extended warrenty. I have a 2009 HHR and the 3 year/36,000 warrenty is almost expired. Have had the basic maintenance and oil changes every 5,000 miles. The vechile has not had any major repairs. I have read a number of articles on the pros and cons for obtaining the extended warrenty but am undecided. I plan on keeping the vechile for a few more years. Anyone have any advise??

 

to the forum fsc44!

A lot would depend on the particular extended warranty that you're looking at, and the cost involved. You have to pay very close attention to the fine print in any warranty, I've seen a few that promise to cover transmission repairs, but when you read the fine print they cover something like the transmission case.

Breaking the transmission case is not quite impossible, nail a large chunk of debris in the road for instance, but a mechanical failure that would break the case is nearly unheard of outside of competition use. So the case is covered, well big deal, you have an extended warranty that pays for the case, not the expensive guts and the labor involved to rebuild the transmission.

That's one example of things promised as covered, but not covered in the way you'd expect. You need to think of an extended warranty as paying for any future repairs in advance on an installment plan, with a discount of sorts. Since it sounds like your HHR is a nice dependable unit as the great majority of them are, personally I'd give an extended warranty a pass and continue doing routine service since that's the thing that will keep your vehicle in top condition anyway.

 

Welcome FSC44.

 

fsc44 welcome to the forum.

 

Extended warranties are a crap shoot and it is you betting you will need it and the house betting you won't. Odds are in the houses favor. These are profit centers for many dealers and companies that sell them.

That is not to say some have had them to good effect but most people spend more on them than they ever get out of them dollar value. They do get more piece of mind.

The way I see it is if you can afford to effect a repair it is best often to go with out it. Self insured is another term. Now if you have little savings and would have a hard time coming up with repair money it may not be a bad idea. I know many who live pay check to pay check it could be a blessing.

There is no right or wrong here and it is something each one of us has to decide. with most large items like the tranny and engine covered for 5 years and 100,000 miles it covers many of the high ticket items. Often you would have to have somthing else big or a lot of little things cover the cost of the plan.

While I have had these plans in the past I have never used one or needed it. To me it was wasted money. But on my In laws Cadillac it has been used to great effect with the issues on their AC system and starter.

I tend to play the odds and come out ahead. At this point I have the money to fix what ever and have saved on my last so many cars passing it up that I am money ahead even if I had to fix several major things.

Odds are you won't need it but there is always a pecentage of a change you might. It comes down on what makes you feel best and if you can afford anything out of pocket later if it does come up.

The way that I look at it is if you are good at keeping money in savings I would pass it up but if you are living pay check to pay check it might not hurt.

If you do buy one I would recomend the GM plan. Many of the others are good and bad. Too often many find they have a bad one when they need it. The GM plan works very well and is easy to claim on.

 

A lot depends on your circumstances....

We were buying our youngest daughter a (new) used car, and the particular vehicle we were looking at had over 75k miles on it. There were also known issues with the particular type of vehicle with high mileage on it. We thought it prudent to buy an extended warranty.

We did not buy the dealer's extended warranty, though. They wanted $3,500 on an $11,500 car for 36 months coverage. Instead, we went to our local credit union (who was not financing the car BTW..) where we got a better warrantly plan - for around $1,100.

So - if you decide to get a warranty plan, shop around, and definitely check out your local credit union. (And read the information, too, so that you know what will be covered, and under what circumstances.).

 

@fsc44, I have read your post about being undecided with an extended warranty. I can understand how this situation can be rather confusing.

Have you visited the General Motors Protection Plan site? This site offers a lot of information about the extended warranties that they offer.

Michelle, Chevrolet Customer Service

 

fsc44to the forum

 

I went with the GMPP major guard through GMoutlet.com, the local dealers wouldn't come close to their price.

Another alternative is to get a warranty through AAA. My coworker bought one and seemed like a really good deal for coverage up to 100,000 miles or 7 yrs from inservice date.