Used Cars Extended Warranties

[lisabarr]

So, yesterday I bought a 2007, fully loaded, Hyundai Santa Fe Limited. Still have some warranty left but want to get an extended warranty and didn't want to go thru the dealer.
I traded in my paid-for Jaguar (which my soon to be ex was in love with and could do the repairs, I can't) and got a simply smoking deal.
Anyone have some suggestions? Recommendations? Cost experience?

 

[Dax]

I dont have any advice, but congratz on your new car...I just bought a 2009 Hyundia Accent, and I it. My next car will be a Santa Fe! My car still has its original warrenty on it as well, til 60,000.

 

[Jeff_G]

I found that all the extended warranties offered by third parties were worthless, they all had a long list of exclusions, stringent maintenance requirements and many had a pre warranty mechanical check out that often you had to pay for. They are expensive and cover very little.

Now I did research manufacturer offered extended warranties some manufacturers will offer what is really a third party warranty and some will offer an actual manufacturer backed extended warranty.

I did purchase the extended manufacture warranty for a new vehicle that I ended up never using. This was a Toyota warranty offered by Toyota and only available if the vehicle was under the original manufacturer warranty. I did not purchase through my dealer which wanted $3,500 I went to another Toyota dealer on the internet and got it for $540 (see how much markup there is). The manufacturer covered everything except wear and tear cosmetic items, fluids, belts, brake pads etc, but all mechanical items. It also offered towing reimbursement, a vacation reimbursement, and rental car… So at the time I believed it to be a good deal. We never had to use it, so if I had to do it over again I would not purchase this in the future.

In order for a warranty company ( for any warranty) to operate and stay in business, over the long haul on average they must take in more money than they pay out…

My advice take what you will pay on an extended warranty and put it into a savings account for a rainy day.

 

[tinatark]

Check with the dealer to see if this is true with Hyundai, my experience has been as the manufacturer warranty is about to expire, you should start getting letters from them asking you to buy an extended warranty.

 

[marie1203]

We had a Hyundai Sonata and after driving it 2 years we trade it in. The car was terrible. It drove well the first 6 months and then everything started breaking including small pieces of plastic in the interior. While it was great we didn't have to spend money fixing it, it was a pain to have to go and get it fix. After that we will never buy a Hyundai again. Same thing happen to my mom.

 

[Praise God]

I would recommend checking out consumer reports. You can get a one month online subscription to it or go to the library to look at the older ones.
Generally from what I remember, they don't recommend them, but they would also give you an idea of what pit falls to watch out for since you said you definitely want one. As one of the earlier responses mentioned, some have lots of exclusions. Most have high mark ups.
Some make you pay up front and wait for reimbursement.