We have a 2023 Hyundai Tucson Plug-in Hybrid and declined the extended warranty when we bought it. Since then, of course, the dealership has been hounding us to get the extended warranty. This has always been an easy answer for me in the past, but cars these days are loaded with electronics, screens, and seemingly all sorts of things that can fail. My wife keeps wondering if we should get the warranty.
The standard warranties are as follows:
60,000 mile/5 year bumper to bumper
100,000 / 10 year drive train
The extended warranty would increase the bumper to bumper up to 125,000 miles and costs about $3500.
They try to instill fear in you by telling you how much everything costs to fix. The screens alone, they say, can be several thousand dollars. But, I’m still against it. No matter what, I would be responsible for paying for any fixes beyond 125,000 mile, so this only buys you fixes basically for anything that fails between 60,000 and 125,000 miles.
Clark is neutral about extended warranties. I have the money to pay for any needed repairs that come up. Still thinking to decline. Any thoughts here?
Do you think they would be hounding you if it was in YOUR best interest? NO! They make a bundle off of extended warranties because they are very rarely used. If someone is trying too hard to sell you something, you can bet it is not in your best interest.
Does the extended warranty also extend the time? Electronics are time related failures not mileage related. Electronics usually fail early (infant failures in the graph below) if they fail, so I think if you have any problems, it will be within the normal warranty.
The drive train is mileage related and would probably be the largest repair costs, but it is covered to 100k miles, so you would only be getting 25k more miles. Also, are you even sure you will own the car that long?
Put the $3500 in a 5 year CD which are paying 5% and you will have almost $4500 to pay for any repairs when the warranty ends!!
Thanks, I agree with everything you said. We generally keep our cars until they’re dead.
When we were at the dealer, they said it extended the b-to-b warranty to 125k miles and 10 years, but when I look it up online it says 100k miles and 10 years. They conveniently leave details out of their letters, thus forcing you to call them and get the hard sell.
I made the mistake of purchasing a service warranty that I was told was for the life of the car for $1200. I said do you realize I had my last car for 12 years and it’s still running and I intend for this SUBURU to be the last car I buy. He repeated that it was for oil changes and tire rotations for as long as I owned my car. Turns out it was for 3 yrs only! If it turns out that this isn’t my last car my next won’t be a SUBURU. Their salesmen have soured me on SUBURU.
I am normally against extended warranties. When we bought our hybrid (2005), we knew they were new technology so we bought the extended warranty. The hybrid batteries needed replacement just before the warranty ended. The dealership replaced them for free. The service tech said we were lucky in that most people had them need replacement just after the warranty ended. For us and our hybrid the warranty ended up saving us money but I do not believe that is generally true.
I agree and the only reason it’s even on my mind is because of the complexity of this car given it’s a plugin hybrid and has lots of electronics and screens. It has a decent warranty as it is so getting the extended warranty means I’m betting on a covered failure between the time the standard warranty ends and the extended warranty ends. Probably not a good bet. I’ll just keep the money in my pocket.
I bought an extended warranty on a used 2016 BMW 7 series due to the high repair cost of the car. (Car/warranty purchased through dealer) It was the best money I ever spent! The warranty paid for itself within the first 6 months. If your car is expensive to fix, get the warranty. If you can repair it at “Joe’s Repair Shop” down the road, don’t bother. We have 5 other cars with no warranty. Wish I had one for our Volvo.
