Just bought an '04 Max....Silver/Black, Driver Preferred w/ Sunroof, tinted windows, clear bra...sticker around 33K...walked out @ 28,7OO....about $900 below invoice. After I was all done with signing the deal, I told the saleman I thought I got a really good deal and he says "look, we've not sold any Maxima's below invoice up to this point and the least we have received is $1000 over invoice"....I chuckled. I think they screwed up when they ordered it...they may have forgotten to add the sunroof in the price....who knows...who cares.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the extended warranty. I have never bought an extended warranty on a new car as I generally don't keep vehicles that long but I will most likely keep this one for 5-6 years. They want about $1,400 for the 6yr/100,000 warranty and Nissan will refund the cost after the 6yrs if it is not used. Sounds like a decent proposal to me. On the other hand, I've never had any problems with the other 3 maxima's I have owned so, I am not sure if I should spend the money.

Comments are appreciated. Thanks.

 

I chose not to buy the extended warranty. I've had several nissan's and never had any trouble beyond small typical replacements such as alternators and such. As for the refund, it sounds like a good deal but I'll really be impressed when they actually send it to you. A friend of mine sold a Ford truck and requested his extended warranty be refunded...the refund was actually pro-rated so he only received about 80% of the original amount. I would also be willing to bet that if you had a $10 part replaced under the extended warranty you will probably lose the entire $1400 investment. This is just speculation but it gives you something to think about and maybe some research to conduct.

 

I bought an extended warranty for my 2004 Nissan Maxima from 1 Source Auto Warranty. They are the Internet Marketing arm of First Assured Warranty Corp.. I heavily researched this issue and found out that auto dealers resell First Assured auto warrantys as well as manufacturer warranties.

I received a 7yr/100,000 mile warranty from First Assured through 1 Source Auto Warranty for $975. This warranty does not have a deductible, includes towing, car rental, trip interruption, windows, paintless dent removal, wheels, tires, etc. The list goes on. This warranty is more affordable because the dealership does not take their substantial cut on this warranty as you are buying it direct. I am sure I am wrong but the Nissan dealer receives at least $500 of that manufacturer's warranty cost you will pay.

The LIEnance manager will try to intimidate you and claim that you will not be covered properly...its BS! The LIEnance manager needs to average an additional $1000 in sales per vehicle or he/she will lose their job.

Call up 1 Source Auto Warranty. They can explain this better than I can.

 

4drs...u r correct...once you've used the warranty, it's no longer refundable. So for the small repairs you would definitely want to pay out of pocket. The warranty is just insurance for the big ticket items...but refundable. Nissan actually provides refund paperwork at the time of purchase...I don't believe there are any "true" non-common sense strings attached. As for the price, you are right, the dealer does receive a portion. When I decided not to purchase, he indicated that it's marked up $250 and would split the difference with me which is what brought the price down to around $1400. Now, my thought was it was probably $500...he was just givin me a 25% break as opposed to 50%....There is a proration as well....if you sell the car before 6yrs without the use, I believe he indicated you can either sell the warranty to the new owner or get a full refund. I will research this piece further.

marma...I will look into the 1 Source....

Thanks for the feedback.

 

Sounds worth it to me. I paid $1000 for a 2 yr warrant on a used Max. I never even used it. I feel like a chump. But $1,500 for for 6 years/ 100,000 miles of coverage sounds pretty good to me. However, I still suggest considering how much you typically pay for repairs on your car and what type of coverage the warranty covers. I have the full service history of my car and about 1000 in repairs will be placed into it total. Only $250 of the $1000 dollars would have been covered under warranty. So in that aspect it is not worth.

So in summary I am saying weigh your options, but for a warranty, that is a more than fair price, assuming it provides adequate coverage.

 

I chose not to get it. I'll most likely get a new car in 4 years anyway, so 1 year of extra warranty was just not worth it for me. Even if I do get refunded, I don't get that money *now* do I? My finance manager was actually a really nice guy and didn't try for the hard sell. He said he recommends it mainly because you can get the refund, but that he wouldn't try to sell it to me if I didn't think I could afford it. Since the salesman had underestimated my monthly payments by about $25, I certainly wasn't going to add another $25 on top of that for a warranty I'd probably never use.

I liked the idea of the warranty, but just couldn't quite afford it right now. It's interesting that there are warranties out there from other companies that give the same benefits for a lot less.... my finance manager quoted me $1600 on the warranty, down from the standard $2250 if you don't get it at sale time. *shrug* I can't fault him for trying to make some money.

And btw, 28,700 is an insanely low price. I bought mine with the same package for 29,100 and mine had been one of the hail damaged cars (all fixed up of course, but still...). Then again, I think I didn't do a good enough job of talking him down in price. Oh well. Live and learn.

-Nate

 

I bought the warranty and service contract, at a discount of course. I got mine because of the number of miles I put on the car. I don't bother doing any of the service myself, it takes too much time. The oil changes alone will pay for the service contract, add into that all of the other normal services and it pays for most of the warranty as well.

 

I leased my 04 and got the dealer to throw in the extended warranty so I wouldn't be stuck with paying for repairs on a car I don't own.

Since we all know that the markup on the extended warranty is pretty high, getting them to "throw it in" doesn't cost them much and saves you plenty.

I then waited till the last day of the month and got the salesman to chop another $500 off the car to get me to sign the papers that day.

CM.

 

I tried to buy one, given I want to keep the car 5 years. Don't remember the price but he wanted 100 over invoice for a 7/75. It was way up their north of 1000. Hey...I got the same for my Honda Pilot for $740 and it is 4WD. Marmadog...you seem awfully obsessed to sell that warranty....you pop up like a jack in the box everytime someone mentions extended warranty. You getting commission?

 

Extended warranty is worth it if CD changer breaks or display screen goes out. The in-dash CD changers have been problematic in a lot of cars.

Since the 5-speed transmission is a new design that'a also a big question mark, esp. with a juiced-up engine.

Don't forget A/C!

I say it's worthwhile provided you drive 10-15K miles a year and can take advantage of the 6 or 7 year period it's offered. Don't bother if you drive 25K miles a year.

 

I don't understand that logic. Miles of use do as much or more than years of use on a car. I bought the warranty because I drive a lot and the regular warranty will be toast in 2 years.

 

Agree with gmc...the only reason for me to purchase the extended warranty would be for excess mileage that I expect to put on the car especially if I intend to keep the car longer than 3 years. My problem is I haven't kept a car that long in a while but my intention is to do so with this car...kids are getting older and daddy's got to keep a few more dollars in his pocket!

As for canadian, I am not sure why one would purchase an extended warranty on a lease unless you expect to put over 36K over 1 or 2 years thus the 3/36K standard coverage would expire. But even then, you are paying full price for coverage limited to the end of the lease unless you purchase the vehicle. Also, if you are putting that many miles on the car, leasing is generally not the way to go...again maybe you plan on purchasing the car at the end of the lease....I know everyone has different situations in making these types of decisions. Thanks for the input.

 

True everyone comes from a different perspective. I leased my car for a number of good financial reasons. Mostly selling the old car and paying down my student loan 3 years early, and completely paying off a credit card, and still having enough money as a downpayment on the Max to get a reasonable monthly payment. It was all upside.

I leased my car for 4 years. I'll drive my car about 22000-26000km per year. The bumper to bumper warranty ends at 60,000km. Thus at year three (or even before that) I have no warranty for all sorts of stuff that can go wrong. Leaving me with a year of lease payments and repair bills on top of that. My last car started costing me money for lots of little things that drove me nuts.

Does it make financial sense to do this in my case? No, probably not. But WTF I like my peace of mind. Knowing that my nearly all my repairs will be covered is worth it to me.

CM.

 

No, I only mention it because only fools buy a warranty from a dealer.

 

I got a hell of a deal on mine, with the service contract it was about $1400, I can't remember exactly, but it was really cheap.

Only fools pay full price would be a better way to put it.

Ouch Canadian, you are going to have to pay a fortune for going over on miles/km.

 

Nah. I leased it with enough KM's in mind. And I know if I go over by a couple thousand they'll look the other way if I get another Nissan.