Extended warranties: who has what?

[SwiftTone]

Just bought a new-to-me bike over the weekend. Its more sophisticated than my last bike with all its electronic wizardry and has some known issues previous model years that is supposed to be ironed out for my model year. It still makes me nervous so I'm shopping for extended warranty.

Who has experience with these, the claim process, etc etc. I've never bought extended warranty before so it's all new to me.

So far I've spoken to Max about Pinnacle, Dunbar about XtraRide, and GBM(New England Powersports) about their own extended warranty (which btw supposed to "mirror the factory warranty" which I have this in writing/email). Cost pretty much the same +/- $100.

What should I be looking for in the fine prints?

[ilikenapalm]

I know it's probably not what you want to hear, but you're probably better off putting whatever money you were going to spend on an extended warranty and sticking it in an interest bearing account for any potential down the road repairs.

The extended warranty companies make money by not paying claims.

[Trajiks9]

David what bike did you buy? I agree with above. Extended warranties are money not well spent.
There are too many ways for “them” to not cover, partially cover, if they find you modified or did anything to not follow factory maintenance schedule.

[SwiftTone]

David what bike did you buy? I agree with above. Extended warranties are money not well spent.
There are too many ways for “them” to not cover, partially cover, if they find you modified or did anything to not follow factory maintenance schedule.

Did you change your phone# Mark?

[Kurlon]

To put it another way, extended warranties are sold to make profit. The majority of people never get the cost of the warranty in actual repairs, and that's intentional.

[RyanNicholson]

IMHO it depends. I'd never bought one until I bought my truck a month or two ago. My reasoning was that I didn't have the time or space to do my own work on it if something went wrong in my current situation. My old truck I did. As my daily commuter, I can't afford to have it out of commission for long.

My bike is a different story and also has a lot of fancy/scary electronics that are prone to failure, but because I don't NEED it I'll have the time to address anything that comes up if/when they do (whether I do the work or take it to a shop). I don't think I'd buy a warranty for a bike for that reason, unless I was lucky enough to be traveling full time (or close) on it.

That said, they do sell them for profit and its highly calculated in their favor... much like a casino, some people make out, but the house wins in the long term.

[RandyO]

Worth it, depends... if yer the average rider doubtful you get anything out of it, but ride 40k/yr including winter slop, different story when yer wire harness catches cancer

with I had an extended warranty, the rep from Suzuki NA was even trying to figure a way to after the fact, retroactively purchasing a warranty for me

[Degsy]

To put it another way, extended warranties are sold to make profit. The majority of people never get the cost of the warranty in actual repairs, and that's intentional.

Intentional? No way!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

[Degsy]

I have bought them and I have turned them down. It's insurance and you're buying a policy. You shouldn't look upon it as winning or losing. Lie insurance, you really don't want to "win". If it buys you peace of mind, then it's worth it. Half of the warranty companies are just insurance agents anyway. they simply take out another policy on you at a negotiated cheaper rate and the profit margin is their right away.

One piece of advice I will give you about extended warranty is this. NEVER pay list price. There is a shit load of meat on that profit bone that the dealer is willing to reduce down to almost nothing in order to get a zero-overhead sale. The cost of the warranty is typically about 1/3 of what they try to sell it for.

[Degsy]

*like* not *lie*

This laptop doesn't let me edit posts for some reason.

[gixxer72]

One piece of advice I will give you about extended warranty is this. NEVER pay list price. There is a shit load of meat on that profit bone that the dealer is willing to reduce down to almost nothing in order to get a zero-overhead sale. The cost of the warranty is typically about 1/3 of what they try to sell it for.

This is true. They are negotiable on upfront cost.

I’ve bought the policies on used vehicles and didn’t use them at all or not enough to ‘justify’ the cost. However, there is some subjective ‘peace of mind’ value for some people. (I’m one of them)
I also bought one and it paid for itself 3 times over in covered repairs, that one was a life saver.
Review the policy carefully if you think you’re going to buy one!

[Degsy]

Here's one more piece of advice. Whenever you sell a vehicle with an extended warranty, you can cash the warranty in for the remainder of it's life. I traded in a Mercedes C300 and I happened to check the small print and send the proof to the dealer I bought the warranty from. In about a week I had a check for about $1400 or so in the mail. I think the warranty was about $2200 for 5 years and I had it about 18 months.

[Stromper]

I do all my work so no

I did buy it on my VAN when it was the company truck but never used it

If you do your own work then no, especially now with internet , ebay, youtube its easier then ever

[Degsy]

I do all my work so no

I did buy it on my VAN when it was the company truck but never used it

If you do your own work then no, especially now with internet , ebay, youtube its easier then ever

But parts cost

[number9]

But parts cost

So does your time...

[jhawley]

I've always looked at a bike as a toy so a warrenty was never a big deal, but i could see being worried about one of these euro bikes.

as for cars i never had one, but have ive also always had new cars. and i lease them for my wife so its never an issue.

For my new VW GLI i got back in the winter you bet your ass i brought the extended warranty. for 2 reasons one, with a new baby in the family, this car is going to be around for a while, and im not dealing with those repair bills on that timebomb.
2. i work in an infinti service dept. and i see it every day: your cpo warranty will only cover big shit that may break (engine/tranny). but with the manufacturers elite contract, its like having a new bumper to bumper (said in a Doug voice) warranty. that shit covers everything.

For example: Shit i see go wrong. ABS sensor shits the bed, the part is like 350 once you add in labor your looking at a $7-800 bill. Ive also seen cars blow through multiple ones in a short period of time.

for me in this role i do like extend warranty companies as they its view as a customer pay job, vs a warranty job so it pays better all around. but some are super easy to deal with and some are more through and want to send and inspector out. which is usually no good, as they will deny everything for the customer, but i get it they are just covering their ass. but i also see cars that are total shit heaps .

[carsick]

with the manufacturers elite contract, its like having a new bumper to bumper (said in a Doug voice) warranty. that shit covers everything.

For example: Shit i see go wrong. ABS sensor shits the bed, the part is like 350 once you add in labor your looking at a $7-800 bill. Ive also seen cars blow through multiple ones in a short period of time.

i do like extend warranty companies as they its view as a customer pay job, vs a warranty job so it pays better all around. but some are super easy to deal with and some are more through and want to send and inspector out. which is usually no good, as they will deny everything for the customer, but i get it they are just covering their ass.

Have you been through so much sales training that you actually believe these things? You sound like a shill for warranty companies. While I am not familiar with the extent of coverage on your "Manufacturer Elite" warranty, the aftermarket extended ones are criminally overpriced and underdelivered.

It's not okay to use fear and misinformation to sell a useless warranty.
I'll install all the ABS sensors you want at 800 each. Especially since you're cool with them going bad again.

[gixxer72]

Have you been through so much sales training that you actually believe these things? You sound like a shill for warranty companies. While I am not familiar with the extent of coverage on your "Manufacturer Elite" warranty, the aftermarket extended ones are criminally overpriced and underdelivered.

It's not okay to use fear and misinformation to sell a useless warranty.
I'll install all the ABS sensors you want at 800 each. Especially since you're cool with them going bad again.

The warranty type he is referencing is very much like the manufacturers bumper to bumper. I had one on a Jeep GC that replaced axles, differential, intake and other lesser parts. It was a long way from a ‘useless warranty’.

[OneCheekRider]

I currently have an extended warranty on my bike (Triumph Tiger Explorer 1200) and my car (2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee). I am not a mechanic and I rely on both vehicles heavily, so it is for piece of mind and I average the cost of the warranty over the number of years it covers. I negotiated both warranties. The bike warranty came out to less than $150/year and the Jeep warranty is 'lifetime' so I plan on having that average out to an even lower number. Both were offered by the manufacturer. Also, both are transferable so I figure if I need to quickly sell either, it would be appealing to the next buyer. This is the first time I've bought extended warranties so I will see if this is something I continue on any future cars/bikes. I haven't had to use either but with lots of life changes currently happening, I at least feel better knowing the vehicles are covered.

[Stoneman]

So does your time...

I always laugh at that statement. How does one place a value on their "spare" or "free" time. It's not like you bring it to work with you and do the repairs on company time, so you can't use that as a formula. Is there some magical formula as to what a DIY'er can use to quantify a calculation for this?

Again, doing your own repair work doesn't even remotely equate to what your wages or salary is in regards to what you do for a living.

[number9]

I always laugh at that statement. How does one place a value on their "spare" or "free" time. It's not like you bring it to work with you and do the repairs on company time, so you can't use that as a formula. Is there some magical formula as to what a DIY'er can use to quantify a calculation for this?

Again, doing your own repair work doesn't even remotely equate to what your wages or salary is in regards to what you do for a living.

There are absolutely times where I've taken time off work to do a project. Either around the house, on the car, or on the bike. In those cases, you can almost certainly look at the value of your wages (or the value of your foregone vacation) and see how you valued your time.

But even if I did the work in my downtime, you can still assign some kind of a value to it. Let's say I was working on the KTM and it took me a whole Saturday. The work I was doing would have cost a shop $200, for me it was virtually free. So, instead of paying $200, I spent 8 hours wrenching. Because I wasn't at work, I can't say that it "cost" me $25/hour. But think of it this way: if I asked you to come and work on my bike for $25/hour, would you do it? The answer is probably "no", even if you had a full-time job. In those 8 hours you could watch TV, go hunt or fish, or do a zillion other things instead of work on a bike just to "save" $200.

[RandyO]

There are absolutely times where I've taken time off work to do a project. Either around the house, on the car, or on the bike. In those cases, you can almost certainly look at the value of your wages (or the value of your foregone vacation) and see how you valued your time.

But even if I did the work in my downtime, you can still assign some kind of a value to it. Let's say I was working on the KTM and it took me a whole Saturday. The work I was doing would have cost a shop $200, for me it was virtually free. So, instead of paying $200, I spent 8 hours wrenching. Because I wasn't at work, I can't say that it "cost" me $25/hour. But think of it this way: if I asked you to come and work on my bike for $25/hour, would you do it? The answer is probably "no", even if you had a full-time job. In those 8 hours you could watch TV, go hunt or fish, or do a zillion other things instead of work on a bike just to "save" $200.

the way I look at it, is my time is valuable, I really have no "free" time, I currently have a 10 week backlog of work, I can make more money doing what I do professionally than what my dealer charges, it's a no brainer for me to pay to get my mechanical work done.....

it wasn't always that way, when I was an employee rather than the business owner. I recall a Chevy LUV truck I had back in the '70's it blew a head gasket (oil was getting into water and vice versa, not a combustion chamber leak) because it was "oil" it was not covered under the extended warranty I had.... BS I say, I cancelled my extended warranty, got most of my money back, bought a head gasket for $25± a 10mm allen socket for the bolts, and changed it myself in a couple hours... easy peasy, crossflow head design exhaust and intake were on opposite sides of head, just unhooked the exhaust pipe, fuel lines, wiring and throttle cable, picked the whole thing up as an assembly, replaced the gasket, torqued the head down, done in less than 2 hrs, dealer wanted to charge me $1k with my extended warranty

read the fine print

[nhbubba]

If I had no "free" time I would never post on NESR.

[jasnmar]

If I had no "free" time I would never post on NESR.

Building, yo.

[dankatz]

I have never bought an extended warranty for a bike and agree with the top comments about it being somewhat a false reassurance/insurance to some degree. Definitely profitable for the dealer.

So, what did you buy? Trying to guess...either Aprilia or BMW ;-)