Cancelling car extended warranty

[OklahomaTourist]

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.

The effective date of the warranty has no bearing at all on the date of the contract itself. A contract is formed when there are two things: A meeting of the minds (the terms, in this case the purchase of a warranty) and consideration (money).

The dealer may be willing to cancel it, but I surely see nothing that compels them to do so.

This whole scenario is another excellent reason not to finance through a dealer. Their closers are very well trained in getting people to buy things they had no intention of purchasing.

For our last new vehicle purchase ('08 Sienna), which was five years ago, I had my financing through my credit union ready to go when I picked it up. The dealer told me he could beat my rate, and I was certain he couldn't, but I was willing to listen. Every pitch he offered was tied to a non-Toyota warranty, and every warranty was tied to a hareum-scarum "are you willing to take this risk" threat.

After the third or fourth iteration of this nonsense, I told him, "look, I know you've got a job to do, and you have to try to sell me this warranty, and I have absolutely no interest in it at all." And he replied, "well, I can't beat your rate if you won't buy a warranty." And I handed him my draft for the vehicle and drove it home.

People have to realize that car dealers aren't your friend, they're not your buddy, but they (especially closers) are trained to see you as a profit center, with a singular objective of extracting as much money from you as possible on every possible transaction. They don't sell those third-party warranties because they plan to lose money.

Same thing happened to me years and years ago on another purchase, where I was in the closer's office and he was giving me all manner of hard-sell on all manner of garbage, seat protectant, goldfish polish, you name it, and realizing he has a job to do, I was willing to listen for a time. When it should have been apparent I wasn't interested, but he persisted, I told him "look, I know you've got a job to do, but understand that I'm not buying one single thing you're selling, and meanwhile there are a dozen people on that sales floor who will. The quicker you get me out of here, the quicker you can start milking them."

He had me out of his office in five minutes.

 

[Jeff_G]

When the closer starts pushing the warranty, stand up and loudly exclaim "if your vehicle is so unreliable that I need to purchase this warranty, perhaps I will go purchase a (insert competitors vehicle here) instead!"

They will get you out of there quickly...

 

[tvguy]

The effective date of the warranty has no bearing at all on the date of the contract itself. A contract is formed when there are two things: A meeting of the minds (the terms, in this case the purchase of a warranty) and consideration (money).
. .

I respectfully disagree. I'm not an attorney, and it has been over 35 years since I took business law. I agree, a meeting of the minds, consideration form one side AND service* from the other. So that's why I would argue the effective date of the warranty is the entire reason this warranty could be canceled, one party has not yet held up their end of the contract.

*Looked it up, the warrant would be the consideration from the other side. So that would seem to be an out since the dealer has not yet provided their consideration.

 

[angwill]

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!

This is what I would do. If I did not I would forever be upset I got ripped off and you did for that price and that company. I got an extra 4 hears and 50,000 mile extended warranty on a Toyota from Toyota for $700

 

[Golf4food]

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.

As someone who works in the warranty and repair industry I can say with 100% certainty that VWs are some of the most repaired and expensive to repair vehicles that we cover. Glad your experience has been good, but there's no way on earth you could get me to buy a VW (or BMW) after all the data I've seen - certainly not without a warranty.



Most warranties should be cancellable. It should be in your paperwork. If the dealership is not forthcoming then call the warranty provider directly. There is probably a cancellation request form as part of your paperwork - it is generally required by most states.

If you financed the warranty into your loan just be aware that any refund will go to the Lender and applied to the back-end of your loan, you will not receive a check to go spend as you wish.


Warranties and service contracts are like insurance policies in a sense. If you don't use them they were a waste. If you need them, they frequently are a bargain vs. actual repair/replacement costs. Just like homeowners or auto insurance.

And as for being a profit center - all customers of all businesses are profit centers to the business. Period. That's how business works, its how places stay in business. If you buy a good or service from someone else you will pay a premium above actual cost. That doesn't make an entire industry "bad".

 

[luvmy3]

What kind of insurance do you have? Thanks.


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Geico

 

[Praying Colonel]

It is NOT necessarily true that OP is stuck with the extended "warranty."*

Review the contract; many of the ones I've reviewed over the years contain cancellation terms which permit you to cancel within X number of days to receive a 100% refund, or a pro rata refund if you cancel outside that time period.




*--I put "warranty" in quotes because the vast majority of these are not warranties, but pre-paid service contracts. They often contain deductibles and exclusions. It is always important to read these contracts before signing so you know what you are (or are not) getting.

 

[OklahomaTourist]

I respectfully disagree. I'm not an attorney, and it has been over 35 years since I took business law. I agree, a meeting of the minds, consideration form one side AND service* from the other. So that's why I would argue the effective date of the warranty is the entire reason this warranty could be canceled, one party has not yet held up their end of the contract.

*Looked it up, the warrant would be the consideration from the other side. So that would seem to be an out since the dealer has not yet provided their consideration.

I am not an attorney, either, but I'll also respectfully disagree with you because the transaction, as the PP stated, was for a car and the warranty he was "tricked" into buying. Sounds to me it was a single transaction - he handed over some cash, and they gave him a car, and I suspect some paperwork that included something like a certificate that says "your warranty starts on date X." The car alone sure sounds to me like an exchange of consideration to make everything nice and binding. The start date of the warranty is incidental.

Obviously, since neither of is a lawyer, we're debating in a vacuum, but keep in mind that dealerships (well, their attorneys) know their legal forms and relevant laws all too well, and are trained to hook unwitting customers every day. I suspect they know they've got a binding contract, as they've probably done the same thing dozens of times before. They may want to cancel the warranty out of goodwill, but I seriously doubt it.

 

[tvguy]

I am not an attorney, either, but I'll also respectfully disagree with you because the transaction, as the PP stated, was for a car and the warranty he was "tricked" into buying. Sounds to me it was a single transaction - he handed over some cash, and they gave him a car, and I suspect some paperwork that included something like a certificate that says "your warranty starts on date X." The car alone sure sounds to me like an exchange of consideration to make everything nice and binding. The start date of the warranty is incidental.

Obviously, since neither of is a lawyer, we're debating in a vacuum, but keep in mind that dealerships (well, their attorneys) know their legal forms and relevant laws all too well, and are trained to hook unwitting customers every day. I suspect they know they've got a binding contract, as they've probably done the same thing dozens of times before. They may want to cancel the warranty out of goodwill, but I seriously doubt it.

Like I posted earlier, everyone I know who had a catastrophic loss of a vehicle before the extended warranty kicked in got a refund without hesitation.
I would also remind folks, you can wait until just before your factory warranty expires to buy the extended warranty. At least with the dealers I dealt with, when I declined an extended warranty, they said that they would honor the price quoted if I changed my mind and decided just before the factory warranty expired I did want the extended warranty. Last extended warranty I bought, I bought Online from a dealer on the east. They were selling the same manufacturers warranty for less than any dealer here.