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1. Dozens of aftermarket warranty companies go belly up annually.
2. Before you sign on the dotted line, get a copy of the complete warranty and read every para.
3. Then take a copy of it to 2 or 3 service mgrs that you know and ask for their input. They too will be very biased like I am.
My findings on certain ext warrs:
a. one warr covered the water pump, but not the pulley. I reminded warr sales people that the mechanic would have to use heavy equipment to install a new pulley (non covered) on my covered water pump. That force would then damage the water pump bearing. Warr company relented after that and paid for pump.
2. one warr covered the transmission except for electronic switches. Heck, today's transmissions have anywhere from 20 to 40 electronic switches in them.
3. one warr covered exhaust manifolds, but not the bolts that held manifold on. Those bolts occasionally break with age.
4. Almost all warrs cover actual breakage of a part. In other words, if an engine becomes noisy, the warr does not kick in until a part BREAKS. Ford and GM take the same approach. One of the Ford V8s (in trucks) is having noisy lifter problems. Ford is telling owners that the phaser is noisy, but it is not covered until something breaks. Also, if even the Ford mechanics break a spark plug in the same Ford truck engine, my contacts at Ford tell me that the customer will be responsible for plug replacement--sometimes as high as $2000.
5. one warr refuses to cover anything related to a recall or TSB (technical service bulletin). Keep in mind that there are thousands of TSBs related to every car. I wonder if that is not the typical escape clause.
6. I used to have a Toyota dealer certify my Oldsmobiles. I paid a stiff $1350 ten years ago, but I had a comfort level.
Just my biased opinions, right or wrong.
2. Before you sign on the dotted line, get a copy of the complete warranty and read every para.
3. Then take a copy of it to 2 or 3 service mgrs that you know and ask for their input. They too will be very biased like I am.
My findings on certain ext warrs:
a. one warr covered the water pump, but not the pulley. I reminded warr sales people that the mechanic would have to use heavy equipment to install a new pulley (non covered) on my covered water pump. That force would then damage the water pump bearing. Warr company relented after that and paid for pump.
2. one warr covered the transmission except for electronic switches. Heck, today's transmissions have anywhere from 20 to 40 electronic switches in them.
3. one warr covered exhaust manifolds, but not the bolts that held manifold on. Those bolts occasionally break with age.
4. Almost all warrs cover actual breakage of a part. In other words, if an engine becomes noisy, the warr does not kick in until a part BREAKS. Ford and GM take the same approach. One of the Ford V8s (in trucks) is having noisy lifter problems. Ford is telling owners that the phaser is noisy, but it is not covered until something breaks. Also, if even the Ford mechanics break a spark plug in the same Ford truck engine, my contacts at Ford tell me that the customer will be responsible for plug replacement--sometimes as high as $2000.
5. one warr refuses to cover anything related to a recall or TSB (technical service bulletin). Keep in mind that there are thousands of TSBs related to every car. I wonder if that is not the typical escape clause.
6. I used to have a Toyota dealer certify my Oldsmobiles. I paid a stiff $1350 ten years ago, but I had a comfort level.
Just my biased opinions, right or wrong.
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