Get the Best Extended Car Warranty
The majority of car dealer extended warranties are not as good as certain highly reputable online warranty companies.
Dealers often will not tell you what kind of car warranty contract they are selling you – which may well be a mechanical breakdown contract, which is not as good as a wear & tear contract. They also do not cover overheating.
Don’t leave a dealer thinking that you have auto warranty coverage protecting you from everything that can happen to the car.
Check the warranty contract before you buy it!
Some auto warranties have so many clauses that you will be lucky if half your claims are paid.
Car dealer warranty exclusions are printed in the policy book; unfortunately it arrives after you have bought your car.
Some car dealers will tell you that you have buy a car warranty to qualify for the loan. If they pressure you, keep in mind all extended car warranties can be refunded 100% in 30 days if no claims have been made.
Insist on seeing the policy before you buy it.
In fact, get an extended auto warranty quote before you go to the dealer, and then compare.
Car dealers make a big markup above what they pay for extended warranty contracts. One study found that among a sample of contracts it examined, backed by a major manufacturer, 92 percent of the customers paid at least $200 above dealer cost, 24 percent paid at least $600 above dealer cost, and three percent paid at least $900 above dealer cost.
Your best option is to bypass the middlema and buy your warranty direct from one of the dependable extended vehicle warranty companies online. By doing this you will save a lot of money and may well get a much better car warranty.
Online vehicle warranty companies will email you a PDF file of the warranty for you to review.
Double Warranty Coverage?
Extended vehicle warranty coverage is just an extension of the factory warranty, not double coverage. The manufacturer’s warranty has been factored into your price quote.
A frequent misunderstanding is that by holding off buying an extended warranty, you will get coverage for a longer time.
That doesn’t work though, because the cost for a car warranty will increase as the car ages and mileage adds up.
You will be offered the longest terms and the lowest rates for newer vehicles with lower mileage.
The more factory warranty you have remaining, the lower the cost and greater the length of the warranty extension. In other words, you are paying for tomorrow’s coverage at today’s rates.