Just starting this thread so that this discussion can have its own spot and not be in the travel thread.
I’ll start.
We have our cars serviced at the dealerships. It’s part of how we budget for cars. This has actually saved us many thousands of dollars, and I’ll explain why.
My current car (a 2012 Volvo that was actually made in 2011) came with a bumper to bumper warranty when we bought it. All 2011 cars like mine had that. It was to 60,000 miles and we didn’t pay any additional service money at all during that time. Everything they did was covered.
After 60,000, it was on us. Well at 62,000, this car mysteriously started having oil disappear at about a quart a week…plus the oil was black black black. We went to our dealership service department. They knew about this issue, and actually had info from Volvo about it. They changed our oil. Flushed the system. That didn’t help…at all. They flushed it again and changed us to synthetic oil. Nope…that didn’t help either.
Long story short…Volvo had all of our service records including that we had oil changes done every 3500 miles or so. When the service manager dealt with Volvo and this issue, volvo quickly agreed to drop brand new engine into the car. If we hadn’t had all the required service done, this would not have been an easy thing. It made it easier also because it was all in the Volvo records.
We have had other very major repairs done just after warranty ran out…and Volvo has handled them well.
I can’t believe that BMW wouldn’t deal with these issues similarly. If they don’t, that’s a good reason not to buy that brand.
I still drive a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country. When we bought it we got the extended warranty which covered repairs as long as we owned the car. (They never counted on people like us who keep a car for years and years). It doesn’t cover wear and tear things and it has a $100 deductible but it has still saved us a lot of money over the years.
It’s what peace of mind you need. If you can throw $$ at any repair or just go buy new, fine. That’s not everyone.
After decades of driving old cars, never knowing when the next 2+k would be needed for some crucial repair, worrying about being stranded, the right extended warranty (after any initial offering) is important to us.
And I agree the dealer is often more easily held accountable than your local repair buddy.
My H is a firm believer in extended warranties or buying “Certified Used” cars that come with the 100,000 warranty. I don’t remember when we didn’t buy a car with one or the other.
I also recall many instances where the extended warranties paid off. I feel like we paid in the neighborhood of $1500-$2000 for the warranty. We don’t buy luxury cars but not economy cars either. My Subaru Forester which we bought Certified Owned/Used" just had a repair (bearings?) at 92K miles which was covered under the warranty as well as a mechanical malfunction of the automatic liftgate - we paid not a penny.
I agree that this is a decision of a personal comfort level to individuals. If we can afford the extra cost from the onset it can be a welcome resource later down the line.
We bought a brand new ToyotaPrius Prime a little under 2 years ago. We also purchased a 100,000/10 yr extended warranty. It was slightly over $2k. We bought it because there are just so many electronic parts that can go amiss and are very expensive to have repaired.
When we’ve had extended warranties in the past, we have had transmissions replaced at no cost to us.
We have never bought extended warranties on our cars. We also don’t get our cars serviced at the dealership beyond the warranty period. We have good local mechanics who are certified in our make of cars who are much less expensive and don’t push work that doesn’t need to be done. We have been lucky that aside from my BMW X3 our cars have lasted years and not needed any major work. If we bought an electric or hybrid car I think we would consider a warranty.
As I mentioned in the other thread we did advise our son when he bought his used BMW to buy the warranty. We did this based on our experience with my BMW and all the expensive repairs.
We have bought the Squaretrade warranties on our televisions from Costco. I’ve also bought the Squaretrade warranty on cell phones.
@jym626, when discussing teslas on the other thread, you mentioned “battery day”. You mentioned your son is waiting until after that date to buy his car because he believes tesla is cranking out cars too quickly.
I plan to buy a tesla in the next 3-5 months. My 11 year old Mercedes is leaking transmission fluid and will need new brakes and pads in that time frame and I’m not up for putting that kind of money into a car that I doubt will last much longer. I’m very interested in hearing more about your son’s insight.
I am dictating this so apologies for any weird auto correct. When I bought my Tesla, Once I sent the subsequent deposit if I recall correctly I got my Vin number and my specific car was assigned. He has felt, being in the area and I guess having some information, that they were rushing production at present to increase numbers before the stock report or annual report there were some potential production issues that he wanted to avoid. He has been on the waiting list for quite some time and did get word that he is able to buy his car whenever he would like. He thought that it would be better to wait until production slow down just a bit and they weren’t busy pushing out cars and that any production flaws would be reduced. This is my interpretation not asking him directly but that’s my understanding of what he had decided. Hope that helps.I don’t know which model you are looking at but you might want to check to see how readily available they are or how long the wait is so that you could consider putting in an initial order
Meant to add that when I ordered my car over two years ago I was special ordering what I wanted and it was being shipped across country. That’s how it was being done then. Not sure if that still the case but he is in the area so could buy his from the factory. I don’t know whether he can choose the options he wants closer to production now that they are probably making them faster than they had previously or exactly how that works. Apologies I am not sure
Curious about "certified used’ car warranties. Do you have to bring the car to the original dealer? Or can you use at any same dealer. Wondering what happens if you move, or if you’re a snow-bird.
We’ve never bought an extended warrantee, and like thumper, we always take the cars to the dealers. Back in the day Saab replaced an engine in H’s car for free. We’ve had very good luck with our BMW as well and love the dealer.
Electric vehicles do not have many of the trouble-prone things like mechanically complex engines and transmissions, fuel systems, exhaust systems, AWD transfer cases, etc. that have numerous things that wear out. The electric drive system is mechanically much simpler, and brakes are used less due to regenerative braking. There are complex computer controls, but non-electric cars also have them. Both electric and non-electric cars can have buggy touch screens and other controls, defects in the body and suspension, climate control problems, etc…
Hybrids obviously have both kinds of drive systems, although the internal combustion drive system is used less than in non-hybrids. But it seems like Toyota did a good job with the Prius, which has been one of the most reliable cars overall.
Regarding Teslas in particular, they seem to be prime examples of the saying “don’t buy the first year of a new design if you want better quality and reliability”, since the early production Model 3 and Model Y seem to have had complaints about manufacturing defects (not very well fitting body panels, etc.).
This would not be a reason that prevents charging an electric vehicle. I have seen electric vehicles parked outside of garages plugged into the EVSE* cord that ran under the garage door to where the EVSE was presumably plugged into an outlet in the garage.
You can also have a (preferably 240V 50A – NEMA 6-50 or 14-50 is common for EVSE applications) outlet installed outside and plug an EVSE into it (but you may want to put a big lockable box with a hole for the cord around it to make it harder to steal the EVSE).
Seems that most people on these threads about cars mention owning or considering high end brands, such as BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Tesla, Lexus, Acura, etc…
Would anyone consider a vehicle from a not-high-end brand like Chevrolet (not Cadillac), Ford (not Lincoln), Honda (not Acura), Hyundai (not Genesis), Kia, Toyota (not Lexus)?
My beloved 2013 Honda Odyssey was totaled last month. It only had 60,000 miles on it and I had planned on driving it another 10 years. I picked up my 2020 Mazda CX-9 yesterday, and we were talked into an extended warranty (7 years/85,000 miles) - there are so many electronic features that we decided it was worth it.
We have owned Honda Accords (3), Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Mazda and Nissan minivans, two Subaru’s, and our kids both have Camry. We also now own a Suburu Outback. All were fine cars,
The Civic was mine and I had a dealer extended warranty on the car. It was two years old and the transmission failed. That warranty was the best money I ever spent. It took them over three months to deal with the warranty company to get approval. They paid for a rental car for the whole time. Finally the company apparently approved the replacement of the transmission. Whew.