Extended Warranty

So it sounds like you bought the warranty and actually used/needed it but they made you jump though some hoops when you did. Question is did you come out ahead?

My father is not a warranty person either. I helped him get a deal on a 2nd gen and the finance manager offered him a warranty for $1000. He asked me and I said sure why not $1000 ain’t bad. He never used the warranty once. But like many said it’s nice to have the piece of mind that if there was an expensive failure he would be covered.

 

Better yet take out a 2 year insurance annuity at over 2%, banks don't give chit for interest these days. When was the last time you saw an insurance company go tapioca. Where do think banks invest their capital.

 

Banks don't usually buy annuities. If they want short term liquidity they buy T-Bills which are easily marketable and have maturities of 1 year or less. For the 2-10 year range there are Treasury notes, and Treasury bonds for longer investments. After meeting their reserve requirements with this type of liquidity they invest the bulk of their capital in higher return investments like commercial, consumer, and real estate loans. Banks make their living on interest rate spread, so they would not be in business very long if they had large amounts of capital invested at just over 2%. So while your point of taking the money you would have spent on an extended warranty and saving it as a reserve for repairs in the future is a valid and sound alternative, comparing it to a bank investment is not, and you certainly would not want to tie up that money in something like an annuity where it is not easily accessible if you need it for a repair.

 

I got called out on the fires here in Northern California the day after my Wife came home with the 2021.
When I called back to ask about the offer for an extended warranty, they came up with 2400 dollars for 85,000 miles
I declined.

 

If you're not in an area where you have to deal with a distributor like Southeast Toyota or Gulf States, you have the option of getting the warranty from any Toyota dealer. Call around and see if you can get a better deal. Probably some threads here in the forum on who people have used.

 

Can only speak from experience:
-47 years driving
-12 new vehicles including VW and Volvo
0 repairs that would have been covered

Draw your own conclusions!

 

I has some back and forth with my dealer because they underpaid me on my trade in. When I was called to pick up my truck, I felt I was one of those situations that I had to bite the bullet and take the lesser amount because I knew there were at least 10 other persons on the list to buy my Tacoma if I walked away. So I finalized the purchase and bought the Tacoma. I went back the week after I purchased the truck and spoke with the GM, Sales Manager and my salesperson and pressed my displeasure. They actually acknowledged that the situation was unusual and my points were meaningful. They asked me what they could do to make me happy. I suggested they sell me back my trade in at the same amount. That ended up not being possible because the vehicle was already disposed of. So next I asked them to refund me the difference I felt they shorted me on my trade, nice try, but no go obviously. (I knew it was not going to happen, but I had to try lol) I then requested they provide me a Toyota Platinum VSP at no charge, again that's not possible. So after all is said and done, They provided me a Toyota Care Plus 5 year/75k mile maintenance plan at no charge. They also sold me the following items at their "cost". A Toyota soft bed cover, Predator steps, and a 10 year/125k Toyota Platinum VSA. Needless to say, I shelled out more money to the dealer, but I was going to purchase the cover, steps and VSA regardless, thus I ended up paying less than I would have online or from the dealer on all the items. The price I paid them for the Platinum VSA was a good chunk less than any of the other great dealer quotes I got from the dealers recommended on Tacoma World who sell the Toyota Platinum VSA/VSP to Tacoma owners.

All in all, as much as I dislike the vehicle buying process and dealers in general, I am as satisfied as I think I can be considering the dealer exceeded what I had expected they would offer up. I've witness a number of incidents at dealers over the years with people coming unhinged on trade in's or for one reason or another at vehicle dealership. So I'm sure they expected me to raise hell with them as well, but its just not in me to get bent out of shape. I simply don't get angry, upset or rude with anyone about anything. Life is extremely challenging and difficult for all of us as it is right now, thus I was always polite and kind with them and they certainly were polite with me. I have never given "props" to a car dealer, but all told, I would consider doing business with the same dealer again