extended warranties???

[runnerr]

Last year we moved into our new home and purchased all Sears appliances. The year is up and they are asking if we would like to purchase an extended warranty package, $500 plus for 1 year, $1,000 plus for 2 and $1,500 for 3. Any suggestions??

 

[travelover]

I never buy insurance against a loss that I can easily sustain. Retailers make a lot of money off these extended warranties, but they are generally not a good deal for consumers - if they were a good deal for consumers, they wouldn't be so profitable.

My advice is to invest the premiums and tap this investment pool when something goes wrong - be your own insurance company.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I agree.

The only time I bought an extended warrantee was when we bought a used minivan from Enterprise. It proved to be a good investment when the tranny blew--and you can expect this on minivans, no matter who made them.

Ed

Feral Engineer

<= (I like this!)

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I used to say no to extended warranties, but now I consider them. Stuff just used to be made better. After I had both a refrigerator and a dishwasher break down within 2 years and a big screen TV crap out in under 3, its made more sense to me.

When I bought our new fridge, washer and dryer for about $3000, Lowes offered me a 5 year bumper to bumper warranty on all three plus ten years on the fridge compressor for $170. No brainer.

Those sears warranties look stupidly expensive to me though. And I wouldnt call them for repairs either...my experience with them is that they'll charge you for a service call (usually $85), then do almost no troubleshooting, quote you a ridiculous price for the repair, and leave with a profit of $85 for 10 minutes worth of work.

 

[samclem]

I'm not a fan of the extended warranties. Exceptions:
-- When you know something the insurance company doesn't know about the risk: For example, purchasing the "we replace it no questions asked" policy for my daughter's cell phone makes sense. I know she's very likely to immerse, crush, or otherwise render it inop, but the "insurance" company doesn't know her as I do. I suppose this could apply if you were buying an appliance/etc that you knew was particularly trouble-prone (but then, why buy it?)

-- I also like to get the "home warranty" when I buy a house. Usually the seller actually pays for this, though I'm sure some of the cost gets transferred to the buyer in the price. There are a lot of expensive things that can go wrong with a house, and this at least protects the new buyer for a year or so in case the seller "forgot" to tell him that the AC compressor was failing, etc. I definitely don't think these policies are worth keeping after the first year. It's really just insurance against a less-than-fully-honest seller.

 

[runnerr]

The warranty you received from Lowes sounded to good to pass up but I do believe the price sears wants is a bit too much. Thanks for the info and especially abut Sears service calls.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

Extended warranties - brought to you by the same people
who provide variable annuities within IRAs.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

especially abut Sears service calls.

Several bad experiences. Had an old fridge that the rubber door seal was ripped on. Sears dude came out, made sure to get his $85 in advance, then quoted me $140 for a new rubber seal, plus installation. I figured $20-30 for a seal and about the same to install it. I squirted some silicone into the tear and closed the door, 24 hours later it was good to go.

Second time was my new kenmore dishwasher, just out of warranty. Had some water hammer on filling and wasnt fully filling with water. I figured the inlet valve for sure. Guy came out, made sure to get his service call money up front, ran it and said it was my plumbing. Quoted me a couple of hundred bucks to replace the valve but "didnt think it was the problem".

So I buy the valve for $20-30 off an internet seller. When I went to put it in I find the little schematic and troubleshooting diagram taped to the inside of the access panel. Right there it says to measure the resistance across two points to determine if the inlet valve is bad. So I did and it was. Replaced it in about 30 seconds (one screw, two hose clamps), problem solved.

So in my one and only attempt to diagnose and solve a dishwasher problem, I was 100% more effective than the supposed expert.

I've had good experiences with appliance repair people from small non-big box local stores.

 

[JPatrick]

Last year we moved into our new home and purchased all Sears appliances. The year is up and they are asking if we would like to purchase an extended warranty package, $500 plus for 1 year, $1,000 plus for 2 and $1,500 for 3. Any suggestions??

Those prices seem way out of line.
The new house we bought came with a bumper to bumper warranty (including all appliances) and the cost to the builder, or us if we renew was $545. It does have a $50 deductible.

 

[samclem]

The Sears appliance extended warrantee was a good deal for me one time. We had a Sears front-loading washer that had died at four years old--and out of regular warrantee coverage. I'd done research on the internet and found what the problem was. Due to some tremendously stupid design decisions, I knew it was going to cost at least $500 to fix this washer. I had paid $650 for it 4 years prior, so there was no way I was going to pay $500 to fix it (and have the same thing go wrong in 4 more years). I caled Sears to vent about the crummy washer, but before I'd gone very far, the rep told me I could buy an extended warrantee for $200. It would cover all repairs up to $500, and anything above that they would give me a coupon for $500. for a new appliance.
I signed up, paid my $200. Just like CFB's repairman, the guy tells me it will be a lot of money to fix it---much more than $500. So, I got my coupon. Then, I went to the Sears store, told them I would not be buying another poorly designed washer (I got my great Staber machine instead). We used the coupon toward a Sears stove.

 

[chinaco]

I have made the misatke of purchasing a couple over time. My basic rule is do not buy them. On average, one will be better off.

You could have the one event that makes you better off owning a polcy... but there is no way to judge it.

Here is how to look at it. You are self insuring. Is the loss during the warranty period going to hurt you financially Probably not. You can bet the insurer has calculated the risk and it is in their favor.

 

[frayne]

Don't believe in them. I tell the sales people who push them if the thing is going to break after the regualar warranty expires, maybe I should consider another brand. Big money makers though for the companies that push them.

 

[Non sequitur]

It is tempting to make this decision on a quantitative, dollars and cents basis. As others have suggested, there is a subjective cost associated with needing to depend on the warranty administrators at some future date. What is it worth to you to maintain your independence from that, possibly inept, bureaucracy?

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

before everything turned to crap, i used to mainly purchase based on the motto "buy the best & cry once".

but i just purchased my very first extended warranty on the new stang because i'm considering keeping it five years (two years longer than my usual) and doing more miles than my usual with lots of roadtrips. also i thought if i change my mind and start an early life of vagabonding, the extended warranty would make for a nice selling point.

as to electronics, i simply don't buy from any manufacturer whose product went bad on me in the past and so i'm running out of options on that. for appliances i buy the cheapest and replace new when they break.

 

[saluki9]

I think the point is that you can get a whole home warranty for less. The seller of our house bought one for us that cost $450 I believe. So far we have gotten about $5K of repairs out of it. I certainly plan to renew when it expires.

 

[brewer12345]

Extended warranties - brought to you by the same people
who provide variable annuities within IRAs.

And they have better profit margins than VAs...

 

[bright eyed]

Those sears warranties look stupidly expensive to me though. And I wouldnt call them for repairs either...my experience with them is that they'll charge you for a service call (usually $85), then do almost no troubleshooting, quote you a ridiculous price for the repair, and leave with a profit of $85 for 10 minutes worth of work.

We had a sears fridge that sucked, under the warranty the guy came, put a heat gun into the freezer to defrost the frozen stuff, then said he couldn't figure out why it was frosting...and just left. it was making weird noises too... you had to call them like 3 times? before they considered replacing it but it was so hard to get them there in the first place we just gave up, i used the hair dryer now and again to defrost it and we sold it for $50 when we moved...