Warranty America

[sherlock1]

Just bought the wife a 2000 Lexus RX300 with 75,000 miles on it (she lets me drive it to church on Sundays but otherwise I don't get to touch it). Paid a private party $13,100 for it. Thankfully the seller didn't check NADA before she quoted me the price. I had been testing a 1999 with 112,000 miles and the dealer was asking $11,300 for it. This after they had to put in a new fly wheel because the previous dealer failed to replace the engine/transmission dowels when they replaced the motor last year, thereby causing the fly wheel to break due to the torque between the motor and transmission (or so that's what was explained to me by a local transmission shop owner who owns a 2004). Yeah, I know, red flags popping up everywhere. Found the 2000 when I stalked a lady driving it in a local parking lot and asked how she liked it. She mentioned that she loved it but was seriously considering trading it in for a new Toyota Highlander. I asked if she would consider selling it outright and the rest as they say, is history.

Anyway, my bank would only offer me a 12,000 mile/12 month warranty on it for around $2,500. No thanks. Did some checking on the internet and got a postcard from another company. The postcard was from Warranty America. After about a half hour on the phone with them I got an offer of a 100,000 mile/5 year power train warranty for $150.00 down and $76.00/mo for 24 months interest free= $1,974. They gave me an extended right of rescinsion for 30 days so I can research the company a little more.

Does anybody have any experiences with this warranty company (good or bad) that they can let me in on? Or does anybody have a suggestion for an extended warranty company that doesn't cost as much as the car itself that they have had good luck with?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[kevinmary]

I think extended warranty is good for your car.you can go for it without any second thought.

[smooth1]

I think I would call the Lexus dealership you think you would like to take the car to for regular services and ask them about an extended warrentee and what they recomend. that way you don't have any "approval" issues and coverage problems as they work with their warrentee companies on a regular basis. Let me give you an example of how some of these "extended warrentees" can screw you. Let's say you take the car in and they "hear" a problem in the motor. First, the warrentee may not cover "exploratory" diagnostics. So you will have to pay out of pocket to find out what the problem is. Then let's say that they find the problem and it is a covered part, like a flywheel. Well, Lexus may charge 1800 bucks for the flywheel, but the warrentee payout for that part might be only 1200. So, you'll have to pay the difference. Also, most policies only cover up to about 60 bucks an hour for labor. Lexus charges considerably more than that. Again, you'll have to pay the difference. Call Lexus and ask to speak with a service tech and I'm sure they will tell you about some horror stories in using the wrong extended warrentee company. And then there is the "interpretation" clause of what is exactly covered and not covered. I've seen alot of policy holders screaming on the phone to there warrentee company "What do you mean that's not covered!"

[CUMan]

I would be very wary of any car warranty that is not issued by one of the auto manufacturers. There have been a lot of horror stories involving these companies, especially the difficulty folks have getting claims paid. Also, I would suspect that if you have repairs done that are covered by the warranty, the repair shop will want you to pay for the repairs and then collect from the warranty company.

If a company issues you a warranty and then files bankruptcy, you become a creditor in their bankruptcy case. The odds of your collecting anything would not be great.