Should i keep my extended warranty or drop it?
 

I got my BRZ this past friday. My original monthly rate was 433 per month for 72 months at 2.9%APR. When i was singing contracts, the financial manager ask me if i wanted to get a extended warranty. The warranty covered for 6 years, also cover rims and tires. The price he gave me was 477 per month for 72 month and being the BRZ my first new car i bought, i took it.

Now looking over at the contract, i'll be paying 47$ extras per month for 72 months, thats $3384!.. Im not sure if i did the right move with the warranty, subarus are pretty reliable.

Im trying to determine if the warranty is worth keeping or not...

If not, can i still remove the warranty from my contract and go back to my initial $430 payment? would the dealer let me??

Thanks

The cost of the car with the base warranty is such that they will make a profit despite some claims by some owners, because they have left a margin.

The cost of the car plus the cost of the extended warranty is such that they will make a profit despite some claims by some owners, because they have left a margin.

In other words, you are statistically likely to be ahead by cancelling it than by keeping it. That said, you might be an unlucky one that needs something right after the base warranty is up.

Consider it buying peace of mind as opposed to buying something you need. If you need peace of mind, you need the extended warranty.

I'm not extending mine. I have confidence that this car will hold up. The extended warranty was about $2500 for me.

I canceled mine two days after being talked in to it. The tire warranty is pretty pointless, because you have your standard warranty on the stock tires and when you buy your next set they will come with there own. If a rim gets murdered by a pot hole you can easily find a replacement or just get a new set of after market rims. I really don't think that I will be spending an extra 3k on the car. Its full of Subaru and Toyota parts, and it a 25-30k car. It is also something you can add on later, I get 2 letters a month offering me an extended warranty.

Did the dealer removed the extra 3k from the loan so your monthly payment went lower? or did your monthly payment stay the same and you got reimburse for the 3k extra? I bought the brz/warrantly about 6 days ago, so want to make sure i have enough time to remove/modify the loan

usually they take it off from your loan

right.. but did your monthly payment go down or did you get reimburse?

With all of the horror stories of spun rod bearings and failed transmissions, either one of those would set you back more than the $2500.
If ANY of the ECUs were to go out (out of warranty) it would cost almost that much to replace it.
If JUST the ABS were to fail youd be in it for more than the warranty $$.

AND with all of the electronics on this car, if ANYTHING goes wrong with the computers you are pretty much stuck with letting the dealer figure it out.

I have the 7 year 100,000 drivetrain warranty and I intend to keep it for the duration.

The drive train doesn't cover ABS, or any of the ECUs to my recollection unless you get the extended bumper to bumper warranty. You may want to double check.

I have the bumper to bumper.

i dont think i have that kind of warranty, i have to double check.. anyways if that is not the case should i remove the warranty? Im not sure what to do actually :S

I am not sure but below 2 are probably happen.


1. your total loan amount - refund amount = left over amount / remaining month.

lowers your monthly payment.

2. you keep paying same monthly payment but pay off period will be shorter.

or enjoy not having a car payment for a few months in the middle.

did you not think to ask what the cost of the warranty was BEFORE they calculated it into the loan??:clap:

i just bought mine on friday and grabbed the 7y/100k warranty. the factory warrant doesnt cover enough for a 6 year loan. i wanted my car covered through my 6 year loan. it was only a small amount more to get it to a seven year so why not.

I have the 10 year 75000 mile Vehicle Service Contract. It fits my mileage. And it was the best money I ever spent.


With all the issues that these vehicles are having, you'd be nuts not to have a service contract. Otherwise you're praying that the issues rear their ugly head during the warranty, AND you better not make any aftermarket modifications that might void that warranty.


Also, if you have any questions about VSC in general, I'm actually an accomplished Finance Manager for a Scion/Toyota dealership, and I'd be happy to candidly answer them for you.

To answer your question, if you cancel, the refund is applied to the loan and the payment doesn't change.


Look at your paperwork, and tell us what the actual cost of the Tire and Wheel and the VSC are separately, and I can advise you on what is in your best interest.

So you're telling all of us that this car is a POS and something will break no matter what; you all better buy extended warranty because this heap will end up with some sort of major failure in the thousands of dollars...?!

And... You're a manager at Scion? I hope you are flame proof.

I only paid $1000 for my Toyota 7yr/100k warranty. Only increased my monthly payments $9.



Sounds like you might have paid too much for an extended warranty.

Yeah... same here and the amount of stuff it covers is pretty impressive.

He said he's a finance manager. Every person in the finance department gets to call themselves a finance manager/consultant/adviser/etc.

Now, this is where there's a disconnect with the finance department and sales side. The sales side talks up the car and how great it is. That includes how much they stand behind their vehicles. But in the finance side, in order for them to sell their warranties, they could end up putting the car down and contradict the sales consultants, therefore nulling exactly what got the customers sold on the product. But, I digress.

It's the sales consultant's responsibility to prep their customers to whether or not accept warranty and why their customer should or shouldn't buy it. Even more so, with Scion, it's not only on the website, but it's part of the Scion process for the sales consultants to go over not only accessories, but warranty, extended maintenance coverage and the digishield.

Now, if the sales consultant is doing his job, it's a hard pill to swallow for the finance guys when the sales consultants inform them that their customer does not want or need warranty coverage and why. After all, that's their bread and butter. Sure, they make some money either way, but they make much much more if they do end up selling warranty. Definitely not in the thousands, but in the hundreds. And if you do that with multiple customers in just one day, it adds up quick. So, for the finance side, it's a hard balance between greed and just needing to make more to make ends meet.

True, Subarus are reputably reliable but this is also a new platform, so there's no harm in extending the warranty if you can afford it. That being said, I still wouldn't have due to my frugal upbringing.

Only way they got me to go for it was by lowering my finance rate from 1.9% to 0%, so I end up paying less than 2 grand for it after subtracting what I would be paying in interest.

You can always go back and cancel it, but don't expect it to be a smiley, pleasant visit lol

No, I'm saying that 4 years ago, JD Power did a reliability study, and while among the highest of non-luxury makes, in the fourth year of ownership, among 100 Toyotas, 114 issues were reported and repairs were made.


With vehicles significantly more sophisticated in just 4 years (backup camera standard, navigation, entune, blind spot monitoring, etc.), you would be a fool to think that number will go down. And common sense tells us that as time goes on, the number of issues will go up, with Toyota still being among the most reliable of all car manufacturers.


Average cost was $750, four years ago. Let's assume that remained constant (guarantee it didn't), 750x 1 issue per year over a 10 year service contract that I can buy for around $1500.


750 x 7 = 5250 > 1500 Yeah, I'll take that $1,500 Vehicle Service Contract.


P.S. That is an awful tone to take with someone who has offered you valuable insight into something you have zero intimate knowledge of who has offered you the keys to the kingdom.

FYI That is illegal. If a Finance Manager ever tells you that your finance terms are based on product purchases, get a lawyer and take the dealership. True story.

I am a Finance Manager. I manage the financial side of every transaction that comes through the dealership, not people, nor do I ever want to manage people.





We make some of the most reliable vehicles in the world. I never talk that down. However, something YOU need to realize is that every component on that vehicle is not built by Toyota. The majority are supplier parts from companies like North American Lighting, AC Delco, etc. Guess who else they build parts for? Chrysler, Dodge, Ford... need I say more?


It is the salesperson's job to sell the car, period. They are not allowed to talk about any Finance products, because they're not qualified to do so. Now, if a customer who trades every three years and drives 12,000 miles per year buys a vehicle, am I going to sell them a VSC? Hell no. I will let them know that a VSC is available to satisfy state requirements, but I will follow up with the fact that the factory warranty covers their ownership period and there is no need to purchase the VSC.



If the salesperson is doing his job, he isn't talking about finance products. If he is, he's fired, on Christmas Eve, with 10 kids, and a wife that has cancer. I exaggerate, but seriously, it's not their job, and they aren't qualified to discuss insurance or finance products, just like I'm not qualified to discuss laws regarding purchase of real estate.


All joking aside, I've offered to give you unbridled insight into how the Finance side of things REALLY works. I have no reason to lie to you, because the anonymity of the internet ensures that I will never be responsible for what I've said, and I'll never see any of you in my store.


Take advantage of it, if you like. However, if you continue to attack me with your insecurities about the car business or just the finance side of things, or project the experiences you've had with your uncle/girlfriend/dad's poor experience with a slimy F&I guy, I'll simply shut up.


Fact: I own a 2015 Scion FRS. I own a 10 yr/75,000 mi Vehicle Service Contract and GAP and I paid for both. I am a Finance Manager. I know everything there is to know about everything I've mentioned.

become friends with someone at your dealership. i got my brz's extended warranty for dealer cost plus $1 (since they technically couldnt sell it to me at their cost). I think i paid like $750 for it, well worth it

In my experience, if you are having 1 issue per year with a modern car with under 100,000 miles on it, you will want to dump the car, warranty or not. In all the cars I've owned, in the last 25 years (new and used) I have not had more than one major service issue under 100K miles on any car. In fact, I've had a half dozen or so with well over 200K miles on them and none have a major repair every year.

I'm not saying taking the "risk" is for everyone, but I can say that I have NEVER owned a car (since 1975) where the extended warranty would have been a good decision. Maybe I've just been lucky.


Are you willing to share what the actual cost of the Extended Warranty is after you subtract the sales cost (commissions/etc)? Like with any insurance (which is really all an extended warranty is) the cost to the consumer has to exceed the average risk + cost of sales minus any growth of the money over time for the insurer. Therefore, again on average, the product costs the consumer more than it will pay out.

Admittedly, there are people where the piece of mind of having the coverage is worth the money, and I'm OK with that. For me though, I'd rather put the money in the bank and self-insure.

I'm on the fence with this. I have 7 years, 125,000 miles bumper-to-bumper and at times I consider cancelling it.

Then I don't cancel because I am more likely to drive this car for 125,000 miles if it is under warranty.

One reason I decided to trade in my last car is because I was nearing the end of coverage (I had 100,000 miles on that one). To be honest, I never used the warranty on that car (Lexus CT200h). It did provide "peace of mind" however.

My extended warranty was about 1900. That's 5 years, and I think 100000 km. all in all, it's worth it for me. I get to cancel my CAA coverage as Toyota provides a better package with that, so I save a few hundred a year that way. I get 5 or 6 included oil changes, so that saves me 40 or 50 bucks a pop from doing it myself. Right off the bat, I'm saving at least 1250 by getting the extended warranty on things I'd be paying for anyways. Not to mention it includes a vehicle rental if my car goes into the shop.

Worth it for me, because basically I'm paying 700 or so on a 5 year extended warranty. And that's with the platinum coverage.

Thanks for all the input guys. I been thinking about it and since the BRZ is my very first brand new car. I might just keep the extended warranty with wheels/tires protection on my loan. I guess im better off being safe right now than sorry later if i dont have any warranty after the 3 years.

Plus my loan is for 6 years, so i guess i should keep the extended warranty during those years.

thanks!

$3384 for a 6 year warranty? FUCK NO! Cancel that shit! That's more than msrp for the 7yr/100k Subaru Gold Plus warranty!

Mine was $1300 on the sales sheet and I STILL could've gotten it for cheaper!

OP, I would definitely cancel at least the wheel and tire coverage. You can pick up a set of new wheels an tires on this site dirt cheap in the classifieds.

I would find out exactly how much they charged you for JUST the extended warranty.

Since i work at Toyota. It would foolish for me to get extended warranty lolz.

We also get employee pricing, so it evens out...

Got my bumper to bumper 100k mile, 5 year, $100 deductible, official Subaru extended warranty for $600. Some days, I regret it because knowing that I've spent the money on this will keep me from modding after powertrain is up. Other days, I like it for the same reason. Just depends on how much money I've got in my bank account at any given time :P

I cancelled some add on's and they sent the check directly to the bank holding the loan. It was applied directly to principal. The monthly payment stayed the same (although I pay additional principal every month and my account says $0 due at this point, so who knows...).

Shhhhhh don't give out all our secrets.

The warranty is a gamble. There are many owners that are issue free with the FA20 platform. Some are even turbo/supercharged - with no issues.

Then you have people like me on their 6th fuel pump, replacement seats, replacement center console, replacement tail lights, and a few other dealer repairs.

If you want the cemented thought in your mind of: "If something goes wrong, Subaru has my back..." then keep the warranty. Otherwise, dump it.

This isn't going to be covered by an extended warranty, unless it actually fails. I doubt you would get it replaced beyond 60K miles since the TSB really covers the noise that isn't a "defect".

Perhaps there are many owners that are issue-free, a few with serious issues, and a few that shouldn't expect perfection in a budget sports car.

Its the same decision as with any insurance. for me the biggest factor is can you afford a worst case scenario? If not, then get the insurance. That's the point of the concept of insurance. Of course in the average the insurance companies make money.