Extended Warranty $1250 with full refund - bite ?

you can buy an extened warranty here for under $1000.
you do not need to do so until your basic 36 months, 36k is almost up.
e.g., put your $1000 in the bank, get some interest, then buy the warranty in 3 years.
or, in your case, 18 months if you're gonna put on that much mileage... anyway, wait until your 36k is almost up.

 

more warranty info is HERE

refund if not used? er, no. thats some marketing game from a specific dealer.

 

Dealer's offer isn't true value.

Talk to Troy.

 

Hi sas,

If it's a third party warranty, Toyota dealers throughout the US and Canada may not automatically honor the warranty like they have to do for the Toyota Platinum Care 7 years/100,000 miles/$-0- deductible extended warranty sold here for $990.

Also, if I were to buy that third party extended warranty, I would want to see the exact contract language as to what's covered and what's excluded.

Finally, I'm more than a little skeptical about the full refund business. I'd definitely would want to see the exact contract language regarding that.

 

Yes, I would also talk to Troy of warrantyshack.com/Toyota of Greenfield, MA:

Troy Dietrich
Direct Dial # (413) 772-0989
General Office # (413) 772-0231

Also, ask him what his price is for a 6 years/100,000 miles warranty which, if Toyota sells it, will be even less than the $990 for the 7 years/100,000 miles warranty.

 

Yup,
I got the same deal from my dealer.
$1000.00 for extended warranty-full refund IF UNUSED.
That is the rub,Toyota is taking a gamble that most will have to use it.

 

it is not a gamble at all, tis' cash in the bank. they profit even if they issue a refund - they have the use of your money for 7 years. i prefer to invest that money myself.

the extended is 7 years, right? so they hold your dollars for you for 7 years, if you don't use it they send your dollars back? someone want to figure out 7 years interest on $1000? if they refund it, they refund the $1000 - not the future value of $1000.

and since we get a basic 3 year warranty anyway, why should we spend dollars today for something we wont possibly need until the basic runs out, about 3 years from now (sooner if you put on a lot of miles).

this is just a slick way of getting you to give them a 7 year zero interest loan.

any of you want to send me $1000, i'll hold it for you and send it back in 7 years....

 

Being that the car is a Toyota ask if you can have the warranty free and if the car needs repairs under the extended warranty you will pay the first $1300. That sounds like a good deal for everyone and there is no worry about paperwork and refunds.

 

OK. So if it's the Toyota Platinum Care 6 years/100,000 miles/$0 deductible, then FYI I believe Troy sells that for $875, so your dealer is asking for $375 more.

Regarding the full refund business, what happens if you use the extended warranty for a $50 item? No refund at all? Partial refund? This can get very complicated.

In any event, I would still like to see the exact contract language regarding the so-called full refund if you don't use it. Can you ask your dealer to make a copy of it for you and post it here?

 

Isnt a service agreement different than an extended warranty. My step mother purchased a service agreement which gave all of her general services such as oil changes for free. Maybe I'm way off here but I would be concerned about anything in the contract purporting to be an extended warranty and not actually stating that it is a warranty.

 

A service agreement is an even worse deal than an extended warranty. Scheduled maintenance on mine for four years has cost a total of $240. They want you to pay them $1250 for six years? Giveth unto us a break.

Assuming that it really is an extended warranty: there is no car less in need of an extended warranty than a Prius. Save your money.

 

Thats what I thought. So in my opinion this would be either a terrible monetary decision (if used) or a free loan to the dealer for six years (if not used) which is also a terrible monetary decision. Of course this is assuming it is just a service agreement.

 

sas,

Thanks for trying to scan the agreement and then manually typing the refund language.

So the way I read it, you get a full refund only if you never use the extended warranty at all (no partial refunds if you use $1 or more in repairs).

So I think the choice comes down to either going with your dealer now (at the time the car is put into service) for $1250 with the possibility of a full refund if you never use the extended warranty for even $1 of work, or going with Troy either now or 3 years/36,000 miles from now --- with all of this overlaid with Toyota's prorated partial refund policy running from the date the car was put into service.

Pretty interesting. I would incur major brain damage if I tried to figure out all the pros and cons. So I'll just go with my gut, which is to wait until 3 years/36,000 miles from now to decide whether to buy the extended warranty at all, and then if I decide to buy it, buy it from Troy.

EDIT: I wonder if you can get that full refund feature if you buy the Toyota extended warranty from Troy at the same time you buy the car? I would ask Troy.

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Hi wbroshea,

I get tricked up by Toyota's terminology as well, but FYI:

-- Toyota calls its extended warranty a "Toyota Vehicle Service Agreement".

-- Toyota calls its routine service or maintenance agreement the "Toyota Auto Care Prepaid Maintenance Program".

So although it sounds strange, I believe that the "New Vehicle Service Agreement" or just "Service Agreement" referred to in sas's quote is the extended warranty.

 

I stand corrected. I looked it up and Boo is correct. I apologize for not looking it up before I commented.

 

There are two different issues here. The first is - should one buy the extended warranty - this has been debated in other threads.
The second is - is the offer of money back worth it if one is going to get the extended warranty.

When we bought ours, the salesperson went through the various offers. THey wanted something like $2200 for the 7 yr/100,000 mile warranty. I tired not to laugh but told them that I planned to get the coverage elsewhere for less than half the price. They pushed me on price and source of the deal. I gave them the price but said that they would have to search the internet for the source. I was told that the best they could do was offer the warranty for $1050. But then they added that for an additional $200, I could have a money back warranty. I asked to look at it - It was all sold by Toyota _BUT managed and run by a third party which I believe that all the warrantees discussed are. We decided to go for the $1250 deal based on the mileage we drive.

Anyway - I think that the real question that one purchaing a new Prius should is-
DO I want to purchase an extended warranty -
THEN - determine if you want to spend the money for a money back offer-
AND - read the warrantee document closely - note that a third party runs it. The way my paperwork reads is that if there is a problem with the solvency of the thrid party, Toyota is not required to cover the warranty. THis was the big issue in my thought process- Too many people have been stung when Warranty Gold and other companies selling extended warranties have gone out of business.