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March 16, 2011 10:43 a.m. dkarthik New Reader

First off, Hi everyone. I have been lurking around here for a while but I never posted up. I think this forum (and the magazine) are really awesome!!

I've had a 01 mazda protege for a while and I turbo-ed and megasquirted about 6 months ago. I've been planning to get a fun DD for a while and I recently picked up an 04 Audi S4 :)

I was wondering if its worth getting an aftermarket warranty for it? (I know its not the GRM way but that engine bay just scares me!!) and if so are there any recommendations cost/ Value tradeoff etc..

Thanks
March 16, 2011 11:03 a.m. Javelin SuperDork

Don't. They are all bogus. ALL of them.

/thread
March 16, 2011 11:35 a.m. paulmpetrun Reader
Javelin wrote:

Don't. They are all bogus. ALL of them.
- A WHOLE BUNCH
I have recently looked seriously into them for my van since they are such a mother berkelyer to work on. I stopped by my friends car lot to talk with him about them. He wasn't there but his brother was, and he looked me straight in the eye and said don't ever tell anyone I told you this(sorry John) but look on the internet and read the reviews, they are pretty acurate. Long and short of it is, if you don't read ALL the fine print they are worthless. They won't cover gaskets, and if one fails and other parts are damaged your SOL... They are all basically worded so that it makes it damnneer impossible to make them cover things. They ALWAYS have a way out. Short of your crankshaft breaking everything else is just iffy for getting it covered. Do some searches on the ones you are thinking of, then check the Better Business Bureu for there reviews. And if you do decide to buy one, DON'T buy it from a tv add or a new small company. These guys don't seem to stay in business for very long, so if they go under your out of everything. Good luck and sorry for the long post. Paul
March 16, 2011 12:04 p.m. hrdlydangerous Reader

Being in the car business myself I'd say that unless it's the manufacturer's best warranty stay away. We only sell Toyota warranties here and only the platinum. You have to figure that for us its just as much a customer retention tool as a benefit to you so there aren't many loopholes in ours other than the blatant vehicle abuse stuff and acts of God. We want happy customers, not aggrivated ones. Third parties have no such direct interaction with the customer so they really don't care. You should look into an Audi extended service contract. You'll probably faint when you see the price and end up taking your chances without it.
March 16, 2011 12:34 p.m. dkarthik New Reader

Thanks for the responses, really appreciate it! I think i'll take my chances and fix what I can myself and keep my fingers crossed.
March 16, 2011 1:47 p.m. Conquest351 Reader

I agree with everything already stated. Aftermarket warranties are crap! I work in the service department of my Ford dealership and we see these day in and day out. They don't pay for crap and don't cover E36 M3. When they do cover something, they want you to get the cheapest, used, crap you can put on there. I hate them. LOL
March 16, 2011 3:18 p.m. Kramer HalfDork

Find out what the warranties cost, then put that amount in a savings account monthly. You'll come out waaay ahead in the long run. Much like the warranty company, if you give them your money.
March 16, 2011 3:59 p.m. Ranger50 HalfDork

I've never had a big problem GE's 5 star warranty, except they kill the poor mechanic, aka ME, with the absolute minimum hours to fix something.

I don't expect an AM warranty to cover the rotted off rear brake shields on my wife's Avalanche, but if the transmission breaks the sun shell and/or front sprag and requires removal and installation, I do expect to happen.

Too many people expect bumper to bumper for a policy payment of major components.
March 16, 2011 5:38 p.m. dkarthik New Reader

Kramer wrote:

Find out what the warranties cost, then put that amount in a savings account monthly. You'll come out waaay ahead in the long run. Much like the warranty company, if you give them your money.

That's just brilliant, sounds like a plan to me...
March 16, 2011 6:56 p.m. Snrub New Reader

Whenever someone talks about warranties I'm reminding of the old Simpons episode where Homer has a crayon shoved into his brain. In his second most impaired state he says "Extended Warranty? How can I lose?!"

In the car business I've heard those are also known as Butt-F warranties. Kramer has some good advice above.
March 16, 2011 7:32 p.m. wbjones Dork

for all intents and purposes .... SCAM...
March 16, 2011 7:46 p.m. Stealthtercel Reader

When we got our new-to-us 05 MPV at New Year's, we got an extended Mazda warranty that seems to be pretty comprehensive (yes, it does coil packs, as far as I can tell.) We essentially got it free because the added cost put us in a loan category that gave us a lower interest rate. I know this sounds bizarre, but that's the way the numbers crunched. YMMV.
March 17, 2011 8:02 a.m. Conquest351 Reader

The factory offered warranties such as Ford, Chevy, Mazda, Honda, etc. are all great. We only sell the Ford Premium here and my techs are happy. They have to jump through some hoops with the diag. and the like, but it's all good in the end.

Aftermarket warranties they send you in the mail or online are crap. We actually have elderly customers come in about 2x a month with letters from some aftermarket warranty company saying their warranty is about to expire. We have to reassure them everything's ok and print out their vehicle report that shows the warranty terms. Stuff like that should be illegal, but scare tactics work I guess.
March 17, 2011 8:21 a.m. wbjones Dork

Stealthtercel wrote:

When we got our new-to-us 05 MPV at New Year's, we got an extended Mazda warranty that seems to be pretty comprehensive (yes, it does coil packs, as far as I can tell.) We essentially got it free because the added cost put us in a loan category that gave us a lower interest rate. I know this sounds bizarre, but that's the way the numbers crunched. YMMV.

glad that's working for you... the OP was asking about aftermarket warranties... yours is a factory warranty.... BIG difference