Maintenance and extended warranty agreements

[dude]

Am planning on buying new Forester XT. Subaru wants to sell me a
service agreement that they say will save me money. Does anyone think
I should prepay all my services up to 45k miles?

They also are trying to talk me into the extended warranty as well. I
told them that if I needed one for this car, then I shouldn't be buying
the car. What do you all think?

Thanks,

Dinnnerdog

 

[Jiz]

They are trying to get you to lock in service with them.

You can save big dollars by going elsewhere

Extended warranty, hmm, I've never been a fan of these - when we purchased
our Subie, it was included free otherwise I wouldn't have.

 

[J]

I just purched an '04 OBS with the extended warranty (100K, $0 ded.)

The next day when I thought about the decision to get the warranty, I
realized that I pretty much just financed repairs between 36K and 100K
miles, of which they may not be needed.

I was a little mad at myself after I thought about it that way, thinking
the same thing you were thinking. I was wishing I would have told the
guy: "So.. let me get this straight.. you're saying you aren't confident
enough in the product you're selling me.. so you think I need to PREPAY
for $1700 in repairs up front, for the 36K to 100K milage span.."
Hindsight is always 20/20.

I will hit the 36K mark rather quickly since I drive 90 mile round trips
to work. I figure at the end of the day it was probably a smart idea. I
was able to "talk him down" to $0 for the $50 ded price. He's there to
make money on this stuff, so I probably paid more than I should have
seeing how I didn't put up too large of a fight except for asking if he
could do $0 ded for the same price instead of arguing further. I got the
usual sales pitch of "We sell these all day for $2200.. but i'll give it
to you for $X". If I didn't put so many miles on a car I probably would
have passed, seeing how it's only 2 extra years. And I was also thinking
after reading this newsgroup how many people seem to have problems in the
60-80K mileage range while I was mulling it over.

One thing is for sure, since I got the $0 deductible, i'm going to be
using it for every little thing I can find over the course of the
warranty... even if it's only a $15 part. I think I paid way too much for
it looking back, since Subaru's base warranty is a little lacking, but
owell. I will put up a bigger hassle next car.

You should consider how many miles you drive and how much chance you
think there is of something going wrong. Basically by putting the
warranty into the loan, I'm actually able to better budget for that car
repair without having to wonder if it's ever going to happen. If you're
the type of person that doesn't keep alot of money hanging around for
things like this, then I would have to say you should just go ahead and
get the warranty so you don't put yourself in a bind one day.

For instance, I traded in a '98 Mustang with 110K miles on it. That car
had NEVER been in the shop for any mechanical problems. Nothing was wrong
with it. Not even a $20 part had ever needed to be replaced. Except
accidents I had gotten in that caused $6000 body damage. I got rear-ended
by an SUV for $1500, then I got pushed in the side by a DUMP TRUCK while
sitting at a stop light for $4500.. thats an interesting story there...

But suffice to say, I would have lost money on any extended warranty I
would have bought for the Mustang.

It's just a gamble. If you aren't comfortable with the price they try to
sell the warranty to you for, and the deductible that the warranty has,
then dont get it. If you can talk them down to the figure you're
comfortable with, then go for it. It's always a good thing to have for
peace of mind.

J

 

[DanD]

Am planning on buying new Forester XT. Subaru wants to sell me a
service agreement that they say will save me money. Does anyone think
I should prepay all my services up to 45k miles?

They also are trying to talk me into the extended warranty as well. I
told them that if I needed one for this car, then I shouldn't be buying
the car. What do you all think?

Thanks,

Dinnnerdog

If you plan to have a subie dealer do all of your maintenance for the
first 45K miles, then the prepaid plan could save you money (if you
don't finance it).

Extended warranties (on any product). If they didn't figure to make a
profit, they wouldn't sell it. What I've saved over the years by not
buying extended warranties will REPLACE any product I own except my
house or a car. Even there, I've saved enough to pay for any repair
that the extended warrranty would cover.

 

[Mike B.]

AT 51K my OB needed trans work and new pistons. All covered by the 60K
powertrain warranty.

 

[MDCORE]

When I got my '01 VDC, they tried to sell me the extended warranty, but you
have up until the END of the standard 3 year/36,000 mile warranty to get it.

I ended up with 32K miles after a year (now have 67K miles after 26 months),
and figured since it was a first year model for the H6 and VDC, decided to go
for the extended warranty.

I got the Gold warranty with $50 deductible for $995 from Curry Subaru in Mass.
(I bought the car in Maryland- you don't have to get the warranty where you
bought the car). Payable over 10 months with no interest.

So far I've had to replace the thermostat, for which I saved about $100 after
the deductible. I may not make out on this warranty.......

Dukephoto

 

[Mike B.]

The Subaru comes with (besides the 3-36K bumper to bumper)

Powertrain Limited Warranty
Powertrain coverage for all models is five years or 60,000 miles, whichever
comes first. It covers the major powertrain components listed below:*

Engine block and all internal parts
Cylinder heads and valve trains
Oil pump, oil pan
Timing belts or gears and covers
Water pump
Flywheel
Intake manifolds
Oil seals and gaskets
Torque converter
Electronic transmission control unit
Transaxle seals and gaskets

Axle shafts and constant velocity joints (except boots)**
This saved me a few thousand. My trans lock solinod went and the dealer
replaced the timing belt tensioner (to try to remove the start-up knock) and
then 4 pistons (which fixed it) for FREE.
The extended warranties also exclude certain things. Need to be careful.

Propeller shaft