Has anyone ever extended a factory warranty? I am thinking of doing this through DealerWarranties.com. I have a 97 850 with 50,000 mi. I am thinking of extending the warranty for another 3 yrs. or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first. $1700 is the damage. Any thoughts/experiences?

the funny thing is that when i had owned a total of four japanese vehicles (on a few of them i had clocked well in excess of 100K miles), an extended warranty concept would not have crossed my mind! why is it that some of us "panic" when the S/V 70 series reach aboyt 40K? :-). statistically, the car is not reliable.

> the funny thing is that when i had owned a total of four japanese

> vehicles (on a few of them i had clocked well in excess of 100K

> miles), an extended warranty concept would not have crossed my mind!

> why is it that some of us "panic" when the S/V 70 series

> reach aboyt 40K? :-). statistically, the car is not reliable.

There is truth in what you said. We have owned a couple of Nissans bought new and currently still keeping one (1991 Maxima SE) as a daily commuter. Quite a few of our friends own mostly Toyotas and Hondas from Supras, 4Runners, to Odysseys and whenever extended warranties are mentioned at gatherings almost all agree that they are a waste of money.

Regardless, our S70s have been OK so far and am hoping that most (if not all) of the wrinkles are ironed out before the warranty expires. We had a headlight bulb burn out on each car, directionals, bubbling door panels on my wife's, clogged windshield washers on both, etc. -- all minor and all covered under warranty. I am hoping that there won't be any evaporator issues in the future.

A sincere thanks to everyone who gave me input. I probably saved hours of hunting down my options over the 'Net. I checked up on Warrany Gold, who is legit according to the BBB. But they could still require you to pay for the work and then get reimbursed...not what I'd call piece of mind. I also looked into Preferred Warranties, and they just left me with a bad taste in my mouth. So I was left with the VIP plan: $1700 + $100 deductable for an additional 3 yrs/36k. Well, I did the math with the help of the following website:

www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~vrf/discrete.html

and figured out that $1700 invested at 5% for 2.4 yrs, grows $212, enough to cover an average repair of $200 + tax! If I got the VIP, I would need

18 repairs to break even (or a total of $3500 out of pocket!) OUCH!!

I think I am going to put my $1700 in a short term CD or a money market (and knock on my cubicle wall that I don't have to replace the tranny or the AC compressor).

Bottom line: It pays to do some research.

Andy

Andy -

The only problem I see with your math is the "average" $200 repair. I can't think of a thing that my dealer could fix on my car for that little. And that's what scares me into never wanting to own my car without coverage. That said, you are very wise to consider the benefits of keeping the money in YOUR pocket for as long as possible.

- Darell

Darell:

I hate to bring this up, but depending on what state you live in, there may be a Lemon Law. Usually if you have to bring in a newly aquired car (new or used, doesn't matter) more than 3 times for the same problem, you can demand all of your money back, or swap vehicles. I can't imagine a 1 yr. old Volvo having that kind of a problem, but maybe it was built the day before "sober day" (once a week, everyone observes a dry 24 period). I would contact Volvo's US headquarters at 800-458-1552. Good Luck.

Andy

Andy -

Don't you worry....I'm now intimately familiar with the Lemon Law. I'm still giving the dealer the benefit of the doubt here, and they THINK they should really have it licked this time. The six visits are for several items, not all the same one, but I have several issues that have survived through four visits now.

- Darell

Darell:

Since I have never owned a brick before, I have no idea what an average repair costs for a Volvo. Obviously you have had some hefty repair bills for Volvos in the past. Not to be picky, but what where they for and how much $? Just trying to get my arms around my situation.

Thanks,

Andy

Hi Andy -

Well, this is my second Volvo, but my first new one (last one was a 1966 P800 that I'd love to have back). Fortunately I haven't yet had to pay for any repairs, but here's why I worry - My V70 was delivered in late August of 2000. Tomorrow this car goes back into the dealer for it's sixth warranty service visit.

Oh wait...here's something I paid for that gives me pause: I wanted them to activate the trailer wiring harness, so they wanted $30 for the software, and an hour of labor to install the software (!). Of course my car is a little more software-intensive than yours, but it would still concern me nonetheless. Sorry I can't be of more help with what you're after.

- Darell

I'm in the process of evaluating extended warranties as well ('99 S80 T6 with just over 34,000 miles). I started with my local dealer. Their quote was between $3,800 to $4,400 dollars for the VIP warranty with a $100 deductible. After I got off the floor I decided to check out Warranty Gold since I had heard so much about them. I haven't made a final decision yet (or completed my research) but Warranty Gold's best program (Diamond 'Bumper to Bumper plus') would cost me about $2,000, has no deductible, pays full retail rate, is backed by multiple reinsurance contracts in case Warranty Gold goes out of business, and pays the repair facility of choice with MasterCard or Visa (meaning you can go just about anywhere you choose including the dealer). This plan also covers a lot of things most other plans won't like navigation systems, televisions, etc.

I'm still looking around but I have to ask, has anybody seen anything that looks better than this deal?

Thanks.

-rdo

I was thinking about getting extended warrannty to, it can be done through volvo, by signing up at the dealership. This is in Canada i am sure it cna be done in the states to

I purchased a used v70 last month from Volvo NA. It was a lease return with 50,000 miles on it. I got the volvo vip 24 month 24,000 mile factory zero deductable warranty for $700.00.

I went to their site, and it left me with a few questions. Check out the FAQ. It states that it may take them up to 10 days to pay the repair facility once they receive the paperwork. My question is...when do you get your car back...most shops I know want the $ before they give up the car?!?! They say they have a list of "authorized" facilities, but have no list online..why not?..surely it must be a computerized list. Might be good to follow up with the local BBB on this one.

Hey I checked out these guys on the web- they have a good site.

I got 3 year/36,000 miles quotes for both my vehicles;

1995 Volvo 850 Turbo 56,000 miles

1995 Toyota Previa Mini - Van 79,000 miles

The quotes for the Volvo were: $1,809/$2,793/$3,067

The quotes for the Toyota were: $1,186/$1,666/$1,800

The three quotes per vehicle are based on 3 levels of coverage -I suspect I'd go for the middle price as it does cover all the A/C components.

I requested quotes for both based on $50 deductable

When you request the quote they provide alisting of the dealers in the area.

For my Toyota - They did list the dealership that I take the car to for service.

I will give the dealership a call and ask them about their experiences with DealerWarranties.Com

Nathan:

Thanks for checking it out. My local dealer came up also. I will check with them to find out their experiences with them. I suspect they will say not to get their coverage b/c the VIP plan is better (ie, more money in their pocket.). The reason I want to extend is b/c I suspect the car was in a pretty major accident, but the Volvo dealer I bought it from denied it. There are some clues that it has, but it seems to drive fine right now, maybe not after 20k?

Andy

I recently bought a 1997 855R with 48,000 miles and I purchased a third party warranty that was recommended by the Used dealer I bought the car from. It was $1200 and is an exclusionary policy with a $25 deductible. I was told it covers basically everything but maintenence type items includes turbo which was $100 extra. I have not had any claims so I cant tell you of any experiences good or bad. The name of the company is Preferred Warranties INC. Anyone had any dealings with this Company?

ANDY

THIS WILL NOT BE THE SAME AS A FACTORY WARRANTY IM SURE ITS A THIRD PARTY WARRANTY AND NOT EVERYTHING IS COVERED ALSOTHERE IS PROBABLY A DEDUCTIBLE YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY BE CAREFUL

Yowza! How about some capitalization and punctuation?

Do you have any personal experience with any third party warranty companies?