Hi -

A first timer here - please be gentle.

Here's the bottom line I'd like to ask: what is the typical way that a Nissan dealer would sell a the Security+Plus warranty with a used Maxima? How would the dealer present the entire deal?

Here's a chronology of what happened.

I got the dealer down to $18,400 on a 2000 Maxima SE (dark red, charcoal cloth interior, no sunroof, no CD changer). Mileage was just about 15,000. No trade. I did get ~4.9% financing for 5 years.

The dealer said that this was the price with "only" the remainder of the 36 mo/3 yr factory warranty. But he said I could extend the warranty to 6 yr/100K mile on the drivetrain only, for $400 additional.

OK, I said, I'll go for that.

When I sat down with the finance guy to draw things up, he said that I had the opportunity, only at the time of purchase, to further extend the warranty to bumper to bumper status - the "Security+Plus" warranty. The price of this was an additional $625 on top of the $400. He said that it was a "wraparound" and that the $400 cost of the drivetrain only warranty would be lumped with the car at the time of sale.

Now, I know that all product warranties are hugely marked up, and I always say "no" to almost all consumer electronics extended warranties.

But I looked over the brochure, talked to my wife, and we decided that it was "good insurance", since it covered towing and travel reimbursement as well as being no deductible. And one major covered component failure (such as A/C) would pay for itself. For the timespan and the remaining 85000 of coverage it seemed very worthwhile. So I OKd the Security+Plus.

Now, here's what seems fishy. Today I get the warranty package in the mail from Nissan. On the booklet where the car specific info is printed it states that the price of the warranty as reported to Nissan was $625.

IE - if I turned around and canceled the warranty, I'd get back $625, not $1025... and I'd not have ANY extended warranty, just the remainder of the factory warranty. (I don't plan to do this, just pointing out the obvious.)

So $400 of "value" appears to have vaporized by being lumped into the cost of the car as reported on the sales receipt.

Now... I've run a couple of scenarios through my mind. I'm cynical but I'm also quite selective about picking my fights before I know exactly what's going on.

Scenario 1- The dealer BSed me about the two levels of warranty coverage, and I should have known before going in what my options were. They effectively added $400 of gravy to the deal by confusing the issues.

Scenario 2 - On what I paid above and beyond the cost of the car itself, the $1025 is about the average consumer price for this warranty on this model & year. The dealer simply spread out their profit into the cost of the car.

Basically, I'd be interested in opinions as to whether this dealer priced the extended warranty in good faith.

IE: if the average price of such a warranty is closer to $800 (for instance) above the cost of the vehicle itself, I would rather that they had just held closer to their asking price for the car.

It may seem **** to be concerned about $200-$400 on a done deal, but my attitude is this. The dealer fought tooth and nail to cover a few hundred in profit - so dammit, that sum of money is at least as important to me. It is the principle of the thing.

No big deal overall, but I would like to know if I can trust this dealer in the future and if this is a common practice.

Thanks.