned has been essentially trouble free up to that amount of miles and well beyond. I change the oil, buy new tires when I need them and really little more. If they want to help me out.............cover it to 200,000. No,.............I didn't think they would.

The bottom line is they're making plenty of profit selling these policies. We all have make our own personal decision and be comfortable with it. They made enough profit off of me selling me the car.

 

I'd recommend it, for the peace of mind...and because of my personal experience. Just after my warranty expired, my cd player failed. The quoted cost: $800. I got the price down...just under $500 by shopping around. But that $500 could have gone toward an extended warranty. Though the Prius is one of the most reliable cars on the market, some of the electronics are trouble-prone, and can be extremely expensive to fix. If you do a search on priuschat.com, you'll find a dealership (in Florida I believe) that sells full-on Toyota warranties at a discount. This is the way to go!

 

Two repairs and I got my investmnet back!

I have needed every extended warranty I bought. The Prius is very complicated to say the least. Would your invertor go out?