Extended warranty vs. Mechanical breakdown insurance

Or be like the other hald that think positive thoughts that attract positive results.

It's a known deal when you worry about, or think negative thoughts, you attract those results.

I don't purchase extended warranties either. Instead, I focus my energy in the good and roll with it. If something goes south on me I will tackle it and move on.

 

Wow, so my being prepared is thinking negative thoughts and making my truck break down? You west coast guys have it all figured out my man, I just need to chill more and then everything will be groovy.

While i get what you are saying and agree in general, to assume my attitude towards a mechanical device I had nothing to do with the production of, will affect its ability to perform, is insane.

 

Being prepared for what?
A break down?

If you get a break down, you get a break down. You paid for it in advance, you darn toot'n better get a break down, or you got screwed out of paying for the extra warranty that in many cases will find a way to not cover you.

In the flip side....

I'm prepared for lots of miles without break downs by not focusing on having one, or how I'm going to be left paying for it. I'm not entitled, so I am not holding anyone accountable past the factory provided warranty.

If I have a break down, I deal with it then.
I have tools, mechanical skills and the forethought to always have a savings account that will get me back on the road.

To this day, I have never had an extended warranty, or had an break down where I had to claim anything in a factory warranty (mostly due to buying used cars and run them for years and years).

Only twice in my life have I taken something to a shop for repairs. This was solely due to me being in my early 20's and living in an apartment where I had no garage, or tools to do the actual work. I am currently sneaking up on 50, and plan to continue fiddling with stuff as long as I can.

Your mileage may vary, controlled completely by you and how you see things (prepare for). You will find what you go looking for. How you deal with it is the other half.

 

You have been lucky as far as never having an issue. I bought the warranty, but I also have a savings account where I could fix anything at anytime and not cry about it...but why pay more for something? I understand that goes both ways because I might be buying something I never use. I do all the recommended maintenance and try to do most of the smaller repairs, but guess what, I'm not a mechanic and don't have all the tools for pulling an engine and installing a new tranny. I can change brakes, do oil and general stuff, but not the super tricky expensive work. I sure as hell don't understand electronics enough to be doing tons of that work either.

I have no experience with Toyota, but with ford and vw (yeah I know, they are known for their issues) I used the hell out of it. The main reason I get it though, is that I ride my vehicles hard. I routinely was jumping my ford and the dealer would replace most of my front end for free under my warranty. My vw popped tires every week, I literally got 8 tires via their warranty, and then when my electronics shit the bed, I saved 4k not having to replace the stereo/gps unit. Now, I wasn't curbing them, just shitty tires from the start.

I don't think my truck will break down, and I honestly hope I wasted the money on the warranty, I have a life and like to live it, not drive to the shop (thats why I ditched Ford). I just don't think that being prepared for a major component to break, is negative. Life is about having fun and enjoying it sure, but things go wrong and you need to be ready. Someone with a bank account and seemingly good habits (car wise at least, obviously don't know you personally) would understand that I would have thought.

edit: a lot of people complain the toyota dealers won't fix anything, I know a few guys at mine, so hopefully that would help. But we won't know until something goes wrong in a few years.

 

Nothing magical going on. And certainly not luck. I have had break downs, but well after any warranty would have covered anyways. Get back on the horse and go.

What is your plan once the extended warranty runs out?

By "jumping" your truck, what kind of jumping are you referring to? Got pics?
Any landings with carnage?

 

My plan when the warranty runs out is to ditch the truck and get a new one. I have a bit of ADD when it comes to cars and can't seem to hang on to one more than 4-5 years. So basically I keep a full warranty on my cars until I sell/trade them, and then get the rest of the warranty money refunded.

Jumping only a few feet, not like in the desert rally style 40 foot launches. We have a lot of old dirt roads around here that if you go fast enough on certain parts you will catch 3-4 feet of air and maybe travel 5-10 feet. The worst that has happened was up in Maine on some old logging roads meant for utv's. Kept hitting this pretty big jump and ended up needing to replace pretty much everything in the front but the LCA and UCA's. New joints, axles etc... This was with a nice ICON suspension set up, I won't be doing that on a stock taco lol. No pics because I am usually alone when doing this stuff.

 

Man, just when I was thinking you had it together. Doing crazy stuff when you are alone. That's Darwinism at it's finest.


Just kidding!

I see your angle on having a warranty through the entire time you own a vehicle.
Your method of abusing and dumping in 4-5 years would certainly require it, since you stated you are not much of a mechanic.

Although, not the most recommended use of money, it does get you through life and keep you rolling down the trail. In an odd way, I have to respect that.


I'm polar opposite and like a challenge with my long term vehicle ownership. But with that, I don't abuse my vehicles on purpose. Now, I won't go so far as to claim that I never have abused my vehicles, I just pick my battles that I am certain of the outcome.

For instance....
Nothing on this car I couldn't fix.
And fix and fix and fix I did.
Until it was stolen from out front of my house.






This car is one reason for my name INSAYN. Jumping this car was a regular thing as it was SO much fun. Was my daily driver for 4 years and mostly stock running gear.

 

Save your money and put it in a low cost index mutual fund

 

That's an awesome bug! And it looks like you had a hell of a time in it, people who steal from other people make me sick, especially something like this you know that person put tons of time into. Hopefully whoever did it has some bad karma headed their way!

I have dreams of owning a vehicle like that, and quite a few other older cars. I know dumping the cars is bad $$ wise, but until I get into a more permanent living situation with a better garage setup I am going to stick to that way. The goal is to eventually have a few old cars I can keep forever and work on, while the wife can keep new cars just incase. I've always wanted to have a car for a couple hundred thousand miles and really learn everything about it, I just haven't had the right opportunity for that yet. BUT I am taking steps now, so that down the road I can build myself a nice heated garage that I will make a nice shop.

 

Lexus dealers are known to treat customers better than Toyota dealers. In exchange the markups are higher. Those exhaust manifolds are $400 and $500 on the 4Runner with the same engine: https://parts.villagetoyota.com/sho...=2009&ukey_category=19385&ukey_driveLine=6187

Were the manifolds replaced due to cracking, or due to the attached catalytic converters going bad? The cats would be covered by the federal- or state-mandated emissions warranty, 7 years if I remember correctly.

 

I am not a mechanic. There is a lot of electrical and computer components in these trucks. In my first year of ownership I put on 33,000 km’s. Lots of driving. I figured it was worth it for the 7 year extended warranty. Kinda wish I got the sunroof and JBL option instead of warranty though

 

I built a Baja Bug back in the late 80s, what a blast that car was!

 

during the 7 years the day will come you will be glad you got it.

 

Haha I'm well aware of the better treatment at Lexus. I owned a Tacoma for five years. Never really had trouble with Toyota doing warranty work, but they definitely did ask more questions, were far less friendly, and no free rental, concierge service, etc.

Both manifolds were cracked near the. block and ticking like an old farm truck, a common problem apparently. The labor is what killed the price on those, about $800 per side. They were done at different times, so that may have added to the cost.

 

who is your insurance carrier?

 

Geico.

 

Funny thing is, even at this low rate for breakdown insurance, Geico is making at least 25% profit on average...