Hello all,
Newbie here...expect to receive my 2023 RDX A-Spec this week. A first time Acura owner, coming off of 9 years of driving an Audi Q5.

I would like to hear your opinions on the worth (or not) of an extended warranty. I am typically a buy and hold owner, most past cars at about 10 years. Live in Canada.

2Gen owners, what has been your experience beyond the original warranty period?

 

I should add...I am a low mileage driver, typically 15,000 kms per year. And a very attentive owner so regular maintenance.

 

You never really know the answer until the period that you would have covered ends...and was there a need to have it. For us, on our 2019 we took a 4 year, 50K addition. We got a price from our local dealer. Googling the topic we discovered you may find a better price through different dealers and were pointed to a dealer in Florida (we are in NV). They sent us a quote, we took that back to local dealer, and they matched it. It was a pretty good discount, but after 4.5 years I don't recall how much. Why did we do it? We had bought our daughter a (used) 2017 Mazda CX7 at CarMax for her 16th B-day and decided....'buy a used car, buy someone else's problems'...and boy, was that true. With a 5 year warranty through Carmax, that thing paid for itself over and over in what turned out to be a world class poorly made, piece of junk car. (Im sure Mazda has gotten much better)...anyway...we bought our new RDX and thought there is an awful lot of expensive technology and and things to go wrong here, and we tend to keep cars a long time, 10-12 years on average, are also low mileage drivers (4,000 miles per year), so...Our car is only a little over 4 years old so have not used the warranty yet, but it is transferrable, and if you sell it, you can get some of that money back from Acura. If you never use it...well, that's the way insurance and warranties go. I have had car insurance for 50 plus years, and home insurance for 35 years plus, and have never used either of them, ever, for anything. We have a home warranty, and every year, get more than my money back in service calls.....with 4 air conditioning units alone, it is good assurance that things don't get out of control. You just never know....

 

This is why I'm planning to go for AcuraCare before our initial warranty runs out.

OTOH, we had an AcuraCare policy on our 2014 that we never used...ditto for the HondaCare on the CR-V before that...but neither one had all the electronics that the 2021 has.

 

Generally I am against extended warranties, but given questionable quality of Acura — it might be worth while getting it.

 

Yes, and I may add: buy extended warranty right before your car original warranty expires. You will receive a ton of offers in mail.

 

I am not usually in-favor of getting the warranties, however, I have definitely had some issues with my RDX since I leased it in 2021. I've had a couple of power window motor issues (same window), as well as a recent limp mode type of issue.

I don't plan on keeping this vehicle long-term (after my lease), but if I were going to do so, I would definitely consider getting the warranty. I like the RDX, but I am not all that impressed with Acura's quality anymore.

 

I got an Acura Care warranty with my 2022 MDX Type S Advance due to it being a new design and a lot of tech. I got the 8 year 120,000 option (covered for a total of 8 years or 120,000 miles from purchase date). What was nice is the Type S models did NOT have a price premium for the Acura care warranty when I bought mine. Same price as an MDX Advance model

One nice thing about Acura Care extended warranties is they are pretty reasonably priced (especially compared to the Germans).

 

The 50k warranty? I'm right at 48k on my 2020 (bought in nov of 19)

 

Yes. 2019 rear shock leaked at 42k/4.5 yr. Without extended would have set me back around $800.

Shop around. Prices vary a lot. Not sure if Curry Acura will sell to Canada. Their prices are best in the US.

 

If something doesn’t break early in the car’s life, the odds are pretty good you don’t have a lemon. While most Honda/Acura vehicles have much better than average reliability, we all know something could still break during the extended warranty period. Can you assign a probability to that? Can you assign a cost to those potential repairs? (Difficult questions to answer, I know.) Whatever that cost is, its only the difference above the cost of the warranty, plus all deductibles, you save. If you buy a warranty for $1,500, and incur $800 of repairs during the warranty period, the warranty COST you $700. If you had a total of $2,000 in repairs, the warranty saved you only $500. My approach to this problem is to focus on the expected delta, not the cost of the warranty. Because with 100% certainty, if you buy a warranty for $1,500, you’re out $1,500. To me, for a warranty to make sense, you’re betting on significantly greater repair costs during the warranty period than the cost of the warranty.

 

I would give Lexus less probability to have issues than Acura. Their quality is not the same as it used to be.

 

Agreed that Toyota/Lexus has always had better reliability than Acura/Honda. But Acura/Honda is still excellent. More to point, if you think the RDX has poor reliability and will incur thousands of dollars of repairs between 50,000 and perhaps 100,000 miles, you can hedge that potential loss by purchasing an extended warranty for $1,500, or whatever the real cost may be. Risk transfer involves taking an acceptable loss now to prevent an unacceptable, high, potential loss in the future. How high of a cost in the future is unacceptable and what is an acceptable guaranteed loss today (cost of warranty)? Each person's answer to those questions may help determine if an extended warranty is right for them. For the record, I will not buy an extended warranty on my RDX. I do not think it is necessary. I think my RDX is more than reliable enough to self-insure.

 

I'm with you on this Baldeagle. Consumer Reports rates an RDX 4 out of 5 for reliability. It might not trump Lexus, but it's good. I traded a 2012 Volvo that I bought new. Nice car, but, IMO, a less reliable car brand than Acura. I didn't buy an extended warranty for that and, thankfully, didn't need one. But that's just me. The right answer on this is whatever your comfort level (and wallet) will let you live with.

 

I plan to shop for an extended warranty once my original warranty nears expiration. For about $2k to max out the warranty term, its kind of a no brainer, imo. You’ll recoup your money in about 2 moderate repairs.

Btw, Curry Acura will email you an instant quote if you fill out the form on their website.

 

Curry is the way to go if you do decide to get one.

 

I think you have to determine your return on investment. What does the warranty cost compared to expected repairs? This is the 4th year of this model so the bugs are worked out. I'm in Ontario Canada and picked up a Honda Certified Pre-owned 2020 aspec last November. When they were trying all the high pressure, paint protection, electronic rust proofing, and more warranty sales, they like to say " oh electronics are so expensive to fix now days". So I asked if they aren't confident in their vehicles? I've been to the cooler many times. Kind of ironic they tell you how expensive car repairs are now..when they are talking about their cars. Sensors and screens have been around for a decade now. Screens are screens. They aren't thousands of $$. Everything on that screen is run by software from a separate module. The labour is the only x factor there. You may have a parking sensor go or something but what do they cost compared to the warranty?
My RDX came with a Honda certified 7 year 160km powertrain and 4 year 80km from the "original " purchase date. They stressed that, and you sign for it amongst all the paper work, that if you miss any service they don't have to honor a warranty claim for that part. So if I do just an oil change and not the extra service they can deny an accompanied claim (? ) Seems extreme but I have read news articles in Canada here of people going to a quick lube shop,a generic oil filter was used and the warranty claim related to the engine was denied. They stated the filter was sub standard.
Stay away from 3rd party warranties. To many limitations and deductibles, they only cover up to a certain shop rate. I've had a couple lately. One on a Porsche Cayenne. It only covered $5000 per repair. I ended up with 2 scored cylinders ( common issue in cold climates) but still would have been $30k for a new engine. I basically sold it as a parts car. Then I got an infinti fx35 with extended warranty which I traded in for the RDX. I was nervous after the Porsche fiasco so I got the 3rd party. It was till 160000km and unlimited time and I only put on about 10 000km a year. I only used it for a wheel bearing which I caused. I hit a piece of parking block under the snow while I was doing donuts in a parking lot lol. Because of the "age" of the car the warranty company wouldn't pay for a genuine infiniti part. Only an aftermarket part so beware of those.
I went on acura canada. Warranty for the 5 year 100000km is $1828, $2065 with tax. With that as an example, I doubt you will have $2065 in repairs in those12 months after the standard warranty runs out. It all depends on how much the warranty costs. $500 for a couple extra years, I would consider it. $2065 for an extra 12 months, personally I would turn it down.

 

I did buy an extended warranty but not when my 2019 RDX was new. I waited until a few months before my manufacturers warranty was about to expire. Over the years since I bought it, infrequent, but random quirks would appear regarding the infotainment system. I figured if something were to fail hard after the warranty period it would be this system. I expect the repair would be much more than the multiyear extended warranty premium. So that was my rationale. The car has been very dependable going from point A to point B.

 

While I have never bought an automotive extended warranty, I caution those who are inclined to do so to read the fine print to be sure that items they think might need warranty attention at some point are in fact covered. I don't know what is covered what isn't. Just a caution, as some may think extended warranties are just the same as the original factory warranty, and it might not be case with all extended warranties...

 

The only extended warranty that is worth buying (if you’ve decided that you must have one) is the OEM extended warranty offered through Honda.
It works exactly like factory warranty.

 

Here is another way to approach this and it seems to be gaining popularity. Instead of paying out upfront $2k or so for an extended warranty, why not start a savings account of $100 per month. Even less than that will work. You will not need it for the first 4 years and by then you will have almost 5k in savings also earning interest. Maybe not for everyone because you have to be determined and consistent. Even if a turbo fails you will have enough to cover the cost, Oem or 3rd party.

 

OTOH, if you do end up paying $3-4K for a repair out of your account, you're out $3-4K whereas if you had the extended warranty you'd only be out the $2k you paid for it plus whatever deductible it required. And if you need another multi-thousand $ repair later, you're out even more.

It all comes down to 'how lucky do you feel?'.

 

This is not fully accurate. There's a ton of exclusions in the extended warranty, e.g. body trim, weather striping, upholstery, parts of the exhaust system, etc. There's a page and half in the vehicle service contract. As a simple example, they will probably fix a rattle under new car warranty, but not under extended warranty.

 

Thats fine, this is still the best extended warranty you can get.

 

That I agree with 100%.

 

I don't see that on the website. Curry in upstate New York?
Thanks,
Mike Todd

 

https://www.curryacuracare.com

 

Folks,
Thank you for the insightful comments. The update is that the '23 RDX A-Spec arrived as planned, and I passed on the Acuracare OEM extended warranty. I was interested in the 8yr 130,000 km warranty for which the MSRP list is $4,268 (plus 15% taxes). The F & I rep. was prepared to lower the price to about $3,900, or an all in cost of about $4,500. At that rate I passed and will take my chances. Reportedly, I can act at a later date but it will cost $400 or more as the car is now "used".

Time will tell....

 

Ouch...years later of course, but ours was 4 yrs, 100K miles and $1400 (US) dollars.

 

I think it's wise to wait with the only exception being unknown inflation. If we see crazy inflation, buying something even if you don't need it makes sense because it's going to cost a lot more in the future. That said, I passed on mine this time. Here in the US, when I was buying it for my last car, the rep at Curry Acura said the price will depend on the miles and the number of years of original warranty left. There are tiers for each, so if you have 2 years of original warranty left, it would cost less than if you had a year of original warranty left for a given mileage and given warranty plan. At least in the US, an 8 year warranty, regardless of when purchased measure time from when the warranty was bought, while mileage is total mileage.

Back to the inflation example -- if the price of this warranty inflates at 10% per year, but your return in a savings account after taxes is 2%, it sort of becomes a no brainer to buy it now. But we all have faith the central banks will bring inflation under control, right?

 

We had an AcuraCare extended warranty on our 07 MDX and we made out as we had some expensive repairs. We also had an AcuraCare warranty on my 08 TL-S and never used it. Insurance - you only need it when you need it.

I have not personally used him but others have raved about Bob Leab @ Hyannis Honda for OEM service contract pricing. I just found this link looking for his name - https://hyannishondaservicecontracts.com/contact.php

As already mentioned some folks have been happy Curryacuracare.com as well.

 

Just my experience- I have purchased 3 new Volvo's in the last 11-12 years. 2 have been so problematic and expensive to repair that I am DONE with Volvo. Hate to say it, but it's the truth. My take on Volvo over the years (ok- decades) is that they were safe, reliable and long-lasting. The reliable and long-lasting part of this take has proven to be completely wrong; fortunately I haven't needed to test the safety part. YMMV.

I just put money down on a 2023 RDX Advance and of course I cannot wait to take delivery of it. Moving on.......

 

Within the past 3 weeks I traded my 2013 Volvo S60 for an RDX. My Volvo was rock solid reliable. The reason I didn't consider another one is I don't like how many functions are buried in that iPad like screen. Also, and this is just me, I didn't want to patronize the Chinese company that owns Volvo, Geeley. And I'm not implying that anyone that buys a Volvo is unpatriotic. This just factored into my decision. By the way, I'm enjoying the RDX immensely. Happy motoring!

 

My 4 years expired May 2023. Bought a 3 years / 80K Miles extended warranty from Curry’s. My current mileaage was < 25K, but that was mainly due to Covid for much of the time since purchase in May 2029. I plan to replace the car in 3 years’ time, hence chose that term.
I know that there are tons of exclusions, but am confident that the core components such as engine and transmission will be protected by the warranty if it unfortuantely becomes necessary.

 

I bought Mechanical Breakdown Insurance from Geico for only $20 every 6 months with a $250 deductible. And better coverage.
It seems much cheaper compared to the extended warranty.

 

Don't know anything about Mechanical Breakdown Insurance from Geico, but if you were to have a breakdown, my guess is you will have to pay everything out of pocket and then get reimbursed from Geico. Highly doubt your Acura dealer is going to recognize your Geico coverage. Your Geico coverage may be recognized by independent shops Having AcuraCare - everything is seamless and at most you would have to pay the deductible if you opted for one with your AcuraCare plan.

 

Has anyone in Canada bought the OEM extended warranty from Curry in the US? Wondering if it is valid in Canada or we have to buy from a local dealer?

 

Back in the saddle, huh?

Hopefully your TLX experience is better than the RDX one!

 

I bought it for both my old MDX and new RDX. Both times i bought it from a dealer online for much less than the local dealers. I definitely used it as i had the mdx for 12 years, well after the original warranty ran out saving me thousands.

 

According to the policy, GEICO will pay the repair facility directly for covered claims, and you can choose any licensed shop, including a dealer. All you need to do is call GEICO before the repair. then geico examiner will determine if a physical inspection of the vehicle is necessary.

And I think the major benefit of mechanical breakdown insurance is that it covers all parts and systems, not just the specific list of items covered by AcuraCare.