Extended warranties on new cars - waste of money or good?

[KrisM]

Do you buy these? My only new car purchase was my current Malibu Maxx and we declined the extra warranties. It's worked out fine, as I've only had 1 issue (trunk latch) in 6 years and 125,000 miles. Everything else I've done is just maintainence. We're buying a new Honda Odyssey and expect to keep it for more than 10 years. I know they have a great reputation for quality, but wonder if we should consider the warranty.

Experience is good :).

[wencit]

I think I read somewhere that manufacturer warranties are a waste of money, and that you'd be better off socking your money elsewhere. If you REALLY wanted to get one, you could probably buy a warranty from an independent guy and save some money. Personally, if I was purchasing a Honda, I would skip it and take my chances. Those cars have a reason they have a reputation for being so reliable. :)

[vludmilla]

I would never buy an extended warranty on a Honda. Never. I can't imagine that you would need it.

[JoyNChrist]

We don't buy extended warranties on anything (vehicles, appliances, tools, etc). Every bit of financial advice I've read says you're better off saving the money to use as needed.

[edurnemk]

I did once and I think it was a waste of money. I don't buy extended warranties anymore. For anything. Period. If I'm buying a good quality product, why would I have to pay more to make sure it keeps working?

I think consumer reports had an article once about it not being worthwhile.

[KrisM]

Glad to hear my gut was right on this :). Sometimes too much research does me in and I kept reading about people buying the extended warranty for 8 years for $1200. It got me wondering if we should. We've never bought it on anything in the past either.

Saved me some money...thanks!

[pharmjenn]

Extended warranties are a big money-maker for the dealer (or store for electronics/appliances etc) Most people never use them.
Safe your money

[DebbieJ]

We don't buy extended warranties on anything (vehicles, appliances, tools, etc). Every bit of financial advice I've read says you're better off saving the money to use as needed.

:yeahthat:

[Rainbows&Roses]

I think before labor costs got outrageous, not buying extended warranties was good advice, but since one repair call for a dishwasher can be equal to half or more of its value, I don't think extended warranties are necessarily a bad thing anymore.

All of our appliances are from Sears and we have used the warranty on every appliance but the fridge and stove (though we do take advantage of their yearly check-up/maintenance for every appliance) and it has been well worth it to extend coverage since we have had so many repairs and the check-up techs will often change out parts they know will break to prevent future service calls We have saved money each time we extended.

We got them on our cars too. We initially said no and then they lowered the price to $800 so we took it. We used that too when our Sienna decided to self-destruct.

So if you can get a good deal, I would say they are totally worth it.

[codex57]

I always check to see if a vehicle has a known problem. Odyssey is known to have transmission problems. I'd look further into whether it's generally covered under the powertrain warranty, but otherwise, it's not worth it on an Odyssey.

However, Honda is one of the very few that has an actual manufacturer backed extended warranty system. If you do some searching, it's actually not that expensive. Can be worth the peace of mind. I normally don't like extended warranties cuz if the company isn't bankrupt in a few years, they tend to make up crap for no good reason to deny the claim. A Honda extended warranty is less likely to have that happen.

[infocrazy]

We just bought a Honda Odyssey last year. We bought the extended warranty but from a website from a dealer in CA I think who was selling them discounted. myhondawarranty.com Roadside service comes with it too FYI.

I plan to drive this van into the ground so one issue is worth it to me. FWIW, if you don't use it, and still have time left, it IS transferrable to one new owner, OR you can cash in the prorated value. I had an Accord/CRV/Odyssey and I've always gotten them. I used it twice for the Accord but I had over 100k in 4 yrs on that, and never for the CRV but I was still in the manufacturer warranty when I sold it. I do think it helped put me about the bar when I sold it though.

Also, not sure where you are but we bought ours from Victory Honda in Plymouth and they offer a free lifetime powertrain warranty. It is one of those independent ones and has lots of fine print but hey it's there. We weren't going to get the HondaCare because of that, but changed our minds when I found that website and could get it discounted and decided why not.