What they are offering---8 year or 100,000 mi zero deductible-----$1645
7 year or 80,000 mi zero deductible ----$1475


I drive about 5000 miles a year. In 8 years that amounts to 40 or 45,000 miles. I still like the peace of mind of the warranty.

I totaled my 09 Honda Fit, and the extended warranty on that was $1470, $100 deductible, and $120,000 mi. It seems the prices have gone up quite a bit. Are these good prices? Should I try and negotiate a better deal?

I just bought the 2011 Honda Fit Sport, but am waiting to get the prorated refund from the 09 before I buy the one for the 2011. They say I can wait no longer than 6 months.


Any ideas?

 

Call College Hills Honda for much better prices. Honda Care VSC Information, Benefits and Coverage

 

I am in California, and it is my understanding that because of the CA insurance laws we have to buy the warranty from a dealership in CA. I will call them, though. Appreciate the information, spreadhead.

 

I am pretty sure you can wait up until your 3/36 warranty runs out. Unless things have changed, if you get in before that you should be fine.

 

That's true. There is another reason for the 6 months, I think it is that the prices change, but I'm not sure. I have to check again on the 6 month thing.

I did call College Hills Honda, and the finance person was not available, but the person who answered the phone said she is quite sure that some extended warranties have been sold to people in CA. That is one thing I have to follow up on tomorrow. I'll call the Ca Dept. of Insurance. Thanks, MikeyG.

 

You are better off burning $100 dollar bills in your front yard than buying an extended warranty for this car. Take the money you would spend on it and put it in the bank, just in case you need it. You probably won't.

Extended warranty companies are in business because they make money.

 

You can buy extended warranty from Saccucci Honda Care. I am in California and there was no problem for me. 7yr/80k for $600+$100 previous cancellation fee.

 

New Fit - 60 months - 100k miles - $100 Deductible - Personal Use - Bernardi Service Contracts

Looks like according to Bernardi there are a couple other restrictions:
Ineligible Vehicles:
Having more than 6,000 miles
Model Year 2009 or older
Original Purchase Date before 4/20/2008
Used for commercial purposes
Modifed for racing, off-road, fire services, police services, or other performance or emergency use
Used for livery, rental, taxi, limousine, or snow plowing
Gray Market

 

Some very interesting information.....

Saccucci Honda is being sued by Honda for selling lower cost extended warranties. Evidently Honda wants to level the playing field?

Honda, end your legal fight against discount Honda Care warranties - Honda Element Owners Club Forum

I haven't been able to get a quote from Saccucci yet, but a quote from College Hills Honda is $900 for 8 years, 100,000 mi, 0 deductible. My dealer wants $1645 for 8 yrs, 100,000 mi. That's a $745 difference.

After doing more research, I have found that the sticking point is not the Ca insurance laws, but the reluctance of the lower cost sellers to expose themselves to a lawsuit.

Also... you can buy a warranty if your car is under 3 yrs, and 36000 mi, but the options become limited. If you are under 6000 mi, you can still buy the above mentioned warranties. Thanks, everyone, for all of this info. It has been invaluable.

Smaglik, isn't that true of all types of insurances? I have always bought extended warranties, everyone advises against them. It seems I always use them at some point.

UPDATE: Just talked to Saccucci Honda. Evidently they sued Honda back and won. The above link was from 2008 and later. They are still selling to anyone that wants a lower cost warranty. Their price was $850 for 8 years, 100k, zero deductible. Best price so far.

 

I support Saccucci Honda all the way for extended warranties. Gardiner was super friendly and fast at getting information back to me. Grats on saving money!

Edit:// Just wanted to mention that I brought Saccucci's quote to my dealer to ask them to match it or I would cancel my warranty through them -- dealer said the quote was impossible because it was lower than dealer cost. +shrug+ cancelled it and got it from Saccucci with no problem.

 

I agree that all warranties, insurances, etc. operate in the same general manner, but you really should try to play the odds in your favor. Buying an extended warranty for one of the most reliable cars out there....just doesn't make sense to me.

 

I don't for a moment believe that buying an extended warranty from the car producer (Hondacare in this case) is a waste. Mine has already paid off. You might also check Bernardi Honda and see what their price is on the extended warranty you want. Mine was $695 for 8 years/120K with no deductible but it's been over three years. Check all the dealerships you've seen mentioned here.

 

All operate on the principle of paying higher on average to guarantee lower variability. The problem with that is with car warranties, you're insuring against relatively small payouts relative to the cost of the warranty. A transmission rebuild, for example, is $3000ish. Paying $1000 now to avoid the $3000 in future would only make sense if the transmission were 1 in 3-4 to go bad.

As always, the best advice is to put the money in a high yield savings account and use that as the repair/replace fund.

 

Or use the money to trade your car in a year earlier...

 

Snake oil. I've been driving cars since the 50's and have never bought an extended warranty on a vehicle and have yet to regret it. Likewise any appliance and again I've never regretted it.

When I retired from the real world of working I got a job selling motorcycles. We handled Hondas, Yamahas, Kawasakis and Suzukis. The sales manager would get slightly upset with me because I never sold an extended warranty. I told him I had a hard time telling a potential buyer how reliable this product was and then after he bought it try and sell him a warranty. It defied logic. It's pure profit for the insurance company and also the dealerships as well as the salesman.

 

The extended warranty from Honda is a win, win. If you sell the car the warranty can be transferred to the new owner, or the remainder put towards an extended warranty on a new Honda, or prorated cash out. Also, the extended warranty can be purchased just before the regular warranty runs out. We waited to purchase the extended warranty on my wife’s Element until two weeks before the regular warranty ran out. A month later the tranny went. The warranty paid for itself in this case.

 

Key words "in this case." For all the other buyers whose trannys didnt go out (am I the only one chuckling at that??), they lost on the deal. If was truly a 'win-win,' it would not be offered.

 

Insurance in general is a loss for the consumer, but it's there if you need it. BTW I was using the old school term not the urban definition.

 

The purpose of insurance is to protect you in the case of a larger loss than you can bear. That's why you buy fire insurance on a house, or why you buy life insurance if you're working and have a family. In other cases it's just like casino gambling against a house advantage. Worse, because in a casino you can calculate the odds on any of their games and their take is small for each bet. With an extended warranty you don't have the statistics, and they do.

It's silly to buy 'insurance' on cell phones, or contact lenses, or anything else you can afford to replace easily.

To pay over $1000 upfront on a reliable car that's already protected by Honda's warranty for the first 3 years?

Let's say something breaks in year 4- maybe the repair costs only $600... you're still ahead without the warranty. Or maybe your car gets totalled, or stolen... or you sell it and the buyer isn't paying much more because of the warranty.

And that's not to mention what's NOT covered by the 'warranty' which is maybe not a warranty but a service contract...

And after-market warranties are only as good as the financial strength of the company issuing them- are you a financial analyst?

 

Just my opinion, it’s worked out for my family. Wow , now I wish I hadn’t posted. Never will again!