Lexus Ls460 Extended Warranty

[Redfoxtrot]

I have recently purchased a new 2008 Lexus LS460 (Luxury Model w/all the upgrades) and the dealer has offered to sell me an "extended warranty" (7 years/100,000 miles) for an additional $2,900.

I called a couple of my engineer customers to ask for their advice. One said, "Lexus is the best built car in the world" and recommended against an extended warranty. The other engineer said he purchased the extended warranty only because of all the extremely complicated electronics. I even contacted a client who owns a dealership and who describes himself as a car doctor in the sense that he "listens to a lot of complaining." He recommended having an extended warranty.

Yet, I'm still open to opinions. Please share yours with me if you have one. Since the new LS460 has so many new features and/or options, does it mean that one is well advised to have an extended warranty. I know a lot of planning and time went into the design of this particular vehicle before it was released to the public but, in a sense, might it be possible that the class of 2008 is in the initial "test mode" for the long-run reliability of the Lexus LS460?

Redfoxtrot

[jlawr]

IMO Extended Warranties are NOT worth it. Mostly because the things you are trying to protect: engine, transmission are already covered by 70k mile warranty. And the things you'd like to protect: timing belt, water pump are usually NOT covered under the warranty because they're maintenance items. $2,900.00 will buy you a lot of repairs without the extended warranty, IF you ever need them. Skip the extended warranty.

The only exception I can think of, is to protect all four struts on the air suspension system. Repair on each strut is about $1,500.00, but even if you had to repair two out of your pocket -- you'd still break even. This only applies to the "L" model -- there is no air suspension on the SWB.

Four years is plenty of time to fix what ever might go wrong in the initial warranty period. Just do the oil changes at least every 7,500 miles and do the required maintenance service every 30k miles (every 5-15k miles is NOT necessary) and your LS can last 300k miles easy.

[SW03ES]

I would buy the warranty, but not now. You can buy the Lexus factory extended warranty all the way up until the original 4 year 50k warranty runs out, so take your time and shop around. You can and will find a better deal than that.

IMO Extended Warranties are NOT worth it. Mostly because the things you are trying to protect: engine, transmission are already covered by 70k mile warranty. And the things you'd like to protect: timing belt, water pump are usually NOT covered under the warranty because they're maintenance items. $2,900.00 will buy you a lot of repairs without the extended warranty, IF you ever need them. Skip the extended warranty.

I disagree that the things you are trying to protect are the engine and transmission. THOSE are the things I wouldn't worry about protecting.

To me the bigger fear is an electronic failure, the nav screen for instance (Thats a quick $5k.). $2900 won't buy you many Lexus repairs.

I bought the extended warranty on my ES and it paid for itself twofold, and its not nearly as complex as the LS460.

And BTW, everything covered under the factory warranty is covered under the platinum extended warranty, including water pump or timing belt failures.