Harbor Freght Extended Warranties

[MaximumMini]

Anyone have any stories of the quality of service you got from purchasing an extended warranty on a Harbor Freight item like generators, water pumps or pressure washers etc?

 

[OilStained]

Extended warranties are usually a big money maker for retailers, let alone HF. I’m interested to know the experiences others have had as well.

Isn’t there a formula that can be used to quickly determine if it’s worth it or not?

 

[PandaBear]

Extended warranties are usually a big money maker for retailers, let alone HF. I’m interested to know the experiences others have had as well.

Isn’t there a formula that can be used to quickly determine if it’s worth it or not?

Typically it is 1) if that product has a high and known failure rate that the internet knows, 2) you cannot afford the risk of it failing. Also typically if you need something that is known to be reliable you buy a reputable brand instead of harbor freight then add extended warranty on it.

 

[oilboy123]

What if you think the HF is the reputable brand?

 

[Lubener]

Many places offer the employee who sells an extended warranty a commission, so there is an incentive to do so.

 

[rijndael]

HF used to have commissions for the extended warranties and membership sales. I'm not sure if they still do. Some stores were pretty aggressive with their employees about out, with very tough goals for each shift, others didn't seem to care.

 

[PWMDMD]

Considering my Predator 9500 threw a connecting rod at 50 hours and 3 years despite meticulous care? I'd consider it. HF's warranty is already super short for these generators and in talking to the repair guy in town, they aren't very reliable. He has seen a bunch lose compression and as of a few weeks ago he had a bunch with bad inverter boards and he was getting the run around on parts availability.

 

[PWMDMD]

Extended warranties are usually a big money maker for retailers, let alone HF. I’m interested to know the experiences others have had as well.

Isn’t there a formula that can be used to quickly determine if it’s worth it or not?

It's an insurance policy so you have to also factor in "peace of mind" into the equation. When people say it's a big money maker they usually mean not worth it. All I can say is I've never had an extended warranty NOT payout more than I bought it for including my current 2020 Tundra that will be getting a whole new front differential soon because the needle bearing is going at 68k miles.