Extended warranty?

[Plainwhitevy]

I am considering whether to buy an extended warranty. VY is under warranty until June this year. Have read some posts, but not sure.
Are they worth it, or are Holden a bit lousey when it comes to paying up?
Are there other warranties out there, are they any good and do they allow me to service with non-dealers.
Anything else that I should be aware of.
I previously used a mechanic who is really reliable and fairly priced, but have found the Holden service not too bad either so far.

[Sensations]

Waste of money they find loop holes not to pay up.

Only dealer warranty is not too bad.

[TigerVX]

Don't bother mate most of these are a waste of money in my opinion.
However some people on this forum will tell you how they got an extended warranty then got something big replaced under it.
If you do decide to go with it make sure you read the fine print.

[Spyper]

When I was going through the process of buying my car I met a nice (unbelievable isn't it?) dealer that gave me a big lesson about extended warranties. They're mostly skams. The only warranty you can trust is the statutory warranty because that fixes faulty goods and whatever else within a shortish time frame. Extended warranties will only fix certain things and ONLY up to a value. The value and exact items that will be fixed are contained in the PDA.

Nothing electronical will be repaired.. only mechanical faults. For that to happen, you have to show it was from general wear and tear, and that it had been driven properly the whole time. There was an article about extended warranties from the consumer watch-dog whatsitmacalled. Pretty much warning to read the fine print because most of them are scams.

If you really want to consider it, get the product disclosure agreement and read it from cover to cover. List everything that will be covered, list the amount to which it will be covered for. List all things you have to do for it to be covered. Then compare that with the price they ask for warranty. Inform yourself.

[Plainwhitevy]

Thanks for that - are you talking about dealer warranties or other warranty sellers - or both?

[TigerVX]

Originally Posted by Plainwhitevy

Thanks for that - are you talking about dealer warranties or other warranty sellers - or both?

By extended warranties we mean one that you arrange and pay for yourself when your new car warranty finishes. These are generally a waste of money.
Make sure you read the fine print really well. You'd be supprised at how little they actually cover you for.
Dealer warranties are the compolsury warranty that a dealer must give when you buy a used vehicle. These are normally 3 months and cover most things.

[holden#1]

I realise you are probably going to buy warranty through Holden... but I'll relate my QVWN knowledge...

i had a Queensland Vehicle Warranty Network (QVWN) warranty on my Calais for three years. it has just run out.

I had the 'Gold' cover.

They were fine with claims as long as you were careful with service records and you followed their protocol which sometimes was a pain in the arse.
i.e, when you had a problem, you ring up warranty people, they put you onto their 'recommended repairer' in your area, you then take it their and the mechanic looks at problem, gives them a quote then they approve it.

They paid for..

Radiator
Starter Motor
Alternator
Catylytic Converters
Water Pump
Harmonic Balancer

[LS1Chubby]

id say dont worry about GENERALLY, they usually arent worth it. My sis Lancer ran out of warranty, just been asked to toextend it for 2 yrs $600!
We have decided not to go through with it.

[TigerVX]

Originally Posted by holden#1

I realise you are probably going to buy warranty through Holden... but I'll relate my QVWN knowledge...

i had a Queensland Vehicle Warranty Network (QVWN) warranty on my Calais for three years. it has just run out.

I had the 'Gold' cover.

They were fine with claims as long as you were careful with service records and you followed their protocol which sometimes was a pain in the arse.
i.e, when you had a problem, you ring up warranty people, they put you onto their 'recommended repairer' in your area, you then take it their and the mechanic looks at problem, gives them a quote then they approve it.

They paid for..

Radiator
Starter Motor
Alternator
Catylytic Converters
Water Pump
Harmonic Balancer

Sounds like you did alright of it but how many things DIDN'T they pay for?

[Plainwhitevy]

I am not sure of the cost yet, but have heard numbers of about $1000 for an extra 3 years after my 3yr warranty runs out. To this point Holden have been fairly good with the factory warranty - machined discs, replaced door and gutter seals, replaced thermo fan. For $330/yr to get the same level of cover for items seems to be reasonable to me IF I can be comfortable that major cost items will be covered.
With the Holden extended warranty, does anyone have experience of claiming? Is there an excess to pay first?

[ashtray1]

I was given a 3 year extended warranty for free on my VX because my parents had already bought cars from the same holden dealer. This was apart of their "loyalty program". Normally i wouldn't get the extended warranty but since they chucked it in then you might as well take it. has been of no use yet

[holden#1]

Originally Posted by TigerVX

Sounds like you did alright of it but how many things DIDN'T they pay for?

o.k, I see what you're getting at....

I made the silly mistake of organising a repair myself and sent them the bill instead of waiting till a weekday and getting repair approved first. (voltage regulator)

other than this they paid for everything that went wrong... I'm just lucky that most of the things that broke were covered... (except for the front brake rotors!)

The list that I had covered: (limited to)

Power Windows, motors & switches
Radiator
Drive Shafts, CV's universals
Cylinder Heads, valves, lash adjusters
Abs actuatirs, electronic module wheel speed sensors
fuel pump, fuel lines, anti knock sensors
Crank angle sensor, air flow meter ignition coil ignition module
Engone control modle transmission computer cruise control sensors and actuators
a/c compressor condensor evaporator
brake booster calipers master cylinder
rack & pinion, power steering pump steering box internal parts
alternator starter motor voltage regulator windscreen wiper motor
water pump cooling fan
diffs
transmision
engine

[ScottB_33]

If it was the manufacturers extended warranty as Toyota allows you to do on their vehicles they are excellent value for money and well worth the paper they are written on as it just extends the life of your normal waranty usually a couple of more years (Ususally not cheap but excellent). On the other hand if the dealer themselves are offering the warranty then forget it as its like putting dracula in charge of the blood bank!!! All they want is your money for servicing the car and dont care about the condition it ends up in after this period has elapsed. Usually the fine print states that they will only pay for some of the total cost of the repair and not the complete job. This means that say if the engine blew up, then they will only pay for, say $1500.00 of the total repair but the bill may come to $3000.00 your way out of pocket after you've spent all that money with them getting the car serviced by them every six months or 5000klm to keep the warranty going. (Bloody rippoff) If its one of these warranties take the booklet into the toilet and use the sheets as extra toilet paper as this is all its worth.

[holden#1]

Originally Posted by ScottB_33

If it was the manufacturers extended warranty as Toyota allows you to do on their vehicles they are excellent value for money and well worth the paper they are written on as it just extends the life of your normal waranty usually a couple of more years (Ususally not cheap but excellent). On the other hand if the dealer themselves are offering the warranty then forget it as its like putting dracula in charge of the blood bank!!! All they want is your money for servicing the car and dont care about the condition it ends up in after this period has elapsed. Usually the fine print states that they will only pay for some of the total cost of the repair and not the complete job. This means that say if the engine blew up, then they will only pay for, say $1500.00 of the total repair but the bill may come to $3000.00 your way out of pocket after you've spent all that money with them getting the car serviced by them every six months or 5000klm to keep the warranty going. (Bloody rippoff) If its one of these warranties take the booklet into the toilet and use the sheets as extra toilet paper as this is all its worth.

i see where you're coming from....

big diff between manufacturers extended warranty & dodgy warranty networks....