Honda Car Forum

Hello listers,

I hope you may help me by laying your hands on this mini survey.
Basically I want to figure out whether it is worthwhile to purchase
the extended warranty for Honda Civic. My 03 Civic will hit 30k miles
in one and half year after its purchase. If at that moment I am to buy
a bumper-to-bumper wear and tear plan for 5 years/100k miles with $0
deductible, the premium will be $1,000 or so. It will pay the cost to
repair or replace any part of the vehicle where a failure has
occurred, EXCEPT for those items listed below:

Battery; tires; wheels/rims; exhaust and emissions systems; shock
absorbers; friction clutch disc & pressure plate; throw out bearing;
manual and hydraulic linkages; safety restraint systems; glass;
lenses; sealed beams; bulbs; brake rotors & drums; TV/video/game
systems; weather strips; exterior body parts/ornamentation; paint;
upholstery & carpet; phone systems.

I figure out that if in five years, my repair/replacement costs for
items NOT listed in the EXCLUSION list are more than $1,000, then it
is worthwhile to buy the extended warranty now. Since it is my first
car, I do not know how much I might be spending in repair/replacement
in the first several years on a Honda Civic. If you have owned the car
for a while (not necessary 5 years), can you let me know how much the
cost is for you? I appreciate a lot if you can distinguish between
both the cost for the items in the exclusion list and those are not.
Thank you very much!

SS

I have a 99 Civic EX Coupe w/AT and have owned it since May 1999. It
currently has 55,000 miles and hasn't seen a repair shop except for
maintenance items such as oil changes, new tires, and brakes, I haven't
spent one dime on repairs that would be covered by an extended warranty. My
advice is to save your cash.
I also have a 2001 CRV with 36,000 miles that falls under the same
circumstance as described above.


"S. S." <sassysaser@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:559ac2fa.0405100739.4f2f622@posting.google.co m...
> Hello listers,
>
> I hope you may help me by laying your hands on this mini survey.
> Basically I want to figure out whether it is worthwhile to purchase
> the extended warranty for Honda Civic. My 03 Civic will hit 30k miles
> in one and half year after its purchase. If at that moment I am to buy
> a bumper-to-bumper wear and tear plan for 5 years/100k miles with $0
> deductible, the premium will be $1,000 or so. It will pay the cost to
> repair or replace any part of the vehicle where a failure has
> occurred, EXCEPT for those items listed below:
>
> Battery; tires; wheels/rims; exhaust and emissions systems; shock
> absorbers; friction clutch disc & pressure plate; throw out bearing;
> manual and hydraulic linkages; safety restraint systems; glass;
> lenses; sealed beams; bulbs; brake rotors & drums; TV/video/game
> systems; weather strips; exterior body parts/ornamentation; paint;
> upholstery & carpet; phone systems.
>
> I figure out that if in five years, my repair/replacement costs for
> items NOT listed in the EXCLUSION list are more than $1,000, then it
> is worthwhile to buy the extended warranty now. Since it is my first
> car, I do not know how much I might be spending in repair/replacement
> in the first several years on a Honda Civic. If you have owned the car
> for a while (not necessary 5 years), can you let me know how much the
> cost is for you? I appreciate a lot if you can distinguish between
> both the cost for the items in the exclusion list and those are not.
> Thank you very much!
>
> SS

"S. S." <sassysaser@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:559ac2fa.0405100739.4f2f622@posting.google.co m...
> Hello listers,
>
> I hope you may help me by laying your hands on this mini survey.
> Basically I want to figure out whether it is worthwhile to purchase
> the extended warranty for Honda Civic.

98 civic, since new... 45k miles.

one upper O2 sensor, about $200, replaced by me. thats all, aside from
normal preventative maintenance done by me and replacing all 4 of the OEM
firestones. i would have lost money on a warranty. besides, arent 3 of the 5
years already covered by the factory warranty?

1998 Civic DX Hatch. 174,000 KM. One stone chip at 25,000KM that blew out
the radiator (which wasn't covered by warranty...since it was a road
hazard issue). Also, the car has been riding on fat tires and performance
shocks/springs since 30,000KM. The performance add-ons have not effective
other chassis component and the body still feels tight. Other then the
performance add-ons, new radiator from stone chip and regular preventative
maintenance, there's no other additional cost to report. I don't know
about 2003 model, but in the previous model, the extended warranty was a
waste of $$$. (I had a 6 years 160,000KM warranty package on my 98 Civic
Hatch that I never got to use).

Pars

"S. S." wrote:

> Hello listers,
>
> I hope you may help me by laying your hands on this mini survey.
> Basically I want to figure out whether it is worthwhile to purchase
> the extended warranty for Honda Civic. My 03 Civic will hit 30k miles
> in one and half year after its purchase. If at that moment I am to buy
> a bumper-to-bumper wear and tear plan for 5 years/100k miles with $0
> deductible, the premium will be $1,000 or so. It will pay the cost to
> repair or replace any part of the vehicle where a failure has
> occurred, EXCEPT for those items listed below:
>
> Battery; tires; wheels/rims; exhaust and emissions systems; shock
> absorbers; friction clutch disc & pressure plate; throw out bearing;
> manual and hydraulic linkages; safety restraint systems; glass;
> lenses; sealed beams; bulbs; brake rotors & drums; TV/video/game
> systems; weather strips; exterior body parts/ornamentation; paint;
> upholstery & carpet; phone systems.
>
> I figure out that if in five years, my repair/replacement costs for
> items NOT listed in the EXCLUSION list are more than $1,000, then it
> is worthwhile to buy the extended warranty now. Since it is my first
> car, I do not know how much I might be spending in repair/replacement
> in the first several years on a Honda Civic. If you have owned the car
> for a while (not necessary 5 years), can you let me know how much the
> cost is for you? I appreciate a lot if you can distinguish between
> both the cost for the items in the exclusion list and those are not.
> Thank you very much!
>
> SS

sassysaser@yahoo.com (S. S.) wrote in message news:<559ac2fa.0405100739.4f2f622@posting.google.c om>...
> Hello listers,
>
> I hope you may help me by laying your hands on this mini survey.
> Basically I want to figure out whether it is worthwhile to purchase
> the extended warranty for Honda Civic. My 03 Civic will hit 30k miles
> in one and half year after its purchase. If at that moment I am to buy
> a bumper-to-bumper wear and tear plan for 5 years/100k miles with $0
> deductible, the premium will be $1,000 or so. It will pay the cost to
> repair or replace any part of the vehicle where a failure has
> occurred, EXCEPT for those items listed below:
>
> Battery; tires; wheels/rims; exhaust and emissions systems; shock
> absorbers; friction clutch disc & pressure plate; throw out bearing;
> manual and hydraulic linkages; safety restraint systems; glass;
> lenses; sealed beams; bulbs; brake rotors & drums; TV/video/game
> systems; weather strips; exterior body parts/ornamentation; paint;
> upholstery & carpet; phone systems.
>
> I figure out that if in five years, my repair/replacement costs for
> items NOT listed in the EXCLUSION list are more than $1,000, then it
> is worthwhile to buy the extended warranty now. Since it is my first
> car, I do not know how much I might be spending in repair/replacement
> in the first several years on a Honda Civic. If you have owned the car
> for a while (not necessary 5 years), can you let me know how much the
> cost is for you? I appreciate a lot if you can distinguish between
> both the cost for the items in the exclusion list and those are not.
> Thank you very much!
>
> SS

My experience, not much chance of expensive repairs up till timing
belt replacement time, around 100,000. Around then, things start
crumbling.

On Tue, 11 May 2004 04:40:34 -0400, Pars <"sdaro(remove)"@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>1998 Civic DX Hatch. 174,000 KM. One stone chip at 25,000KM that blew out
>the radiator (which wasn't covered by warranty...since it was a road
>hazard issue).

When I buy a new car, I install screens in front of the rads. The
reduction in air flow is negligible and protection from rocks and
grasshoppers is substantial.

Otto

sassysaser@yahoo.com (S. S.) wrote in message news:<559ac2fa.0405100739.4f2f622@posting.google.c om>...
> in the first several years on a Honda Civic. If you have owned the car
> for a while (not necessary 5 years), can you let me know how much the
> cost is for you? I appreciate a lot if you can distinguish between
> both the cost for the items in the exclusion list and those are not.

Ahhh... if it were that simple, then warranties wouldn't exist! Fact
of the matter is, dealers usually make a killing on extended
warranties (particularly on cars known for quality such as Honda) as
they rarely require the amount of repairs to justify the cost of the
warranty itself. Think about it - if warranties were not as
profitable (read: required work does not offset cost of warranty) then
dealers would not push them as hard as they do. You are essentially
paying for repairs whether you need them or not.

Of course, the worthiness of a warranty varies from one person to the
next. For someone who is not mechanically inclined and drives their
car like an appliance and possibly on a fixed budget, a warranty
offers the peace of mind that if something should go, they won't be
faced with a huge surprise bill. On the flipside, more than likely
they will spend more on the warranty than the actual repairs for said
period of time. But, it is up to that person to put a value on "peace
of mind".

On the other hand, if the person is a do-it-yourselfer and is somewhat
knowledgeable to foresee signs of impending doom, then - barring a
complete lemon - they would be wiser to not take the warranty. If you
have a mechanic friend and can avoid the dealer altogether (thus save
much $$), even better.

On a personal note, I foolishly took the extended warranty on my 96
Integra - which I purchased from a dealer secondhand in 1998 - and
wasted my money. I had two relatively minor repairs done over the 7
years / 100K miles and did not even come close to justifying the cost
($945 for warranty vs $600 of work). It should also be noted that one
of the repair jobs (power antenna motor - $325CND!) was only done
*because* I had the warranty; otherwise I would have simply put a
fixed mast).

I will never buy an extended warranty again.

Bottom line - the *best* thing you can do - provided you have the
discipline - is to take the money you would otherwise give the dealer
for warranty and put it in a savings account and DON'T TOUCH IT. If
something should break, you dip into it. In the end, if you didn't
need your full "warranty", you get the remaining money back, plus
whatever interest that account gets (although not much these days, but
still better than what the dealer gives you). Finally, this type of
warranty has no "exclusions". ;-)

Sorry for the long post, but that's my $0.02 on the topic......

Kevin

In article <f2c0c21.0405110825.2e9d0891@posting.google.com> ,
kevin_sargent@hotmail.com (Kevin Sargent) wrote:

> On a personal note, I foolishly took the extended warranty on my 96
> Integra - which I purchased from a dealer secondhand in 1998 - and
> wasted my money. I had two relatively minor repairs done over the 7
> years / 100K miles and did not even come close to justifying the cost
> ($945 for warranty vs $600 of work).

Then why do you pay for car insurance? You never get that back, either.
It's just money down the drain....

Oh, you say. But car insurance is for "what-if".

Well, an extended warranty is nothing but insurance. It's no different
than car insurance, or homeowner's insurance, or renter's insurance, or
whatever.

That YOU didn't get anything back on it for THAT car is an accounting
argument only. You got peace of mind, right? You got the ability to
walk in and drop off the keys and have anything handled at no extra cost
to you, even catastrophic things. Is the ability to do so not worth
anything to you?

Then I ask again: why pay for car insurance? Why carry homeowner's
insurance? They're the same thing. You don't get anything back from
them, either.

We couldn't register our cars without insurances. We could be fined for not
having insurances. We could get our cars impounded for not having
insurances.

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote:

> Then why do you pay for car insurance? You never get that back, either.
> It's just money down the drain....
>
> Oh, you say. But car insurance is for "what-if".
>
> Well, an extended warranty is nothing but insurance. It's no different
> than car insurance, or homeowner's insurance, or renter's insurance, or
> whatever.
>
> That YOU didn't get anything back on it for THAT car is an accounting
> argument only. You got peace of mind, right? You got the ability to
> walk in and drop off the keys and have anything handled at no extra cost
> to you, even catastrophic things. Is the ability to do so not worth
> anything to you?
>
> Then I ask again: why pay for car insurance? Why carry homeowner's
> insurance? They're the same thing. You don't get anything back from
> them, either.

Keep in mind that the 'list' price on the Honda extended service
contract are just like the list prices of cars; you should never pay
it!

For most plans you should expect a 40%-60% markup. So if the dealer
is asking $1,000 she might be paying $500 or less. For example, you
can purchase the 5/100 plan via http://www.curryhondacare.com/ for
~$840 which would still include some amount of profit for that dealer.
Your dealer might be willing to take less profit to make a sale.

-D

sassysaser@yahoo.com (S. S.) wrote in message news:<559ac2fa.0405100739.4f2f622@posting.google.c om>...
> Hello listers,
>
> I hope you may help me by laying your hands on this mini survey.
> Basically I want to figure out whether it is worthwhile to purchase
> the extended warranty for Honda Civic. My 03 Civic will hit 30k miles
> in one and half year after its purchase. If at that moment I am to buy
> a bumper-to-bumper wear and tear plan for 5 years/100k miles with $0
> deductible, the premium will be $1,000 or so. It will pay the cost to
> repair or replace any part of the vehicle where a failure has
> occurred, EXCEPT for those items listed below:
>
> Battery; tires; wheels/rims; exhaust and emissions systems; shock
> absorbers; friction clutch disc & pressure plate; throw out bearing;
> manual and hydraulic linkages; safety restraint systems; glass;
> lenses; sealed beams; bulbs; brake rotors & drums; TV/video/game
> systems; weather strips; exterior body parts/ornamentation; paint;
> upholstery & carpet; phone systems.
>
> I figure out that if in five years, my repair/replacement costs for
> items NOT listed in the EXCLUSION list are more than $1,000, then it
> is worthwhile to buy the extended warranty now. Since it is my first
> car, I do not know how much I might be spending in repair/replacement
> in the first several years on a Honda Civic. If you have owned the car
> for a while (not necessary 5 years), can you let me know how much the
> cost is for you? I appreciate a lot if you can distinguish between
> both the cost for the items in the exclusion list and those are not.
> Thank you very much!
>
> SS