Should You Buy An Extended Car Warranty?

When you buy a car, it’s expected that you’ll have car insurance because it’s typically a legal requirement before you can drive a car off the lot. Extended car warranties are different since they’re not required. The question becomes whether you should buy an extended car warranty, and the answer varies for each situation.

How to Buy an Extended Warranty

As you do your research, you’re going to see that there are plenty of different options for car warranties. There are so many options that it might feel daunting to pick the right one. Approach buying an extended car warranty the same way you would buy car insurance. Get several quotes and compare the details to make sure you get what you want.

Something else to think about is what you want to cover in terms of your vehicle. Every extended warranty is different, and they all have various limitations and exclusions. For example, you might have a leak in your car’s roof, but the rubber seal may not be covered. You’ll need to read through the policies and understand what is in the fine print to find out.

You’ll want to read up and look at reviews, like CarChex reviews, to see what the overall customer experience is, too. If you see constant negative feedback for the extended car warranty provider, then you’ll need to stay away from that company. Don’t trust the feedback on the company websites because they always post the best ones. Look at places like Google reviews, TrustPilot, or Yelp for the most honest reviews. Pay attention to reports about customer experience because if you see lots of people having trouble with reaching them, you can expect to have difficulty, too.

When You Don’t Need an Extended Warranty

If you buy a brand-new car off the lot and are the first owner, you don’t need a warranty. At that point, everything on your vehicle is covered by a manufacturer’s warranty. With a manufacturer warranty, if something breaks, you can just take it back to the dealership where you bought it, and they’ll be willing to fix the issue.

Extended warranties are not made for new cars or for cars that you plan on trading in within a few years after the purchase. Eventually, your car’s manufacturer warranty will expire. Since most people trade their cars after three or four years, getting an extended warranty doesn’t seem prudent, as most issues don’t pop up until around the 8- to 10-year mark.

When You Do Need an Extended Warranty

If you plan on keeping your car until it dies years from now, then you might want to consider an extended warranty at some point. The reality is that you don’t need to buy it directly from the dealer, so you can always revisit the idea in the future. Even if you decide to purchase an extended car warranty when you buy your brand-new car, you can cancel it in the future and get a prorated reimbursement.

An extended car warranty comes in handy when you buy a used car, as most of the time, used vehicles are well outside of their manufacturer’s warranty. When a vehicle is outside of the warrantied timeframe and a major component breaks, an extended warranty can help buffer the cost that you’d have to pay. Instead, you’re responsible for paying monthly fees, but the extended warranty takes care of the rest.

Of course, it goes without saying that you need to be sure that the used car dealers ipswich, or the used car company that you are purchasing from, have sufficient information about any vehicle you are considering before going ahead with the purchase.

The Best Time to Buy

If you’re planning on keeping your car, then you’ll want to refer back to the various warranty expiration dates. The best time to buy will be as your current warranty is ending. That way, you don’t have to deal with gap coverage. By getting an extended warranty towards the end of manufacturer coverage, you may also pay lower fees for a longer time.

Don’t think you have to have continuous coverage for your extended car warranty to be valid because that’s not an issue. Since you can buy an extended warranty at any time, you can wait if you want to. It’s just not recommended. Most of the time, extended car warranties also don’t go into effect until after a manufacturer’s warranty expires, so there’s no point in paying for extra coverage that you can’t use.

The Bottom Line

Buying an extended car warranty can be helpful if you select it the right way. Do your homework and get multiple quotes before making a decision. You also don’t want to get a warranty if you don’t need it because you’ll be wasting money. If your car is notoriously unreliable in its older age, or you want that extra peace of mind after the manufacturer warranty expires, then buy an extended car warranty when you’re ready.

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