One of the things we never normally take out, is an extended warranty of any type. How often do you buy a new appliance/mobile phone etc and within 24 hours the phone rings, and the sellers are still trying to sell you more stuff.
Take for example Sky TV. Back in the UK we moved from NTL to Sky. Within 24 hours of the installation, the phone rang and the sales guy offered us an amazing deal for only £99.99 to insure the digital decoder against manufacturers faults or accidental damage. He quickly hung up after I reminded him it was covered by the manufacturer for 1 year for defects, and for accidental damage - a swift drop down the stairs and a call to the household insurance would sort that out. No need as usual for additional warranties.
That said, buying a car is a whole new issue. In the past I've had my good friend John Lane to advise me when buying 2nd hand cars. More recently I bought a new car so mechanically had no need for a consultant! However, when moving thousands of miles round the world, I found myself on my own with only the salesman to talk to. Luckily though, having spent enough time working in sales, I can see through the sales patter.
We spent a few days scouring local car yards for a new family wagon, and tested a few, and only one stood out.
After a couple of test drives and the decision to go with the warranty option, we bought the Subaru Legacy in the picture above. For the first few months it went fine, only going into the garage for some new front brakes. But that was the turning point! You know when you think "I won't go to the Doctors in case he finds something wrong with me?" Well, it was like that with the car. Coming out of the Subaru garage with the notion of Piston-knock, requiring a full engine rebuild left me with a sick feeling. Luckily, the all singing all dancing warranty would cover it all! Except oil. Except the belts needed changing. Oh, and while the belts are off, might as well change the bearings. Yeah, can't claim for those either.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, the warranty paid for a little under $5000 worth of repairs. Not bad, in fact about 5 times the cost of the warranty. You'd be thinking that after spending that time and money on the car that would be it? Yes?........ Well, no.
Next came the death of the fuel pump in February. The car was recovered from the driveway to a garage in Newtown. A charge to the warranty company of $300 and we were on our way.
That wasn't it however. The Warrant of Fitness (WOF) was due 2 months back. For those back in the UK it's the equivalent of the MOT. We took it to a local garage and everything was fine. Everything except the gearbox mount. Nothing minor as usual, just the gearbox was not mounted to the engine. Anyway, that was fine, the warranty paid out yet again for another $400 worth of work.
That brings me to today, or what I've been referring to as the final straw. Marrisa was driving home when smoke developed from the engine and the car became un-drivable. It's now gone off to somewhere in the Hutt Valley and the diagnosis is a split radiator. Not just that though. In typical mechanic style they need to also "Replace radiator, check engine since over heating (although it didn't get chance to), check and possibly replace head gasket and the heater core could be blocked".
All in all, it's another $1000+ for the warranty company to pickup, and another few days without car for us. So the debate at the moment is, do we keep the car as most of it has now been replaced with new bits, or do we get rid and hope the next one is better?
The problem is... I actually like this car!
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