04 Rx330 Should I Buy The 3 Year Dealer Waranty?

[Westy]

Hi Everyone.

I am the proud new owner of a 04 RX330 :)... To cut to the chase, so, financing uses came up and I'm now getting a lower rate. I originally declined the dealerships 3 year waranty on the car but now we have to redo the contract and its making me re-think the waranty. It has 72,000 miles on it, one previous owner, clean title/car fax etc. The cost of the waranty is 35 dollars a month and appears to cover everything but normal maintenance. I am just hoping to get some input from fellow Lexus owners if this is something I should get or if others have gotten it, passed on it, problems, etc.

Thanks in advance for reading and for any input.

[Filehorse]

What price piece of mind??

If the Air Conditioner, transmission, or engine have any significant failures during the 3-year warranty period, that $1,260 commitment would be recovered with room to spare. That said, statistically you will never get your money back. I've got 166,000 miles on my 2000 RX300 and I didn't have that kind of failure until the transmission failed about 5,000 miles ago and for this transmission I was overdue. Lexus knows the failure rates for the high-dollar components and if the people with the green eye shades thought - statistically - that your repair costs would exceed that $1,260, you would NOT be getting a 3-year extended warranty for that price. At 72,000 miles you are long past the 'infant mortality' failures typically attributed to poor workmanship or components. What you're looking at now are end-of-life failures which should occur well north of 125,000 miles. I'm guessing this 3-year warranty also has a mileage component and is not an unlimited mileage contract. For what it's worth, I think you really need to decide if that 3-years peace of mind is really worth $1,260 considering that the odds of you getting it back are really quite slim. Will some people who buy that warranty be glad the did? Absolutely. Will most people who buy that warranty be glad they did. Absolutely not. Lexus has worked the bugs out of the high-dollar components/systems in the 12 or so years the RX has been in production. The days of engine sludge and premature planetary gear failures are pretty much history.

Assuming you change the oil every 5,000 miles, service the transmission at reasonable intervals and treat the vehicle with the respect it deserves, I think you're better off to just escrow that $35/month against the day you do have a repair that would have been covered by the warranty. I also think you'll have money in the bank at the end of the 3-year warranty period.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

[jaswood]

Some midwest dealer salespersons sell the same Toyota warrantly for <$800.