Should I get the extended warranty?

[electric.or.sharp]

We are buying a 2007 Yaris 4 door sedan. It has 26000 miles on it and was leased by one other person. We have the opportunity to get the gold or platinum extended warranties. The prices are roughly $1100 and $1200 respectively. Does anyone have any advice regarding this? The platinum does seem to cover quite a bit more than the gold for not too much more so we would mostly likely go with that one if we did either. I just don't know if I can reasonably expect any major issues amounting to more than $1200 dollars in the first 100K miles.

On one hand, things do happen and I'm not the first owner of the car. On the other, they wouldn't offer these plans if they lost money on them. Also the original power train warranty is still in effect, though it doesn't cover nearly as much stuff (from what I can tell). Thoughts?

[rningonfumes]

Those extended warranty prices are too high. If you really want the same premiums, best to buy the car there and then shop around for better prices. If you search the various different Toyota related forums, you'll find names poping up of people who may give you better prices...about 500-800 dollars.

... If you are asking if you really need it, my opinion is no, I asked for a refund for my car.

[DevilGirl]

Originally Posted by rningonfumes

... If you are asking if you really need it, my opinion is no, I asked for a refund for my car.

You can do that? I know I did on my last car I had (bought used, extended warranty through a 3rd party). Was it directly through Toyota? How did you go about doing it?

[yaris-me]

If it would give you peace of mind, then yes. If you're planning to do your own maintenance and know a little about cars, then no.

[Kal-El]

It's highly unlikely that you will need any repair outside of regular maintenance before 100K (and for a while beyond). It would be an extremely rare fluke.

The extended warranty is a waste of money for the Yaris. If you were buying a BMW, for example, it might be a different story.

Look at a thread of a 2007 Yaris who has passed 400,000 miles with no repairs except an alternator replacement (done at around 325K). Original brakes and clutch believe it or not.

[kimona]

Those extended warranty prices represent huge back-end profit for the dealer... for something you don't need. I'd pass.

[41magmag41]

I would go for the extended warranty. The Yaris' with ABS are starting to have problems with the rear wheel speed sensors and wiring harness' have to be replaced because of corrision. If you are still in the 3 yr, 36000 mile warranty or in service date get it in now as there is a TSB issued in June of 2008 and it will be covered under warranty. If the car is out of the warranty period then see if you can get a deal on an extended warranty. The cost to replace both wheel sensors and wiring harness is in the 400 to 500 dollar range per side. The yaris also has an occassional problems with the water pumps. Again looking at 200 to 400 dollars to replace if out of warranty. Other than these items they are a great car. This post is only if you have ABS on the sedan, if you don't then you are good to go.

[MUSKOKA800]

Ordinarily I would say no to extended warranty on a Yaris, BUT when you buy an off-lease car you may not know what maintenance that vehicle received. Are full maintenance records available?
To play the devils advocate;
How much would you spend on oil changes, filters etc if you knew you wouldn't have the vehicle post warranty when the failures are likely to begin??? Maintenance takes time, effort and money. People don't make the effort to signal their turns, what are the odds they'll make the larger effort to maintain a leased car?
If satisfactory service records are provided then I'd say no to ext. warranty (on a Toyota).

[BailOut]

MUSKOKA800 makes a good point about a vehicle coming off of a lease, but if the warranty in Finland is the same as in the U.S. then you still have the bumper-to-bumper to 35k miles, and the drive train warranty to 60k miles.

I have also found that lease drivers tend to be a little less aggressive than the typical driver, and more careful with the interior. This is because there are a whole forest of fees waiting for them to blunder. Over mileage? Cha-ching. Any damage to the exterior? Cha-ching. Any stains inside? Cha-ching. Those fees can add up so quickly that a lessee can find themselves trapped into buying the vehicle or rolling the lease into a more expensive one that they don't want to pay for. If they make that mistake it usually only happens once.

Extended warranties are never recommended by any economist. They capitalize on our fear of uncertainty and are so lucrative to dealerships that I actually had to wait for over an hour just to see a cashier to write the check for my Yaris because they were busy selling things like extended warranties and windshield treatments to everyone that was buying a vehicle. Imagine that... you just want to write a check and go home and the person that should do nothing but give you a receipt and some paperwork comes at you as a high pressure sales person.

Dealerships wouldn't go to all the trouble to train their cashiers to be salespeople (or train a salesperson to be a cashier/paperwork specialist) if it wasn't a profit center for them.

You likely came to Toyota because you know of their record on reliability. Let it stand on its own merits.

[1stToyota]

I went ahead and got the Platinum warranty, don't even remember what they charged me for it [7yrs/75k miles]

ASE certified and turning wrenches since '83 but if anything ever went wrong and I didn't feel like messin' with it I'll let the dealership deal with it.

[bitz767]

I got offered a 5yr 100k bumper to bumper coverage through a 3rd party when i got my yaris. It was just over $1,000, and with the 0% financing it was something like $17 a month for the extra coverage. I went for it, even though I will be doing the maintenance myself. If figured with the 0%, the $17 would be worth the piece of mind knowing that the car will be covered.

[rningonfumes]

DevilGirl,

My extended warranty was with Toyota so I called up Toyota Financial Services (same people you talk with about Toyota backed loans).

Tell them you want to cancel your extended warranty and they will pro-rate the amount of time you used. Yes, a bit unfair since you are still within the 36k standard warranty but it's money. I think I paid(read: was screwed out of 1500) and got back about 1k? And I believe if you canceled it right away, you get your full amount back.


Opinion:
When you are there going through the steps of obtaining your car, they make you think that they can only sell you certain things. People should know you can buy genuine Toyota warranties elsewhere, just as they could with the GAP insurance.

[electric.or.sharp]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I had originally come to the conclusion that the warranty wasn't worth it. It's a fairly inexpensive and simple car so hopefully not as much to break. Plus Toyotas, until recently maybe, have proven to be of very good quality.

However, when we took the car to a mechanic, they found that it had been in an accident. From what they said it didn't look too severe but there was some front end damage that had been repaired. So, after hearing that, I forced the dealership to throw in me the platinum bumper-to-bumper package.

So in the end we got the warranty but only because of the collision.

[cmcguinness7]

i paid just over 1000 for mine on my used 2007 sedan i bought a year ago. after coming to these forums, i went straight back to the dealership and cancelled it. got a full refund.

[tomato]

Look through this thread

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/sho...ended+warranty


and see if any of this helps you. It sure helped me when I was asking myself the same question


welcome to the forum, by the way

[tomato]

Oh.. I see I came too late ... Should have probably read the whole thread before replying to the first post

Oh well, maybe the above link will help the next guy asking himself the same question.

[auxmike]

I paid $659 for a Toyota Platinum 7/75k extended warr. in April '08 on my brand new Yaris 3dr.$0 deductable.
My Mom had paid $600 at a different dealer for her new '06 Corolla, so I figured the price was right.
I went with it because the frigging parts for these new cars are so expensive!
Also, some of the fixes are'nt DIY friendly and labor runs $100+ most places these days...
Also, latley problems have cropped up on our cars like rotten ABS wires, drippy waterpumps and crossthreaded O2 sensor bungs in the exhaust manifold.
Over 60mo. it's only $11 per month extra. Yeah, I know there's interest, but that's trivial in my case as my car's paid off in 19mo. flat!
Toyota FTW!

[Alien Mantis]

I have an `08 Yaris 3dr Hatch and I went with the Platinum extended warranty.
I have been a mechanic for over 20 years, and I do ALL my own work.
The problem is, the PARTS cost money.

I live in a very hot climate in the summer months, and air-conditioning systems take a big hit out here.
If my A/C were to go out, the parts alone would be more than the price of the warranty. So for some peace of mind, I went for it.
Normally, I would not get the extended warranty.

I will have 3 years of warranty left, after the car is paid off.
I can live with that!

I don't forsee any problems, the Yaris is a great little car.
It's just one less thing to worry about in life, if something ever does happen.