Extended Warranties

mattandi

Did you buy this warranty through your LR dealer?
If I read your post correctly, the total out of pocket to you is $1060.00. Is that right? (charging you both a deductible for the visit and deductibles for each item)
Who is servicing the car? Have they spoken with Easy Care?

Advice? Stay away from third party warranties. Stick with warranties backed by the manufacturers if you want one.

mattandi

So, a $160 diag fee for each item? :surprise:

Sounding more like your beef should be with the service provider, not the warranty provider.

fandiguy

I agree, stay away from third party warranties, unless they have "exclusionary" coverage-meaning they actually list all the things that AREN'T covered. If its not on the list, its covered and you only pay the deductible, nothing more.

traindriver

I will evaluate how trouble-prone MY car is during the factory warranty and then buy an extended warranty based upon the actual data I have of the exact vehicle that I plan to keep beyond the regular warranty.

Go back and read my post again. After you have driven your car and considered your actual data, why would you want to keep a problematic car? Why spend the money for an EW on a car that you feel you need an EW on? Seems like you are addressing the symptoms rather than the original problem. Get rid of the car (and its problems)

cpr3

Approximately, yes that is the figure. The dealer who sold me the service contract/EW is the person servicing the car. I am not aware one way or another if they have spoken with EC.

I see the wisdom of your post. I had thought that I had been cautious in entering into this contract, ferreting out the details. But apparently the language games have been played = I have been played.

cpr3

The car was rare and had less than 18,000 mi. on it, and had been " one of the best of these cars" the mechanic had seen yet. It had had minimal problems.... and perhaps still does. However, the srvice/dealer is charging me for each discreet item which they have to "diagnose." Had I known that ( specially given my specific queries) , I would have forgone the EW - due to the simple math result of a cost benefit analysis.

cpr3

Absolutely!

dtownfb

I'm glad you had a good experience with EasyCare and thank you for sharing. After reading about the problems with 3rd party extended warranties (bankruptcy, not paying for certain repairs, etc), I only recommend manufactured based extended warranties. Most of the time, I recommend not buying one as the odds are that you will not get your money's worth. sort of like making a living gambling. The odds are always in the house's favor.

mitzij

Service contracts will only pay 'usual and customary charges' in relation to labor (and parts). They generally pay between .3 hr and .5 hr. for diagnosis. They also have a limit on the labor rate they will pay and the labor time for repairs is dictated by their books. It sounds like your dealer has a whacked out labor rate or wants some serious diagnosis time and you're getting stuck with the difference between what EasyCare will pay and what the service department wants to charge. Your contract will have verbage in it to this effect: we pay what we want, you are responsible for the difference. They also have the right to refuse future repairs if they approve a repair, then the car does not get fixed because you don't want to pay the difference.

With a GM-backed contract, the dealer is contractually obligated to go by GM's rules. They have to take what GM pays, and they can't charge the customer anything more than their deductible.

You've run into one of those service contract problems that I keep harping about.
Sorry about your luck.

deltheking

Hi, I just got a used 2003 Dodge Durango SUV today.
I want to get an extended warranty on that.
Which company has the best extended warranty?Are 3rd party warranties better than Dealer/Factory warranties?Is Warrantydirect.com a reliable agency?They have some nice deals with pretty decent coverage.Any other suggestions?
Thanks .

dtownfb

I would start with Dodge to see what they offer. As far as third party goes, it's a crap shoot. You won't find too many people on this forum who will recommend a third party warranty, myself included. I have read about too many going out of business or giving folks hard times about repairs. That doesn't mean there aren't any good ones out there, just I don't know who they are.

i believe Edmunds has a couple of companies who advertise on their front page. Give them a try. If not, hopefully someone will chime in with a recommendation.

mitzij

Edmunds advertised for Warranty Gold back in the day-I wouldn't go by their advertising as an indicator of quality. A simple search will let you learn about the Warranty Gold debacle.

wlbrown9

Most manufacturer backed warranties require that you still be under the original or extended warranty to extend. A warranty on a 5-6 year old vehicle will probably be expensive if it actually covers anything at all.

dtownfb

Well aware of this but I highly doubt there are manufacturer backed warranties that the OP will qualify for. I don't like 3rd party warranties but it was the only thing I could think of to give the OP.

jipster

Sent an email for a estimate on an extended warranty the other day. Next day a rep. from Warranty Direct calls back wanting my business. Says my vehicle is about to hit 50k miles, so I may want to buy now before the rates would increase once it hits 50k mile mark. I'll pass... too much $$$.

lucywest

I actually found this site tonight because I was wondering whether other people were as stunned as I am about how well Easycare treats you. I didn't want to buy the thing, and my bf said I was stupid to, but they talked me into it since my car has expensive parts. Then we broke down last week and they not only paid the whole thing (except the $50 deductible), they paid for towing and a rental car for the whole time! I don't even know if they say they'll do taht in the contract (I've lost my copy). My service guy was even amazed and said that Easycare did all of this without one bit of argument about the price or the parts or anything and that no other service contract he's seen is like that. And my repair was way more than I paid for the contract if I remember right. It's pretty cool to think that now any other repairs are just like free money.

mitzij

What was your repair, and how much did you pay for your service contract?

jimbres

Don't you suspect that "lucywest" just might be a troll? "She" joined Edmunds only yesterday, & in "her" very first (& so far only) post, "she" praises EasyCare as the best thing to come down the road since sliced bread.

Kirstie_H

It is rather a coincidence that she is posting from the same city where EasyCare is located, I'll say that Well... then people can judge for themselves and take "her" advice for what it's worth.

If that IS the case, uncool - do you want to buy a service from a company so desperate that they have to send an employee in to autmotive forums to pose as a satisfied customer?

sky23213

I sniffed the same thing about three weeks ago, when this elaborated pitch for Easy Care started. See my post 2324:

Nice double/triple play...
by 22rams, awayalot and onebook1611. I'm willing to bet 50.00 honest bucks (payable to Edmund's) that those three would be traced to the same company*. All single posts, same-day posters, hinting of, pitching and praising/defending EasyCare (the new kid on the block). Well, at least they did their homework and figured out that just a simple pitch wouldn't easily fly here - too many educated posters, most of them pros in the industry.
Nice try, guys, B+ for ingenuity.

*I've seen Hosts do that...

What do you think, Kirstie?

tidester

What do you think, Kirstie?

I'm sure Kirstie will agree that most people can see through a charade. And I agree with the sentiments she expressed in her last posting.

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

mikefm58

LMAO, nice try "Lucy". How long have you been working for Easycare?

jipster

How long have you been working for Easycare?

I don't think a trained professional in advertising could have written a better recommendation. Nice job Lucy! I'm on my way to buy some Easycare.

mitzij

Yes.
My first draft was: TROLL!! In the Dungeon!

Thought you oughta know...

malibu5

INTERSTATE STAR from Interstate National Dealer Services Inc., Uniondale NY I took my car to Firestone for one wheel bearing. Firestone would not do the repair because the cheap skate INTERSTATE STAR would not pay them enough money to do the job. So I took my car to a small garage and cheap skate INTERSTATE STAR charged me more than the 100.00 deductible because they did not give this garage enough money to reduce my deductible to exactly 100.00. I purchased the best car warranty that they offer, "The Platinum Plan." Getting the trouble codes out of the computer, This cost DOES NOT go toward your 100.00 deductible. Wiring and connectors NOT covered due to corrosion. INTERSTATE STAR goes out of their way to "NOT PAY" for services or "NOT PAY ENOUGH" for services. DO NOT GET SCREWED LIKE I DID ! Its sold at FORD car dealers in Western New York. They need to change the name to INTERSCREWED FALLING STAR.

mikefm58

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. There are many of us here with similar experiences, which is why we would never recommend anything but a manufacturer backed warranty.

hondaden

I have to make a rather quick decision to determine whether I keep the Chrysler Extended Bumper to Bumper Warranty ("Wrap Warranty") or go with Geico's Mechanical Breakdown Insurance.

The situation is my wife and I bought two new Dodges a month apart a. Both vehicles came with the factory lifetime power train warranty, and we ended up purchasing the lifetime bumper to bumper "wrap" warranties for $2500 each. We've been watching closely the problem with Chrysler and the talk they aren't doing well finacially and could go into bankruptcy protection. That creates the uncertainty of where we would stand with our warranties from Chrysler. We are still under the cancel period for both, and have just learned about Geico's Mechanical Breakdown Insurance where we have both vehicles insured.

The differences are the Chrysler warranty is $100 deductible and the Geico is $250. Also the Geico policy is 7 years 100k whichever comes first, whereas the Chrysler is lifetime (or as long as we own the vehilce or Chrysler is there to back it up).

The savings would be tremendous for the Geico policy, and we would get back our money (significant) on the Chrysler warranties.

My concerns are is the Geico MBI the value it represents? And since it is tied to our auto policy would that effect our regular auto policy rates for any mechanical claims? i.e. higher rates, risk of being dropped, etc..?

We're happy with the our local Dodge service department, and there seems to be a comfort zone keeping the warranty with Chrysler, but it's a big cost, and add the uncertainty of Chrysler being sold off by Cerberus or their Chrysler portion being put under bankruptcy which possibly puts our Chrysler warranties at risk.

What would you do, and why? Thanks for any help/opinions.

fordfool

Cancel the two warranties and place the $5000 in a savings account. That will almost certainly cover any repairs you might need.

You already have a three year bumper-to-bumper warranty and a lifetime power train warranty so any engine and transmission problems are covered for life anyway.

The dealership may fight tooth-and-nail to hang on to that $5000 (it's mostly profit), but do not take no for an answer. Good luck.

mikefm58

Do NOT go with GEICO or any 3rd party warranty for that matter. Let me repeat myself, do NOT go with GEICO or any 3rd party warranty. Five grand is a big chunk of change and can pay for a lot of repairs. Since you never have to worry about the drive train due to the unlimited lieftime warranty, that five grand will go even further.

Do what the previous poster stated, take the money out and put it in a savings account. I would not worry one bit about Chrysler going poof and leaving all the current owners of Chrysler vehicles high and dry.

One more time, do not go with GEICO or any 3rd party warranty.

hondaden

Thanks FF & Mike. That was my gut feeling too. I will be going to the dealer tomorrow to file for the cancellation and refund.

dtownfb

The GEICO Mechanical Breakdown Insurance is not your traditional extended warranty. It is an option in your insurance policy and is only a few dollars a month. It's not necessary though if the OP has the Chrysler Lifetime Powertrain Warranty.

hondaden

Well, I decided to add the Geico coverage since it was quite inexpensive to have. For the Ram it's $15.90 per 6 months (policy interval) and the Durnago is $14.90 per 6 months. For both vehicles that's only $61.60 for the year. Now I understand this may go up slightly each year until the vehicles pass 7 year or 100k miles whichever occurs first. Even so, assuming it cost $80 per average year for both vehicles over 7 years time, the total is only $560.00 versus $5,000.00.

And GMAC is currently offering a 4.35% 1 -year CD that I can earn off that extra $5k as others have pointed out.

Thanks for the input!

mikefm58

I decided to Google "GEICO Mechanical Breakdown Insurance" since at least it is backed by a more reputable company than some 3rd party after market warranty company, and assuming the information I read is accurate, here's some points I came up with.

- There is a $250 deductible for every covered repair.

- It won't kick in at all on anything for the drive train since you have an unlimited drive train warranty. Normal wearable parts like tires, brakes, fluids, filters, etc. aren't covered but that is normal for any ext. warranty.

- It won't kick in for the first 3yrs/36K miles and then is only renewable for the first 7yrs/100K miles.

So the 7 yr. cost to you is $560 plus $250 for each covered repair and only non-drive train parts are covered by GEICO. I haven't owned a Chrylser product in years but they don't have a stellar reputation so I would bet you'll maybe have a couple covered repairs for each vehicle, pushing the cost up to $1560.

Definitely a lot less than $5K, so if it gives you the peace of mind, then it's worth it. But I still stand by my original advice.

hondaden

Thanks Mike. I did cancel both Chrysler warranties. There was also a $50 cancellation fee for each warranty, so take an additional -$100 of my total savings.

I still feel good about getting the Geico warranties, and had to act fast as I was approaching their 15k mileage, 15 month time from purchase limitation. Considering part costs and especially shop labor rates, that $250 could easily be surpassed on a single repair. That's the piece of mind I don't mid paying for. And should Chrysler file for bankruptcy and risk the loss of my powertrain warranty (should that ever actually happen), Geico would at least still be there for me.

randy4806

I looked into a refund today for my auto warranty today and what they told me was that the money / differance will go to where you financed the car and the finance place where you financed the car will send the differance to you and it will take 30 DAYS. I dont like these auto warranty places, it is supposed to be "convienant", but I say Nope.

hondaden

Randy, great point about if it's financed. Yes, if you financed the warranty through your auto loan, the refund issued from the the warranty comes is applied to reduce the principle of the auto loan by the refund amount. I just found out that is how it is working with my cancellation. Not much of a benefit for me really in terms of interest savings as I have a 0% loan from Chrysler on both vehicles, but refund nonetheless.

At least with Geico it's "PAYGO" (pass as you go) if you have the monthly payment option set-up.

sixgun95

06 BMW 525 - Dealer called me today to ask if I was interested in an extended warranty since I was over 50K miles ad the factory one was terminated. Car has 51K miles on it. I already have the extended maintenance agreement that extends the maintenance only coverage to 100k or 6 years. The extended warranty will do the same, 6yrs or 100K..."maintenance only". He said the warranty from BMW will cost about 2K, but others exist. I purchased the car in Apr 05'. Basically this will buy me 2.5 yrs of warranty. I plan on keeping the car for atleast that long. So is the extended warranty worth the expense? If you think it is worth it, any other reputable warranty companies out there?

hondaden

Sixgun, I can't speak for the BMW warranty, but can only offer to you that I cancelled my extended warranty from the manufacturer and added Mechanical Breakdown Insurance to my Geico Auto policy. Maybe you can ask your insurance carrier if they offer M.B.I. coverage like Geico does. For my Ram Truck it is currently only $15.90 per month and covers all areas of the vehicle that is not under factory warranty. There is a $250 deductible, but with a BMW like yours I am sure that most part and labor rrepairs would exceed that amount in most cases. But I don't think you would be elible for Geico's coverage as they require the vehicle be 15 months or less old, and have less than 15k miles. They also reuire the vehicle be titled to the original owner.

$2k seems like a lot of money for 2.5yr./49k mileage coverage, but then again, maybe for a BMW it isn't, Good luck.

lucywest

Wow, apparently you can't say anything nice about a company or people get really suspicious. I always try to post when I something goes really well. I do that a lot on epinions when I love something and no one is mean there. I didn't know I was in the same city, but that's cool to find out!

mikefm58

Go back to your Easy Care cubicle. It is pretty pathetic for your company to put out troll postings like yours.

devonnaw

I have heard great things about Easycare and this came from my BMW dealership. I contacted my service rep and asked if he could recommend a warranty company to me as mine has recently expired and he reccomended Easycase. However, I can't seem to find anyplace that I can purchase the warranty from. If anyone know, please let me know.

hondaden

Maybe I am living in a vacuum, but I have never heard of easycare. I would only want to use a company that is backed by alot of cash, and if I couldn't find one, I'd stay with the manufacturer's backed warranty.

Kirstie_H

No one's trying to be mean... however, when someone signs up for an account and immediately makes a post profusely praising a warranty company, 9 times out of 10 we've found out that that person is an employee posing as a satisfied customer. If you're not - great! In cases like these, we allow members to decide the validity of the posted information for themselves.

ronaldc

Just purchased a 2005 Chrysler Crossfire with 16,000 miles. Both the 3/36000 a 7/70000 warranty have expired(third owner). Dealer wants $1495 Chrysler warranty that covers powertrain componemts along with air conditioning and steering. it will also cost me 150.00 inspection fee.It is called Powertrain Care Plus. I think this price is too high. I think it will be better to self insure and put money in the bank. I would appreciate any thoughts on this before i make a costly mistake one way or another.

yurpilotspeakn

I found the identical factory warranty that my local Nissan dealer offered me for my '08 Altima Coupe. I wound up buying a 5 year, 100k Nissan Factory Gold Preferred Warranty with a $0 deductible for 1299.00. The dealer wanted $1869.00 for the same plan! I was a little skeptical at first about dealing with someone over the internet, but must say the transaction went off without a hitch. The seller has excellent feedback and is also a Nissan dealer as well. They seemed legit and even list a phone number so I decided to take a chance. They delivered everything they said they would and I couldn't be happier.

dtownfb

The only other option you may have is to do an online search for Chrysler extended warranties. Some times online dealers are cheaper.

mikefm58

Really? Sounds great, please post more detailed information about where we all can get the same warranty. I'd love to hear about it.

loulou17

Not a good deal.... for 16K miles you can get a full coverage esc for close to that price! send your e mail and I can point you to a couple companies.

mikefm58

SPAM SPAM SPAM

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sky23213

I wonder how many more Easycare pushers will manage to litter this discussion before someone puts an end to this.
Out of the five or six so far loulou is the most direct one.
The dude put his direct line, Jeez!