Extedded Warrenty pays for its self

Back in February 2016 I bought my Tacoma and had little things fixed under warranty. then 2 years ago they had to replace the gauge cluster $700.00 repair and now last week took my truck in for maintenance work. during inspection they found passengers side head gasket oil leaking out the side. no oil in the coolant no water in the oil. so they kept my truck for a week while they went through the process of getting it repaired under my 8 year-125 thousand Toyota platinum Warranty. when I bought my truck the additional warranty was 900 dollars added to the cost. They replaced both head gaskets and parts along the way.
their internal billing costs for the warranty work was 3789.40 would have been double that if I was paying for it. I saw no leak and had no drips but the technician found the leak and reported it. my conclusion they are looking for these issues. leak was between the head and block behind the exhaust manifold. So they are looking for the problem. without warranty this would be on my dime since I took my truck in with the odometer reading over 75,000 miles on it. it has been repaired and well see how it goes just picked it up last night. Toyota is not the company it use to be, so keep an eye on things. Don't let anyone tell you extended warranty's are useless. I got my savings from it.

 

It's easy to say, after you win the lottery, that buying the ticket was a good investment. Same thing with an extended warranty that pays off.

However, buying a lottery ticket, or an extended warranty, involves calculating the prospective odds. In both cases, the odds don't favor the consumer.

I never play the lottery, and I never buy extended warranties. For anything. These are sucker bets.

That said, I'm in the fortunate position that if my truck breaks down, I can simply buy a new one. (That fortunate position is partially due to the fact that I never gambled, or wasted money, in my entire life.)

 

I’ve always bought the extended warranty just for A/C system repairs down here in Texas. Those are typically $2k-$3k easy for labor and parts.

Everything else for the most part I can repair myself.

 

Normally I don’t buy the extended warranty but I have made a few exceptions. 1. Had a Dodge Dakota back in the 80’s and thank goodness I bought the EW as the tranny went out. That was several thousand back then.
2. My 17 taco, I figured it was worth the price because of all the electronic stuff. May not use it but I still have a ways to go.

 

The extended warranty I was offered back in May when purchasing my '22 was around $2k, so I declined to purchase it since they said it can be purchased at any time before the current warranty runs out. I'm now thinking about purchasing this guy with all of the head gasket issues popping up recently.

But the dealership I purchased from gave a lifetime powertrain warranty, however, that dealership is about an hour away and I won't be having any service done by them unless it is warranty work.

 

You were lucky to be able to use the extended warranty. Cause not too many owners that bought them ever used them like myself. Like mentioned it is like buying lottery tickets strike it or you lose.

 

What?

 

What What?

 

That dealership doesn’t require you to have all your regular maintenance done there? That’s usually the catch with lifetime dealership warranties.

 

Exactly. If they didn’t make money on selling the extended warranty, they wouldn’t sell it.

But hey, good for OP. Worked out in his favour.

I was offered one but declined, said “I’m buying a Toyota right”. Well we will
see down the road, planning to keep my truck for 20+ years.

 

Yeah, you tell me what what?

 

Slow shops will look for work, if you have extended warranty they will try to find something they can charge to it. The tech doesnt get paid the best from extended warranty, but if they have nothing else they will take it.

 

some people ITT gonna be big mad when the dealer quotes them $4k for a timing cover reseal that wasn't noticed until after your 5/60 pt expired...

 

I financed a used 2011 4Runner SR5 4x4 for my daughter a couple of years ago from a dealership. Back then I thought the price was high at $14k anyway, they tried to sell me an extended warranty and "Gap" insurance. Total up-charges would have been another $3k. I just laughed and said "if it broke down tomorrow I could just sell it for $11k and call it a wash, so No Thank You". Finance guy was semi-upset, but my payments were so much less without those extra charges. Her 4Runner has only gone up in value since then, and it's been utterly reliable.

 

Nope...that was the first thing I asked them when they told me they offer a lifetime warranty. I even asked about me doing my own maintenance and they said as long as I have it all documented, they would honor it.

However, I've been trying to get a hold of someone there to answer if I need to go by some maintenance schedule other than what is in the manual to keep that lifetime warranty, but keep getting put on hold for over 10 minutes and nobody is replying to my emails now either.

Almost like maybe Toyota made them aware that there is a head gasket problem with the 3rd gens, so they're acting like they didn't give out lifetime warranties? lol I just went over 1,500 miles though (about 3 months), so I've got a little bit of time to try to speak with someone.

 

Hopefully you still have the warranty documents, it’s either in there or it’s not a requirement.

 

I hope you have this in writing. Most dealerships stipulate that you must have them service the vehicle and do any warranty work. They will tell you anything to make the sale.

 

It's even worse than buying a lottery ticket.

For power ball, if my ticket matches all the numbers, I win, no questions asked.
For warranty, if you think you should be covered, they can still find reasons not to cover.