Every dealer is trying to sell me a third party ext warranty not the VW ext warranty

southpawboston said:

BMW warranty is 4/50 if I recall correctly. His post was from August 2017. If she had just bought it then, , it was six years old. And it had 53k miles. Why would it be covered under factory warranty?

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And BMW you gotta watch out for the certified preowned "warranty"-they'd like you to think that extends the factory warranty but the last time I read the fine print it excluded wildly expensive stuff like the radio and navigation! So what the heck is the use of that, eh? Whereas the Mercedes I last had, the factory warranty simply extended.

Buying ANY warranty I strongly urge anyone to only buy something that says it covers "everything EXCEPT" and then lists exclusions like tires, wipers, etc. Any warranty which shows long lists of covered stuff may be excluding parts which will be the actual cause of bigger failures, then "not covered."
--> Try and find satisfaction ratings for the warranty company

Shane_Anigans said:

Legally, the insurance provider cannot compel you to have your vehicle repaired at a facility you didn't choose.

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That's 100% wrong.

Head_Unit said:

Yes, but that's not really the point for many folks buying these. It's about paying out a chunk of cash now to avoid possible huge and inconvenient monetary hits in the future, like the guy talking about his wife's $6300 BMW bill.

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Bingo. ESPs are just insurance, which is a risk pool, and it's the basis of every type of insurance: health, vision, dental, life, home, auto, etc. At its essence, you pay a chunk of cash that you can afford now for the reassurance that you won't have to, at some point in the future, pay out a larger sum you can't afford. Yes, most people will never get a net return on their investment, only a small percentage will, and that is why insurance companies can exist and make a profit.

In the 32 years I've been driving I've spent probably over $20k in insurance premiums and never received a penny in claims (I've never had an accident). Has it been a bad deal? Some might say yes, but even if insurance wasn't compulsory, I'd still buy it because I don't want the risk of losing my net worth due to a liability claim against me.

The same with my houses. I own two houses for which I pay over $2000 a year in insurance policies. As with my cars, I've never made a claim. But I wouldn't dream of not having the insurance.

adam1991 said:

That's 100% wrong.

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They can suggest it, but they cannot require you to have your vehicle repaired at a shop of their choosing.

That's the law in the State of MI, as told to me by several insurance adjusters.

^^^what Shane said. Insurance laws vary from state to state. Often what they will do is wtty work for lifetime IF you get it fixed where they choose

Shane_Anigans said:

They can suggest it, but they cannot require you to have your vehicle repaired at a shop of their choosing.

That's the law in the State of MI, as told to me by several insurance adjusters.

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But these plans aren't considered "insurance" under that law.

adam1991 said:

But these plans aren't considered "insurance" under that law.

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Mine says, "Mechanical Breakdown Agreement" at the top. As you know, if they're considered insurance they're regulated by your state.

My comment was for insurance.....never mind. Yeah this ain't what I call insurance.

The Fed said:

Mine says, "Mechanical Breakdown Agreement" at the top. As you know, if they're considered insurance they're regulated by your state.

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And the very last section of the agreement has state-by-state regulations and amendments, but virtually every state classifies these agreements as something other than insurance, and therefore subject to fewer regulations.

I made a quick comparison of what is excluded from the factory 3/36 warranty and the Drive Easy Platinum Extended Service Plan. Note the similarities between the exclusions. I've italicized the additional exclusions of the Drive Easy plan. Once you account for all the mostly irrelevant stuff (upholstery, wear and tear, trim, lenses, bulbs, etc) the main differences between what's covered in the OEM warranty and the extended plan, in terms of mechanical operation of the car, come down to radiator and heater hoses, and the exhaust system. And let's face it, with modern stainless steel exhausts, even here in over-salted New England winters, most exhaust systems outlive 6 years. Also note that it states right in the new car owner's warranty manual that remanufactured parts may be used. People tend to forget this fact but use it as a point of argument against the extended plans. And while the extended plans may also use "VW-approved" or "Like-quality" parts, if you are bringing your car into a VW dealer for repairs on the extended service plan (it is clearly stated you can take your car to any VW dealer, not just the one that sold you the plan), it's unlikely the dealer will use non-genuine parts. Dealers want to profit from selling OEM parts.