bc6152

Geez, now we're clowns AND morons... Sheeesh... Gemini6kl: Pease proceed to nearest mirror, look in and report back here what you see...

yardie876

He'll see someone who buys every warranty he's offered.

lesz

This thread got me thinking about my own experiences with vehicle ownership over the last 25 years.

If I had bought an extended warranty for each of the vehicles that I've owned during the past 25 years, the amount of money that I would have spent on extended warranties would have been about what it would cost me to buy a new ES UL vehicle today. Yet, with the vehicles that I've owned over that time, the total out-of-pocket money that I've paid has been about $450 for 3 repairs during that time that would have been covered by an extended warranty. The major vehicle repair related expenses that I've had during that time have been for things like tires, brakes, batteries, etc., and those things would not have been covered by an extended warranty.

I figure that, even if my luck were to change in the next few years and if I had a couple of repairs that would cost several thousand dollars each, I will still be far ahead of the game.

The reason why the actual cost of extended warranties to the dealer selling them is only a small fraction of what those dealers sell the extended warranties for is that, similar to my experience, it is rare for someone who buys an extended warranty to ever have a claim for a covered repair for more than a minimal amount of money, and the significant majority of extended warranty buyers will make no claims at all. Even for those few who do make a significant claim, it is very unlikely that the amount of that claim would be more than what they would pay for extended warranties on just the next 2 or 3 vehicles that they will own.

Maikerusan

You also are "behind the mask of the internet". What makes your advice more worthy than someone else's?

A straw man argument about insurance does not relate to the personal decision as to whether or not to buy an extended warranty.

Well respected sources (Consumers Reports for one) generally advise against extended warranties. Are they "morons" and illogical?

As to your comment " Its hard to sit by and watch the morons of this world lead others astray".

Yes it is.

NickTee

When the cost of the warranty is only $1,500 for three more years, or around $1.37 per day, I have to say that is definitely worth it. And this is coming from someone who usually recommends DIY repairs.

Let's face it, there are quite a few expensive and tedious repairs involved with the ES350. For example, why don't you take a gander at what a water pump replacement involves. I will actually be doing a swap on mine, because I don't have a warranty, but the replacement alone is around $150 and the labor associated with it is ridiculous. Or how about the head unit, or chasing down rattles, or the cost of your time and being out a car?

If you can afford a Lexus, you can also afford the $1.37 a day that it costs to have an extended warranty. It might pay off, it might not. But the things it covers, and the fact that it reduces the amount of downtime you have, make it worth it worth the "gamble." There will be those that disagree with me, and that's fine for them. Having spent years working on cars, I've learned that the less time and money that I have to spend on repairing my daily driver, the happier I am. This changes when we speak of a project car, but an ES350 is not a real project car.

AdamKralic

Extended warranties do not exist to lose dealers money. Very few "peace of mind" type scenarios exist to lose the offering company money. Ever see an insurance company HQ? The lobbies look like an upscale casino. Who paid for that lobby? You did. You took out insurance on something...and you never cashed in...or when you tried to they refused based upon tiny disclaimer line #347 in section J. I chimed in earlier but the amount of venom being thrown around in here made me rethink and reconsider. I went middle of the road. I chose a CPO 13 lexus es 350. That was my "safety" net. Bought the car with 15k...I am covered to 100k. (or 3 years...which in my case will be about 45k miles from the time of purchase) IF something really bad happens the day after the 3 years? I will pay it. That is part of the deal in ownership of anything really. Getting it past the point of the car being a defective model is the point of CPO imho. If it makes it to about 60k with no issues at all...chances are it was not a defect off the line model. Chances are now massively in my favor of it being as reliable as the "average" 2013 model year Lexus ES 350.

Again if not...I simply pay. My dealer wanted $50 a month extra for platinum. That is 600 dollars a year...or 1,800 dollars before the CPO would run out. So I am 1,800 in the hole before the platinum would even start.

$1,800 covers a lot of stuff imo. Every single month after gives ME an additional $50 to work with.

NickTee

Car insurance exists for that same reason: it can cover you, but it exists to make the companies money. Same thing for extended warranties: they exist to make the company money, since most won't use it, but it will still cover you in the event that something does happen. And a water pump replacement alone will cost 73% of the extended warranty.

Maikerusan

Every time I hear people trying to sell me something at only $ X.XX per day , and using the words "Peace of mind", I immediately stop listening to their sales pitch.

Of course people here can afford a Lexus...we already have them (or are seriously thinking about buying one). I suggest if we can afford one, we can also afford the out of standard warranty repairs that may (and I say may) crop up without having to resort to insuring ourselves against said risk.

I see TV ads on low class channels touting life insurance at only "pennies per day" or for "less than a cup of coffee a day you can get peace of mind with our Super Life Insurance for Seniors plan". I get it and I know who their core audience is. I am not one of them.

Perhaps the reason some of us can buy a Lexus is because throughout many years of life we have resisted the sales pitches of people trying to sell us products of dubious value. If every salesman had their way I would have extended warranty on my tv's, computers, fridge, stove, furnace, roof , cars, some furniture and who knows what else.

I shudder to think in 40 years of owning cars how much I would have spent and recouped on extended warranties had I bought them (and I never have).

Just my take and, as always, not offended at all if people disagree with me

lesz

You are (unknowingly) making some very good arguments for not buying extended warranties.

First, it makes financial sense to buy insurance to protect against catastrophic losses. When I buy auto insurance, I buy it primarily to protect against potential liability resulting from an accident that might result in, say, a $500,000 claim for injuries sustained by someone else or to protect against liability that might result in a claim of well over $100,000 to replace another driver's totaled Porsche. I don't buy auto insurance to protect against having to pay $1500 to replace a damaged bumper on my vehicle because, unless I'm planning on destroying a bumper ever other year, I'm going quickly to be dollars ahead by self-insuring for non-catastrophic occurrences like that.

Also, your example of an extended warranty protecting against having to pay to replace a water pump is an excellent example of why the benefits of extended warranties fall far short of what one might think. The Lexus power train warranty would cover replacement of a failing water pump for 6 years or 70,000 miles. If a water pump needs to be replaced, it is more likely to happen either during the 6 years of the Lexus warranty or after your extended warranty expires. Essentially, your 3 year extended warranty is only protecting you against having to pay for a water pump replacement if the water pump fails after the vehicle is 6 years old and before it is 7 years old. Further, if I do ever need to have to pay to replace a water pump, I will replace it at a Toyota dealer or at an independent mechanic, and I'll end up likely paying less than half of what I'd have to pay at the Lexus dealer. That means that, I'd have to replace water pumps (or other major components) 2 or 3 times, all during the 7th year of vehicle ownership, before I'd spend as much on them as what I'd have to pay for the extended warranty.

+1

The term "peace of mind" has become a primary sales gimmick used by those who sell extended warranties, protection plans, etc.

As I explained in a previous post, had I bought an extended warranty for every one of the vehicles that I've bought in the last 25 years, I would have spent about the same amount of money on extended warranties that it would cost to buy a fully loaded 2016 ES. Had I bought a protection plan on every appliance, electronic device, etc. that I've bought in the last 25 years, I likely would have spent enough money to replace all of the appliances and electronic devices in the house.

For me, I get more "peace of mind" from having the money that I would have spent on extended warranties and protection plans in my bank account and knowing that, if I do need to repair or replace something, the money that I would have spent on those extended warranties or protection plans is in the bank and ready to be used for those repairs or replacements.

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