Is an extended warranty worth while?

[randyhub]

I have a 2020 JLRU with a 3.6 auto, 35,000 miles. Owned it for 8 months now, 1 owner, very clean, no offroad use, dealer replaced both batteries when purchased. No mechanical, electrical issues, no corrosion, so far.

My mechanic has no issues with the 3.6 or auto transmission with the newer Jeeps. He did mention I should have the diffs and transfer case lubes inspected and changed prior to the 5 yr warranty ending, and the transmission serviced at 60k miles.

My question is are extended warranties worth it?

I have heard powertrain repairs can be costly, and in the past when I did not buy a warranty I did have a Dodge transmission fail. That said I drive about 5k a year, mostly gravel not offroad use and have been pricing out 4 and 5 year warranties.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

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[YGBSM392]

Uhhhhhh, here we go again...

You're going to get a 50/50 opinion on that. I say yes IF you have your Jeep serviced at a dealership and at each required interval. You don't modify your Jeep to the extent that would allow Mopar to not pay on the service agreement.

Financially, no, keep some investment funds available which would allow you to pay for repairs. As far as return on investment, it's a gamble. You might have made more leaving it in the market, or you might have a repair done at twice the service contract price.

Don't listen to the "they wouldn't sell a service contract if they weren't going to make a profit" crowd. It's true, they sell them because they make a profit. How? See my first argument. They get a piece of each service and keep their dealerships happy. If you don't service the Jeep at a dealership you have to prove that it was done and run a higher risk of having a service denied. Also, they strong arm the dealership into doing the repair for less time that it should take. Finally, you pay five times the cost if its customer pays verses a service contract. They make or contract the parts for 20-40% of what they sell it for. A customer paid service of, let's say, $1000 would cost Mopar a couple hundred.

Final issue is that your repairs will take longer with a service contract. The dealership has to get the repairs approved via email and then figure out which tech to stiff. I have two Jeeps so I can leave one at the dealership awaiting repairs.

I would say, don't sweat it. If you can come up with cash for breakdowns without too much hassle and have a good mechanic outside of a dealership then skip it.

 

[randyhub]

Thanks, I am retired, financially secure, and have great mechanic. After posting I found s bunch of warranty threads, so I understand your Here we go again comment.

In Canada a 40,000 5 yr dealer warranty is about 4000.00 USD. A reputable 3rd party warranty same period is half the dealer cost.

The factory warranty ends in Dec 25, my mechanic is pretty set on inspecting the diffs and transfer case, not so much the 3.6 engine.

Thanks

 

[YGBSM392]

Thanks, I am retired, financially secure, and have great mechanic. After posting I found s bunch of warranty threads, so I understand your Here we go again comment.

In Canada a 40,000 5 yr dealer warranty is about 4000.00 USD. A reputable 3rd party warranty same period is half the dealer cost.

The factory warranty ends in Dec 25, my mechanic is pretty set on inspecting the diffs and transfer case, not so much the 3.6 engine.

Thanks

I was just afraid that the argument crew would arrive.

You've got a mechanic you trust. He deals with the service program/warranty stuff. Have a coffee with him and ignore everyone else! Enjoy your Jeep!

 

[randyhub]

I was just afraid that the argument crew would arrive.

You've got a mechanic you trust. He deals with the service program/warranty stuff. Have a coffee with him and ignore everyone else! Enjoy your Jeep!

Thank you. I had 2 Dodge transmissions fail in the past, switched to a fantastic Toyota FJ. Had it for 14 years with no problems and recently bought my Rubicon. Everyone complaining about all kinds of Jeep issues got me spooked. Will just enjoy it now.

 

[ThisJeepMakesMeHappy]

I purchased at a dealership - a 2019 Sport Unlimited 3.6 with 72,000 miles. Beautiful sting gray with a 2" lift and 35's. Went (grudginly) for the 4. year extented warranty. They're rigtht. It's a gamble, but let me tell you, it was worth it so far. A year and a half into ownership the electrical system freaked out due to a CAN Bus fault. Jeep dealer mechanic said there are four of these star connectors and they had to replace all of them since it was impossible to identify the bad one. Final cost: $3400. The warranty covered it, though the service manager said it was a fight. They said the warranty company was better than most, and that reputable dealerships usually work with good ones.

 

[Barney392]

I have a 2020 JLRU with a 3.6 auto, 35,000 miles. Owned it for 8 months now, 1 owner, very clean, no offroad use, dealer replaced both batteries when purchased. No mechanical, electrical issues, no corrosion, so far.

My mechanic has no issues with the 3.6 or auto transmission with the newer Jeeps. He did mention I should have the diffs and transfer case lubes inspected and changed prior to the 5 yr warranty ending, and the transmission serviced at 60k miles.

My question is are extended warranties worth it?

I have heard powertrain repairs can be costly, and in the past when I did not buy a warranty I did have a Dodge transmission fail. That said I drive about 5k a year, mostly gravel not offroad use and have been pricing out 4 and 5 year warranties.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Check these guys out before you buy. Genuine Mopar warranties.

https://www.buymoparwarranty.com/

 

[azjl#3]

worst case buy the warranty, if nothing is going haywire in 9 months of driving, cancel and get prorated amount back. Except for current jeep which has been flawless for a year, knock wood, , I have never canceled because...... stuff always starts to go haywire...

 

[Nitehawk92]

I have a 2020 JLRU with a 3.6 auto, 35,000 miles. Owned it for 8 months now, 1 owner, very clean, no offroad use, dealer replaced both batteries when purchased. No mechanical, electrical issues, no corrosion, so far.

My mechanic has no issues with the 3.6 or auto transmission with the newer Jeeps. He did mention I should have the diffs and transfer case lubes inspected and changed prior to the 5 yr warranty ending, and the transmission serviced at 60k miles.

My question is are extended warranties worth it?

I have heard powertrain repairs can be costly, and in the past when I did not buy a warranty I did have a Dodge transmission fail. That said I drive about 5k a year, mostly gravel not offroad use and have been pricing out 4 and 5 year warranties.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

If you never have any problems with your Jeep, then some would say you wasted money buying a warranty. But if you have major issues, then the warranty will pay for itself. It is a judgement call. Nobody can tell you if it will be worth it for you...

 

[Old Dogger]

O.K., our JLR, JKUHR, and new Gladiator are doing just fine so far. But here is an example of what is currently being warrantied on my JKR:

Ours is currently getting the A/C Compressor, condenser core and engine cooling fan replaced on the lifetime MOPAR warranty. Over $4000 worth of repairs, and all that I will pay is $100 Deductible. This warranty is awesome. Three months ago, they warranted all of my blend door actuators, and one blend door, plus the blower motor. That cost close to $3000, because in doing this they had to remove the complete dash assembly. So, in three months, they will have warranted about $7000. Thank God for this lifetime warranty. I will never sell this 2013 JKR, with only 57K on it.

^^^ The above is also possible for a JL. It is a crap shoot. I for one will not own a vehicle without the extended warranty insurance policies. The quality control of the automotive Industry as of today, just sucks..IMO. But if you are like some in this Forum, which are trading every couple of years, then it would not be applicable!

 

[mwilk012]

O.K., our JLR, JKUHR, and new Gladiator are doing just fine so far. But here is an example of what is currently being warrantied on my JKR:

Ours is currently getting the A/C Compressor, condenser core and engine cooling fan replaced on the lifetime MOPAR warranty. Over $4000 worth of repairs, and all that I will pay is $100 Deductible. This warranty is awesome. Three months ago, they warranted all of my blend door actuators, and one blend door, plus the blower motor. That cost close to $3000, because in doing this they had to remove the complete dash assembly. So, in three months, they will have warranted about $7000. Thank God for this lifetime warranty. I will never sell this 2013 JKR, with only 57K on it.

^^^ The above is also possible for a JL. It is a crap shoot. I for one will not own a vehicle without the extended warranty insurance policies. The quality control of the automotive Industry as of today, just sucks..IMO. But if you are like some in this Forum, which are trading every couple of years, then it would not be applicable!

They’re charging the warranty for everything under the sun in order to make it worth doing the actual part that failed. It’s nice to be the owner in that case of course, you get a bunch of new parts.

 

[Old Dogger]

They’re charging the warranty for everything under the sun in order to make it worth doing the actual part that failed. It’s nice to be the owner in that case of course, you get a bunch of new parts.

Yes, I believe that is the case. I am very lucky, that I have a Dealer that is very good to work with, plus they are Mod friendly. Their shop always appears to be very busy. But they always work me in with-in a couple of days. I only use their Lead-tech Lyle, who has been working for them for over 20 years. He mainly repairs engines, A/C and front-end alignments. I have learned a lot from him, as I have from your posts. Interesting, not that it matters, but Warren Buffet owns the Dealership. First class Dealer in Scottsdale.

 

[DogsRule]

My wife bought an 3 year old '18 with 72k miles CPO. I extended the CPO warranty for about $850 to 7/125. Nearly $10k later in paint and warranty repairs, it's been on the plus side. Holding my breath on camshaft survival. Bad thing is I can't do work that's warranted or it'll be cancelled. Double edge sword.

 

[AndySpill]

Hey Randy @randyhub.

Here's how a investment advisor who is honest and complete would sell you an extended warranty.

"I have a financial proposition for you Randy," says the advisor.

"You give me, say, $3000 now and I'll invest it for you."

"But before I do, don't be surprised if I take as much as 1/2 of that money as sales commission. But don't worry, what's left I'll invest and allow you to access these monies if something that's covered by your warranty breaks, even if your repairs exceed your investment."

"For a few of my clients this turned out really well. But for most, they have given me considerably more money than I paid them to repair their vehicles, especially considering that those repairs happened at some point after they first gave me their money, allowing me to earn interest on it before I paid it out: interest that they would earned had their repair costs been a smaller amount and their invested the money instead."

"Of course there's a few people who turned down my offer and boy did they pay money out of pocket for repairs."

"What's that, you'd like to know on average, for every dollar you spend, what your rate of return would be? Okay, about -$0.13. For every dollar you spent I give you back on average $0.87."

"Yeah, the Wrangler isn't the most reliable, but don't worry about me. I price this offering such that I make plenty of money."

~~~~~~~

Is this expected return correct? I don't know. What I do know is that it's negative, the only question is by how much. How do I know this: simply by virtue of warranty companies only continuing to peddle their wares to owners if such ventures are profitable. And their profit is your statistical loss. The only way both parties could benefit is if 1) their profit was based solely in negotiating cheaper labor and parts costs that was so dramatic compared to what individuals pay, and 2) they split some of that profit with you. Neither happens.

What I also know is that if you invested those monies in the S&P 500, in 5 years, adjusted for inflation, and on average you'd make over 11%.

 

[JINO]

Uhhhhhh, here we go again...

You're going to get a 50/50 opinion on that. I say yes IF you have your Jeep serviced at a dealership and at each required interval. You don't modify your Jeep to the extent that would allow Mopar to not pay on the service agreement.

Financially, no, keep some investment funds available which would allow you to pay for repairs. As far as return on investment, it's a gamble. You might have made more leaving it in the market, or you might have a repair done at twice the service contract price.

Don't listen to the "they wouldn't sell a service contract if they weren't going to make a profit" crowd. It's true, they sell them because they make a profit. How? See my first argument. They get a piece of each service and keep their dealerships happy. If you don't service the Jeep at a dealership you have to prove that it was done and run a higher risk of having a service denied. Also, they strong arm the dealership into doing the repair for less time that it should take. Finally, you pay five times the cost if its customer pays verses a service contract. They make or contract the parts for 20-40% of what they sell it for. A customer paid service of, let's say, $1000 would cost Mopar a couple hundred.

Final issue is that your repairs will take longer with a service contract. The dealership has to get the repairs approved via email and then figure out which tech to stiff. I have two Jeeps so I can leave one at the dealership awaiting repairs.

I would say, don't sweat it. If you can come up with cash for breakdowns without too much hassle and have a good mechanic outside of a dealership then skip it.

Im considering a warranty on my 97k ecodiesel, just because of the emissions parts on it. Egr just went out and that was costly.

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