It’s funny how things eventually come full circle.  When I bough my first new car, at age 22, there was no such thing as factory bumper to bumper warranties.  The dealer scared me into purchasing a 36,000 mile warranty on my brand new car because, “you know, some cars are just lemons, and you’ll be stuck with the repairs”.  I can still hear the exact words in my head.  Even at the time, I thought, “if I buy a pair of shoes, wear them once and they fall apart, I can return them as defective, but if I buy a $10,000 car and it falls apart tomorrow, I’m just stuck with the repairs?  — Unless, of course, I choose to give this guy even more money per month.”  I was ticked, but I also knew I didn’t have a choice.  I either took the warranty, or I took my chances.  What my young age did nail me on was the fact that you should always read every line of the paperwork.  Turns out the warranty he sold to me was only good at his dealership.  Nice trick.  Fool me once…

Anyway, now we have bumper to bumper warranties that come standard with every vehicle.  No more warranties for the dealerships to sell.  What does happen though, is that we get phone calls from the same dealerships who are now offering to extend the warranties are about to expire, for a monthly fee.

And now, as more and more people are keeping their cars and trucks for longer than ever before, the market is seeing a new breed of warranty agents who are in the business of selling warranties to owners of older cars.  These are not extensions of existing warranties about to expire, but rather different levels of protection that you can purchase for a monthly fee to cover repair costs for mechanical failures on your not so new car.  With this type of warranty, the company will require that your car be not older than a certain number of years, typically 10,  and not have more than a certain number of miles on it, typically 100,000.  They will then come to your home or business and inspect the car for current defects.  The inspection is done by an independent company and will cost around $200, which is typically refunded to you if you choose to purchase the car warranty.  Pre-existing conditions will not be covered by the warranty, and nothing will be covered that occurs in the first 1,000 miles of the new warranty.  Of course, you can purchase the warranty by phone or internet, using a credit card for the initial payment.

Considering that it all seems fair, this may be a very good option to purchasing a new vehicle.