[Wagon R Rocks!]

Originally Posted by ayadalam

The topic has been extensively debated already. Have a quick question on the clarity on one of the points mentioned in the article "Extended Warranties. Yes or No ?" under the Advice/On Buying section.

The point made is "Some dealers offer only an aftermarket warranty; if they do not initially offer a manufacturer warranty you should specifically for one".

Not sure what this means.

1. Should one take dealer provided warranty in case there is no manufacturer provided warranty ?

2. In case it is dealer provided warranty, how genuine would be the execution of claims in the underwriting ?

Any advice/feedback would be helpful.

Drive Safe,
Andy

Hello,
Going for an extended waranty totally depends on the kind of driving pattern a car user follow. I personally don't think having an extended warranty has any peculiar advantages and is just a marketing gimmic (it is my personal opinion, no hard feelings please ). I have been doing reliability analysis for transmissions over 6 years now and want to highlight some of the technical aspects of reliability study.
Any product (it can be a car, cell phone or even aeroplane engine) is designed with a certain target life in mind. We will take an example of our car. Maruti gives warranty for 2 years or 40,000 kms. Now coming to the technical aspect of reliability engineering, reliability of any product follows a curve which is commonly known as a "bathtub" curve (nothing to do with bathtub, its just how this curve looks on paper). See attached snapshot for details.

This curve has three phases, 1st phase is the infant mortality phase, 2nd phase is the constant failure rate phase and third phase is the wear out phase. Warranty offered from the company is till the end of first phase. Extended warranty applied to the second phase i.e. the constant failure rate phase where failure rate is absolutely minimal (I will not say zero but the probability of failue is very very low). By applying basic design principles, it is clear that any component which has to fail because of manufacturing defects, etc. will fail before the company warranty expires (again, this is considering 10% failure rates). By the physics of reliability engineering, any component which has not failed within the company claimed warranty period will not fail atleast during extended warranty period. But, it also depends on the driving style of individual and the risk he/she is willing to take on rejecting extended warranty while purchasing a car. But based on statistical data, it is very clear that less than 2% of the total population who have taken extended warranties have actually benefitted from this.
I took my first car (Wagon R VXi) is 2010 without any extended warranty and used it single-handedly till 2013. I never thought of changing my car after 2-3 years when I purchased it. I clocked almost 50000 kms in 2.5 years and now have switched over to Ritz Diesel (ZDi). I did not take any extended warranty on the Ritz either.
Honestly I feel it strongly depends on the individual whether he/she is ready to take the risk (i.e. being in the <2% benefactor population zone).
Thanks.

[ayadalam]

Originally Posted by Wagon R Rocks!

I have been doing reliability analysis for transmissions over 6 years now and want to highlight some of the technical aspects of reliability study.

Interesting perspective. Thanks

[rahulsharma2008]

The Steering Rack of my 2010 Swift VDi (Odo 73k kilometres) went bust few days back. The cost of replacing the steering assembly is quoted as Rs. 28,000/- and Labour for the same is Rs. 4,000/- Luckily I had opted for 3rd and 4th Year extended warranty option at the time of purchase of my car for a sum of Rs. 5000/- due to which the whole expenditure will be taken care by Maruti. (My extended warranty expires in 4 months/7k kms whichever happens first)

I literally had no scope for such an un-foreseen expense like this at this moment. So for me Extended Warranty rocks !

[riteshritesh]

One point I wish to make ( haven't checked if it is mentioned by someone else) that I learned the hard way is, one needs to service and maintain the vehicle at ASC, as per the manuals requirement to claim warranty at a latter date.
My Honda City Auto, nearing 3rd year completion, went for repairs. I was not even aware that I had extended warranty on it. Due to low running, I must have missed the service interval. I tried blaming the dealership, for not informing me on time to send the car for service , but to no avail. I had to pay 33,000 for ignition coil change + labor + service charges.

I feel this extended warranty is a vicious circle, where you are stuck to getting your car serviced at the ASC no matter what, else you cannot claim your warranty.

[Wagon R Rocks!]

Originally Posted by rahulsharma2008

The Steering Rack of my 2010 Swift VDi (Odo 73k kilometres) went bust few days back. The cost of replacing the steering assembly is quoted as Rs. 28,000/- and Labour for the same is Rs. 4,000/- Luckily I had opted for 3rd and 4th Year extended warranty option at the time of purchase of my car for a sum of Rs. 5000/- due to which the whole expenditure will be taken care by Maruti. (My extended warranty expires in 4 months/7k kms whichever happens first)

That's the point I'm trying to make. It totally depends on your vehicle usage pattern. In your case though, you seem to use your vehicle a lot (72k in 3 years is a lot to me). Hence, the probability of getting a failure is more compared to a case wherein you don't have enough kms clocked in this time frame. For you, as your vehicle has seen many kms in just 3 years, you get tend to get-out of the second phase (of the bath-tub curve) pretty quickly (specially considering Indian roads and infrastructure).
I'll say that as a thumb rule to decide whether to go in for an extended warranty, just extrapolate (or intrapolate) Maruti's warranty figures, i.e. try to figure out kms that you would be clocking in 3 years. If those come out to be more than 60000, then you better go in for an extended warranty.

[SHANKY11]

Hi guys, I am currently in the process of buying a used car. The dealer told me that he can arrange for a one year warranty from United India. This costs Rs. 5000 and covers engine, transmission, clutch and brake.Does anyone know about this? Any reviews? Please help.

[ajitkumarlb]

Originally Posted by Wagon R Rocks!

...
But, it also depends on the driving style of individual and the risk he/she is willing to take on rejecting extended warranty while purchasing a car
...

very well articulated... for an average user predominantly city drive and occasional high way drives, extended warranty don't make sense.

My Santro, I did not take one, as I intended to modify (fit LPG) as that would void the warranty any way, and its been 5 years (touch wood) no complaints apart from regular service.

My Zen which was almost 10 years old when I bought it also modified to fit LPG by me worked fine, it started giving me electrical issues after about year and half of me using it (about 12 years old then) none on the mechanical side


On my Scorpio I did take the extended warranty for two reasons:

1. Its a AT + 4x4 i.e. additional mechatronics parts on the vehicle
- AT the gearbox initially had issues as I have read on this forum
- AT box manufacturer is out of business and MM is sourcing those from Bosch now
- if you are buying a first generation just launched vehicle

MM & the dealer were very reluctant to provide the extended warranty for the AT + 4x4 combo, that made me pursue it really hard, I had to negotiate really hard to get it.

So the point is if you have a unique combination, may be one should consider extended warranty.

2. The other reason being, even as I bought this scorpio the plan was to go for Leh trip next year, by then the company provided 2 year warranty would end and hence I went in for the extended warranty.

[itwasntme]

Great news for Chevy owners. Looks like GM India has vastly expanded the earlier extended warranty scheme to cover all vehicles till 5 years regardless of when you actually buy the cover.

Earlier one could buy it only within 1 year of purchase. Prices are pretty reasonable too. Apologies for the awful pictures, Will properly scan and post when at work.

[itwasntme]

Properly scanned and uploaded both the Extended Warranty and Roadside Assistance leaflets.

Good thing is that GM doesn't seem to have charged too much of a premium from late (potential) buyers like me (reaching 30 months of ownwership)!

[bblost]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Good thing is that GM doesn't seem to have charged too much of a premium from late (potential) buyers like me (reaching 30 months of ownwership)!

I paid just 5175 for the EW on my Chevy Sail UVA Petrol.
Bought the warranty after 118 days of delivery.

+1 to Chevy. The worry that the car is burning the sales charts is much lesser since I am covered for at least 5 years.

[i74js]

I have been reading this thread and would like to make following submissions:

- The warranty provided by the manufacturer is the best and is least of an issue for replacement / repairs of any kind
- Extended warranty provided through insurance companies are essentially working on how strongly your case is defended by the dealership else it carries a little substance in terms of claim settlements for such repairs
- Extended warranty provided by the dealership depends upon how good your realtionship is - with the workshop manager / GM

In all cases, as a general perception, the car owner is expected to

- Follow exact service schedule without failure
- No mods, what so ever in the car (atleast which can be discovered by the dealership)

Even after this, there are specific cases wherein the manufacturer / dealer / insurance company refused entertaining claims

- Adultrated fuel usage
- Entry of water in engine (in case the same is not covered under insurance - flood etc)

All said, extended warranty is nothing but a cross-subsidy instrument and neither the manufacturer nor the insurance company would pitch in if they incur losses at a gross level. They are here to make money even if this is a insurance product.

Cheers

[pcpranav]

Hi.
For me, the Extended Warranty surely rocks, and absolutely essential. Allow me to pour a quick update, as of today itself. read below for significance.

I purchased a MM Xylo E6 four years back, and was offered the EW as FREE as part of some monthly sales scheme :-) Somewhat I remember, at that time the EW was being sold ~10K-12K !

I was expecting a detailed 'booklet' about the terms & conditions of EW, but instead I was just given a one page letter on letterhead mentioning the dates of EW, and also mentioning that all other conditions rest same as Standard Warranty as written in the Service Handbook. Ofcourse in backed of MM systems, they update these records which are viewed by the service adviser at ASC.

In my case, SW = 50000 KM or 2 years, whichever is earlier.
EW = 100000 KM or 4 years, whichever is earlier.

I have got many parts & assemblies changes in SW period, and MM was surely prompt in approving this matter. Thats another story that ASC sometimes take really long to diagnose the matter or understand the situation, till you almost shout for resolution after multiple futile visits!

Noteworthy, as per my driving pattern, the parameters of KM / period are almost coinciding for SW / EW. This month, my as my car ages four years, my EW would be over, ODO at ~97000KM !

Some of the instances I remember for good having EW in place:

Few months back, the high-pressure switch for AC was replaced.

After multiple visits, last month, finally they approved changing of entire Steering Rack Assembly (~22K) !

Yday, while driving to office in rains, suddenly the co-driver side's wiper stopped moving; the driver side wiper was working fine. I could sense the linkage going kaput. So, today morning I visited the ASC and after looking in the system the adviser told that my EW is expiring in next 4 (four) days !! Lucky me. They immediately approved the changing of whole wiper assembly with motor (~11K) :-)

Hence I couldnt resist to pour my comments on this thread, today itself. Hopefully in the years to come, my vehicle doesnt call for unwanted big expenses.

So, even if someone is buying EW at 5-10K, one costly component's FOC replacement would pay-off the charge.

regards,

[999]

Hi,
I happened to be at the popular service center (Maruti ASS in TVM) for replacing a rat chewed vaccum pipe from the engine. On the reception wall was the picture below
Team-BHP is going places

[filhosdegoa]

Originally Posted by viper

Guys,

A question to all those in favour of extended warranty. Do all of you have it and have you bothered to read the fine print at all. Please do not go by the Kms offered since 99% of you guys will never do that kind of kms. I have 4 relatively new cars in the house(Hyundai) one of whose original 2 year warranty just expired.

I have not applied for extended warranty for any of my 4 cars as In My Personal Opinion the parts that are likely to fail/need replacement after 3-4 years are not covered. Just felt I should share this info with you guys.

The only point I am making is read the fine print before signing up as it is your money involved.

Viper

I can't really comment on Hyundai's extended warranty package, but since you mentioned, I'll try to relate the same to the extended warranty in my Ford Figo.

Expenditure:

Standard warranty of 2 years/1,00,000 kms.
Rs. 5000 (approx) for the 3rd year.
Rs. 9800 (approx) for the 4th year.

I'm sorry for the approximate figures, but the variation won't be much.


Benefits under warranty:

1. Power steering failure when the car was one month out. Total cost was close to 6,000, covered under standard warranty.

2. Clutch sensor malfunction during the 2nd year. Total cost was 1780 + labour, covered under standard warranty.

3. Clutch slave cylinder failure during 3rd year. Cost: Rs. 2500, except labour, parts were covered under the extended warranty.

4. A/c evaporator coil failure during 3rd year. Cost: Rs. 1800, except labour, parts were covered under extended warranty.

5. A link from the suspension was also replaced under warranty, no record wrt. Cost and labour.

6. Malfunction of entertainment system was repaired under extended warranty during the 3rd year.

7. Brake calliper housing Corning Rs. 10000 was replaced under extended warranty during the 4th year.

Apart from the above, there were other small replacements amounting to a total of about Rs. 3000 that were also replaced under extended warranty.

As far as my case is concerned, I feel that I received due justice in return of the amount paid towards the extended warranty package.

I feel that you should check out the terms and areas of coverage of the extended warranty coverage from Hyundai especially considering the regular experience of Hyundai's suffering for major/overall failures after crossing 70,000 kms.

[stanjohn123]

Originally Posted by Wagon R Rocks!

Going for an extended waranty totally depends on the kind of driving pattern a car user follow.

Great analysis and I do agree that it's totally based on how a user drives his car. I was in a dilemma to take an extended warranty for my Verna which has just done 6,100 kms in 2 years and my main warranty expires next month.

I also do know that Verna has suspension , steering assembly and clutch issues which may crop up but I'm not expecting those to crop up in my kind of driving style nor before the 30-40,000 km mark. I also know that the chances of me crossing the 16,000 km mark in my verna by the next year is highly unlikely.

So me coughing up 15,000 rs now as extended warranty and 3rd free service cost could be a total waste of money as I could just pay up for these as and when they fail.