Extended Warranty...Worth the price?

showme66

Just bought a 2013 Ford EXP LTD with 30,000 miles. Since we are almost out of mfg's warranty and we travel quite a bit, we were thinking of doing the extended warranty offered by our dealership. The warranty would be with CNA National Z series, factory wrapped plus for 3 years/75,000. Any comments would be welcome.

stever

A few months back I got an '09 minivan with 125,000 miles on it. Put 8,000 miles on it already, mostly on road trips. I'd rather save my money and address issues as they come up rather than deal with a third party warranty company. Heard too many stories over the years about coverage issues, and attempts to get work done or reimbursed. The BBB rating for this company isn't so hot.

How much do they want for the extended warranty?

Kirstie_H

This is always a tough question, because if you don't buy the extended warranty and something breaks, you're going to think that you should have purchased it, because the repair would be covered. However, as Steve mentioned, there are multitude tales of third-party extended coverage being a total waste. No matter how thoroughly you read the contract, you're not likely to spot all of the potential loopholes that you could encounter when trying to get work covered. Radiator has a hole? Oh, you must have hit something. Not covered. Something snapped? Looks like it had a speck of rust on it, and that's the cause. Rust-related issues aren't covered. And trying to appeal these "wiggle outs" is usually unsuccessful.

Additionally, you mention you travel a lot. That indicates the possibility of an away-from-home breakdown, and these contracts usually have restrictions on which shops you can use.

My opinion is that they are rarely worthwhile, and that over a lifetime of vehicle ownership, you will generally come out ahead by saving back money yourself for unexpected repairs.

showme66

Thanks for the comments. They are asking $1400 for the 3/75000 warranty. Think we are going to skip it and hope for the best. We can do repairs out of pocket.

stever

I've seen worse price quotes but I personally would pass. If you have issues before the rest of the factory warranty runs out you can reconsider then. Good luck!