Warranty shack vs dealer ext.warranty

$3495, you're kidding right? Dealers usually range from about $1000 to $1200 for the warranty. There is no need to rush to get one. You can purchase the extended warranty anytime during the 36 mo / 36000 mile warranty period. Personally I think they are just an expensive "peace of mind" gimmick. I have never had one on any car I've owned and have never found that I needed one. But, that's just my personal choice.

 

Hey, Eric,

Don't you even think about paying such an outragious price as $3,495 for the Prius platinum extended warranty. It (the real Toyota Financial Services ext. warr.) has an MSRP of around either $1400 or $1600 (I forget which) for the 7-yr/100,000 mile/$0 deductible one & Troy at Warranty Shack/Greenfield Toyota sells it for $990 (I think Toyota's actual cost for the dealer is around $600---you don't want to give YOUR dealer almost $3,000 EXTRA profit, do you?). I just happened to be in the neighborhood 2 years ago, so decided to drop in & buy it then from him. It was a very pleasant experience & he's a really nice guy & he sells Toyota's extended warranties to people all over the country by walk-in, phone, e-mail, & snail mail, so he may be a little busy. Just give him a chance to get you your quote.

The decision of whether to buy it or not is ultimately yours, but with some pretty expensive components on the car, it made sense to me (for peace of mind). The extended warranty period overlaps the factory warranty. It doesn't add that extra amount to the factory one, & you have up until either the 36,000 miles is reached or the 3 years from your in-service date (not necessarily your delivery date---dealers sometimes back up the in-service date to make their end-of-the-month sales figures look better) to purchase your extended warranty.

With that in mind, you should probably wait a while to buy the warranty to better judge how quickly your mileage will accumulate. I should have waited because I will be at the 100,000 mile limit in only 5 years instead of the 7 years that I paid the $990 for. Troy seemed to sense that's what would happen in my case & offered me a 6-yr/100,000 mile/$0 deductible one for only around $685 (I think he even has a 5-yr one, but I think the mileage for that one is only 75,000 miles total). I should have taken his advice, but I only thought my mileage was as high as it was then because of a few one-time trips. I soon discovered we were using the Prius more often instead of our other car because of the much better mileage.

However, there are 2 advantages of getting the extended warranty sooner than later (if you feel you can properly judge your mileage accumulation so as to not pay for extra years that you can't use because you reached your mileage limit already). They are : Toyota Roadside Assistance (unless you don't need that because you already have AAA or some other similar automotive program) & a free rental car if the dealer has to keep your car more than a day for some repairs. These 2 advantages take effect as soon as you buy your extended warranty, but please make sure the warranty you buy is the official Toyota Financial Services platinum one.

Edit : Well, firepa63 beat me to the punch again while I was making my long post with my single finger, hunt-&-peck typing.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

Your dealer's finance manager, to be accurate, is a crook. Be sure to complete the Toyota post-purchase questionnaire and hammer the SOB.

When I bought in August 2008, the finance manager at Morristown (NJ) Toyota lied about multiple warranty issues, but when I asked him to email me so I could keep a record, he refused.

Stick w/ Troy at Warranty Shack.

 

my expierences:

my dealer wanted 1,990.00 (he eventually offered 1650.00) for 7 years 100k miles with a $50 deductible. they made me sign some stupid waiver that says i don't get a rental car if my car breaks down if i bring it there for repairs because i refused the warranty

troy activated my service contract the same day, which i verified by contacting toyota financial services with the car's vin number, but it seemed to take 3-4 weeks to actually get the contract

the original selling dealership kept trying to assure me that i had to purchase it at the same time as the car and that i was making a big mistake by refusing it, but i tried to assure him that i would be able to shop around for it

 

I bought my '08 Prius from Roseville Toyota back at the beginning of Sept. I paid $2500 at the time for the Toyota Platinum Extended Warranty. Then I discovered Priuschat.com, and the fact that people could get the same extended warranty for ~$1000. So I promptly made my way to the dealer and canceled the warranty and got a refund.

DO NOT buy your warranty from Roseville Toyota. As others have said... they're practically criminal for asking that much.

 

yeah if i remember correctly, warranty shack mailed back thier copy of the service contract and credit card receipt promptly. i was still covered if there was any problems, but it seemed to take 30 days or so to actually get the contract from toyota