Cancelling car extended warranty

[abcboys]

has anyone ever cancelled a car extended warranty purchesed from the dealer. We purchased an 08 Sienna just yesterday and of course they "tricked" us into buying an extended warranty. At first he said it was only like $21/month and I said no. I asked him how much total it was and he said $2400. No way. Then he goes on to say he can lower our interest rate down and now it will only be $11/month on a 4 year term. Well, and extended warranty for only that much? That's a pretty good deal. OK.

Well, it wasn't 30 minutes later down the road I'm like wait a minute!! $2400 divided by 48 months is $50/month no matter how you look at it. The difference in price from the interest rate from like 6 to 4..5 was about $10/month. I feel like an idiot falling for his smooth sales tactics.

I'm not against the extended warranty totally. We had bought one on our last van 9 years ago and it did come in handy, with a/c and motor problems and more than paid for itself...but I think that was probably the exeption not the norm. I came home and researches this extended warranty company and I found nobody had anything good to say. All negative comments, so it sounds like if I ever needed it, it may be a pain. I'd rather put the money in savings and use as needed.

How can I cancel this warranty? We live an hour and half away from this dealership so just going back is not an easy option.. do I sent a letter to the warranty company? Do I send a letter to the dealer, could I just call someone??

 

[quentina]

I always buy them and I have always used them. I have had multiple Town ans Countries (every one I owned) need new transmissions....always covered

 

[ZoeBell]

My 22 year old son just bought his first brand spanking new car. We were talked into the extended warranty as well. The whole I'm thinking "say, no, say no". But we ended up taking it.

I'm looking at it as an extra insurance policy. I know my own car where I didn't take the extended "stuff" started happening after the warranty expired. So it will be nice to see his car covered after the traditional 3 years. Plus he's a young male driver who I'm sure down the road will be rough on the car. He'll also plan on keeping the car for many years to come.

But yeah, the sticker shock of the full price is still there.

 

[abcboys]

I'm not against the extended warranty totally. I figure its $600/year plus $100 deductible if it is covered. This is Compass-American Guardian Group insurance and I find nothing good about them online. Like they won't pay the full amount of the repair, won't get back with the customer etc. I know there are bad reviews about everything but I cannot find any GOOD reviews. Plus I don't like the feeling of getting "scammed" because the lender tried to tell me it was only an $11 extra a month but the total price as $2400. I'm pretty good at math and I don't know why that didn't send off a red flag. Plus the part about him saying he would turn in some "coupons" to get us a lower interest rate if we went with this warranty.

The car has over 80K miles so it would cover it for another 48K miles.

Do you think I should just keep it on there? My husband says don't worry about it but that is a lot of money to me and I hate feeling like I was tricked. I really should have known better but you know how that goes...

 

[lllovell]

It is a contract and there are laws to protect you if you change your mind within a set period of time. If you just bought the car yesterday, call first thing Monday morning and cancel it. Call the place where you bought the car and notify the extended warranty company and tell them you are canceling. If you wait, you will end up outside the cancellation period, so do it first thing on Monday.

I am sure they will give you grief and tell you it can't be done, but it can. Write them letters to the same effect and send them Monday as well - certified, return receipt. Check the fine print on that contract, this should be spelled out somewhere, though not easy to read or understand.

Good luck!

 

[Narnia_girl]

The dealer tried that exact tactic when we purchased our last car-only $10 a month--but when we asked more questions we came to the same conclusion as you.

You should read the fine print, you might have three days to cancel it; but you might also be able to cancel if after that time and just pay a prorated amount for this month.

Consumer Reports says an extended warranty is almost always a waste of money. Here is the link to their findings.

If you've done your research on the model and are confident in the expected reliability then you probably won't utilize the warranty; if you aren't sure of reliability, how about putting that same amount of money in a savings account for car repairs?

 

[scrapquitler]

has anyone ever cancelled a car extended warranty purchesed from the dealer. We purchased an 08 Sienna just yesterday and of course they "tricked" us into buying an extended warranty. At first he said it was only like $21/month and I said no. I asked him how much total it was and he said $2400. No way. Then he goes on to say he can lower our interest rate down and now it will only be $11/month on a 4 year term. Well, and extended warranty for only that much? That's a pretty good deal. OK.

Well, it wasn't 30 minutes later down the road I'm like wait a minute!! $2400 divided by 48 months is $50/month no matter how you look at it. The difference in price from the interest rate from like 6 to 4..5 was about $10/month. I feel like an idiot falling for his smooth sales tactics.

I'm not against the extended warranty totally. We had bought one on our last van 9 years ago and it did come in handy, with a/c and motor problems and more than paid for itself...but I think that was probably the exeption not the norm. I came home and researches this extended warranty company and I found nobody had anything good to say. All negative comments, so it sounds like if I ever needed it, it may be a pain. I'd rather put the money in savings and use as needed.

How can I cancel this warranty? We live an hour and half away from this dealership so just going back is not an easy option.. do I sent a letter to the warranty company? Do I send a letter to the dealer, could I just call someone??

We have always purchased the extended warranty FROM THE MANUFACTURER and have always gotten our money's worth out of it, and never had an issue using it and getting things covered with it (ours have always been with Ford and Subaru).

ETA: I just read one of your followup posts, and I see that this is a used car and the warranty you have purchased is not from the manufacturer. As far as I understand it, these are almost never a good deal. Call the dealer or check your paperwork very carefully for information about how to cancel the policy if that is what you decide to do.

 

[cvjw]

You might want to think about keeping it. We just traded in our 06 Sienna, and it had a power steering leak. Our mechanic said he had seen several other Siennas with the same exact leak. The price to fix it from our mechanic was $1800, and he charges much lower prices than the dealer.

 

[Princess_Nikki]

Honestly, I think it would depend on what brand of car you bought.
Is the brand you purchased renowned for transmission problems? Power steering problems? Brake issues? I did LOADS of research on that when looking at different brands of vehicles before I chose mine.

I have a Volkswagen, yes serious German engineering fan here, and I did NOT buy the extended warranty, and I'm glad I didn't. I didn't need to use it. It would have expired a year ago. Glad I saved that few thousand dollars. No cars are flawless, but I've had 4 VW's and haven't ever needed the extended warranty. Then again, I'm part of the VW Club forum and those guys have all the info I need to either fix the car myself or help my mechanic do it on the cheaper spectrum vs. dealership. Bought the warranty with VW #1 and since I didn't use it I lost the money I paid for it.

You might just be better off putting that extra $$ you would be paying to the warranty company into your own savings account.

All you should have to do is call the dealership first, let them know you want to cancel and they can either give you the number to call the company to cancel or take care of that for you. If they require you to come back to the dealership (to sign papers or something), I would say that would be worth the 1 hour drive to me.

 

[Jeff_G]

When I bought my sienna they offered the warranty and similar prices,($2400 then down to $1400) so I declined. There was at the time another dealership that would offer the same warranty for $560. This was the Toyota manufacturer's warranty. The sienna message boards were full of people purchasing the warranty this way. That dealer was making $20 over their "cost" on the warranty and you basically called up with your VIN number they verified it was still under the original manufacturers warranty and issues the extended policy. I was amazed there was that much markup in those.

I never ended up using the warranty, but sure felt better loosing $560 vs $2400.

Since you purchased a 2008 you probably are not getting a Toyota warranty but some other after market warranty. These are known for being very difficult to pay out, excluding many many items, and not being worth it. I would read the contract you signed for the warranty and see if you can cancel and what happens if you do.

Any time a dealer start talking about "per month" you need to stop them and tell them to give you the total price, never focus on per month.


Good luck!

 

[reneaterry]

We always buy an extended warranty. My rav4 had to have the catalytic converter replaced 3 times and then had a couple of other things that had to be replaced. It was worth it to us.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

What Many people don't know about extended warranty's is they can be "custom" to a degree.

The dealership will print out a "menu" Gold package covers 35 point, Silver covers 25 point and Bronze covers 15 points.

Say your own car insurance already covers half of the points listed under the Gold package, ask for the "double" covered items to be removed from the Gold Pack menu and you will recieve a lower price.

We did the EXACT same thing when we bought our brand new truck in Feb. We weren't totally against the extended warranty, we wanted to access the better package, but it had a LOT of double coverage we already get through our insurance. We asked for the double items to be taken off the "menu" and the price was almost half.

 

[tvguy]

I guess you need to try, and read the fine print, but I do know it's possible. I know people who have sold cars, had cars totaled. or stolen and stripped and the extended warranty company refunded either the entire amount if the warranty hadn't start yet, or the unused portion.

Practically speaking, the extended warranty companies would go out of business if they didn't know that what they are charging you is more than they will ever pay out. The real value you are buying with an extended warranty is peace of mind, knowing that some repairs will be covered if you do have a problem. I say some, because I discovered when the heater core went out on the used Dodge Spirit we bought, the Chrysler extended warranty very specifically excluded the heater core.
Having said that, when our kids went off to college, we bought them each used Hertz rental Taurus' and got 5 year 100,000 mile extended warranties. I bought peace of mind because they were both away at college and if they had car issues, it would be towed for free and fixed for free. In the last year the warranties have both expired, without having paid out a single cent. So all I got was that peace of mind for the $1,000 outlay per car for the warranty.

 

[luvmy3]

I just purchased a new car and turned down the extended warranty because my insurance has mechanical breakdown coverage for 7 years or 100,000 miles. It covers all parts and systems and I can get the car fixed anywhere I choose. Of course the manager was trying to tell me that their extended warranty was better, but the fact is I'm already paying for it though my insurance anyway.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

has anyone ever cancelled a car extended warranty purchesed from the dealer. We purchased an 08 Sienna just yesterday and of course they "tricked" us into buying an extended warranty . . .

1) You bought it, you will have to keep it.
2) Federal 3-day-rule only applies when the sale is AWAY from their prime location.
. . . example: encyclopedia in-home sales
. . . example: home repair sold at your house
3) You bought it at their prime location, so the sale is final.
4) And, no one is "tricked" into a warranty purchase.
5) You need to read all the terms and small print.
6) Remember, "if something looks to good to be true . . . "

 

[tvguy]

1) You bought it, you will have to keep it.
2) Federal 3-day-rule only applies when the sale is AWAY from their prime location.
. . . example: encyclopedia in-home sales
. . . example: home repair sold at your house
3) You bought it at their prime location, so the sale is final.
4) And, no one is "tricked" into a warranty purchase.
5) You need to read all the terms and small print.
6) Remember, "if something looks to good to be true . . . "

I think consumer laws may negate some of your points in some states. Since the warranty does not go into effect until the manufacturers warranty expires, the dealer and the warranty provider haven't provided any service, so it's not like you're bringing back something that has less value than when you bought it.
It depends on the dealership too. Some car dealers actually want happy customers who will come back and have their cars serviced there, and buy future cars there.

 

[abcboys]

The FAQ on the website says to cancel call the dealership where purchased so going to try to call them tomorrow.

From what I've read I should be able to cancel and they would either refund the money but it will probably be sent to the lienholder and be applied to the loan which is fine.

Yes, I do feel like I was "tricked" because he tried to tell me it only added $11/month which is a lie. Cannot even figure out where he was getting that figure??

 

[natfrac]

We recently went through something similar--the dealer told us we could only get the better interest rate with a bunch of add-ons. Given our credit scores are over 800, I couldn't believe he was trying to pull that nonsense. In the end, we ended up purchasing one of the add-ons and changed our minds once we got home and read reviews on the internet. We called the dealer and were able to cancel, but we had to go back to the dealership and resign the loan papers.

 

[disykat]

I agree that you were tricked. We were tricked into a warranty, but caught it before signing. We had declined and they put it on anyway. Very shady.

 

[SUSIEQ]

I just purchased a new car and turned down the extended warranty because my insurance has mechanical breakdown coverage for 7 years or 100,000 miles. It covers all parts and systems and I can get the car fixed anywhere I choose. Of course the manager was trying to tell me that their extended warranty was better, but the fact is I'm already paying for it though my insurance anyway.

What kind of insurance do you have? Thanks.


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