Is extended warranty worth the money?

Hi

I have a 06 Malibu 2.2L, the 36/36 warranty will expire in a few months. To buy another 36/36 warranty will cost around $1400.

Could anyone tell me if it's necessary to get a extended warranty?

Thanks.:grinyes:

I've always said no to these extended warranties. A better way to handle this would be to put the $1400 (if you have the funds) into an interest bearing savings account to use if you need to do a repair. Also once the vehicle is out of warranty, find a good, reliable independent repair shop, which are generally a lot less expensive on repairs than a dealership. Ask around with family, friends, neighbors for possibilities on shops in your area.

It depends. How many miles are on the car now? ?36K I would assume and that you put on about 12K/year. Are you good at doing regular maintenance? Whats the history of your type vehicle; look through various forums to see if there is a wide spread problem with the big ticket items such as transmission.What are the chances you will have a major failure before 72K? Does the warranty cover items like a fuel pump? Those can be as much as $400-800 to replace. Also, how reliable is the warranty company. Lately there have been news reports of very unreliable reimbursement. Check Consumers Report and see if they have any information.

Cars today are designed and made to go well past 100,000 miles. Many manufactuers have reccomendations for spark plug changes starting at 100K. My last new car had that instruction {domestic big 3 auto}. And did not required anything but routine maintenance (except for the fuel pump done under the regular warranty at 35K) up to more than 80K miles over 7 years. It is unlikely I would have used an extended warranty ( I don't have the car now). You may be better off putting the money aside in the event of a major repair instead of purchasing an extended warranty from the dealer or online. The same for rust proofing. You live in a rust belt state but still corrosion protection on cars has also improved. Of course others may have had different experiences.

I disagree completely with the doubters. I've had one on a '96 Monte Carlo, a '98 Malibu LS and now I'm in my final months on an '04 Maxx.

All have been of questionable quality with low mileage. I've received back every penny and then some of my outlays.

Next time, I'll be eyeing Hyundais and Kias, both of which have much better reliability than GM (and nearly comparabale resale values) and have killer warranties (see the April '09 issue of Consumer Reports as the latest example of this nearly universal opinion).

Hindsight is 20/20. I did not purchase extended warranty when I bought my '99 Malibu new. Between my 60,000 km (36/36) warranty and 100,000 km (62,000 miles) I paid for:
- two front coil springs
- rear strut assembly
- one front wheel speed sensor
- rear wheel cylinder
- heater motor kit
- alternator and battery
- water pump
- intake manifold gasket, which was paid for by GM under a "goodwill" settlement after extensive discussions.
- and had terrible arguments regarding the front brakes which I won initially, (rotors turned twice and pads replaced once under 36/36 warranty) but ended up installing third party new rotors and pads, much to my satisfaction.

With the exception of the IMG I verified the need for all of the above with an alternate shop prior to having the work done. IMHO in spite of the substantial costs I incurred, I still am better off not having purchased extended warranty because of the exceptions in extended warranty.
PS: The last expense I had was the regular major tune-up. It has behaved beautifully for the last couple of years, and I believe all the problems are ironed out (now that the resale value is down to an immaterial amount.)

Allow me to share some info with you.

I work for a Vw dealership. I have worked for several other brands including audi and porsche as well as Gm. Extended warranty is very much worth having. We have customers who need engines or trannys that have extended warranties all the time. Now I work for parts so I see this on my end.

Depending on mileage and year, the extended warranty will cover the engine or tranny. Worse comes to worse they will replace it with a used transmission. Chances that it goes bad... eh 50/50 but they will replace it with another. I would say, from past experiences... most of the time they will buy new, but if you are up there close to 100k or over don't count on it.

For what I have seen through out the years move in and out, I would surely get an extended warranty. I used to be against it, but then when a lady's rear view mirror broke and the part was over 550 bucks, and they covered it with over 100K on the vehicle, you start to look at the possibilities of other things then just trannys and engines.


For example common things like... starters, alternators, trim pieces... they cover everything basically that a standard warranty will pay for. I would recommend it as we all know just how fast repairs can add up and how exspensive the smallest pieces can be... like maybe a glove box door. 300 for the part, and another 100 in labor. Or the hundered to diagnose the starter, or 200 for the bad ground that made the starter go bad...

In JohnnyR's case, yeah it definetly would have been worth it. $1400 may not seem so much in light of that Malibu's problems but again, check the records for 2006 Malibu. If there is a history of probelms with, say the transmission, $1400 may be a good gamble. Also, check out the company you are thinking of buying the warranty from and be sure they a good company. Ask around to see if anyone has used the same company and what their experiences have been. I have heard that some of the warranties offered have a pay-back feature if you don't use it; some of those also have deductibles for repairs. In short do the research and see if it fits your budget and the car you are buying.

Its like that AFLAC duck commercial; If you need it and you don't have it, then you really need it! Ya gotta love Yoggi!

Here is one I got today that will help you decide. Warranty covers alot, but alot of stuff goes wrong later in the vehicles life. Ah duh. We have here a VW touareg. Needed a Navigation Stereo 2100 in parts, needed the Tire pressure monitor and sensors... the sensors were 1125 and the control unit was 500+... Needed a Key 165. Needed the heater and a/c controls 870.

All in one trip. Everything was broken. At this point, that extra money for the extended warranty sounds nice doesn't it. They don't have extended warranty, and those prices.... Labor NOT included. Have a nice day.