Do Extended Warranties Give You Peace?

By Karl W. Heinzel

People purchase extended warranties are lots of consumer products including automobiles. Chances are you're never got to get your money out of your investment. As a matter of fact, extended warranty is arn't really even extended warranties at all. A more accurate name for them is a service contract. these contracts are usually sold as an add-on sale at the time of purchase. Through these service contracts, you end up paying a separate warranty company, an upfront fee to cover repairs that may show up in the future.

Car Dealers try to scare you into purchasing a service contract for your peace of mind after your factory warranty expires. This is because service contract sales are a huge profit maker for a car dealer. Typically, 50% or more of the selling price goes to the dealer as the seller. However, rarely do these "Extended Warranties" provide you with the protection that you are led to believe they have and would expect.

Usually these contracts don't cover the following:

No maintenance records. you need to be able to produce records proving that you have maintained their vehicle according to the manufacturer's maintenance schedule. If you don't have proof, you don't get coverage.

Consider wear and tear parts. Things like brake pads, shoes, hoses, even shock absorbers are considered items that normally wear out and are usually not covered. Anything they can be considered normal wear and tear is generally not part of the contract.

Damage caused by a noncovered part. Your contract may cover the entire powertrain but if a non-covered parts such as a hose should break and this causes major engine damage, the contract will not cover the engine damage, because the hose was not covered part.

Tear Down Diagnosis? Under many service contracts, prior to servicing the car, the repair shop will require the consumer to agree to be responsible for the tear down charges if the failure is not due to a covered part. Some repair facilities will even require the consumer to pay a deposit before they will begin to diagnose the problem.

Limited repair options. You may have a hard time getting repairs on your vehicle, because the service contract limits where you can have the repairs done. The agreements sometimes severely limit who can work on your car by restricting the repairs to a certain number of places. On top of that, some service contract providers have a bad reputation in the service center won't even honor the contract. They'll ask you to pay for the repairs, and you have to try and get reimbursed for yourself.

With all of the above hurdles, it is hard to imagine receiving any peace of mind if you actually need to use your service contract. Additionally, with the quality of today's vehicles the odds of needing a major repair during the first six years of your car's life are slim. The bottom line is to save your money. In most situations you will be farther ahead monetarily and have greater peace of mind by saving your money for a rainy day.

About the Author:

Karl & his partners cover important legal topics such as Warranties & Auto Issues at http://lemonlawyer.wordpress.com They specialize in California Lemon Law topics & are lemon law attorneys for southern California