Subaru Added Security Offer

[Flarpswitch]

I just got another offer to purchase the Added Security for my 2022 BRZ LTD that I got about 10 months ago. This is the first Subaru that I did not add coverage when I bought it. I had 7year/70,000 mile coverage on the 2014 Forester, 2017 BRZ and 2019 Ascent. I still have the Ascent and it looks like that car is the only one so far that has a chance of dipping into that coverage. I am debating if the 5/60K for $750 is worth it. I divide my miles between 3 vehicles so it is more likely that any car I have will age out before mileage. Any opinions?

[soundman98]

do you normally go to the dealer for all your service needs?

[Flarpswitch]

Originally Posted by soundman98

do you normally go to the dealer for all your service needs?

General maintenance I do myself. For the warranty work and anything requiring special tools, I will defer to the dealer. Although I am capable of disassembling the entire car to its individual components and putting all back together, I would rather pay someone else to do the heavy lifting and kick back and read a magazine.
Without digging into the service records and receipts, I would have to say that for what I have paid for extended service and what it saved in dollars and convenience, it is about a wash. Of course, it only takes one incidence of a major failure to make it well worth while.
Another thought is that I am more likely to keep this BRZ long term. Looking at the auto industry and the people who are trying to suck the last remaining bit of soul out of owning any kind of sporty car, I think this is the last hurrah. I'm 72 and all my friends are too banged up to be able to get into my BRZ gracefully. Just as well; I would rather they not be farting into my seat cushions.

[WNDSRFR]

I don't know about your '22 but my '13 has been (almost) problem free for 240,000 miles. I'm old too just not as old as you and I've done all the maintenance myself. I just changed out the TOB for the forth time. The only real problem I've had.
The only times I've taken it to the dealer they screwed it up. The first time was for a free oil change. How do you screw that up? Easy. All you do is double gasket the oil filter, start up the engine and spray oil all over a brand new engine bay. Took them 3 hours to clean up and it still smelled for a week.
The second and last time I took it to the dealer was for the valve spring recall. I don't even want to think about that debacle.
If your car is anywhere near as reliable as mine then and extended warranty is a complete waste of money. They usually are.

[WNDSRFR]

Just had a thought.
If you can get an extended warranty that covers the clutch assembly, now that would be well worth it.

[Flarpswitch]

The dealer offered me a discount on the extra coverage when I picked up the car, maybe I will check back to see if they still can offer that. In the meanwhile, the other day I took the car out when it was cold and wet as it is much of the year here and with the summer tires, it was not much fun. Most notable was how the tires lost traction from a stop and the Torsen diff did its thing. Getting into the first winter with my 2017 BRZ, I swapped out the Michelin Primacy tires for a set of Pilot Sport A/S 3+. With those I could leave the Ascent in the garage. We have a 12% grade to get into our neighborhood. For the cost of the extra coverage, I can get a set of Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4, the successor to the 3+.

[Decep]

Generally these extended warranties are trash.. they always find a way to weasel out of paying for repairs. And if it's one of those where the mechanic has to deal with an insurance company, i guarantee you most of them don't want to deal with it. If it were a luxury car where the repairs are obscenely expensive i'd say maybe but not these cars.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by Flarpswitch

General maintenance I do myself. For the warranty work and anything requiring special tools, I will defer to the dealer. Although I am capable of disassembling the entire car to its individual components and putting all back together, I would rather pay someone else to do the heavy lifting and kick back and read a magazine.
Without digging into the service records and receipts, I would have to say that for what I have paid for extended service and what it saved in dollars and convenience, it is about a wash. Of course, it only takes one incidence of a major failure to make it well worth while.
Another thought is that I am more likely to keep this BRZ long term. Looking at the auto industry and the people who are trying to suck the last remaining bit of soul out of owning any kind of sporty car, I think this is the last hurrah. I'm 72 and all my friends are too banged up to be able to get into my BRZ gracefully. Just as well; I would rather they not be farting into my seat cushions.

like you said, sort of a wash. given the situation, i'd lean towards the recommendation of getting one. i don't have an extended warranty on this brz, i did on my first one, and my tacoma has an extended warranty. knock on wood, nothing major has needed it.

if something major fails, it'll be worth arguing with them over it and proving the service history(without the dealer service record, they're more apt to deny it initially until you can come up with your service history records). but anything minor, up until this point i've owned mostly $1,000 clunkers, so i'm used to dealing with my own messes...

[Flarpswitch]

The first extended warranty that I ever got was for our 1989 Mazda MPV. We moved to another state 1,300 miles away the next year and at the same time the warranty company went bankrupt as so many 3rd Party companies did. If the extended coverage did not have Subaru's name on it, I would not touch it with a 10 foot pole.

edit: I forgot to add that the original selling dealer did say that if necessary, they would accommodate me on any problems that would have been covered by the extended plan. They were one of the few stand-up dealers in town, but again, they were 1,300 miles away.

[FastLap]

My 2 cents is... nope. Never worth it. Especially since you're on this forum and will be keeping up on known issues with the car. If you start to see people reporting some kind of major issue after the warranty expires simply sell the car. In my book it's not worth dealing with issues, especially if you had to pay extra for a warranty to fix them.

Considering you aren't putting many miles on the car that's even more reason to avoid the warranty. Hardly any problems occur with age versus mileage.

[BRZ549]

Originally Posted by Flarpswitch

.. I am debating if the 5/60K for $750 is worth it. I divide my miles between 3 vehicles so it is more likely that any car I have will age out before mileage. Any opinions?

Worth it? All depends on each owner's situation. Some considerations:

The Added Security warranty period will probably begin on your car's purchase date, in your case ten months ago not when you sign up for the warranty.

You already have a 5 yr/60K mile powertrain warranty. $750 buys you 2 years and 24K miles of additional coverage for other stuff.

The warranty is transferable (for a small fee) and can also be cancelled for a prorated refund. If i were in the market for a used car a manufacturer's warranty would make it a lot more attractive.

(By the way, the Added Security offer i got was 6 years/60,000 miles not 5 years/60,000 miles for $750).