Would you purchase an extended warranty?

[Glowplug007]

I received a letter in the mail from mercruiser offering to extend my engine warranty. But after looking at the fine print it only seems to cover major engine components and if I were to make a claim I would have to have impeccable service records. I have them now but -life happens, ya never know. I can extend it for up to 5 years, what would you do?

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

all "extended warranties" are really service contracts and can be quite limited. The companies that sell them know that the odds are in their favor that it will be to their economic advantage, not yours. That is why, mathematically, they are not a good idea. And some are very restrictive and have onerous conditions and pre-failure maintenance requirements. Read and heed.

But when you need it, you will love it and be glad you have it. Especially on a boat that is a luxury item, adn can be hard to justify, or find, the money for a major repair when there's all that life stuff eating up your paycheck already. So logically, no; emotionally, maybe so.

If you have hard and heavy use, maybe get it, or if you have multiple users, definitely get it.

 

[QC]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

My general attitude about all extended warranties is that someone is making money on them. I agree with Home Cookin's assessment, but if you want to feel better about the math then here's how I justify NOT buying any. They (insurance companies) make money over a bunch of units. I figure I will save money over my lifetime by not buying any, on anything. That way I get the large unit volume necessary to absorb one bad failure.

If it is in fact only "Major Components" can you list them here? Generally speaking, major components are never the cause of failure, so warranty won't pay even when they do break. Example is a crankshaft. First they never break, and second when they do it is because of a lube or bearing failure, not the crank, so no pay . . .

Edit: Exception for me is cell phone insurance. Water, kids and cellphones don't mix.

 

[JoLin]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

The type of person that normally buys extended warranties on major appliances and cars, will likely feel anxious if they don't buy it for a boat. For that person, it's probably worth the peace of mind.

I don't buy extended warranties on anything, but that's me. I do know that they're huge moneymakers for the underwriters and sales folk. Last Fall I bought a 2007 car, and the dealer offered me a 'deluxe' extended warranty for $2499. By the time I left the dealership, the price was down to $1200. By the time I picked up the car, it was offered to me for $1200. with a 12 month, interest free payoff.

Sooner or later I might run into a situation where I wish I'd purchased it, but it hasn't happened yet (I'm 58).

My .02

 

[QC]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

I just looked over this: http://www.mercurymarine.com/media/mercury/pdfs/service-and-support/Compare-Gold-and-Platinum.pdf

I that's the deal, I would consider Platinum if I wanted complete peace of mind and it was reasonable. Gold would have to be really cheap. I like that some major drive components are covered in both, but all of the nitpicky, and some expensive stuff (ECU), is excluded from Gold.

 

[Glowplug007]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

I use my boat a lot compared to other people I know with watercraft. I try to get out at least 2x sometimes 3x a week. However I just think even if I bought it I would have a really hard time proving that it was a component failure that I could not have prevented, and since I would be the accuser I would carry the burden of proof. Basically they would find a way not to pay!

 

[QC]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

Also, I have an OEM background, and I don't believe they will try not to pay. They will follow the guidelines to the letter, but may even err in your favor. When an OEM backs the program, they do not have to justify to an insurance company. Also, the Dealer is your friend in this example. He wants it to be warranty if he is smart. If the OEM is going to pay they have a happy customer. Good for them too.

 

[ricohman]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

I own an i/o merc and I haven't even started it yet. They asked me about this and I said no.
I worked for years as a GM mechanic and warranty plans make a lot of money for the company.
But maybe this will bite me in the ***** later on.

 

[Philster]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

You have to apply the 'no extended warranty' practice to all your purchases, and then measure the effectiveness of that decision against all items you've purchased and the savings as a whole.

For example, if you decline the extended warranty on the boat @ $1200 and incur a $1700 repair that would have been covered (minus deductible) let's say you are in the red by 500 bucks. You shelled out 1700 bucks, instead of the 1200 for the warranty. you are -500 on that exchange. Now, look at all the other extended warranties you saved money on.

You need to calculate that against not just the extended warranty you declined to buy for the boat, but against all extended warranty costs you declined to incur.

All the TVs, computers, appliances fridge, dishwasher, disposal, microwave, law equipment, power tools, automobiles, utilities, extra fridge, stereo, DVR, etc that you ever buy, right down to your GPS, iPod, iPad, etc. They range from 79.95 to hundreds per item. For a typical suburban family, you can spend many thousands upon thousands in extended warranty coverage -- sometimes on just one year. You might have saved 7500 bucks over the past two years in extended warranties of all flavors.

Declining to purchase extended warranties make sense as a working philosophy when you apply it to all your purchases. There are some exceptions, such as your income being dependent on some of the newest and highest tech gadgets on the market. In some cases, the extended warranty can make sense when these products, which are most volatile when new-to-market, keep you employed.

 

[ozenine]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

Just to add my 2 cents. I have 2 new Merc motors and both were upgraded to 7 year platinum. QC is right, platinum is the way to go, as all electrics is covered. The price difference between platinum and gold was negligable (for my 50 hp it was something like 600 vs 700, and for 15hp it was 130 vs 170). At least I know that everything is covered now (except my screwups ).It was a no brainer for 15 hp (for the price reason) and it was no brainer for 50 hp, since it came with only 1 year of warranty.

 

[ricohman]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

How many years of warranty does a new merc 4.3 have? I assumed it was only one?

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

from my experience, the dealer/mechanic will want your repair to be covered by the warranty, so he is on your side--not saying he'll lie to the manufacturer/insurer, but he'll be slanted.

Many of the manufacturer reps will also do what they can to get it covered; I've seen Yamaha guys go back a couple times to get a claim through.

But a private service contract doesn't have as much incentive to find coverage. Obviously, if they went around screwing everyone on technicalities, their reputation suffers. But their primary motive is not to find coverage, or to whittle it down.

Another thing to consider if you get one is whether you can take the motor or whatever to anyone, or is the only authorized shop fatr away or always too busy? Does it require you to keep a precise maintenance schedule AND keep all records? I don't think they stick people with this a lot, but can use it as an out in a bad or questionable situation.

 

[90stingray]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

No extended warranties on anything I purchase.

 

[jkust]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

I don't know after living with the 4.3 in my 2003, the first issue to arrise came after the extended warranty was up when I bought it with 50 hours then only after a couple years. It was the carrier under the impleller that was leaking that made so the outdrive use drive oil. I simply opted for the 200 hours preventative service 100 hours early at that year end winterization and that service package at the dealer was very reasonable. I mean if it is a carbed engine and you do your annual service and you are in fresh water, I think i'd live with out it and maybe just self fund any repairs. The extended warranty the Original boat owner bought was wasted. I'm generally anti warranty and choose to self fund and so far that strategy has worked in my favor. The only warranty I've ever purchased was for my 10 year old's Ipod touch because $17 was cheap in comparison the odds it gets broken. I won't even purchase the service contract through the gas company for the furnace or air conditioner that so many seem to do. And again, I have had good luck.
My last comment however is that for one of my SUV's, GM gave me a full GMPP, zero dollar deductible for several more years up to well over 100,000 miles to keep me happy for some really inexcusably bad dealer service. The beauty is that I completely remove the fear of something major or minor happening so the piece of mind is nice, ignoring that the warranty was gratis.

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

My brother purchased the extended warranty on his brand new boat. Saved him over $10,000 in repairs to the engine, outdrive, and genset.

 

[coolbri70]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

The only extended warranty i ever bought ran out 2 months before the logic chip in my stereo went bad, the repair man said it was more to fix than buy new. :facepalm:

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

I agree with most of the opinions that extended warrantees are real moneymakers for the sellers. Whereas there will be rare times that it will pay off, the vast majority of the time it will not be needed.

One Data point: My Hyundai automobile developed a bad miss at 30K miles. (It had a OEM no-extra-cost bumper-to-bumper 100K miles warantee, which doesn't cover electrical items, as I found out.) I took it to a dealer who said immediately upon my arrival, that the repair wasn't covered. Since I was able to drive it to his dealership, he knew the repair would not be covered.

Now, I did not buy the car because of the warantee, which was good for my temper.

BTW- I always thought warantee work was paid at a lesser rate that non-warantee shop work. That is why dealers hate warantee work.

 

[QC]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

BTW- I always thought warantee work was paid at a lesser rate that non-warantee shop work. That is why dealers hate warantee work.

Depends on the OEM and the "rates" they pay. There are multiple things that add up for a "claim". Hourly rate, hours allowed and miscellaneous charges. Sometimes that combo can be better than what you could charge to end users. Sometimes not as good. One benefit to Dealers with warranty work though is a happy customer. Denying a claim to bill 5% more is not very good business in the long run, especially if you are dealing with a decent OEM, that pays well, and should deliver repeat business on subsequent car purchases.

When I ran a service department for truck engines, we picked up and delivered vehicles just to get extra warranty work. It was great money, and my customers were happy to give their trucks to us for a couple of days if they were getting work at no charge. There are OEMs that nitpick every claim though too. Mixed bag for sure.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

I bought a service contract on a used Chevy tahoe (35K miles) due to research on the transmission and alternator. Before the contract expired, I researched the "Techical Service Bulletins" and found all kinds of work to be done, short of recall, and also soft spots. Took it to a dealer (a good one) and asked them to look for these problems. They found several that hadn't gotten bad enough yet for me to notice, fixed about $800 of stuff--they got paid, I didn't pay, paid for my contract.

But that's a car--not as likely on a boat.

 

[drrpm]

Re: Would you purchase an extended warranty?

Extended warranties are a lot like a reverse lottery ticket. Something unusual and bad has to happen for you to come out ahead. The house sets the cost so they come out ahead in the vast majority of cases. Otherwise it would not be profitable for them to sell the extended warranty.