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Post warranty repairs

2K views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  TA 392 YJ 
#1 ·
Guys,
I just wanted to hear your opinions on this topic. I am deciding between a scatpack widebody or 1le ss Camaro. The question is the same for both cars. What do you guys plan to do after your warranty runs out ? I am not so worried while in warranty but if there is a major issue and the warranty is out, I am concerned. I know some people buy the extended warranty, but I have never bought one and feel they are usually a rip off. Also, I have read many personal stories where people have extended warrantees but the dealerships find some reason to deny the work. Do challengers normally have expensive out of warranty repairs? I know all vechiles require maintenance and there will be repairs occasionally but I am worried about the multi thousand dollar repairs out of pocket and the car being in the shop more then on the road. Thanks.
 
#2 ·
I guess it all depends if you get a well-made car. I usually don't buy warranties but I did for a 1992 Buick LeSabre. I was glad that I did. After the 3-year new car warranty expired, this is what failed:

1. Alternator
2. Self-adjustors for brakes
3. Crank sensor
4. Starter
5. Oxygen sensor

Also, when I sold it, its 3.8L engine had a head gasket leak.

My 2009 Challenger SRT, however, has been trouble-free.
 
#3 ·
If you are really concerned about expensive repairs, do not modify anything! The OEM's spend hundreds of millions of dollars engineering new cars to be as reliable as possible. Anytime an owner modifies anything, they jeopardize the reliability and longevity of their vehicles. Also, treat your cars with care. Abusive driving habits on the road and/or the track will likely damage your car or at a minimum shorten it's usable life. On the other hand, if you are willing to put up with the cost of repairs resulting from driver abuse, go for it. It is your car after all!
FYI: I've been buying new cars since the mid 60's and worked in the automotive supplier business as a sales engineer for nearly 40 years. Chrysler, GM, Borg Warner, and Dana were some of my major accounts for powertrain related components
 
#5 ·
First I have to admit I have no long term experience with a modern Dodge vehicle. My Hellcat is 17 months old and has just over 15K miles.

But in the past and probably this time too if I keep the HC past warranty and I'm not sure I will, but we'll just have to see, I will follow my SOP. If I believe I want to keep a car past its warranty and do not plan to buy an extended warranty, which I did in one case and regretted it -- more on this below -- is to say this mantra: I will keep this car and care for it and drive it for as long it runs ok. If it develops a serious problem I'll either fix the car, sell the car (with full disclosure), or scrap the car.

A problem is if the problem with the car is serious chances are the car would sell for a fraction of what it would normally sell for if the problem was not present.

For example, when a car of mine developed 3 leaking radiators. The estimated repair cost was $4000. I was 2000 miles from home, and needed to get back home as I was out of work and needed to find a job. (I had been away from home nearly a month taking care of family business after the deaths of my Dad and Mom. When I got back I had a heck of a battle getting unemployment payments for the time I had been away. But I convinced the agency I had been actively looking for work even while I was away from home.)

My point is it was not practical to sell the car with the leaking radiators. So I had the car fixed and drove it home and within a month or so had found a job, which thankfully has seen me fully employed ever since..

As an aside, regarding my decision to buy an extended warranty, I should have realized that believing I needed it for the car was a sign I should have not kept the car. In fact it is coming back to me -- this was back in 1999 -- that I bought the extended warranty with the idea it would make the car more attractive to sell then just never got around to selling the car. I have to say the car settled down and didn't manifest too many problems from the 36K miles to approx. 150K miles when I sold it. But when the radiator sprung a (small pinhole) leak the extended warranty didn't cover that. In fact the extended warranty never came into play. Approx. $1300 down the drain.

While I won't bore you with the details of "big" issues with my cars out of warranty I will provide some info. There have been a few cars that as the miles got "big" (in every case but one) over 100K miles that something "major" went wrong. In one case while the problem wasn't super expensive to have fixed (it was around $1000 IIRC) it was the straw that broke this camel's back and I sold the car shortly after I got it repaired. In another case the problems were not once again super expensive, well, except for the $2000+ to replace the hydraulic spoiler hardware, the probably at least $2000 to have the rear main seal replaced and the leaking front diff axle flange seals replaced, $4000+ to replace the leaking (3 of them) radiators, there were so many of them -- the preceding was just a partial list, that I finally got fed up and sold the car. In hind sight I never should have bought the car. While it had a 2 year 100K mile extended warranty which came in very handy after the warranty expired on time 2 years after I bought the car the problems kept on coming.

You have to realize that as the miles add up things wear out. Almost invariably these things will be rather expensive to address. About all I can offer is you have to consider at the time if the cost of the repair is worth it or not. Most of the time even with a car with high miles my decision has been "yes", the car is worth the repair. But there can be, has been in my experience, however, a time when the repair, that is the estimated cost of the repair just doesn't make sense. In this case I arranged to sell the car with full disclosure to a local dealer who then auctioned the car off at a dealer only auction facility. And moved on.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Guys,
I just wanted to hear your opinions on this topic. I am deciding between a scatpack widebody or 1le ss Camaro. The question is the same for both cars. What do you guys plan to do after your warranty runs out ? I am not so worried while in warranty but if there is a major issue and the warranty is out, I am concerned. I know some people buy the extended warranty, but I have never bought one and feel they are usually a rip off. Also, I have read many personal stories where people have extended warrantees but the dealerships find some reason to deny the work. Do challengers normally have expensive out of warranty repairs? I know all vechiles require maintenance and there will be repairs occasionally but I am worried about the multi thousand dollar repairs out of pocket and the car being in the shop more then on the road. Thanks.
That's both true and pure non-sense all at the same time.

An Extended warranty has a CRAP LOAD of "mark up" in it. Often as much as 100%. DON'T buy the warranty without shopping for it. You don't have to buy one when you buy your car. You can shop it just like the car itself and buy it from the cheapest price dealer.

I'm not nearly as sure where you can get you best deal on a Chrysler Warranty but I had my eyes opened to all this via a Ford Warranty first purchased more than 10 years ago. Like you I always declined it because it always seemed like a "rip off". The car that changed my view? My wife's 2002 Ford Thunderbird. We purchased the car second hand in 2004 it had about 10 months of it's original warranty left. I knew this car had some fluky bits in it that were not cheap nor easy to source or fix so I was actually interested in an extended warranty but couldn't stomach the $1,495 price attached to a 4 year 48,000 mile extension. Then it happened. After joining a Thunderbird Forum I met on line a fellow T-Bird owner from Chicago who put it out there. He's a salesman at a Ford Dealership who revealed the ugly truth about factory issue warranties.

His pitch..... "shop your local dealers get your best price then call me! I can probably beat 'em. I want $100 over dealer cost"

The bottom line I and a lot of other forum members end up buying a warranty from him via a phone call. That original offer of $1,495 cost me $895. Glad I did it too.......when the car developed transmission problems that were covered 2 years later the $895 I spent seemed like the best cash I had ever laid out. Ironically when it was time to extend again (we still own the car to this day).......I got a price from my guy in Chicago and then used that to lever the price down to match with a local dealer who grudgingly admitted that he still could make money at 40% less than his original quote. My only regret at this point.......the car is now old enough it's no longer eligible but the lesson stays with me. That first quote given for a warranty has a CRAP LOAD of room available for negotiation.

That lost Transmission tells me it can be the best money you'll ever spend.
 
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