Are extended car warranties worth it?
If you’ve ever bought a new car or one with reasonably low mileage from a dealer, chances are good that it came with some kind of warranty protection. While not a guarantee of perfection, the warranty at least gives you some peace of mind. If the drivetrain, transmission or other components covered under warranty give you trouble, you wouldn’t have to ante up fistfuls of cash to fix it. But what about when that warranty, provided by the manufacturer or perhaps even by the dealer, expires? Is it worth shopping for a new warranty? Or responding to those companies that call car and truck owners out of the blue, marketing “extended warranties” for the owners of well-used vehicles? The answer depends on a lot of things, including the vehicle owner’s tolerance for risk, the reliability of the car or truck in question, the vehicle’s remaining useful life and perhaps most important — the reputation of the company providing the extended “warranty.” Why do we put “warranty” in quotes like that?
