Subaru "Added Security" Extended Warranty Plan?

[EagleId]

Has anyone evaluated the Subaru "Added Security" Extended Warranty Plan? I
just received an offer from Subaru to extend my New Car Limited Warranty (3
year, 36K Mile) with their "Added Security" Plan. They offer a 6 Year, 60K
Mile Plan (actual extension time is 3 Years, 24K Miles) for $550.00. I have
an ’04 Baja Turbo with 2,200 miles.

Some overlap in Warranty coverage exists with the "Added Security" 6/60 Plan
due to the Subaru Powertrain Limited Warranty which covers the first 5 Years
and 60K Miles. Therefore the Powertrain Coverage Components and Transaxle
and Differential Coverage Components listed under the Subaru Powertrain 6/60
Limited Warranty are only extended 1 Year in duration and Zero Miles.

From my perspective, the Subaru "Added Security" Extended Warranty Plan
wants $550.00 to cover the following major items for 3 Years, 24K Miles:

Engine - adds Turbo Charger and Fuel Injection components

All Wheel Drive Components - those not covered under the
Subaru 6/60 Powertrain Limited Warranty.

Front Suspension Components

Brake Components - excluding pads but including calipers (fine print not
evident).

Steering Components

Cooling & Fuel Components

Electrical Components - major Emissions Components are covered by Federal
8/80 Emissions Warranty.

Air Conditioning Components

Towing & Rental Car Reimbursement - towing $50.00 and Rental Car $30/day,
Max $150.00 (I have outside coverage for both of these)

Given any Subaru experience you might have or any consumer reports, do you
think that the Subaru "Added Security" Extended Warranty Plan for $550.00 to
cover the above major items for 3 Years, 24K Miles is a good or bad
investment?

 

[Bill Sharpe]

I bought my first new car in 1959. I've never had an extended warranty
plan and only used the manufacturer's warranty a couple times as a
result of door lock switches going bad. Could have used an extended
warranty on my 1989 Honda Accord. I had some major work done in the past
two years, but I don't know of any warranty that would have been good
for 15 years!

I too received the added security plan for my new Subaru in the mail and
will pass on it.

Bill

Has anyone evaluated the Subaru "Added Security" Extended Warranty Plan?
I
just received an offer from Subaru to extend my New Car Limited Warranty
(3
year, 36K Mile) with their "Added Security" Plan. They offer a 6 Year,
60K
Mile Plan (actual extension time is 3 Years, 24K Miles) for $550.00. I
have
an ’04 Baja Turbo with 2,200 miles.

Some overlap in Warranty coverage exists with the "Added Security" 6/60
Plan
due to the Subaru Powertrain Limited Warranty which covers the first 5
Years
and 60K Miles. Therefore the Powertrain Coverage Components and
Transaxle
and Differential Coverage Components listed under the Subaru Powertrain
6/60
Limited Warranty are only extended 1 Year in duration and Zero Miles.

From my perspective, the Subaru "Added Security" Extended Warranty Plan
wants $550.00 to cover the following major items for 3 Years, 24K Miles:

Engine - adds Turbo Charger and Fuel Injection components

All Wheel Drive Components - those not covered under the
Subaru 6/60 Powertrain Limited Warranty.

Front Suspension Components

Brake Components - excluding pads but including calipers (fine print not
evident).

Steering Components

Cooling & Fuel Components

Electrical Components - major Emissions Components are covered by
Federal
8/80 Emissions Warranty.

Air Conditioning Components

Towing & Rental Car Reimbursement - towing $50.00 and Rental Car
$30/day,
Max $150.00 (I have outside coverage for both of these)

Given any Subaru experience you might have or any consumer reports, do
you
think that the Subaru "Added Security" Extended Warranty Plan for
$550.00 to
cover the above major items for 3 Years, 24K Miles is a good or bad
investment?

 

[AustinMini.OsiTech.Net]

I've always shied away from warranty that are not free and instead placed
the funds in a savings account.

 

[Todd H.]

Has anyone evaluated the Subaru "Added Security" Extended Warranty Plan? I
just received an offer from Subaru to extend my New Car Limited Warranty (3
year, 36K Mile) with their "Added Security" Plan. They offer a 6 Year, 60K
Mile Plan (actual extension time is 3 Years, 24K Miles) for $550.00. I have
an ’04 Baja Turbo with 2,200 miles.

Howdy,

What I learned when I was shopping for my extended warranty was that
the one Subaru mails you and tries to sell is you absolute overpriced
crap. Like you, I endured the religious fervor with which people
react when anyone mentions "I'd like to buy an extended warranty."
Ignor that, but do konw that it's a gamble. If you don't have any
problems with your car in the first 3 years, it probably wont' pay
off, but me, I've had that thing into service plenty of times, and I'd
like to keep this car for a good long time, so I gambled with buying
the warranty.

Now, first thing you need to know is that they have two levels, of
warranty, each available at a variety of year and mileage limits. One
(named the Classic plan, at least a year ago when I went through this)
is little more than a power train warranty, and at least when my car
came up on 3 years, that's the crappy one they were plugging hardest
on the mailers I was getting fromSubaru of America. The better one
(which I bought, Gold Plus was the name at the time) is exclusionary
coverage that covers everything except a list of certain things. I
opted for 6yr/100k miles given my time horizons and mileage habits,
and some early service history that makes me wanna gamble such that
I'm going to use this warranty for mor ethan I spent.

The second thing you need to know is that Subaru sells these
warranties through their dealers as well. And it's also no surprise
to find out that what they offer you by mail has zero chance of
undercutting their dealers--the mailer is probably the highest price
you could possibly pay for these warranties.

Third, you get to pick what dealer you buy the warranty from, and
it'll be honored no matter what Subaru dealer you choose to have your
car serviced at. Various dealers have various policies on how much
they discount their warranties.

So... in my case, on a tip from this newsgroup, I ended up visiting
then subaruwarranty.com which at the time was a front end for Curry
Subaru of Chicopee Massachusetts (fwiw, I live in Chicago). However,
it seems that that site no longer exists, and furthermore it seems
that Subaru of America bought the domain name from their
dealer...hrmm.

I bought the Gold Plus coverage there for 6yr/100k, $0 deductible for
$1184--a price that my local dealer told me was "simply impossible."
However, I do have the genuine Subaru Extended Gold Plus warranty, it
is the best warranty they've got, and my local dealer is cheerfully
servicing my vehicle under this warranty with no problems--even though
they weren't willing to come anywhere close on the price.

So, shop around for that warranty even out of your local area, and
bargain like a madman. Myself, I'd start with a phone call to Curry
Subaru in Chicopee MA and see if there's a juicy story about the
non-existence of subaruwarranty.com anymore. Maybe other dealers got
po'd that an out of state dealer was taking their extended warranty
profit center....

See this related thread:
http://groups.google.com/[email protected]&rnum=3

Best Regards,

 

[MDCORE]

So... in my case, on a tip from this newsgroup, I ended up visiting

then subaruwarranty.com which at the time was a front end for Curry
Subaru of Chicopee Massachusetts (fwiw, I live in Chicago). However,
it seems that that site no longer exists, and furthermore it seems
that Subaru of America bought the domain name from their
dealer...hrmm.

I bought the Gold Plus coverage there for 6yr/100k, $0 deductible for
$1184--a price that my local dealer told me was "simply impossible."
However, I do have the genuine Subaru Extended Gold Plus warranty, it
is the best warranty they've got, and my local dealer is cheerfully
servicing my vehicle under this warranty with no problems--even though
they weren't willing to come anywhere close on the price.

I did the same as you- but I went for the $50 deductible. Cost was $999, and
you could pay it over 10 months with an automated credit card deduction at NO
interest on the cost of the warranty. The only caveat was if you had to use the
warranty, you had to pay off the balance in full.

So far, I've had the transmission replaced at 86,000 miles, and the Macintosh
head unit repaired- at a cost of over $4400!! But since I paid only $50- I was
very happy to have the warranty.

dukephoto

 

[Bill]

Given any Subaru experience you might have or any consumer reports, do you
think that the Subaru "Added Security" Extended Warranty Plan for $550.00 to
cover the above major items for 3 Years, 24K Miles is a good or bad
investment?

You bought a Subaru - not a piece of crap American born car. Extended
warrenties were invented by our US car makers to cover their sloppy
workmanship and engineering flaws (I hear they are better now
though...<g>)

Skip the overpriced "warrenty".

 

[Brian K. M.]

I did opt for the extended warrenty on my '04 OBW. I had it added on
at the dealer when I bought the car. There is a catch though. The
plan/warrenty I bought will refund my money if after the duration of
the plan, 7 years/100,000 miles, I have not used the plan to pay for
repairs. The cost was $1,500-2,000. Basically, if I pay out of pocket
for the small items and don't exceed $2,000 in repairs in 100,000
miles, I get my money back. I'm aware of inflation and lost interest,
but I'll consider that price for piece of mind. I have the contract in
my save, so if anyone wants to know more, I'll post it.

Brian
'04 OBW

 

[EagleId]

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I went to the Subaru official
website and located an area where I could send away for literature on the
various Subaru "Added Security" Plans. It seems that Subaru has eight (8)
different duration/mileage plans, each of which can have three different
deductibles - 0, 50, and 100. Like you stated, Subaru corporate said to
obtain pricing by contacting Dealers.

Anyone wanting brochures on Subaru's Basic and Gold Extended Warranty Plans
can order them at:
http://www.subaru.com/owners/care/security/middle.jsp?pageID=4

 

[Felix Crashalot]

On my 1995 Legacy, I've put no more than $2000. in maintenance so far,
including oil changes. However, a friend of mine, after seeing my
maintenance records, bought a 2003 Legacy. Within the first year,
almost everything that rotates has been changed on his car: bearings,
axles, transmission, even the engine. Reliability went down with the
2000-2004 generation. I wouldn't buy a 2005 generation without
waiting a couple of years to learn about reliability issues. So it
depends how long you expect to keep your car.

 

[Hal Whelply]

FWIW: RE my 2004 Forester XT, 14 months, just about 18,000 miles: no
problems whatever, NONE, nada, zip. I love it.

HW