Subaru Extended Warranty

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TTK

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I usually never purchase extended warranties, but I just make keep this new Forester for a very long time. I am considering either the genuine Subaru Classic or Gold + 7 year, 100k extended warranty. I know...it is a gamble on whether I would get my money back in repairs, but was wondering what you think about these manufacturer extended warranties. I have found a good price(comparatively speaking) on these... $1100 for Gold +, and $865 for the Classic. The Classic seems to cover about all failures that would be considered major, with the Gold + covering everything except normal wear items. What say you???
 
There are many opinions on both sides of the argument. Personally i buy them if the price is right, its from the manufacturer itself and offers some real protection after the regular warranty is over.

$1100 is not a bad price, the Subaru Gold is a good plan. One small repair these days can burn through $1100 quickly.
 
Definitely shop around for the extended warranties-you might find a different dealer willing to give you a good deal- check the Subaru forums.
 
Originally Posted By: tdpark
Definitely shop around for the extended warranties-you might find a different dealer willing to give you a good deal- check the Subaru forums.


Oh, I have...the dealer that gave me the really good price came from a Forum member who purchased his Gold + from the same dealer.

Seems like these Extended Warranties are similar to "Hedge Funds".
laugh.gif
 
You should be able to get a better price that.

For reference, this past summer I purchased a CPO 2010 Honda Accord with 32k miles. I bought the 7 year, 120K mile Honda Care Extended Warranty. Everything covered, except wear.

I paid approximately $750.

I knew the girl selling the warranty at the dealership, she said the dealership's cost was just shy of $600.
 
Originally Posted By: Phishin
You should be able to get a better price that.

For reference, this past summer I purchased a CPO 2010 Honda Accord with 32k miles. I bought the 7 year, 120K mile Honda Care Extended Warranty. Everything covered, except wear.

I paid approximately $750.

I knew the girl selling the warranty at the dealership, she said the dealership's cost was just shy of $600.


I hear you, but different vehicles and types. The price I quoted is the lowest I have seen anywhere, so far for this vehicle.
 
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Our 2003 Subaru Legacy wagon only required approx. $300 in warrantable repairs in 8 years of service. It went 153K miles. Had we needed a head gasket replacement, then the bill would have exceeded what I would have paid for the warranty.

That's our most recent track record. Based on our previous experience, I didn't purchase an extended warranty for our 2011 Outback.
 
Originally Posted By: JayhawkRoy
Our 2003 Subaru Legacy wagon only required approx. $300 in warrantable repairs in 8 years of service. It went 153K miles. Had we needed a head gasket replacement, then the bill would have exceeded what I would have paid for the warranty.

That's our most recent track record. Based on our previous experience, I didn't purchase an extended warranty for our 2011 Outback.


Thanks. Subaru's are generally reliable vehicles, so that makes this decision more difficult. If I wait until close to the 3 year, 36K bumper-to-bumper warranty expiration....that might be better, but the cost usually goes up over time. On the other hand I would have a better confirmation to how long I want to keep the vehicle. The vehicle currently only has 4300 miles on it.
 
I bought the Gold warranty (7 years, 100K). I've always felt like the devil you know is better than the one you don't. You know this warranty costs $1,100, you have no idea how much you could incur in repair costs.
 
I bought our Honda Care warranty for around $800. With the bells and whistles a lot of these vehicles have it makes sense to me. $2000 for a touchscreen stereo media hub? Bad backup camera? Faulty lane sensors? Too much could go wrong not to get it if the price is right.
 
That's really cheap for a factory-backed warranty, even if it has deductibles. I only see those warranties as "catastrophic problem" protection, fwiw.
 
I would only buy a manufacturer warranty nothing aftermarket or dealer back ever, they are garbage.

My experience with Subaru WRX and Legacy GT is they never had a covered repair in the first 100k miles and I never bought on of these.

That all being said you need a repair twice the warranty cost to start to feel like its a good deal.

My wife/I self warranty by simply saving an extra $150/month into a special account for everything related to our autos.
 
Bought my Toyota platinum warranty for my Venza for $800, down from the $2500 they wanted. Reason was I pointed out that a dealer in the Midwest gave me pricing and you can either match it or lose out on it.

You can haggle em down without question
 
I think the factory warranties can be a good deal. There's an active group of internet dealers selling Ford warranties at a discount. I did not know they were around for the other brands.

Long term, the odds are against you. It has to be that way, or no one would sell them. Still, $1100 for a 7 yr. warranty is like a prepaid $600 repair which is almost inevitable in that length of time--the other $500 is the insurance part. That's good value, especially if the warranty is transferable to someone who buys your car from you.

The only thing I would worry about is that some of these Japanese cars have fairly intricate maintenance schedules which practically require you to get the car serviced there for the length of the warranty.
 
I've never purchased a warranty and never will. It's a waste of money in all but a few rare circumstances.

On top of actually purchasing a warranty, many folks are financing the added expense, increasing the amount they're paying in interest and the monthly payment amount.

I keep an auto fund available and in a financial account that pays me interest. It's liquid enough so that I can access it right away if needed and I add a monthly "payment" to it instead of going deep into debt. I use this fund to purchase new/newer vehicles and fund any potential repairs. Since I've never needed it for major repairs and the fund continues to grow, when it reaches a certain point I roll some of it over into longer term investments. I make the car payments, which many people finance, to myself rather than to a bank. Back when we were first married and were both driving old, paid for vehicles we began making monthly car payments to ourselves without buying newer cars. Once we saved up enough for new vehicles we got rid of the old cars, purchased newer one with our cash fund, and continued to make payments to ourselves. This gives me the ability to keep they money that I'd otherwise be doling out to someone else working for me.

I've never had to make a repair to a vehicle that would make a purchased extended warranty financially viable.
 
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
I think the factory warranties can be a good deal. There's an active group of internet dealers selling Ford warranties at a discount. I did not know they were around for the other brands.

Long term, the odds are against you. It has to be that way, or no one would sell them. Still, $1100 for a 7 yr. warranty is like a prepaid $600 repair which is almost inevitable in that length of time--the other $500 is the insurance part. That's good value, especially if the warranty is transferable to someone who buys your car from you.

The only thing I would worry about is that some of these Japanese cars have fairly intricate maintenance schedules which practically require you to get the car serviced there for the length of the warranty.


Good points. Yes, it is transferable to a new owner, with a $75 transfer fee. Some states do not allow the transfer fee, but allow the transfer. Also, the available transfer would probably be of some value if a trade occurred at say, 70k miles if I chose to do that.

The maintenance requirements are only what would be required to maintain the original warranty, but, of course the maintenance must be extended the full duration, which I would do anyway.
 
Originally Posted By: TTK
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
I think the factory warranties can be a good deal. There's an active group of internet dealers selling Ford warranties at a discount. I did not know they were around for the other brands.

Long term, the odds are against you. It has to be that way, or no one would sell them. Still, $1100 for a 7 yr. warranty is like a prepaid $600 repair which is almost inevitable in that length of time--the other $500 is the insurance part. That's good value, especially if the warranty is transferable to someone who buys your car from you.

The only thing I would worry about is that some of these Japanese cars have fairly intricate maintenance schedules which practically require you to get the car serviced there for the length of the warranty.


Good points. Yes, it is transferable to a new owner, with a $75 transfer fee. Some states do not allow the transfer fee, but allow the transfer. Also, the available transfer would probably be of some value if a trade occurred at say, 70k miles if I chose to do that.

The maintenance requirements are only what would be required to maintain the original warranty, but, of course the maintenance must be extended the full duration, which I would do anyway.


Well, if you are the sort of customer to trade in the car before the warranty runs out, that's a big advantage. A used car on Craigslist with say, 15K and a year of FACTORY warranty left would command a pretty serious premium. It would probably add 300 bucks or so, anyway.
 
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