Racing Southwest

This is your final notice, your cars warranty is about to expire!” Of course it’s not your final notice as you will most definitely be bombarded with an infinite amount of calls constantly besieging you to extend the warranty on your 87 Toyota Tercel. Their persistence warrants attention however, as more American’s start to entrust their car repairs to a third party. Working at an automotive repair shop has required my interaction with these aftermarket warranty companies and has shown them in their natural habitats across a variety of repairs. Is it worth paying someone else to look after your car?

The resounding answer that I’ve seen is no. The driving philosophy behind several of these companies is acquiring a customer and then having as little to do with them as possible. Ultimately they are a business that seeks to increase their profit margins by decreasing their liability for repairing your car, often by excluding themselves in the small print of the contract.

Auto Repair Warranty - A fine example of the automotive repair warranties being advertised.

I’ve been witness to several instances where misuse of vehicle is cited to void the warranty on autos that show no signs of abuse. The company will even send out an inspector to comb over parts for technicalities. Other times they will interface with the repair shop to find out what exactly went wrong. There have been customer transmissions where the warranty company will pay for only the part that caused the failure, sometimes something as tiny as a check ball or a roller pin. I recall one consumer who had a check for 3.47 from their warranty company. They paid for the component, yet weaseled their way out of the several hundred dollars for labor to remove and install the transmission or pay for the rest of the rebuild parts.

With the company protecting their bottom line, is it really worth your time to wrestle over the phone with someone who is trying to subvert their promise to you? Save the hassle and the constant upkeep fees because it’s not a bargain if the warranty company doesn’t do what they say.