rico334

Bought my first diesel truck a couple of weeks ago, '03 Dodge 2500 4-dr, 4x4 Cummins. Truck has 28k on it, leaving approx 8k on the 36k warranty.

Went to the dealership this morning I bought it from to inquire about extended warranties. As long as the truck remains under 30k miles, I can purchase a 7 yr/75k warranty for $1570 or I could choose a 7yr/100k warranty for $1910.

These warranty packages cover A/C system, transmission, axles, brakes, computer & electronics, engine, steering and suspension. There is a $50 deductible on each repair that may come up along with a towing and rental car if needed.

What does anyone know about these and would it be worth the money. I plan on keeping this truck for atleast the 60 month term of my note.

Thanks,
Rick

Xchevman

1) Make sure it is DC warranty and not some after market company. Aftermarkets can be worthless if you run into a major problem!

2). I got mine for $1200 and its the 7/75 with $100 deductable but it cover everything- extension of the original warranty. My dealer sold it to me for cost after I declined the first price which was around $1800. This is my first diesel and the salesmen had owned many and said he used his on his last truck for gasket replacement that failed on the engine that could have cost him 3k+. After 75K I figure all the bugs should be worked out.

3) My deal also stated then when my truck is in for service and they see the gold warranty card which the work order pulls up his service guys will go over the truck with a fine toothed comb. Many dealers have always seemed to ***** about warranty work which I could never figure out. My dealer thinks of it as free money waiting to be collected. Sure its not the same as if they were going to bend you over for full bore but he is smart enough to know you would probably get it done cheaper somewhere else if it wasn't covered under warranty. They are looking for long term customers. We will see. My chevy dealer was always good to me and I never had any service complaints. Buying a Dodge really took some ***** on my part because of all the horror stories I heard and keep hearing about DC service. Time will only tell.
Good luck.

PS. Had a boat motor with an extended warranty. They covered a $600 blown starter motor that cocked a few things. When i sucked and exhaust valve at only 200 hours and sucked salt water through the engine they got real cheap. There adjuster said they needed to replace the motor since it was cheap then doing the complete rebuild that would be required. They looked at pictures from 3000 miles away-NY and determined I only needed to pistons. After they sent the same guy back who showed the the tappered cylinders they agreed to 8 pistons. This is after 8 weeks of BS and summer fading away. I asked about rods and they said the report didn't state anything about rods. 2 of them you could see were bent with your eye. My response was you hired this guy not me. Then they only want to pay $85 a piston (for chevy car pistons) when their own previous paper work
stated the correct $225 per for a 502 Mag. HO merc. Since summer was fading I dropped a new motor in on my nickle and hired a great lawyer. He is sueing for triple damages plus his fees under the consumer protection act- 40K+ vers the 11K they could have paid. Now they want to talk. I told them to kiss off, my boats up and running and now the ball is in my court. The guy who was jerking my chain looks real smart about now.

Also had a Jaguar with and after market Co. When I went to claim on it I found out they went Belly up on the policy. But get this- If you bought one after a certain date- those are good- and they continue to sell warranties with a new underwriter- Total BS. Texas judge got to love em. Stay away from warranty Gold and warranty direct.

bulabula

If you're one of the few that has a catastrophic failure of some kind, extended warranties are worth their weight in gold.

For the other 99% of people, you'd be better off putting that cash in an interest bearing account.

Defdog2

I'll add a few thoughts.... Rick, MAKE SURE IT'S A CHRYSLER CONTRACT!!!! Get it in writting!

Make sure WHICH contract it is... I would recommend the "Best" contract as it covers almost everything... the standard is cheaper but has too many loopholes.

I don't see that Chrysler offers a 75k mile option... (but maybe I'm missing something.) Be carefull however as dealers will sometimes tell you anything & sell you something else...

(A major dealer in my area once told me that Chrysler is no longer selling service contracts, as they lose money...even their sales manager repeated this bs...of course they were lying, as the next dealer proved to me!)

Price it online so you know what deal they are giving you....here is the link;
http://www.servicecontracts.chrysler...ce_content.jsp

You can also buy online at a discount from a Chrysler dealer somewhere (run a Google search... I haven't used them ,but I got my dealer to match their price, about $500 off list)

Best information I have been able to get is that dealer markup is about double... ($1600 contract costs them $800) Armed with that info sometimes helps however its their last line of profit & I've had them refuse to budge even when I was buying $30k worth of car...(so I just went elsewhere & bought the contract!)

Lastly..... Xchevman, I agree with what you say... but don't believe your dealer when he sez you'll get better treatment with the warranty....
Took my chrysler van (with a several day advance appointment) in once for the starter. (a no-brainer to diagnoise as it was trying to grind the ring gear off)
They finally called me at home hours later to happily tell me that it was a "starter" & it would be $475 & would I like them to repair it????
When I pointed out that, yes I wanted it repaired..thats why I brought it in & No, I couldn't care less what it cost BECAUSE like I TOLD & SHOWED them when I dropped it off...I have the extended service contract...
You should have heard his voice change! No more cheerful happyness!!! (Probably because they had to pull out the "$475" new starter & put in the rebuilt one I ended up with!)

Anyway...good luck! Defdog2

roadie00

Something else to think about - I bought an extended warranty with my last truck - I only had to use the warranty once, so when I traded the truck in I called Chrysler and got the money back that I spent on the extended warranty. This was a Chrysler contract.... It was prorated as well. I paid 1600 for the warranty, I got 1200 and change back after owning the truck for 2 years... Only reason I didn't get the full amount back is because I had to use it for a rental when they kept the truck for A/C work...

Patriot_RAM

FWIW, I purchased an extended warranty through a company called Warranty Direct on my '03 Silverado. I had to use it a few times on small things, most of which were between $500 and $1k. There were never any questions asked and no problems whatsoever. I did a lot of homework on them prior to the purchase. I traded in the truck on my Silverado and was able to take advantage of their pro-rated refund since there was still warranty coverage left. Got about $600 refunded to me at the end. I agree -- DC would be the best and most reliable option, however, I did have a good experience with Warranty Direct.

David