My First Day - My Experience - Extended warranty help requested

[autolake]

Well after much consideration and reading the forums as well as testing various other brands, I took the plunge today. I would like some opinions about my purchase as well as advice concerning the extended warranty. I will start with my warranty question and then talk about the purchase.

To begin with, I purchased my vehicle with an extended warranty. I paid $2200.00 for the warranty. It is for 8 years/120,000 miles. It has a 0 deductible if I bring it to the selling dealer or $100.00 if I bring it elsewhere. I have seen others paying lower, but I have 60 days to cancel the warranty for a full refund. The dealers warranty is underwritten by Hendrick Autoguard, Inc. They did not have the Hondacare Extended warranty available. This kind of disturbed me, however as I have 60 days to cancel I went ahead as I've heard that the Hondacare can be purchased up to 3 years or 36,000 miles.

Just wondering what others think of Hondacare and what they have paid for a 8 year/120,000 mile warranty with 0 deductible. Do you think it is a better warranty? I know that you can't see the contract however it seems to be about the same. It just disturbs me that the warranty I purchased has a deductible if I bring it anywhere else. Does anybody have experience with Hondacare standing behind their warranty?

Now on to the details of my purchase. It is a 2016 Civic EX with the 2.0. I've read too many issues with the additional complexity in the touring. That seems to be where the majority of the complaints seem to be coming from with the screen.

The car is the EX in Modern Steel Metallic with the black interior. They of course had their high markup package that includes tinted windows, mud flaps and cargo tray. Along with that I also got the 8/120 extended bumper to bumper warranty, a lifetime powertrain warranty with $100 deductible after the first 120,000 so long as I am the owner of the vehicle and I also got the first 5 service visits covered. I also got a body and interior package that includes paint and fabric protector for 5 years. For this, including taxes, title, dealer prep, etc, the total came to $24,200. I don't think I could do much better as I tried another dealer in my area (Charleston, SC) and they couldn't do that well and I didn't like their attitude. What do others think? Really, my only gripe is that they didn't offer Hondacare, so that I could at least compare. Like I said, I can still cancel the extended warranty.

Anyway, my impression of the vehicle so far is fantastic. Granted, I have only put on 87 miles today. I reset the trip meter as I drove away. So far, I have achieved an indicated 36.9 MPG with a mix of light traffic city and highway miles. About 30% city driving in Eco mode. The car rides extremely smooth and handles well. About my only minor gripes is that the steering wheel is not leather and has a strange texture to me. The other item is the placement of the volume control on the steering wheel. I found myself with my hand position changing the volume inadvertently a few times and I once muted it. I don't know how to mute it intentionally but I'll figure it out. Those are my only gripes so far.

I have heard the numerous complaints about the screen issues and hope to not experience them. Between the forums and my prior experience with a 1993 Civic VX caused me to have a little piece of mind with the extended warranty.

In my opinion, this beats the competition in many regards. I kind of enjoy the CVT. I like the linear response. I also had a CVT on a 2002 Toyota Prius I owned. I had also looked at the Focus Platinum, but it has no legroom. Nissan Sentra has no character, Dodge Dart was nice but didn't feel right somehow and has questionable reliability. The only other one I seriously considered was the Toyota Corolla but after driving the Civic it felt like a ten year old econocar. There was a lot more noise and a lot more revs to produce the same power and it gets lower MPG. Besides that it didn't have the same toys or ergonomics. I was still considering it as Toyota has never done me wrong, but just couldn't after driving the Civic.

I hope my decision will reward me for the long haul. I also hope that I can contribute to the forum and maybe add some insight for others.

Thanks for your feedback and advice. This forum has already helped me and made me aware of issues.

This is still quite a transition for me, as this is going to be my daily driver replacing my 1997 BMW Z3 - 2.8 manual which I have thoroughly enjoyed for the last six years. At least I have a moonroof and reasonable performance. Other advantages are that I should get about 10 MPG or more better fuel economy plus save 50 cents per gallon as the Z3 required premium. On to new territory.

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[dick w]

What I think about extended warranty on ANYTHING is that the people selling it for x$ are expecting to pay out, on average, $y and $x-$y is a large number and is the profit in it for them and why they are selling these products in the first place.

If you can afford $x now, manage your finances to be able to afford the smaller $y over time and self insure against the unlikely outcome that you are the one case in a 1,000 they were going to lose money on. If you bought an eight year CD for that same $2,200 what would it be worth at the end?

Buy insurance for big risks you know you won't be able to afford. (House burning down, crashing car into the back of somebody's brand new S class at 30 MPH, triple bypass surgery.) Self insure the small stuff. (Common cold, a few loose shingles from a wind storm, replacing a car starter, breaking a fog light lens.)

 

[alphabetzoop]

I also declined the extended warranties, albeit with initial reservations. I think dick w hit the nail on the head by identifying how much we pay up front for the warranty with little assurance that we will ever reclaim its full value during that time.

At minimum I was offered to extend my 3 year comprehensive/60,000 km warranty (which protects against 'unexpected' repair costs on most mechanical parts & components) to a 5-year comprehensive for just under $1,000 (CAN). That basically means that to extend my warranty by two years I will be automatically giving them $500 every year regardless of whether I need it or not. No thanks! If I'm really concerned about repair costs after the third year, I can take the $1,000 that I was going to spend on the warranty now, put it into savings and collect interest for three years, and wait comfortably for that big ugly expensive repair if it ever comes. And if it's a big, huge mother of all ugly repairs that happens within 3-5 years, I would question what in my conservative driving habits would have warranted my Honda to require such an extensive repair when it's still a relatively new car.

Also, I might be naive in saying that a major factor in choosing Honda was reliability... I know it's a new design and all, but if my new Civic requires more repairs than my old Ford Focus did in its first five years, I'm going to be incredibly disappointed. And surprised! Mostly surprised though, this car has been pretty amazing so far.

 

[benttable]

Congrats on the car purchase, you got a very nice car. About the price, it seems like you paid about MSRP sticker price which is $21875 I believe. The paint and fabric protector, I'm not sure what that is. Is that something kind of film they put on the car when you bought it or is it a package where they will fix cosmetic damage to the car in the future? I usually decline these add ons. The tinted windows could be good or bad. The standard 2016 civic does come with slightly tinted windows, I'm not sure if they really tinted yours more or are bs-ing you. The mud flaps and trunk tray helpful, probably worth $100. The first 5 services are basically oil changes, I'd say it's worth $120 to $150.

About the warranty, I would cancel it. While I've never got one before, I do see customers arguing about their extended warranty with the dealer service and from what I see, the warranty covers defects, not consumables or ordinary service (like belts, leaks, fluid changed, etc). I could be wrong without seeing the terms, but I think the dealer has a huge flexibility to declare any kind of repair as ordinary wear and tear or customers fault.

 

[CdnColin]

I have regularly purchased ORIGINAL factory warranties on vehicles we kept after the 3 years lease. We have always purchased the higher end trims which had more things to go wrong. We also purchased the insurance only after owning the vehicle for about 2 1/2 years. Twice we had vehicles that were rear ended pretty good and chose to just turn in at the end of the lease.

In Canada the 8 year / 200,000 Km (124,274 miles) costs Cdn$2,388 (US$1,652). This is a Honda warranty. Personally I would not purchase a third party warranty. Don't believe Honda dealerships in Canada make 3rd party warranties available.

Typically our warranties seemed to be close to a break even result. With the 2009 Pilot Touring we traded in for our Civic it was a clear win for me. A month before the warranty expired my Nav. unit was replaced. This alone was about the warranty cost. We had other warranty work done in years 4 to 7. We received top trade in value for the Pilot as they knew the car was low mileage and always maintained.

Original factory warranties are also fully transferable which would help in selling at a better price.

 

[tcl]

I've purchased numerous new cars over the years and looking back at the repairs, an extended warranty wouldn't have paid off on any of them. However, since the Civic is a first year redesign I plan to watch the issues that crop up over the next 2-3 years and would consider buying one before the standard warranty runs out if I hear about expensive components failing prematurely on a lot of cars.

 

[bhorn]

Have a look through this thread: http://www.civicx.com/threads/honda-care-extended-warranty.879/

Basically, yeah, you paid too much.

 

[camhabib]

Normally, I don't think much of extended warranties. The companies offering them have a lot of data to support how much the average repairs costs are vs what they need to charge to still make a profit.

That said, with the amount of tech in these cars, an extended warranty isn't a bad idea. I got one dirt cheap (10 year / 120k mile for ~$1k) so it was a no brainer. Diverter valves, vacuum lines, gaskets, joints, etc - these all wear out over time and I've had to replace lots of these before they 10 year mark.

 

[autolake]

Thanks for all the great feedback. I got the extended warranty as I am nervous about Hondas tech. Things can add up quick. Imagine the cost if the screen display goes bad or something on the steering wheel goes bad. The parts may not be exorbitant but with the labor, I imagine that it will get costly quick.

That being said, I'm going to cancel the extended warranty they sold me. That way I can wait and see how things go in a couple of years now that I know I can get Hondacare anytime. Anyway there's no guarantee that they won't find some bullshit excuse to not honor the warranty.

I had two schools of thought on this. I am nervous about Hondas integrity. Although they generally make great cars, I had a huge issue with them in 1993. I swore I would never buy another Honda, but when I heard about this Civic I figured I'd give them another shot. After all 20+ years have gone by. Maybe they are now a better company.

They blew it with my 1993 Civic VX. It was the worst car I ever owned. I turned it in under the lemon law.

It wasn't the fact that they had sold me a horrible vehicle, it was the way they handled the situation. I gave them an opportunity to rectify in arbitration prior to commencing with the lemon law.

They actually had the audacity to send me a letter that stated that my car was not covered under the lemon law as the issue was a "Design Defect" and not a "Manufacturing Defect " and therefore the rules did not apply. Of course I won in court. I kept that letter framed on my wall for many years. They refused to try to make it right until forced.

Please somebody tell me that they are better now and that I didn't just make a huge mistake.

So far, I love the car and it seems to beat the competition hands down. I am hoping to keep this opinion for the long haul.

 

[jk147]

I personally don't believe anything serious will go wrong with the car. But more electronics usually = more issues. A simple dash infotainment replacement will cost at least 500+ dollars. Based on the threads posted about the Honda extended warranty I think anything under a thousand is a pretty good deal, especially if you drive under 10k miles a year. I think it makes even more sense if you have a touring model since there is a ton of gadgets on it. Anything dealing with lane departure will probably not be cheap to fix.

 

[david1pro]

I got one dirt cheap (10 year / 120k mile for ~$1k) so it was a no brainer.

Was this an official Honda Warranty? Can we ask where you got such a fine deal?

 

[RedTouringMA]

I did not get an extended warranty, I am leasing mine, and they told me if I buy it out at the end of the lease, I can purchase one then.

 

[david1pro]

I would never had even considered an extended warranty on a car (or anything - ever) until I got this Civic and started experiencing and reading about all the many, many issues. I'm not sure what my plan is... I know typically you can get warranties further down the road but I fear that if there become a lot of known problems, then the warranty will be much more expensive then. I've never looked into this, so I don't know how it "typically" works.

I'm rather annoyed that I'm even considering getting one. Honda has ruined my faith in always coming out ahead by not gambling on extra warranties. Honda should be ashamed of this.

 

[RedTouringMA]

I would never had even considered an extended warranty on a car (or anything - ever) until I got this Civic and started experiencing and reading about all the many, many issues. I'm not sure what my plan is... I know typically you can get warranties further down the road but I fear that if there become a lot of known problems, then the warranty will be much more expensive then. I've never looked into this, so I don't know how it "typically" works.

I'm rather annoyed that I'm even considering getting one. Honda has ruined my faith in always coming out ahead by not gambling on extra warranties. Honda should be ashamed of this.

I had purchased an extended warranty for 2 brand new different Hyundai's I had bought, because they had all digital touch screen displays that controlled the radio, heat, and an assortment of other things.
I figure computerized stuff sooner or later is gonna break. If I buy out my lease, I'm definitely getting the extended warranty with the infotainment as the major reason.

 

[camhabib]

Was this an official Honda Warranty? Can we ask where you got such a fine deal?

It was a third party option, with a $0 deductible for service at that dealership and a $50 for any other shop nation wide. They also pay for a loaner and cut a check directly to the shop so I don't ever have to pay out of pocket. Picked it up at the dealership when purchasing. Think the exact amount was $1150.

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