About to buy an extended Warranty

[aperionvi]

Hey everyone, I am planning to buy and extended warranty for my 99 4runner. I only have 33,000 miles on it, but the warranty is about to give up. I got a quote for 800.00 for the 7 year. So I have another 2 years basically. Is this a good price?

How can I bargain them down for less? Is that possible?

 

[NoDak]

here is some numbers for thought. this info is based on toyota's plat. extended warranty.

new extended warranty price is around 1400 for 7yrs and equals about $200 per year.

for another 2yrs at your price of 800 your paying $400 per year.

only thing you have to take into consideration, is what is covered under the 2yrs. does it cover everything like the toyota warranty or is your 2yr warranty a pared down warranty.

other thing is can you afford to have a major failure and be able to pay for it out of your pocket or pay 800 now and may never use it in the next 2yrs.

you have to weight the risks. i bought the 7yr warranty as i am keeping this vehicle at least 7yrs or more instead of my typical 4-6yrs.

since i have been buying toyota's since 1984, i have maintained them to at least the owners manual specs or above them, and i think the biggest problem i have ever had with a toyota is the radio antenna eventually getting bent in the wind at highway speeds (which after my first incident always have them disconnect the power lead to the power antenna), or an erractic fuel gauge that i had to tap to correctly display. those are the only things that i can ever remember going bad on any of my toyotas.

i probably didnt need the 7yr extended warranty and could have spent the money on getting a limited or extra toys for my current 4runner, but it brings a peace of mind in the rare chance that something may go wrong

some swear thay you would be wasting your money and some say its a good investment. but eventually you have to weight your risks and what you are willing to endure.

forgot to add this in the original posting:

toyota extended warranty info

http://www.toyotafinancial.com/pyv/extended_service_coverage/index.html

 

[Jim]

Extended Warranty Poll

Financial mags claim that it is a waste of money for reliable brands like Lexus, Toyota, and Honda. However, with the high expenses of high tech components and labor, some like the piece of mind that it brings. Like NoDak, I plan on keeping my 4Runner for a long time. I have been piling on the mileage (5700 in 10 weeks) am giving serious thought about an extended warranty. Other opinions? Any interest on a poll regarding extended warranty purchases?

 

[aperionvi]

Extended Warranty (Bumper to Bumper)

The warranty I am planning on purchasing is Toyota's Extended Warranty Platinum. That's a bumper to bumper warranty covering everything that a warranty entails except the standard things (brakes, etc.) and it also does not cover paint/wheels, etc.

It seemed like a pretty good plan, but I think that i can bargain them down. They mentioned that the retail is 1400 for a 7 year and for me it would be a price of 800, but I think that I can definitely bring them down on this after all it's a sale for them.

If anyone has reason to differ or disagree please let me know, because I definitely could be wrong on the bargaining.

 

[NoDak]

as far as i know, you cant bargain extended warranty's price points. they are calculated by toyota/3rd party companies to make money overall and not per sale.

while one vehicle may use more of the warranty, they make up for it when 2-5 vehicles never use the extended warranty, and when 5-10 only use a portion of the warranty.

the only bargain you may get is if the dealer actually threw in the extended warranty as part of a new vehicle purchase, but i rarely see that happen anymore compared to the 80's when it happened more often.

 

[Jim]

Extended Warranty Pricing

Do a Google search on Toyota Extended Warranty and you will find some on-line sources of discounted prices. Probably not negotiable, but a big discount from list. One that I found priced the Platinum 6yr/100K miles at about $1000 versus $1600 list.

 

[pag04]

I researched the warranty thing in January when I bought my Runner. I didn't like Toyota's extended warranty. It is not a bumper to bumper. It tells you what they cover. A real B to B gives you a list of things they do not cover. Anything not on the list is covered. A subtle but important difference. Also, Toyota's warranty is written as a breakdown warranty not a wear and tear warranty. This was a real concern for me since I just had to replace the engine in a well-maintained Acura TL with 55K on it. If I had Toyota's warranty instead of Acura's, I could have been screwed. It was written so that they could have gotten out of covering it. The engine wasn't broken, it worked. It just had excessive wear, and noise.

I ended up going with Warranty Direct. It is a B to B warranty and states that it is a wear and tear warranty. If a covered part has excessive wear, beyond what the mfg. specs are for that amount of milage, they'll fix it.

Be sure to look at the history of a warranty company too. I forget which one it was (Warranty Gold maybe?) but one large company just went chapter 11 and told all their policy holders see you later....then started selling policies again!

I don't have any interest in Warranty Direct. It was just the best one I found when I was looking.

 

[Sad4RunnerOwner]

Unless it's a 2003, ...

Since you have a 1999, at night, park it on pillows and sing it night time songs to make it happy and keep it healthy. For if you were having the problems that we are with our 2003, trust me, you'd buy the extended warranty.

With one of our old used Toyota's I bought the extended warranty. I NEVER used it. It was a waist of money. But with this new POS, You betcha!

Keep that '99 til it dies! I miss my '97 Limited SO much. I missed the "Cool Off" period by one year....

 

[darktiger]

What probs are you having with your 2003?

 

[Sad4RunnerOwner]

Where to begin . . .

My biggest frustration has to do with the seats and the seating material. The seats rocked and rolled like an old wooden roller coaster. After three visits to my neighboring dealers and finally back to San Francisco Toyota, where I purchased the 4Runner, SF Toyota REPLACED them.

The seating material after 20,000 miles looks like a 1979 Ford Tempo. It has completely curled and looks like crap. Toyota states it’s “Normal.” My 1997 Limited with 90k miles was not turned in looking like that. I’m not even that out of shape to warrant this condition. However, with the seat airbags, the dealer can’t really do much because of the liability of the airbags.

The window trim (Windshield to roof) had fallen out twice and ripped three times. On my third visit, the dealer broke something else while they were fixing the defective window trim.

These are really no fault of the vehicle:

Upon delivery, and our first “Road Trip” the 4Runner could not stick to a straight line or pass or be passed by a 18 wheeler with out be tossed all over the freeway. Mine has the larger 17 inch wheels, and the wheels were not balanced correctly.

While I was standing behind the 4Runner, the tail pipe torched me when I was pulling my boat out of the lake, and it also will gas the hell out of you if you go up a slight grade with the window down. I had it moved out to the right side like my ’97.

I have also noted a couple wicked "Blind" spots. One being behind the front window columns & front mirrors as well as the rear pannel between the back seats and rear window. It also appears a bit more difficult to back up and tell where the rear of the vehicle is witout my ... Trailor hitch.

Lastly, my local Toyota Dealer distroyed my ENTIRE break system at the vehicles second oil change. . . To the tune of $6,100.

"Gosh, somehow, someone put power steering fluid into my breaking master cylinder." The vehicle was at it's 5000k oil change time. They accused me of going else where to have the oil changed. They would not even believe their window sticker or their own invoices showing that they did it.

The service mgr and I finally met over the situation. He sat in his chair, looked me right in the eyes, and stated that I could not prove that they did it, and that I was pretty much SOL. To file a claim against my auto insurance. In addition, if I kept it there, they were going to OVER charge me $290.00 in parts to fix their blunder. However, I told my company that I was going to file a fraudulent claim per Toyota's request.

Oddly enough, after four weeks, and the DAY BEFORE Valley Tire and Break put my car back together, Toyota called to advise that they would pay for all damage, but not admit guilt. Oddly enough, there were "Other reports" of other cars with the same problem.

All in all, I'd take my old 4Runner back. I just put oil in it and tires on it. Nothing else ever.

 

[Good Times]

Sad4RunnerOwner:

LOoks like you just got a bad one I won't even begin to ask on the details but I hope things do get resolved.

Aside from that, I'd say the extended warranty is a waste of $$. The likelihood of problems occuring are slim to null. I have read where they did a comparison on the price you paid for the extended warranty vs what is actually covered during a warranty repair and it showed that the dealer made more money selling the extended warranty than charging the customer some rediculous amount on repairs. So I'd say the hell w/ the extended warranty

I've yet to encounter any problems on my 4runner and it was one of the first off the line too So I'm just grateful that my 4runner hasn't had any problems (knocking on wood).

Good luck!

 

[pag04]

Absolutely true. An extended warranty is a waste of money...until you need it. Then again so is house insurance or car insurance. When I bought the extended warranty (power train not bumper to bumper) on my wife's Acura I left the dealer thinking that I shouldn't have gone for it and just wasted the money. Acura is also a very reliable vehicle. When it needed an engine at 55K I was pretty surprised, since it had all it's oil changes and maintenance, and really glad I bought that warranty.

Waste of money? Maybe. But to me it's just another insurance policy on a pretty expensive purchase.

Pag04