We bought a new vehicle on July 4. We did not buy the extended warranty from the dealership because I know how much they try to rip you off there. Is there a warranty that anyone recommends? Its a Suburban(I know, Government Motors, but I have four tall for their age kiddos). My wife really wants some coverage now. More specifically the AC and electronics. Any legit recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks.

If the one they want to sell you is the factory backed GM extended warranty, then I would recommend that. I've dealt with most of the aftermarket ones and they are a hassle at best, and downright thieves at worst.
 



(That is to say, factory backed warranty extensions are somewhat enforceable, where aftermarket "warranties" can pretty much say "well sue us" and don't have a reputation to uphold. Some also force cut rate parts and won't pay advertised labor rates)

Really any aftermarket warranty is a ripoff. About half of the purchase price goes to the person selling it as a commission. The other half covers your risk.

My advice would be save up some money in an emergency vehicle repair fund. If something goes wrong you have the cash to pay for it. If not you get to keep the money and it is not profit for the insurance company.

Insurance should be used for things you can't afford yourself like medical where something might cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or your house burning down. You should not use it for things you can self insure through as it costs you money on average. If it didn't the insurance companies would go broke.

duh. thanks for the reminder...we have savings for this stuff. dummy me.

I did not mean for that to come across the wrong way.

Do you think the people selling the warranties do that as some kind of service to people or are they in it for a profit? If they are in it for a profit odds are that you are going to pay more for the warranty than they are going to have to pay you for repairs. Now keep in mind they have lots of overhead to run their business. Aside from just paying for the repairs they have offices, people to handle the claims, etc. If you have money saved up and can afford the repairs it is dumb to buy a warranty.

and remember, you can buy the GM exteneded warranty at ANY  GM dealer at ANY TIME before the origianl warranty expires.

This. When we bought our Subarus, I checked around online to find what dealer sold the factory warranty for the least amount. See if your local guy will match (probably will), if not buy it elsewhere.

This. I do it all the time with Ford products (although I'm less likely to need one)

No offense taken. I'm so used to being taken for a ride by the dealers I assumed I "had" to have it. Hell, this is the first time we've been in command of the deal and got exactly the vehicle and terms we wanted. I was a dummy with that plastic money when I was young and have paid a heavy cost. I've worked hard to rebuild my credit and finances. Its quite liberating and getting used to it has been a task as you see by my enslavement to ideas that I HAD to finance a service plan.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will see what the dealer offers and go from there. I like the idea of paying cash. We already make payments to our own investment and savings accounts, why make another payment?

It's been a while, but I bought an aftermarket warranty through my credit union that did the financing. I would never finance at the dealership ever again. I bought through Resource One credit union (Dallas and Houston) and they sold me an aftermarket warranty (7 years/100k) for around $700. And I actually used it twice. I took it back to the dealership, they called the warranty company and got paid. No hassle, no deductible. Even the service manager and the dealership couldn't believe it. It was the best car buying/ownership experience that I've ever had.

We moved all of our business accounts to the credit union too. No rape fees and good service. It's almost like a local bank. The tellers know who we are when we walk in and we've been dealing with the same staff for years.

Original GM factory warranty is the only warranty I would buy. Having said that there are dealerships that offer cheaper GM policy's. There is a GM dealership in south Louisiana that my Son bought a GM warranty from for his Vette. The dealership that sold him the Vette wanted almost $3K for an extended policy. He purchased the same policy from another dealership for less than half of the 3$K. Got to ZO6.com it is a Vette forum and the dealership that offers the GM warranty frequents the forum.

Being in the auto repair business for a number of years in my earlier life I have seen GM Warranty policy's pay off big time far in excess of what the original purchase price was. It's like anything else in life, you take a chance, it's not all about dealership profit.

Vince

Doodlebug is spot-on.

Buying an extended warranty is like going to Vegas: Occasionally, you'll break even - or even come out ahead.

However, the way the warranty rates are structured, the odds are stacked heavily in the house's favor.

Nine times out of ten, the warranty company takes in more money in premiums than it pays out in claims.

policy's is not the plural of policy

policies is.

policy's means the policy owns something

Most Car MFG warranties you can cash in if never used or if you sell the car before it expires.  I have done this a few times with Ford.  I did loss $250 for a processing fee by the dealership would sold the warranty.