<p>We recently bought a 2006 Volvo C40 that has only 9000 miles on it. The original warranty is schedule to expire in about a week. We are considering buying an extended warranty with UAL Administrators for 48 months/48,000 miles @ $2880 & are wondering if anyone has thoughts to share.</p>
<p>In the past, I have had extended warranties once on a Oldsmobile Ciera (used it to fix transmission just before it went out) & once on a Toyota Cienna (it also needed a transmission replacement just before the 7 year warranty expired).</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone for anything you can share in helping us make our choice.</p>
<p>I’ve never purchased an extended warranty on any car that I’ve owned. I am meticulous about maintenance though. If I did buy an extended warranty, I’d want a strong company behind it. Yeah, I know, AIG used to be a strong company.</p>
<p>There was a very good writeup on how insurance works in Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report. Must reading for anyone that buys insurance.</p>
<p>I’ve never purchased one and conventional wisdom says that they’re not a good deal. Of course, the insurance company is betting you’ll pay more for the policy than any repairs might cost and they have people whose job it is to determine these stats.</p>
<p>Everyone’s different but I wouldn’t buy it. A vehicle with 48K-57K miles on it is still a ‘baby’ IMO but I drive a car with hundreds of thousands of miles on it and my ‘new car’ (a 1998) has 166K or so miles on it (with no engine or tranny problems ever - a Dodge). </p>
<p>Better yet, if the vehicle is still under the factory warranty you might consider taking it to a dealer for a thorough, hopefully free, checkout so any issues can be handled under the factory warranty now (the dealers make money from doing the service so they likely wouldn’t try to dissuade you). Hopefully the vehicle has a true 9K miles on it because that’s abnormally low for a 2006 - it must have been driven only very occasionally. If not, that’s a concern but also a way you might not be able to collect in the future from the insurance company. Then make sure the vehicle receives appropriate maintenance with oil changes, tranny fluid changes, etc. Then you can spend some of that $2880 to do the occasional service like a water pump or power steering pump replacement if necessary. After the 4 years/48K miles you’ll likely have a good chunk of that $2880 left.</p>
<p>If you decide to get the insurance anyway, read the fine print carefully because I know that some of them basically exclude most of the items that are likely to fail. fyi - It would be very unusual for an engine or transmission to fail within that mileage range.</p>
<p>I bought a 60 month/60,000 mile extended warranty on my 2006 Toyota Corolla (with 32,000 miles on it) for $1679. Maybe I’ll never use it, but it was worth it to me for the peace of mind. We purchased an extended warranty for our last car (a Ford Escort) and the transmission went out, so in that case, it was worth every penny.</p>
<p>Yea, I’ve had an unusual run of bad luck with transmissions. I have no idea why. Also had to replace compressor just before warranty expired as well as fix a door lock on the van. Nearly all my major repairs on the cars were covered by the extended warranty.</p>
<p>The older cars we’ve acquired have had many problems that have often cost 4 figures. I guess I’m concerned about how expensive it is to repair cars with the imported parts and computers required. I don’t really know that much about these more recent model Volvos.</p>
<p>In Hawaii comressors on A/Cs tend to go out well before 7-8 years so I am assuming I’ll have that happen to me as well. Am asking them about whether I have to pay a diagnostic fee if I bring the car in to determine whether the problem is covered or not. Will see what they say in weighing my decision.</p>
<p>We got one on our 2002 VW that has served us well. Several expensive things were covered, although not all. Read the details. Recently the steering wheel was squeeking and straining, so I took the car in. I needed a ‘power steering rack’, I think the mechanic called it, and said he’d check to see if it was covered under the extended warranty. He called back to say it was covered, but VW couldn’t be sure where the warranty co. was sending the part from, and if I wanted a genuine re-conditioned VW part, I could pay out of pocket for that and in either case the labor was covered by the extended warranty. When I asked what the additional cost would be for the re-conditioned genuine VW part, he acted like he had to look it up (you call a customer and don’t have that info at your fingertips?) then came back on and told me it would cost $800. So I pretended to weigh whether I wanted to pay $800, or get a free repair (guaranteed for 12 months, and the car will still be under warranty). After all, I had a squeeky steering wheel, not a blow to the head.</p>
<p>When we bought a new car a year ago, we thought about getting the extended warranty, looked at the price and declined. It’s always a bet. If the car is totaled in an accident, the warranty is useless. We have always kept our cars for years, and that’s why we bought it for the VW. With the 2nd one off to college this fall, not buying the warranty was a way to save money in the moment. Whether it turns out to be a savings in the long run, we don’t know.</p>
<p>Check the Consumer Reports repair history averages for the model, make, etc. and make a decision. All you can get from individuals is anecdotal evidence, as in it saved me money, it didn’t save me money. Your experience is unique and the best you can do is guess based on data for the make & model.</p>
<p>We have owned 5 Volvos over the years. We recently got rid of one which had almost 200,000 miles on it. We’ve never had any type of engine/transmission problem with a Volvo.</p>
<p>We never lost money on the extended warranties. My husband is very hard on cars – drives a lot of miles – and keeps them until the bitter end. Your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>I extended my Prius warranty to 100k and I extended the warranty on the Mazda my D drives. It may not be a good investment but I feel better knowing it’s there.</p>
<p>Geico has a rider for mechanical breakdown insurance, kind of works like an extended warranty. Needed it only once for a window motor for my Camry, now at 110K and running strong. For my friend with a lemon of a Merc this service was used many times over, the Geico claims people knew him well…</p>