Hi Folks: I am new to the Forum, and just bought a 2012 Fit Base MT. I love it (of course) after 140miles. I wonder if I made a mistake purchasing the Honda Care extended warranty. I paid a about 16,500 OTD for my car here in Oregon. The Honda Care cost an extra 1350 for bumper to bumper out to 72 months/ 120K miles. It sounds like this may not be necessary, as Honda has such a good reputation for reliability, but I don't know. This is my first brand new car. I can still repeal my decision and get a refund for the Honda Care. What say you?

 

Lose it. You can always pick it up later and it won't cost you that much. Check out this dealership in MA: Hyannis Honda Advantage-hyannishondaservicecontracts.com

I haven't purchased a Honda Care contract. If I did, it would be with Bob at that dealership. The 8 yr/120 with $0 deductible went for $940.

Welcome to the forum!

 

I wouldn't do it.. The main advantage Honda products have over anything else is that they last for so long... My car has yet to be wrenched on outside of my barn and there has been nothing but normal servicing and performance modifications performed on it.. I suppose that if I lived in a loft apartment in uptown Dallas and had no place to service or do repairs to my car, I would consider a service contract but only if I planned to keep the car for over 10 years.. The only Honda car that I previously owned went to the junkyard after twelve years because my son took out a telephone pole with it.. The only things I ever repaired was a wire in the turn signal/ light switch that need to be re soldered and the alternator belt.

 

Extended warranties are really an insurance policy. You're betting on whether or not you'll need any expensive repairs. I can afford to take the risk so I didn't buy one.

 

I just purchased my 2012 base fit a/t recently and got the warranty as well. I am not too car savy and dont really have room to try to make the effort to work on my car, so if you are in a similar situation i would say keep it.

 

I only paid about $650 or so by haggling so I got it. Only because I figured even a moderate repair like a sensor or electronics would cost more than $650. I wouldn't have gotten it for full price ($1250 I think they wanted?)

It's nice piece of mind if you're not mechanically inclined though. I would get it if I didn't know much about auto repair.

 

Extended warranties are another money maker for dealers, that's all. They push hard for them because it's an opportunity to make more money on your purchase. It's not a bad thing if you choose to buy in, but if you're not careful it'll cost you a lot more money in the long run on the purchase of your car. In short, if you actually have the money to afford it and it's a peace of mind thing you want- go for it. But if your like most of us who purchase and struggle a bit to get the deal we're looking for, which usually means we're close to the top end of our acceptable budget going in, then be very careful with extended warranties. NEVER fold it into the financing you may be carrying on the purchase. Don't be twisted into longer financing terms just to get it and be seemingly affordable. Do not fall into that trap. A good financer will first prey on your worry of items breaking, and then look to fold the cost into your financing when you say the inevitable, which is what they're really looking for- 'I can't afford anything more per monthly payment than I'm at with this purchase'. That's music to their ears. So if you have the bucks to purchase it straight out, indulge. But do not finance it. I just did the little battle of wills only two days ago for my 2012. I won, only because I stuck to my affordable original deal and was not smooth talked into financing the warranty. Just be careful.

Dan

 

I got my money back. If it has a major problem it should break in the first 3 years I would think.

 

They offer the service because, over the long-haul, Honda will make more money offering extending warranty than they could ever possibly pay out.

Skip it. It's a Honda. The standard warranty should cover anything weird (lemon). Anything else you can live with and if it bugs you enough, just pay cash to fix it. Should still come out a lot less than the extended's price.

 

So, How did you go about getting your money back? I see on the Honda Care website that there is a 60 day 100% money back guarantee... but since I purchased mine through the dealer??

Hmmmm. Yes, I fell prey to the dealer/finance fear mongering. Grrr! Just a touch of remorse. Not about the car, but the Ex Warranty.

Now, advice on dumping it?

P.S. you have all been wonderfully helpful! Thanks!

 

I worked in dealerships for years, always in the service end. I was a service manager in both a Honda and an Acura dealer, as well as a Ford dealer. After years of working with sales and F&I guys (most of whom are pretty decent people, by the way...it is just their job) I can offer these tips:

- just go to your business manager and tell him you want to invoke the satisfaction guarantee on the warranty in your contract. Make sure you are within your rights to revoke it or you own it (you did sign a contract)

- if he gives you a hassle, go to the sales manager or general manager (his bosses)

- call Honda as a last resort

Us service guys hated the extended warranty for a number of reasons. Huge hassles with claims - both Honda and Ford were bad for this - and owners often did not get what was promised. We also got, on average, 30% less labor on these jobs (important!!) than the mitchell guide or even the manufacturer's own time sheets. So technicians hated ext warranty work too; the manufacturers tried to save $$$$ and they worked for less on the same job.

If something does go kaput, you can always go for goodwill with Honda (if it is a common fault, like accord a/c units in the 90s or 5 speed auto torque converters in the 2000's) or negotiate a better price with the service manager on a big job, remembering he'd get 30% less on warranty - offer a 10-15% reduction on a big job and he'll take it.

 

I've owned 5 Hondas out of about 12 cars. Two of the Hondas had transmission bearings fail on the MT transmissions before 100k, a friend had a similar bearing go on his below 100k. When I bought my new GD, I purchased the 8 yr/120k because of this. I haven't had to use the HondaCare, yet, and I hope I won't have to. After reading about all the coil pack problems in this Fit Forum, I feel a little better that I invested the $990. But, as stated before, I'm betting that my car will go bad before the warranty end, and Honda says "no."

 

I've had 3 honda manual transmissions and worked in service departments seeing countless more. This is not a common Honda problem, but could happen on any tranny. It was far more common with the Getrag sourced manuals in the Ford Contour/Mercury Mystique clones I dealt with working for Ford in the 90s.

I had 2 Civics both go over 200,000miles with no manual tranny issues. I saw several with 300K+ with never an issue. Maybe you got unlucky?

 

After I and my friend had the same problem, the 5th bearing, I did some research. From what anecdotal info I got from the web was that these cars had a revamped 4 speed MT that were altered slightly to accommodate the 5 speeds. An extra bearing was the problem area. But, I don't know if it is true about the redesign... just from reading blogs, etc.

I also have known people who have never had a MT problem in 200k miles... I am one of them. Most of my cars have been MTs and all my cars have made it to 200k without MT problems except these 2 Hondas. Just a fluke I imagine.

 

OP, glad you decided to dump it. It's an insurance policy, nothing more. If you can afford to self insure, than do that. Otherwise, it's just purchased piece of mind.

 

As a former Honda service writer, I would never buy a single extended warranty on a Honda. Pick up a service manual and get your hands dirty if it comes to it. Any "common" problems, Honda will recall. Like transmisions in 1999-2000 Odeseys. Honda owns their problems, unlike GMC who I have also worked for. Most extended warranties can be cancelled at a prorated rate, so it is not to late to dump it.

 

I purchased Extended Warranty when I bought my 2010 Honda Fit Sport and last week I called and cancelled it. I think it's unnecessary since Honda reliability is the best in industry.

 

There are other reasons for the warranty. One is if you have the navigation, they are quite expensive if they break, as are other options, if they go bad. The other is resale value. If you sell the car before the extended warranty wears out, the buyer will know you are not dumping it due to an impending repair. Mine cost around $900 at Bernardi for 120,000 miles. My 2005 Odyssey required a transmission for $3600 and an A/C compressor for $1300 under the extended warranty. That warranty cost around $1200, as I remember.

 

The one time Hondacare really paid off was with the Civic GX we had. It was the CVT that kept going out. So, my recommendation, based on experience, is that if you buy a car with new, unproven technology, you may want to consider an extended warranty.

I also got one for the Tundra, due to its new-that-model-year 5-speed automatic, and the electric transfer case, as well as it being a four belt driven camshaft V-8. As it turned out, the only claim I made was for two front shocks.

The only exotic technology on my M/T Fit is the electric power steering, and Im willing to self insure that one.

 

In my opinion an extended warranty is basically buying "peace of mind" for the period of the extended warranty.

Also in my opinion they are usually a bad investment. With a Honda, I feel investing money into perhaps better or above average routine maintenance will pay off and I'm better off dealing with any major repairs only when/if they arise.

My feeling is that if a Honda is relatively reliable for the base warranty period, it's probably going to be reliable for years and years longer.

I've never purchased an extended warranty and I've never regretted it.