Honest Auto Extended Warranty Advice from an Insider

At ClarkHoward message forums, a lady provided some detailed advice regarding auto extended warranties. Of course you never can be sure about info from message forums. But her post seemed quite reasonable, and there was no apparent motive for her not to be honest. Her inside info comes from her husband who's a long-time mechanic who has done inspection work for the warranty companies. Here are her main points about extended warranties:

• Recommends extended warranties from the automakers (GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Hyundai, etc.)


• Warranty often pays for itself IF you plan on keeping the car for a long time


• If your car is still covered by the factory warranty, you can buy an extended warranty. Don't be rushed into it.


• Here's an important one. Shop around for dealers with the best price on an extended warranty from the automaker. She said that by calling around she found a price difference of $800 for identical Chrysler warranties.


• Beware of dealers trying to sell you a non-automaker warranty. Some dealers don't even market the automaker warranty, because there are after-market warranty companies that offer a higher profit for the dealer.


• Beware of extended warranties marked by banks and credit unions. Just like the dealers selling non-automaker warranties, these make them lots of money but they have the same risk as any other after-market warranty.