Originally Posted by mtaalib3

Wow. Has anyone here considered self-insurance? We don't drive BMWs or Mercedes. We drive Lexus and the LS to boot. When I brought my 98 with 3 years/100k mile warranty I paid an extra $2200. Back then I thought I was getting a deal. Until my warranty expired and the only claim I had was a $180 dollar tie rod end replacement. I think the whole thing would have cost me $400+ if I had to pay it outta pocket. Long story short, my warranty ended long before I ever had any problems with my LS. I have since sold it to a coworker with 135k miles and it is still going strong with no problems. So I ask all of you, why not open a mutual fund or cd for your hard earned $2k+ for warranty (or give it to me and I'll cover you for 100k miles) and earn some interest on your money. It is highly unlikely that you will ever use your warranty and if you do I am willing to bet dollars to doughnuts you won't have a repair bill anywhere near your warranty premium.
Currently I have a 06 LS CL and a 03 GS430. The LS is still under factory and the GS is not. Any problems with the GS and I will pay for it outta pocket. So far at 81k miles I only had a wind noise issue (after the factory warranty expired) which cost me all of $180 to fix at my local dealership. Now I know some of you Ultra owners with your active suspension are concerned. However, the struts are approximately $1k each and install may add an additional 3 or 4 hundred dollars. So you would have to have 3 out of 4 struts fail before you surpassed your warranty premium. What are the chances of that happening? Even if it did, the mileage your vehicle would be at when that happened would probably be prohibitive in itself for warranty coverage. So I ask all CL members, would you consider self-insurance? Some of the best things about self-insurance is: 1) no vehicle mileage or age limit, 2) it is automatically transferred to your new vehicle (regardless of make or model), 3) no limit on how many vehicles that can be covered, 4) no paperwork, 5) no need to get pre-authorization for any claims, 6) you earn interest on your premiums. These benefits are just to name a few. Think about it!!!!!

Originally Posted by GRAND_LS 4

Front Armrest broke - $750 bucs so far.


So what happens when the front two front or rear struts go out? how about rear massage or AC/heated seats?

What will you do with the LASER cruise when it goes out? (its $6K from the dealer)

I think i made a good investment purchasing the platinum Lexus warranty to 100K. The Ultra has too many bells and whistles to worry about. You can always get your money back for the unused portion of the premium if you sell before the warranty runs out.

Originally Posted by AlexusAnja

All this talk of warranty, or self-insurance, is all good talk, but it comes down to it's all about "insurance" from hopefully nothing. If we're perfectly healthy and live healthy lives, why do we take out medical insurance? I could see that as wasting $1000/year on nothing because I don't use it. BUT, WHAT IF you get hit by a car, or cancer forms unbeknownst, to you? Then what do you do without insurance? The warranty is "peace of mind" that IF, IF, IF something should break, you're covered from the potential expensive repairs. It's gambling, you're paying actually hoping that nothing goes wrong. Would I pay extra $2000 for insurance and if nothing goes wrong be happy? Yeah, because if something had gone wrong, I could have forked over much more.

I do believe that in the 100K lifetime of the LS, you will probably NOT see a $2000 repair of a defective item... but you never know... you never know...