Whenever you buy something new, do you take an extended warranty?

JH

I hardly ever take an extended warranty. Call me cheap, but something new shouldn't break. And if it does, the 1 year coverage should be enough to make sure I didn't buy a lemon.

Many say that companies make their money with additional warranties, and that you're better off not taking it and paying for the repair if ever there is one to be made.

When I see a 27 TV at 250$ compared to 700$ 10 years ago, I won't pay for an additional warranty. If it breaks, I'll get a new one for 250$.

What's your opinion on this?

Abandoned

I never have. And so far, it's never bit me in the butt.

Bumble Bee

You might like this article JH http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/money/extended_warranties/

Here is an excerpt:

Tod Marks — a senior editor at Consumer Reports magazine — says the magazine’s research shows extended warranties are not a good investment.

BB

xjwms

JH ..... I like your style

Don't waste your money on a warrenty. I agree "Just buy a new one"

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JH

I wonder if elders take an additional warranty, when the end is just around the corner....

daniel-p

extended warranties are just antoher way for corporate America to make a buck. i stick to quality brands when i can, for those that sufficiently back their products. you get what you pay for.

5go

Nope, if you are worried find a credit card that offers free extended warranties.

momzcrazy

We always do, now that we can afford nicer things. Never used to tho'.

momz

Not for items under $200, but for pricier things, I often have. The fun part recently was placing a call on a fancy built-in microwave/xenon oven - the conventional light bulb had gone out and was NOT a consumer replaceable part. "Sir, you purchased that item more than a year ago." "Yeah, I know - that's why I said I'm calling you about my EXTENDED warranty coverage." "Sir, are you sure your oven ever had a light bulb in it?" Oh, laughs for the whole family...

But in general, I've rarely used the extended warranties I've had.

EDIT: Oh, the exception would be a pickup we bought, 2 years old from a dealer and insisted they throw in an extended warranty for the price we settled on - that's been a good investment on little electrical things like power window switches and the like.

PEC

When you buy an extended warranty, you are betting that you just bought the worst piece of crap in the world. Most crap will out last the extended warranty. We bought a GE washer; because, the add said that it was quiet. After about a month it started sounding like a jet taking off, they tried to repair it twice, them they replaced it with a new one. 5 years later when it died we were happy to buy a new one, no way were we going to keep that F14 in our laundry room. We bought a Dryer 3 years 2 months the motor died. The extended warranty they offered was for 3 years, I am glad I didn't buy that one.

I have bought two extended warranties, one was on a refurbished digital camera, refurbished electronics generally have a 30 day warranty and are not always returned to original factory specifications, as they say. I bought a refurbished name brand DVD recorder, after one week the cooling fan started making noise, refurbished in this case was probably spraying WD40 on the fan, took it back and bought a the cheapo no name brand that is still working today. The other was the Toyota Prius, I figure that with all the high tech electronics one failure could easily cost more than the warranty, $1100 for 7 years 75000 miles.

If the extended warranty is more than 1% of the original price per year it is a rip-off and if they are only offering 1 or 2 years that is not enough, for most things you need 5 to 7 years to get to the normal failure zone.

All bets are off for the future, from what I hear, there are problems with the lead-free solder in electronics, we shall see in 2-3 years, I hope it is not as bad a the Y2K fiasco. I was on call for Y2K, what a joke.

Philip