dartanian

Sorry to hear you've had problems. At what mileage did they start happening?

I can't personally do any of those tests cause I'm buying it long distance, but I can have an inspection done. I did have them walk around the vehicle and send me photos if there were any things I wasn't certain about and had them tell me as much as they know and viewed the Carfax reports on both and the GMVIS on one of them so far.

Doctuh

While extended warranties are not usually a good idea, the $395 for certified would be a deal-maker for me. That 12 month bumper-to-bumper warranty can substitute for the need for inspection, and you get the 5 year / 100k power train warranty in a 2006 - the only way you can get it that year. How much does this cost with the GM certification? And, again, I take it these are automatic transmission cars?

dartanian

Yes they are both automatics. The 24k mile one I can buy a GMPP - the best level of it, which would cost around $900 for another 3 years or 36k more miles. The 48k one is the $395 for the certification - they haven't given me a price on a GMPP on that one yet.

The thing I keep coming back to is that the one with 48k miles, although more attractive to me overall, I get it back here and it's gonna have 50 thousand dang miles on it in no time. The 24k one, I can drive for a year and it will still only be in the 30k mile area (I drive about 6k miles a year).

Doctuh

If you are only putting on 6K miles per year, and you are planning to keep it 10 years or more, the mileage difference pales in comparison to having more options to enjoy for that length of time. The $395 for GM certification, with the 12/12 bumper-to-bumper and 5/100 on a car that comes with NO WARRANTY now, and is good without question at any GM dealer, seems like a better deal than any other warranty. The addon warranties, though I'm not familiar with GMPP, start with a limited list of things that they include. Everything else is NOT included, and furthermore FAILURE OF COVERED PART CAUSED BY A NON COVERED PART IS NOT INCLUDED. That last statement is the cause of many disputes and disappointed customers. The bumper-to-bumper warranty starts by covering EVERYTHING not explicitly excluded, and then deletes only consumable or wear-and-tear items that would not be expected to cause secondary failure of other parts.

Let me know what you decide, and what the final cost would be for all your purchase choices. Here is my experience: I bought my 2007 2LT in 1/10 with 57k miles, so I have plenty of time on the power train warranty and no bumper-to-bumper coverage. I found that I had a broken remote mirror switch, broken sunroof rail and wind deflector, a hose had fallen off the washer fluid reservior so the rear washer didn't work, misaligned (noisy) rear hatch, rattle in the dash board and four worn-out tires when I fully inspected it. I have paid to have all but the sunroof fixed or replaced without incident. However, NOTHING ELSE HAS BROKEN since I got the car 5K miles ago.

dartanian

Yikes. How much have you spent on all the stuff that wasn't covered and how much more will it be once you get the sunroof fixed?

The GMPP with the best 'Major Guard' option can be $50 or $100 deductible and is apparently exactly like the bumper to bumper one you get: http://www.gmpp-online.com/?page=gmpp_major_guard

Doctuh

The remote mirror switch replacement was done earlier and separately, and it cost about $50 for the part plus $65 for an hour of labor including removing the door panel. The other repairs were lumped in with the cost of intalling a lot of my aftermarket modifications. Total cost for the big work was $635, but I suspect the aftermarket installation prices were high, and the repair costs were artificially lowered to keep the total from being even higher than it was. So, I can't give you meaningful information there. The sunroof repair will cost less than I have seen it anywhere else: 4 hours labor @ $65 plus tax, $15 for rails, and $52-100 for a wind deflector. The tires and lifetime alignment were done together and came to about $700 including road hazard protection. I could have gotten cheaper cost but good quality tires at Sam's Club, but I travel. Sam's Club has limited hours and the tires are special order. Having had tires blow out in strange cities on Sunday, I prefer to get towed into Firestone which is open 7 days a week and has many more locations. The last time my S2000 needed emergency tires when I was traveling and they were not in stock, Firestone split the cost with me to get them shipped in overnight!