Buying an extended warranty-need advice

[dmnorman77]

First off I want to say hi to the vets. Just bought my first jeep and just joined the forum. This forum looks great! A few details on the jeep....2004 Grand Cherokee Limited, 4.7L V8, AWD, 39k miles, a few upgrades like leather, 10 disc cd, sunroof, tow, etc. Everything is factory (no lift, factory rims, etc.). I think I got a good price on it and I'm looking to buy a top shelf warranty for it. Bought the truck at a Volvo dealership of all places so I didn't want to buy their warranty. I already know about transferring the 7yr/70k powertrain warranty for $150 and I'm going to do it(already called Jeep and they said I can since I'll be the 2nd registered owner). My questions are about buying a good extended warranty. I searched the forum for old warranty posts and read about 50 threads and still need some help. I called Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge(www.servicecontracts.chrysler.com) to try to directly get an extended warranty through them but they said the car is too old. If I would have bought a certified Jeep from a Jeep dealership then the age wouldn't matter but I bought at a non-Jeep dealership. Anyone heard of that? So now I'm deciding where to get the warranty and which one to get. Should I go to my local Jeep dealership and buy whatever 3rd party warranty they sell or should I use someone like AAA or Warranty Direct or even my local Credit Union who is financing my loan? I'm going to get the best warranty I can....I'm thinking 6yr/60k bumper to bumper from when I buy it. Prices I've seen average around $2k. That will change depending on the deductible which is another question. Based on what you guys have seen go wrong on your Jeeps should I get the $0, $100 or $250 deductible based on the miles on my Jeep? Thanks for any and all comments and advice. I'm hoping to keep this truck for a long time!
Dan

[JimHefToo]

If you have up to 30K and 3 years left on the regular warranty, do you really need to duplicate that? You need to check what the terms are, and if those warranties are in effect after the manufacturer's warranty. I only bought one extended warranty, for my '99 WJ, and the company, a Forum sponsor at the time, Warranty Gold, went bankrupt with my $2K and never paid a single claim that I had in. Others may have different experiences, but it's been discussed here often that the Chrysler warranty seems to be the best, and they said you weren't eligible for it. Good luck with decision, but continue to research the terms of the warranty, and the solvency of the company.

[TrojanMan06]

All ill say is that you need to read it very carefully. Customers are always bringing in extended contracts and when we read them over, a lot of things are not covered in which the owner thought were.

[JimHefToo]

Originally Posted by TrojanMan06

...a lot of things are not covered in which the owner thought were.

Excellent point!

[dmnorman77]

Jimheftoo.....The 7yr/70k factory warranty is for the powertrain only. I'm looking to buy a good bumper to bumper warranty for anything that goes wrong. It sounds like more than a few forum members had Warranty Gold when I read the old posts. That sucks. So should I get the $0, $100 or $250 deductible plan based on things that have gone bad on your Cherokees? Thanks
Dan

[Logicus]

Each time I have had an experience with a warranty other than the orig factory warranty, no one likes to honor them. Some of them only pay like $9 per hour for the labor You foot the rest. I had a fuel injector go bad as well as a water pump at the same time on my WJ and took it to the dealership, warranty papers in hand. In the process I did also have the trans case fliud changed and they put in a new set of plugs. With warranty amount taken off, I ended up paying $710.

Good warranty, huh? And this one was bought at the dealership! Never again.

On my Monte Carlo SS, the transmission started slipping at 110k miles so I took it in. The warranty would only allow Aamco to work on it, but the guy at Aamco didn't want to fool with them because they never wanted to pay for anything.

[Turbonut]

I'd check online for other available Chrysler Extended Warranties as they seem to be available for the 2004, at least in the year pop up. At least it's a peace of mind knowing the Jeep will be fully covered if one is available, and the cost isn't overwhelming. My Acura TL was $800 to take it to 100K with a bumper to bumper warranty. Couln't pass that up. The Jeep's track record is pretty poor, so I would assume the extended warranty cost rises very quickly.

[02limited]

there is a couple of things you want to consider when you get the extended warranty.

1- you CAN negitiate a price of the warranty, i did when i bout my GC and they started at 1000.00 for a 1 year warranty. after i "mulled" it over for a few days i called them back and said forget it. by the next day i had the same warranty for $200.00 from the same dealer.

2- make sure the extended warranty STARTS from when the factory warranty ends. whats the point of having the factory warranty and paying for a extended warranty at the same time. it would be a waste of money. i made sure that my extended warranty started when the 7/70 ended.

[NoPaint]

I would have bought the warranty at Volvo because then you would be buying it from a person. It would be great if you could drop it off to them to get fixed and pick it up. A Swedish dealership may actually be pretty responsible.

[homer8613]

CHRYSLER SERVICE CONTRACT
AVALIBLE AT ANY CHRYSLER DEALERSHIP MAKE SURE YOU READ
WHAT CONTRACT YOU ARE BUYING FIRST AND DONT BE AFRAID TO HAGGLE THE PRICE THEY LITERALLY RAPE PEOPLE ON THE COST OF SERVICE CONTRACTS

[JimHefToo]

Homer, caps lock off...please, and you don't need to hit returns at the end of the screen. The text will wrap for you!

[dmnorman77]

So for anyone out there with a lot of miles on their cherokee.....based on the things that have gone wrong and how much they cost, should I get the $0, $100, or $250 deductible warranty? There is about a $600 difference between each one(so $1200 between the zero and 250 ones). thanks
Dan

[UOjeeper]

I would go with the middle one. If the difference is $600 between each step, then mathematically, the $100 deductible makes the most sense to save the most money.

I still think you should reconsider the extended warranty. We sell them often and they are generally the most expensive piece of paper customers purchase in a life time!

[RNuth]

I would suggest that you take the money you would have spent on the warranty and save it for the repairs later. Extended warrantees are seldom a good deal for the purchaser. The chances that you are going to come out ahead are pretty slim if you maintain the vehicle correctly.

[platinum5.9]

keep in mind you will need some kind of warranty when the blend doors go bad, and I hope the Volvo dealership will know how to fix it. If you are not aware of this problem, just do a search on the forum for blend doors..

[dmnorman77]

Not getting the warranty from the Volvo dealership. My local Jeep dealership's 3rd party warranty(see above why I can't get the Chrysler one) is too expensive so I'm going with the 3rd party warranty my Credit Union sells. They are the ones financing the truck. I read up on the blend door problem. At what mileage do those normally go out?

[TX-WJ]

Originally Posted by RNuth

I would suggest that you take the money you would have spent on the warranty and save it for the repairs later. Extended warrantees are seldom a good deal for the purchaser. The chances that you are going to come out ahead are pretty slim if you maintain the vehicle correctly.

x 2.

Take the money you would put in an extended warranty (1,500-2,000) and invest it. Repair as many things as you can on your own and have a fund to pay for the things you can't/won't do yourself. You will come ahead again and again.

Think about it, if extended warranties were a good deal for the buyer, do you think ins. companies would be so pushy to sell them in the first place? Someone else is making the money, not you.

[BoonKing]

Originally Posted by TX-WJ

x 2.

Take the money you would put in an extended warranty (1,500-2,000) and invest it. Repair as many things as you can on your own and have a fund to pay for the things you can't/won't do yourself. You will come ahead again and again.

Think about it, if extended warranties were a good deal for the buyer, do you think ins. companies would be so pushy to sell them in the first place? Someone else is making the money, not you.

x3 I bought my 02 WJ with 6600 miles on her and was looking at $1500 - $2000 extended warranties too. I passed and in 100k miles I've had the radiator replaced at 65k ($600) and that's it. The WJ's are pretty reliable in my experience and unless the warranty is going to cover you in the 100k and up range I'd pass on it for that kinda money.

[xocobra]

I bought a warranty for my Aviator and it's paid for itself already. I refused to buy one for my GC. I bought a chilton's and i want to find a regular service manual for it but haven't found one yet. Jeeps are not as complex as the fords. save the money and become a DIYer

[tcjd]

I work in parts at a jeep dealer and if you buy any thing but a maximum care contract from the dealer you are wasting your money...100 dollar deductable covers everything but trim i have more than got my money back in the first six months on my wj in repair and parts. you will not save anything by doing it your self when you blend doors go have them do a heater core and a evap and you will have just about paid for the thing in one visit. just make sure that its a chrysler service contract and not some map bs or other aftermarket stuff.