Our Subaru will be two years old in a few weeks. I had it in for the scheduled 30,000-mile service two days ago. I wouldn’t say I like that I’ve put this many miles on our car in two years, but that’s life. We live a fair distance from the city; I worked four days a week and made three extra trips downstate (not including the one for MIL’s funeral) to deal with all the estate stuff. Now that I’m no longer working, we aren’t putting near as many miles on our car.
With the rise of car prices, our Subaru now shows a guaranteed trade-in price of a smidge over $30,000. That seems crazy to me! No, we are not looking to trade our car in for another one. As it is, we hope to have it paid off by the end of the year. But what we have started to think about is adding Subaru’s extended warranty.
Extended warranties aren’t something we generally purchase, but given that we would like to drive this car for many years to come, we think it might be worthwhile. We discussed this with a mechanic friend (who has worked for Caterpillar for over 25 years), and he agreed. What we like about Subaru’s plan (we are looking at their Gold Plus) is how much it covers and that all repairs would be done at the dealership using genuine parts.
While I was waiting for the service, I talked with someone in the finance department. I told him we’ve been getting a lot of offers from Subaru in the mail lately. He said he would match whatever we’ve received. Interestingly, I’ve read online that prices for these warranties can vary from one dealership to another. We have no intention of financing the warranty, but I think we could potentially use paying cash as some leverage to reduce the price.
The warranty is fully transferable and is also something that we could cancel, at which point the refund would be prorated. The Gold Plus plan additionally has a rental car and towing allowance, plus a $500 trip interruption allowance and roadside assistance.
We are considering the ten-year 100,000-mile plan. We would need to purchase this before the factory warranty expires on our car. While a third-party warranty would likely be cheaper, we think the perks of what Subaru’s plan offers would make up for the difference.
Have you ever purchased an extended warranty for a car? If so, did you feel it was beneficial?
The only thing I know about extended car warranties is from the people calling me, telling me my car warranty has expired. So, NO, I know nothing. It does sound like a good thing, but buying from the dealer does sound like the best one to purchase.
Haha. We get those calls all the time. If my phone doesn’t catch it as being spam, I simply hang up.
Look up the experience of Suburu owners for your make & model year in Consumer Reports & see what type of repairs are most common & how much they cost. Then compare the estimated repair cost (+20% wiggle room) to the cost of the warranty. Could you set up a sinking fund for the estimated repairs costs? Any extra could go for a replacement car when the time came…
We actually did look into what others have experienced. For the most part, Subaru has a good track record. When I”ve looked on some forums, I look for the negative experiences first. Those are what make me nervous! Once our car is paid off, we intend to continue making payments to ourselves (will lower the payment a bit though) as we know Hubs will eventually need a new vehicle.
In the past I would never have but times have changed. Both in repair costs and what newer cars longevity is (all those computer parts!). My daughter bought a used Honda CRV that had under miles enough to purchase the warranty from dealer warranty about 2 years ago. (It has more than paid for itself but you never know). But never buy a second party warranty! There was a good article about them in last Sunday’s Minneapolis Tribune which you could probably google.
That’s where we are. Times have changed, and there is so much more that can go wrong with vehicles. You do take a chance buying an extended warranty, but I think there is also some peace of mind having it in place. We definitely would buy it through the dealership. Along with getting genuine parts, processing the claim is also much easier. Per the dealership, having a warranty also increases the car’s value as they know it has been maintained.
Thanks for the article. I’ll google it!
I have no experience with current extended warranties. We purchased one back in 1986 from the dealer when we bought our first brand new car and swore we would never buy one again. We’d had the car 6 months and the rear end went out. Covered under first warranty. Then it went out again (obviously something wrong with the car!) and the extended warranty wouldn’t cover it. Anything we ever tried to get fixed they said it was “normal wear and tear”. DH threw a complete fit with the dealer over the rear end going out a second time in like 2 years and they ended up covering it.
Your warranty you are looking at sounds a bit better and maybe they have changed since back in 1986, LOL.
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That does not sound like a good experience. Ugh. Subaru’s Gold Plus plan does cover wear and tear items for covered components, so that is yet another plus.
I don’t blame your DH for throwing a fit. Many people would accept what they are told, pretty much making the warranty all but useless.
We will likely go ahead and get the plan from the dealership. Repairs can add up quickly.