Extended Warranty

[ajg93]

Anyone buying an extended warranty for the Outlook? Are you concerned about this being the first model year?

[Gwenzilla]

I am/was considering it, with the maintenance provision it is attractive ...however I usually put up 100,000 miles in four years on a vehicle, which would kill off the extended warranty at that point. So at roughly $2700 here for the maint/extended warranty that in actuality would only be adding 1 yr of coverage.... I have to juggle if it is worth it, and I am leaning away from it right at this time.

[ThePlainsman]

Originally Posted by Gwenzilla

I am/was considering it, with the maintenance provision it is attractive ...however I usually put up 100,000 miles in four years on a vehicle, which would kill off the extended warranty at that point. So at roughly $2700 here for the maint/extended warranty that in actuality would only be adding 1 yr of coverage.... I have to juggle if it is worth it, and I am leaning away from it right at this time.

I didn't buy it. No way. I'm 53 years old and have never put up 100,000 miles on a vehicle. I view extended warranties as a scam unless you're buying a brand with an awful track record for quality. And I wouldn't buy a brand with a bad quality record anyway.

As for this being a new model, anything wrong with it should be found out within the first three years anyway, and the powertrain goes to five years.

[farmasis]

I would have thought about it, but with the 5 yr 100K powertrain warranty, that is all that I would be concerned about. I mean, so what if the radio dies in 4 years, I can replace that-- but the powertrain is what costs $$$$.

[Gwenzilla]

All good points that Farmasis and the Plainsman have put forth. Now I am leaning much farther away from adding it to the deal.

[SaturnSales]

Speaking as a former service writer, I would strongly suggest purchasing a service contract. Here's my brief background 3 years as a Toyota service writer, 1 year as an Audi service writer and now 1 year in Saturn Sales.

At both Toyota (which has a wonderful reputation for reliability) and at Audi (not such a strong reputation for reliability) I personally handled repairs where the service contract more than paid for itself. I can say this with certianty because when you present the contract to the service writer when you drop off your vehicle the contract shows how much was paid for it. Some times they can be a pain in the arse to get the repair(s) approved, but that all depends on the contract company. Those I would recommend are PrCo, CNA, and of course the "wrap" offered by Saturn/GM. The wrap is probably the best option cause it extends your bumper to bumper warranty out to 5/100. The PrCo and CNA warranties will only cover certian componets depending on what you buy. But in my professional opinion they are a good thing to have... you may not use it... but it's a piece of mind thing... and you can even get contracts that will refund you the purchase price if you don't use them...

[ThePlainsman]

Originally Posted by SaturnSales

Speaking as a former service writer, I would strongly suggest purchasing a service contract. Here's my brief background 3 years as a Toyota service writer, 1 year as an Audi service writer and now 1 year in Saturn Sales.

At both Toyota (which has a wonderful reputation for reliability) and at Audi (not such a strong reputation for reliability) I personally handled repairs where the service contract more than paid for itself. I can say this with certianty because when you present the contract to the service writer when you drop off your vehicle the contract shows how much was paid for it. Some times they can be a pain in the arse to get the repair(s) approved, but that all depends on the contract company. Those I would recommend are PrCo, CNA, and of course the "wrap" offered by Saturn/GM. The wrap is probably the best option cause it extends your bumper to bumper warranty out to 5/100. The PrCo and CNA warranties will only cover certian componets depending on what you buy. But in my professional opinion they are a good thing to have... you may not use it... but it's a piece of mind thing... and you can even get contracts that will refund you the purchase price if you don't use them...

You make a good point, I guess, but that "refund the purchase price of the extended warranty" contract is probably voided for ANY repair under the extended including an inexpensive repair.

Those extended warranties are offered because the car companies and their mathematicians/risk insurance people know they are profitable. The car companies make money on those warranties or they wouldn't push them. It's like Best Buy offering you an extended warranty for $400 on your big screen plasma TV. A few people will need it--once. The overwhelming majority won't need it at all and will be out 400 smackers apiece, all in Best Buy's pocket.

And how many non-powertrain out of pocket repairs will it take to equal or exceed the cost of the extended warranty? Possibly a lot of them. And if the car turns out to be that troublesome, I'd trade it in.

Extended warranties are like roulette, the odds are with the house, as they say in the casino gambling industry.

[ed nunez]

My experience is in line with Saturnsales. We purchased the GM extended warranty for my 2003 ION about 24k miles into ownership. My wife is a realtor and puts a lot of miles on her vehicles - 33k in '03 alone - so we planned ahead. In our case we had no major problems with the ION but the extended bumper to bumper covered every little thing that went wrong. It even covered a set of struts/shocks at 50k miles, as well as 3 or 4 sets of warped brake rotors - including new brakes pads!

Her previous vehicle was a '98 Pontiac Transport and the extended warranty on that vehicle more than paid for itself a couple of times over. In that case it was probably the best money ever spent on one of my cars.

We will wait to see how the Outlook fares. We have the option of purchasing the GM warranty up to the 36k mile mark. That should come quickly - we've had the Outlook for less than 1 month ans it has 3147 miles already!

Ed Nunez
2007 Outlook XR FWD

[SKYGUY10066]

Originally Posted by ThePlainsman

You make a good point, I guess, but that "refund the purchase price of the extended warranty" contract is probably voided for ANY repair under the extended including an inexpensive repair.

Those extended warranties are offered because the car companies and their mathematicians/risk insurance people know they are profitable. The car companies make money on those warranties or they wouldn't push them. It's like Best Buy offering you an extended warranty for $400 on your big screen plasma TV. A few people will need it--once. The overwhelming majority won't need it at all and will be out 400 smackers apiece, all in Best Buy's pocket.

And how many non-powertrain out of pocket repairs will it take to equal or exceed the cost of the extended warranty? Possibly a lot of them. And if the car turns out to be that troublesome, I'd trade it in.

Extended warranties are like roulette, the odds are with the house, as they say in the casino gambling industry.

I have said it before but until I actually thought about it I didn't realize how true it is. "Even NASA thought the space shuttle was perfect" The fact is that nobody should buy an extended warranty for what is going to happen but what could happen. You pay stupid money every month for insurance why not VEHICLE DEFECT COVERAGE? Ask the service manager of any service department and he or she will 90% of the time admit to having one on their own vehicle.
Nowadays the Powertrain is the last issue with vehicles, it's generally the "other" items.
Now I am not saying get your butt handed to you on the cost of an extended warranty, but do consider it. And think about the mileage BEFORE the years. If you drive 20,000 miles per year a 5 year 60k warranty does you no good.
Lastly if there is one thing to negotiate with it's the warranty. There is rarely thousands of dollars to negotiate with maybe a couple hundred, but at least you "win"

[Kaya]

We did purchase the extended bumper to bumper for 5 yrs/60,000mi. It cost about $1,200. We figured that with being the first model out, and having many electrical/motorized/computerized extras, that it would be worth the investment. We had to use our last extended warranty (on a VW) many times, on big money items !!! For $2/day, I'd rather have peace of mind. Hopefully, we won't need it, but if we do it cost the same as a cup of coffee/day for those extra 2 years...I guess it's all in perspective!

[Blip]

Interesting information about the cost of your extended warranty.
We haven't got our Outlook yet, should be here in the next few weeks,
but I asked about warranty costs and the saleman gave me the following:

5/60--$1495 (Looks like our dealer makes a bit more selling this plan.)
6/75--$1795
7/70--$1995 (Interesting that for this one, as the time increases, the mileage decreases.)

He said these were the GM/Saturn plans and not a third-party program.
Wonder if I can get a better warranty deal from another Saturn Dealer,
or do you have to get it from the place of purchase?

[Njerald]

This is one quote that I got by email from www.GM-Auto-Mall.com

It would be a place to start. Also notice that there are 2 plans and difffernet deductibles.

If you are going to give quotes, please know what you are writing about...



Available GM Protection Plans

Vehicle: 2007 Saturn Outlook 2WD
Under 12 months/12,000 miles? Yes
Commercial Use? No
Snowplow? No

Major Guard – Best
Term months/miles $200 deductible $100 deductible $0 deductible
48/48,000 $678 $704 $734
60/60,000 $811 $872 $954
72/72,000 $1,051 $1,173 $1,341
84/84,000 $1,357 $1,566 $1,851


Value Guard – Better

months/miles $200 deductible $100 deductible $0 deductible

48/48,000 $668 $683 $704
60/60,000 $791 $826 $872
72/72,000 $1,005 $1,081 $1,178
84/84,000 $1,285 $1,418 $1,576

[Njerald]

Originally Posted by Njerald

This is one quote that I got by email from www.GM-Auto-Mall.com

It would be a place to start. Also notice that there are 2 plans and different deductibles.

If you are going to give quotes, please know what you are writing about...



Available GM Protection Plans

Vehicle: 2007 Saturn Outlook 2WD
Under 12 months/12,000 miles? Yes
Commercial Use? No
Snowplow? No

Major Guard – Best
Term months/miles $200 deductible $100 deductible $0 deductible
48/48,000 $678 $704 $734
60/60,000 $811 $872 $954
72/72,000 $1,051 $1,173 $1,341
84/84,000 $1,357 $1,566 $1,851


Value Guard – Better

months/miles $200 deductible $100 deductible $0 deductible

48/48,000 $668 $683 $704
60/60,000 $791 $826 $872
72/72,000 $1,005 $1,081 $1,178
84/84,000 $1,285 $1,418 $1,576

The email also said:

For a limited time only... take an additional $180 off the highly discounted
pricing displayed below. This offer is only valid through February 20.

To take advantage of this offer, save this promotional code: 29377
Once you decide which plan is best suited for you, just click on the price
and you will be led to our online application.

[CarExpert]

Car owners should know how to do simple repairs in case unexpected circumstances happen in a place where mechanics would not be available. When I had my first car, I wasn’t that knowledgeable about car repairs. I’m fund of going out of town. I decided to buy Volvo repair manuall so as to know what to do in case I’m not in the city. After few months, I almost familiarize all simple ways of repair. The warranty did help me in the problems that I had during the first 6 months of my car and when I wasn’t able to repair it myself. Still, I have a personal mechanic for complicated problems.

[Blip]

Originally Posted by Njerald

This is one quote that I got by email from www.GM-Auto-Mall.com

It would be a place to start. Also notice that there are 2 plans and difffernet deductibles.

If you are going to give quotes, please know what you are writing about...

Interesting to find that your link leads to a "dealer" site and not a GM corporate site.
Thanks for the numbers.

And I guess the simple answer to my question is any Saturn dealer can sell you a
warranty, pricing may different.

(Sorry about the quote info, provided what the saleman gave me in a quick phone call,
didn't know there were "rules" about posting quotes.)

[Njerald]

Originally Posted by Blip

Interesting to find that your link leads to a "dealer" site and not a GM corporate site.
Thanks for the numbers.

And I guess the simple answer to my question is any Saturn dealer can sell you a
warranty, pricing may different.

(Sorry about the quote info, provided what the saleman gave me in a quick phone call,
didn't know there were "rules" about posting quotes.)

Any dealer can sell to you at whatever price they want. Most want the extra $ back that they may have given you off MSRP for the vehicle.

Shop around for the extended warranty but be sure it is the GM warranty not an aftermarket that may say GM in their ads. You can buy by internet and the warranty is good at all GM dealers.

No rules that I know of other than to try to be correct and give complete info so people can compare without wondering what plan it is, deductibles, etc.

[Kaya]

Originally Posted by Blip

Interesting information about the cost of your extended warranty.
We haven't got our Outlook yet, should be here in the next few weeks,
but I asked about warranty costs and the saleman gave me the following:

5/60--$1495 (Looks like our dealer makes a bit more selling this plan.)
6/75--$1795
7/70--$1995 (Interesting that for this one, as the time increases, the mileage decreases.)

He said these were the GM/Saturn plans and not a third-party program.
Wonder if I can get a better warranty deal from another Saturn Dealer,
or do you have to get it from the place of purchase?

We did buy the GM warranty, as our dealer informed us that they did not want to service cars with 3rd party warranties ( as he put it, trying to recover the $$ was too difficult for them). With that said, there were 3 types of policies; $0 deduct., $100 deduct, and $200 deduct. Futhermore, there were different "classes" or levels of prices, depending on what class your vechicle purchase fell under. We happened to be on level D. Lastly, there was the amount/time of extended coverage.

So whatever it is worth, the price of your GM warranty depends on these 3 factors:
1) What type of deductible you choose, (We chose $0)
2) what catagory your vechicle falls in (we were D) and
3) year/mileage of coverage (we went with 5 yrs/60,000 mi)

Our price, $1290.

[Njerald]

Originally Posted by Kaya

We did buy the GM warranty, as our dealer informed us that they did not want to service cars with 3rd party warranties ( as he put it, trying to recover the $$ was too difficult for them). With that said, there were 3 types of policies; $0 deduct., $100 deduct, and $200 deduct. Futhermore, there were different "classes" or levels of prices, depending on what class your vechicle purchase fell under. We happened to be on level D. Lastly, there was the amount/time of extended coverage.

So whatever it is worth, the price of your GM warranty depends on these 3 factors:
1) What type of deductible you choose, (We chose $0)
2) what catagory your vechicle falls in (we were D) and
3) year/mileage of coverage (we went with 5 yrs/60,000 mi)

Our price, $1290.

and the dealer loves you at that price!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kaya]

oh well.. you win some, you loose some

[Blip]

Thanks for the info Kaya.

When our truck actually gets here, we'll be better informed about the options
on buying a warranty.