Final Notice to Extend Your Factory Warranty Coverage?

Every few months I receive a letter in the mail trying to sell me an extended auto warranty. I received one last month from Dealer Services of Wentzville, MO 63385. The envelope as you can see here makes it look like it's an important notice from my car dealer or automaker. The first line of the letter states:

This letter is to inform you that this is your FINAL NOTICE to extend the factory warranty coverage on your vehicle.

Twice on the page it states that this offer expires in 72 hours. This is underlined and in bold letters.

As this MSNBC article describes, I'm not the only one receiving these kinds of offers. Some of those interviewed by this article have reported receiving couple of these notices a week, and even worse, some have reported receiving non-stop calls from these companies.

According to the article, many warranty companies are located near St. Louis. The Missouri Attorney General is now investigating many of the companies. In addition to deceptive advertising and high-pressure sales tactics, customers have reported problems getting the companies to cover their repairs.

It turns out that Dealer Services is in fact located 25 miles northwest of St. Louis. I was able to find the company listed in the St. Louis Better Business Bureau website. In addition to Dealer Services, the company goes by National Auto Warranty Services Inc and NAWS. Their website is at www.enaws.com. It has an unsatisfactory record with the BBB with a total of 424 complaints in the last 36 months.

The reporter of the MSNBC article reports on his experience responding to one of these companies. The one he replied to was Vehicle Services in St. Peters, MO. He describes the high pressure sales tactics they used. He was quoted a policy price of $3,110 for a 4-year coverage. The company refused to send out the paperwork without receiving a down payment.

As you would expect a consumer advocate interviewed by the reporter was appalled that anyone would be pressured into buying an extended service contract without seeing all the details in writing. He pointed out that he could get a similar extended warranty at the car dealership for $1,795.

So don't be pressured into any extended warranty. I would recommend against buying any from unsolicited mailings. Review my blog to see the various auto warranty alternatives. I described some of these alternatives in this previous post. Also, in that post, I have a link to a service where you can get instant auto warranty quotes without having to provide any personal info.