Poll and Question. Are extended warranties worth it on a Prius?

The Gen III Prius has proven to be extremely reliable- you're covered for free from bumper to bumper for 36mo/36k miles and the expensive hybrid components are covered for a minimum of 8yrs/100k mi.... for free.

 

like any insurance, it's insurance. most people won't need it, otherwise, it wouldn't be financially viable. it's really more of a peace of mind thing for people who want to control as much of their life as they can. in other words, i would rather pay x now, than the remote possibility of x or x+ later. i buy insurance when i can't afford x+, not when i can.

 

The question you need to ask yourself, does my dealer need more profit?

If no, you can skip the warranty.

 

That has nothing to do with it, it's not a mystery that they make money on extended coverage as well as the car itself. The question is really about reliability.

FWIW I'm a brand new prius owner and I'm seriously considering cancelling the extended warranty so I'm very interested in this topic.

 

We may need to agree to disagree. In the wildly unlikely event you need an extended warranty, it does not cover the situation you are in, no matter what that is. It is solely a profit center, with no pay out.

 

As Bisco said, it is insurance, thus includes enough markup to keep the insurer in business. But it also includes a huge markup for the seller. And if it is offered by a third party, beware that a number of past third parties have prematurely gone out of business.

Probabilistically, self insurance is always cheaper. The issue is whether or not the repair charges will cause you financial distress that disrupts the rest of your finances.

So far, I have keep 5 cars far far longer than the extended warranties offered at purchase time. I declined all the extra warranties. The few repairs that would have been covered, cost only a fraction of the offered coverage price. The real expensive repairs that could have been covered, all happened long after the warranties would have expired.

 

Since the warrantee on the high dollar drive chain are good for so long I would say no. Depending on where you live is also going to determine if it's even worth repairing after that. So, it were used I would say yes. I was discussing in another thread that here, in the South (Atlanta and also as I have noticed, in Florida going by private party sale prices and Kbb), nobody wants to take a chance on a used Hybrid. I have an acquaintance that works at a Toyota dealership in my area and they sell Prius trade ins to brokers because they sit on the lot so long.

The determining factor is your piece of mind and no one else's.

The VVT actuator broke in my 08 Corolla 2 days after I bought it brand new. It's an 8 or 10 hour job to replace (it got redesigned in 09). I asked the mechanic about it and he said it happens all the time and said I was lucky it broke within the warrantee period.

Talk to an actual Prius tech. They know more than anyone and are usually very honest. They have nothing to gain or loose by giving you any B.S.

A lady I work with had to have her engine completely rebuilt in her used Cherokee. She bought the extended warrantee and the whole thing cost her a 50.00 deductible.

 

No.

 

This

This is fairly common. At Xerox the sales contract read the same for a $300,000.00 production printing system even if purchased brand new. There was a 3 year, no questions asked, warrantee. The thing is, when a customer put in for it, they were promised a machine that worked as well as a new one and not necessarily a new one. Same with high dollar sub assemblies. It's an option Toyota reserves but probably wouldn't do. New, rebuilt or used, if it gets you a part for free that gets you through the warrantee period, and replaces a failed component with one that functions, it shouldn't be an issue.

Voted maybe

 

I said no. On the Gen2 many replaced their water pump under the extended warranty.
My approach, I just waited for it to stop leaking, as I did not have the warranty.

 

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I have bought a few in my life and they all happened to pay off. One was for a used Mustang. The A/C went out. Had to have a compressor, evaporator, condenser, the usual dryer and expansion valve and tube. Would have cost me over $1200.00. With the warrantee it was $25.00 for the deductible. Bought 2 Sony Walkmen portable cassette players when the first came out in the 80's. $200.00 for the 2. Paid $2.00 for an extended warrantee that would let me get new ones for each if they broke. Both broke within the period and they gave me new ones no quibble. I bought one of the first home CD players when they came out for about $500.00. Paid $10.00 for an extended warrantee. Same thing happened and they gave me another.

 

I only bought an extended warranty for a car once and it was the only car that really made it worth it. I voted no.

 

It's a crap shoot.

 

How many other extended warranties have you purchased, and about what was the total cost of them all?

If I had your two successes, even those would be far short of covering all the other extended warranties that have been offered to me, that would not have paid off.

 

It's not a crap shoot if you buy a Cadillac.