mike_in_nyc

I have a 2004 TL with 27,000 miles. The factory warranty expires in June 2008. I see from curryacuracare.com that I can extend my warranty with the following options.

$945 - Additional 2 years or total of 51,000 miles

$1,200 - Additional 3 years or total of 63,000 miles

$1,445 - Additional 4 years or total of $75,000 miles

Each option has a $100 deductable and a promo code deducts $85 from each option. Does it make sense to get an extended warranty in my situation and if so then which option would be best.

Thanks for your advice.

Michael

TL1999

i got it when i brought my 05 TL new and please make sure it is ACURA warranty if you do buy it.

everyone have different opinion on this so do some search....

don5504

Depends on how long you plan on keeping it or how much you drive. If you are like most average consumers you will have no need for it because you will have gotten yourself a different car before its ever needed. If you put a lot of miles on it or plan on keeping it for a long time then maybe.

D

01tl4tl

read the transmission failure threads in gen2 and gen3- expensive problem out of warranty- $4000 to replace!!!
a warranty only good to 60k are they kidding? - doesnt the factory warranty go to 50k miles?
Make sure its transferrable to another person if you sell- thats a big feature to have long term warranty coverage IF its good coverage
A few weeks ago- word came out that dealers could not do internet sales of policy now, only- in person type deal only, but you can go to any dealer- ACURA dealer that is, and buy one.
Get prices and shop around- speak with the SALES MANAGER ~not a salesperson~ who gets a commission on sale and wants to keep the price jacked up
Bypass them and deal with the top man/woman - who only cares about total sales numbers and can cut you a way better price

gcason

Follow the Money on this one:

It goes from your pocket to the salesperson. If they didn't turn a profit, they wouldn't sell them. Keep up the maintenance and you will very likely be OK without the warranty. Acuras are extremely reliable.

pokin

Ney ney - plenty could go wrong even with perfect maintenance. For example, see a few threads down about the busted Navi on a 05 that is barely past warranty - $6,000 to fix.

I say, get some piece of mind. Which one? depends on how long you will keep the car.

gcason

Every major consumer group says that extended warranties are a rip off. Yes, it's possible that something major will go wrong with the car and the warranty will turn out to be a good deal. In the VAST MAJORITY of cases, the owner of such a warranty is just throwing away good money. If that wasn't the case, they wouldn't sell extended warranties. Acuras are among the most reliable cars made. It's not a good bet to make.

weeeerd

Like everyone else said, if you plan on keeping the vehicle and putting some miles on it, by all means do it. Being that it's an 04, it is the first model change and there are quite a few service bulletins out for the vehicle (meaning they have had some issues and have resolved them). Most of the items may not be very big but you don't want it to be a constant occurance of a nickle and diming.

Make a few different phone calls into the dealer or stop at a few different ones. Make SURE you buy an Acura warranty. Most other warranties (costguard, JM&A, etc) may pick up your basic items but not your main control units ($$$).

Last thing.. Please make sure you go over with who you purchase the warranty from, what is covered and what isn't. The worst thing in the world is them selling you a "bumper to bumper warranty", and you thinking every little issue you have, is covered by warranty.

BLKURA

I really dont know if they're rip offs or not. But on the few cars i've owned and had extended warranties, im glad I did! Most recently before owning my TL, I owned a 04 Toyota Tacoma. Never had a single problem in the 5 years I owned the truck. I did have an extended warranty on the vehicle.

I say if your going to own the car for several more years, by all means pick up an extended warranty.

Before my Toyota, I owned a 95 Explorer. Everyone knows the trannies in those SUV's were horrible! I had an extended warranty and used it twice on the trans. In the end, the extended warranty cost me something like 900$. If I didn't have the warranty I would have had to pay nearly $5,000 in trans repairs. That's not counting other small issues i had in the 6 years of owning the vehicle.

As for paying $5,000 for Navi repairs. That is just insane!!! I would just go out and get Tom Tom for $400.

dejavecu

Skip the warranty on a DVD player but when it comes to a major purchase like a car go for it. It is only 3 percent of your total purchase. You can spread the cost over your monthly payments and, if you decide to sell the car early, you can get part of your monies back. The warranty is transferrable so it helps with resale.
It allows you to be eligble for TSBs which are not always necessary to be performed but cover the inherent design flaws present in any vehicle. There are more flaws present in your 2004 as it was the first year of the design. You cannot bank on the name of a car unless you drive and live in a vacuum; if you live ina vacuum, then you should be driving a Bugatti Veyron anyways while you are guzzling 100 year old Scotch.
While Acuras are more reliable overall than other brands, they are not perfect and are much more expensive to fix, when they do break.
The moral of the story is spend a little now or spend a lot later.

enigmaos

iTrader: (4)

if you plan on getting it, check out www.hondacuraworld.com - AZ vendor + Acura dealer.

ac-n-up

i say forget about the warranty's because when something does go wrong you have to show all of your paper work of your car being serviced and up to date. i say just try your best to follow the manual and keep up with the service intervals...

weeeerd

Wrong. You don't have to show anything. Should your transmission go out, we can check the fluid and see if you have done fluid services. If you have not, we MAY ask to see a record of it being done. Why should Acura pay for a vehicle that you decided not to do any maintenance on.

THTL

iTrader: (2)

so it is best to have the transmission fluid replace at an Acura dealer?

bmaczo6

iTrader: (1)

Well said, extended warranties are a huge profit center for the dealers and the companies that sell them. They are not a wise financial decision. Just because some people have had an experience that has saved them money most people will never use it.

Below is an article from Business Week on warranties from Circuit City and Best Buy. Even though it is not a direct correlation with automotive warranties it is very similar. The high profit margin does not take into account that the insurer is also making a profit in addition to their administrative expenses.

Last year, profits from warranties accounted for all of Circuit City's operating income and almost half of Best Buy's, say analysts. They figure that profit margins on contracts are between 50% and 60%. That's nearly 18 times the margin on the goods themselves. For example, a four-year contract on a $3,000 flat-panel TV costs about $400. Best Buy gives its insurers $160 and keeps $240 for itself.

Elegant TYPE S

iTrader: (2)

Wait, so the 60,000 mile warranty is not an additional 60,000 miles? Its only up to 60,000 miles? So if you were at 50k mile on the odo, ur literally purchasing a warranty for 10k miles? This doesnt make sense at all, please someone clarify if Im understanding this wrong.

NDe

Majority of the extended warranty goes by the listed miles. So your example, 60K is the total miles on your Acura, not an additional. Once your miles pass 60K, your warranty is gone even if you have a 4 yr plan. Look for something like 4 yr 100K.

Good luck.

2008 Acura TL

Waste of money IMO

jetblakTL

Think of it this way - A warranty may cost you anywhere from $1000 - $1500. Very few repairs on most modern cars cost less than $500. While it may be true that Honda/Acura vehicles are very reliable, over the course of 100K miles, a few things, maybe not all of them major, are sure to need to be repair - especially if you live somewhere that's rough on cars like NYC. And 1 major repair will pay for the warranty right there.

It is very incorrect to compare electronics warranties to auto warranties. I agree that electronics warranties are big $$-makers for companies and most place say you should avoid them for anything other than big-ticket items - expensive flat-screen TVs and such. Even so, most TVs might cost $3K or less on average - a brand new TL is $30K - $1200 doesn't seem like much to shield me from repair costs (no matter the severity) if I plan to keep the car and put significant miles on it.

I recently got a AcuraCare warranty from Bernardi for $1300 and I am covered to 2013 or 112K miles w/$0 deductible - 5 years and 80K from where I am now on my 06. Didn't seem like a bad deal to me. At my current pace, I would have been done with the standard 4 year 50K warranty by this time next year.

930Turbo

Extended warranties are insurance policies. Do you have insurance on your house? The vast majority of us will never use it, so is it a bad value? Not for me since I want to transfer risk to someone else in the event of loss for a small percentage of the possible loss.

And the argument that this is a huge profit center for those companies.... Who cares? I hope they are very profitable, because I want the company there if I have a claim - just like my life insurance company, home insurance company, car insurance company. If you want to save the amount of the value of a warranty in a savings account and self-insure, go for it. If you can't afford that, get the warranty from a reputable source.

flashback

I got one for the peace of mind. It paid off. My car was pulling to the left and the steering was making a wining sound. Took it in, it had a internal steering rack leak. Don't know how much a new rack would cost, glad I did not have to find out. It was all taken care of no charge.

gcason

I'm sorry to say that it sounds like you and some others have swallowed the Kool-Aid on extended warranties. They've got you repeating their sales pitch back to others. Amazing.

You're an adult, so if you want to flush your money down the toilet, you have every right to do so. Word of warning: That guy in Nigeria who says he'll send you $18 million if you send him $8,400 to cover wires fees is also scamming you. Sorry to be rude, but it's pretty much the same thing.

gcason

Between my wife and I, we've owned 7 Acuras over the last 15 years. We've had exactly 2 repairs not covered by the standard warranty. Combined, the total cost for those two repairs was about $1,700. You can do the math on how much we would have wasted if we'd gone the "peace of mind" route. My experience is MUCH more typical than yours, otherwise no one would sell extended warranties.

bibledriver

Did, you buy the cars new? That, to many, is flushing money too. Warranties are profit to dealership not because they get paid more than the repairs, but It costs them less to repair a vehicle than the consumer pays for the repair. Even if the consumer gets all of their money, or more, out of the warranty via repair prices, the dealership still makes a profit. Therefore, it is not straight forward to just say that they wouldn't sell them if they didn't profit.

I have an extended warranty on my 3g. Right now I am a bit under half way through it. As of this point I have had a bit over half of the money spent on the warranty done through repairs. I am a very proficient mechanic and could, if i chose, do just about anything necessary to the car, but still purchased it. My wife is the driver of the vehicle, and I don't want there to be any problems that I have to hurry to fix. I am busy enough and can't always fit maint/repairs into my sched. She is driving out of town 2x a week. If something goes wrong during business hours (mine) then she just calls Acura, they get it towed and can, if necessary get her to the dealership where she then gets a loaner car for the duration of her setback.

IMO, obviously, it is worth it. There are a a lot of high priced components on the vehicle, you will have loaner service when down, and if selling, many are glad to eyeball a higher price due to the warranty.

bibledriver

the warranty is an extension onto the CURRENT MILEAGE and TIME on the vehicle. He is adding the warranty to his mileage.

bibledriver

Have it replaced. That is best. Probably should use the Honda approved oil, to save any doubt if you have tranny issues. Drain and fill wins. Do not use any oil change places flushing machines. They are explicitly NOT ok according to Acura/Honda

joed40

Think resale.

I estimated at my 6k mileage a year PLUS the 100k warranty, I'll be lloking at maximum bang for my resale buck.

Tecciztecatl

I bought the extended warranty for my 6MT 04 (74k miles) and had have only used it once for a brake switch (clutch master cylinder was replaced 400 miles before original warranty ran out). One thing to notice is that the "extended" warranty is not as lenient as the original. For example my side mirrors sputter when adjusting for "backup" ... a friend had her mirrors replaced under original but they wouldn't replace mine under extended ...because "they still work" I will "make sure" they get replaced before my extended warranty runs out.

Like any insurance it is nice for the peace mind ... but often is not needed - that's how the insurance companies make $$$.

BLKURA

You obviously dont own vehicles very long. So, natuarlly extended warranties wouldn't benifit you.

Extended warranties are not scams, nor ripoffs!! I've benifited from them in the past. Money well spent! Anyone who says they're scams...clearly have no idea what they're talking about.

bmaczo6

iTrader: (1)

I am trying to understand what you are trying to say but I still can't figure it out. The sale of an extended warranty and a repair are completely unrelated. The dealer is acting as a sales agent when they sell an extended warranty. They get paid a very large commission for performing this service. Once the warranty is sold the selling dealership no longer has any responsibility for the repairs. That becomes the responsibility of the company underwriting the warranty.

gcason

Yep, clearly Consumer Reports has no idea what they're talking about. (Excerpt quoted below) See if you can find similar data supporting your claim on a website that doesn't take adds from extended warranty companies or promote them directly. You'll get a lot of "peace of mind" crap, but no data supporting their claims.

"But extended warranties sell costly "peace of mind" for repair nightmares that probably won't occur, according to a survey of more than 8,000 readers in December 2007 by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. We have long advised that extended warranties are a poor deal for almost every product. Now we have the first data showing that this advice applies to most new cars as well.

The survey included buyers of extended warranties for cars in the 2001 and 2002 model years. That allowed sufficient time for the factory warranties to expire, as well as several years of extended coverage. The chart on Costly contracts lists results for makes for which we have sufficient data; note that models within a make may vary. Some owners in the survey might have had coverage remaining, but our analysis shows that the need for serious repairs is uncommon."

I'm not and have never denied that extended warranties can pay off. However, they pay off for less than 1 out of 3 consumers according to the Consumer Reports study. That is NOT a good bet, especially for us because we've bought a VERY reliable car. I'll bet it's 1 out of 4 or less for Acura owners.

BLKURA

Mine has paid off for me. Using the word scam, is the wrong word for it. If you dont own cars for more then four years, it's pointless for you to get extended warranties. I dont believe CR shows those kind of #'s? So the study would be one sided and unfair.

As for showing data to back up my claim, I have paper work proving my extended warranties helped me!

JAB00

Several issues ago CR did a indepth analysis on extended warranties. The long and short of it was if one drives a "reliable" car, ie Honda/Toyota, it's not worth it. Even for extremely unreliable cars, those people at best broke even. IMHO it's not worth it but some like the piece of mind.

bmaczo6

iTrader: (1)

It looks like you are the 1 in 3 that may have benefitted by it but you are in the minority. You are right when you say scam is the wrong word for it. It is better to call it a very poor financial decision.

The better choice is for people that are concerned about expensive repairs is to set the money aside as if they bought the extended warranty for each vehicle they own. After 30 or 40 years of doing this they will have without a doubt been better off financially and will likely be able to retire earlier or with better finances because of their prudent choices throughout their life.

gcason

CR did indeed show those numbers. The cars in the survey were out of regular warranty. The excerpt didn't make that totally clear. There would not be a point in buying a warranty that you were never going to use.

I fully believe that the extended warranty helped you. Congrats. You are one of the lucky ones. 67% of extended warranty buyers waste their money. Was the car a TL, btw?

And, it may be a little strong, but selling a warranty to people who have only a 33% chance of needing it is a scam in my book.

BLKURA

No, it wasn't a TL. First was a 95 Explorer, and the other was a Toyota.

930Turbo

Wow dood - wake up on the wrong side of the world? Did an extended warranty salesman run off with your puppy - or wife? I think we're all clear where you stand on these. Do you have anything constructive to add that's not at the expense of someone else's opinion?

gcason

I'm outspoken on this because I hate to see people waste their money. I especially hate to see it when an entire industry has sprung up around tricking people into wasting their money.

And, I miss my puppy! Damn that extended warranty salesman for taking my money and my puppy! :-)

Type S Fan

There is no doubt that some dealers are ripping people off! Mine wanted $2780.00 for a third party warranty that was only a couple of years longer than the original warranty.

However, a real Acura Extended Warranty is available at a substantially better price that provides a good value for owners that are going to keep their cars a long time.

It's worth it to some peeps, not to others. I'm still trying to make up my mind whether to go for it!

JAB00

For piece of mind some should get it. However, for the majority who gets it, it won't pay off. Worn parts aren't covered. There are deductibles. Sometimes the customer has to fight tooth and nail for stuff that's actually covered.