Monday, August 29, 2022
HomeDebt FreeAre car warranties a wise investment?

Are car warranties a wise investment?


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I mentioned recently that I purchased Princess a car. And I am very pleased with it. (She is too.) But boy, that experience was so stressful. Let me give you the short version.

Right around her 18th birthday, I found an AMAZING deal on a Honda Civic on Carvana. It wasn’t a “Carvana” car evidently but from one of their partners. (I’m not sure if this is the right terminology.) But they said they could deliver it on her birthday so I bit the bullet and purchased it.

I set up a birthday lunch with the family and some of her friends and was so excited to do this.

Her Birthday

HOURS before it was to be delivered. After over a month of waiting for the day to arrive. They sent me a message that it was delayed. So I printed some pictures to give her at the birthday lunch and as disappointed as I was, I figured another week’s wait was worth it.

Delivery Day

Then a day before the now rescheduled delivery date…they called again and said it would be delayed another MONTH! What!!! I was so mad. And she was so sad. Their explanation, well, frankly, it didn’t ring true to me at all. I cancelled the order.

The Perfect Car

I got online and started the search again. Thankfully, it didn’t take long to find another car. It was the killer deal that I thought we had found. But it is a great car.

Now the real question…care warranties? Thoughts?

I ended up purchasing a 5 year/100,000 mile extended warranty for the car from CarMax. Essentially if anything goes wrong mechanically during the warranty period, she just has to take it to a Honda certified mechanic (dealership, etc.) and pay a $50 “co-pay” for it to be fixed. It cost about $1,300. And Princess has been told that any repairs, etc. going forward are her responsibility.

And in this case, it has already paid for itself…her A/C condenser went out over the summer, around an $800 repair. (I know this because I had to replace mine this summer too and I didn’t have a warranty.) She paid $50.

So what do you think? Extended warranty or no? It was my first time ever doing it. And I really only did it because I wanted any repairs to be within reach for my “broke” college student over the next few years.

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