Howdy,

Along with insurance, anyone have any idea how much HondaCare is quoting for extended warranties?

Thanks.

 

OK, I'll answer my own question.

Maybe I'm the only one who cares about this, or everyone else already knows this?

Some quick digging around (there is a forum over at Edmunds about HondaCare warranties) yields the following:

1. You do not have to buy a hondaCare extended warranty from the same dealer that sold you the Fit- you can buy it from another dealer if they will offer you a better deal.
2. The rules are somewhat goofier if you live in FL- since I don't, I did not check it out enough to find out exactly what the story was, but it sounds like you can only get the warranty from a FL dealer, and it is likely to be much more expensive.
3. One place that apparently makes a good living selling these things is Bernardi Honda- they even had a separate site, www.hondawarrantyinfo.com
4. That site quoted $649/$749 for a Fit- extended to 7yrs/100K miles. You have a $100 deductible or $0 deductible- the zero is the more expensive one. Shortening to 5 years lops about $100 off the price.

 

A warning to those that are looking into HondaCare... Its not a warranty, its more like a contract, an insurance policy should anything go wrong after the manfacturer's warranty expires. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act does not apply to extended service contracts, meaning if you have a single modification to your car (audio, even changing the lugnuts), Honda can and most likely will void your HondaCare contract.

Its good for those that are not planning to mod your Fit in any way, shape or form but for those that are planning to do some work, you will be throwing away your money.

I thought about getting HondaCare for my S2000 but changed my mind after a friend of mine told me that its a waste of money, especially since my S2000 is modded. Oh and my friend is a service writer for a Honda dealer.

 

Here is an excerpt from the sample contract offered from www.hondawarrantyinfo.com

IV: WHAT IS NOT COVERED

C. Any repair if a non-authorized part or accessory caused or contributed to, the MECHANICAL BREAKDOWN (e.g.,
aftermarket performance parts, cold air intakes, strut tower braces, headers, adjustable fuel rails, non-factory or non-DEALER
plifiers, compact disc changers, mp3 players, satellite radio/stereo systems, installed stereo equipment, radios, speakers, am
etc.).

I don't get from that or the rest of the contract that installing a new head unit would void the contract. Obviously, they have some discretion as to what may have contibuted to a mechancial breakdown, but it sounds like if my transmission goes bad, it'll be covered even if i upgraded my speakers.

This might be important to note:

J. Any REPAIR COST:
- if YOU fail to provide all MAINTENANCE RECORDS for covered parts requiring routine maintenance that sustain a
MECHANICAL BREAKDOWN

 

As a Honda Technician, I can tell personally tell you that Honda Care has saved many customers from losing a ton of money. As to whether or not they'll cover your car because of aftermarket parts, that's not totally true. It really depends on your dealer. What Honda Care doesn't know, doesn't hurt. When I peform repairs under Honda Care warranty, there's no big form that asks me about aftermarket parts and such. It's really up to the technician. If the customer is nice and consistently has us service his/her car and blows wheel bearings after installing the wrong offset rims. I'll warranty them the first time and warn them of their rims. The second time I'll warranty them as a parts warranty. If it happens again they're screwed. But if the customer is a pain in the butt, I'll say no to the warranty because of that. But there is one thing to consider also. Honda Care doesn't require phone confirmation if the total cost is under $500. If more than that, they'll require a phone call. As a technician, I can personally check as to whether or not a part is covered by Honda Care.

But lets say you have an electrical problem with the car and I find an aftermarket alarm installed, I won't fix it under Honda Care warranty because it's not a factory problem. It will need extensive diagnosis to find burnt, shorted, and open wires.

A worst case scenario is the common, my car makes noise. I bring it in and find no oil in the engine. I tell the advisor and Honda Care will send out an inspector. They will need oil change reciepts and etc. If the customer can't come up with anything, which they usually don't, Honda Care denies their claim and they're stuck buying a used engine along with 10 plus hours of labor.

So my suggestion would be to keep your reciepts and don't do anything stupid. Oh and one more thing, getting into an accident can void your warranty.

 

it also depends on your modification.

the mod have to be directly related to the item you are trying to warranty.

basically if you add some electrical stuff such as sub/amp/alarm system/etc, if you warranty a engine related problem, they cant deny you.

of course if you add aftermarket springs, dont try to warranty blown shocks.

 

LOL I have no idea since my dealership didn't even offer it to me... But they know I'm K Series Swapping lol

 

I would save the money from the warrenty and use it if you need any repairs. You probably won't ever use the warrenty anyway.

 

I put a down payment for my Fit today, still in transport. Anyways, dealer didn't even offer me the extended warranty. Maybe I shouldn't have taken my Integra to the dealer. The service department guys couldn't take their eyes off of it.

I'd say the majority of us will modify the car and/or want to do the K series swap. I feel the basic warranty is good enough, 3 year 36,000 for basic, 5 year 50,000 for drivetrain, 5 year unlimited for rust. Bernardi is cheap and I can always add it on, but it's a Honda. I know Honda's and will be doing most of the maintence work myself.

 

Ok, all you gurus,

When I bought my Fit last Saturday, right at the end the finance guy says:

"and this is what the official Honda extended warranty costs. The rules for the 2007 cars are changed and if you don't buy it right now, you can't add it later."

Which sounded like road apples to me so I said thanks but no thanks, and under my breath I said, "and why is this the first time this has been mentioned?"

Can you purchase HondaCare after the car has been purchased? (yeah, yeah 36/36 I understand)

 

Thats total BS as long as you have less than 6k on your car you are eligible for the warranty

 

And also if you decide to get the warranty, you have 60 days to cancel. I got a quote for $815/7yrs, 100k $0 deduct.

I have a question for the technician pnx-r, if I have an electical problem unrelated to my aftermarket alarm will it still void the extended warranty? I got the extended because I have some window electrical probs on my CRV that drove me nuts. Also some misc. lights on the dash went out. Cost $$ to remove the dash for a bulb change (is what I figured was the prob.) Would that be covered w/ the extended warranty?

 

nice plan man yea smae here they didn't offer me anything cuz they knew I was gonna mod the car