Has anyone needed their extended warranty?

We have the 8/80,000 policy. We haven’t had a claim, but at 39 months and 30K miles, I wouldn’t expect to have a significant issue with the car. There’s a good chance that a majority of Clarities on the road are still under the factory warranty. In my opinion, it is too early in the life of the Clarity to consider warranty claims as a useful metric when deciding on whether or not to purchase a plan.

Learn what is and isn’t covered under the plan. Many components are covered under a separate emissions warranty for up to 15 years and 150K miles.

Then ask yourself if such a plan is of value to you. Do you intend to keep the car for 8 years or 120K miles? Do you believe that a covered component may fail within the coverage period? Do you believe that the cost to replace a failed component, or components, will exceed the cost of the plan?

These policies are a risk for both parties. The insurer has calculated that they will win and they will probably be correct in that calculation, when the entire pool is considered. On an individual basis the outcomes can vary significantly from that of the entire group.

 

This is something that each individual has to decide. In my case I made a decision long ago not to buy warranty policies be it a car, smartphone, camera, or egg beater. Here is my thinking.

If I only go back to 1999 when we bought the most expensive car I've ever had (till then), a Honda Odyssey for about $35,000, and started buying warranty policies from then forward I would have easily spent $5,000 to $10,000 on them. The truth is my repair (not general maintenance) cost for the Odyssey, Civic, 2 Prius, 2018 Clarity, and 2020 Clarity has been $0. I'll even toss in my 2005 Toyota 4Runner in which the total cost has been $300.

So for me I gamble on the total cost of warrantees over time being higher than repair costs. I do focus my car purchases on reliable brands. Even those small items like a coffee maker can add up in warranty cost.

I'll give you that repair costs seem to have risen to new heights. People are reporting $1,500 to replace a windshield.

 

When I learned the Clarity's head unit was more expensive to replace than Honda's extended warranty, I bought the extended warranty. Five years in and the head unit and everything else is still working. It appears Honda will be the winner of this bet.

The extended warranty for my electric MINI Cooper was so expensive that I declined, hoping I can afford the bill if anything breaks. Two years in (on a 3-year warranty) and no problems, so perhaps I'll win this gamble. I was surprised and pleased last month when Consumer Reports ranked the MINI Cooper the third most reliable car behind a Toyota and a Lexus.

 

If I may jump to a conclusion, you’ve owned 6 cars, each purchased new, over the past 23 years. On average, you’ve owned each car for less than 4 years. Typically, not much goes wrong with a new car for the first 3-4 years.

If I planned to buy a new car every 3-4 years, I wouldn’t spend a dime on an extended service plan.

I agree that buying an extended warranty on appliances or electronic devices is largely a waste of money. I still own a 1999 GMC pickup that I bought new. I’d have to review my service records, but off hand I don’t recall ever having a mechanical, electrical or electronic failure over the past 23 years. New cars, however, are a different can of wax. I’ll be shocked if there isn’t at least one costly warranty claim, that exceeds the cost of the plan, before the car hits the 8 year mark.

We plan to keep the car for many years, so the additional coverage has value to us.

 

I also purchased the extended warranty. When I bought the car in July 2018, the car was first year of production and with many new components for Honda, so I was a little concerned with reliability. When the "public charger" error hit the first time and the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree, I got my first shock that the engineering might be suspect, at least with software. After reading the info from this forum, I stopped worrying about the "glitch" and didn't even take the car in until service was due, so I had that "misbehavior" a couple of more times. Of course, the update patch seems to have removed that problem. So, I've never taken the car to the dealership for anything other than maintenance. I'm not unhappy that I bought the extended warranty, though. Like @insightman said, just a head unit replacement would pay for it. And like @Landshark, I plan to keep the car for at least 5 more years. Also, the extended warranty seemed to be very competitively priced (at least to me). Even if I never use it, the cost per year for the piece of mind isn't a lot.

 

If you look around these forums there's been a lot of discussion on this topic. The statistical odds you'll need the warranty are against it. It gets somewhat personal how prepared each person is to face an unforeseen repair cost. Some people buy the extended warranty because modern cars (and parts) are expensive. So if you "lose the gamble" (of not having warranty) it may be more expensive than expected.

Then there are people like me that buy a warranty the same way I buy insurance. Hoping to never use it. Anyway, if you do decide to buy it, these forums have pointers to the best pricing. Via these forums I was able to find Hondacare (the real Honda warranty) for $1550. I did the 8 year, 120K, low deductible. For me I planned to at least buy the warranty for the 5 year period of the loan, then realized the cost to max it out wasn't that much more. $1550 on a 35K car seems like a good deal to me and I do not regret it.

And oh yes, as already mentioned, much depends on how long you intend to keep the car. Obviously the warranty is of less value if you intend to replace the car in the short term. I'm likely a long-term Clarity owner, which did factor into my decision.

 

Why NOT to Buy that Extended Warranty?

 

This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.

 

True.

But since the extended warranty companies exist due to the difference between the money they take in and the money they pay out, that alone informs that the odds of going “naked” are in your favor. But of course there will be winners and losers, but with the losers in the majority.



Back story: the crayon is being reinserted to counteract Homer’s increased intelligence from a medical experiment.

 

This holds true for every type of insurance, home, auto, health, aircraft. I’d like to have back all the home and auto insurance premiums that we’ve paid over the past 40+ years. Talk about an investment with no return.

Buying insurance is based on fear, or in many cases, a legal requirement. I don’t embrace the technology in news cars. I’m moderately fearful that some “non-user serviceable” sensor, hardware, software, wiring or other expensive gizmo will fail during my ownership of the vehicle. I’ve already had an intermittent issue with the driver side rear window not operating via the switch on the driver’s door. Could be the switch, could be the motor, could be the entire wiring harness needs to be replaced, like on the car that had a daytime running light fail.

I’m happy to, voluntarily, buy a policy that may or may not be used. And, I’ll be equally happy whether I use it or not. I’ve based this decision on information that is more current than the 1980’s. Times have changed.

 

I also purchased the extended warranty for the same reasons many mentioned above, although this is my first time doing so, for a car or anything else. As an aside, I know of at least one case where having an extended warranty has paid off handsomely. A friend got an extended lifetime warranty for his treadmill which, unlike 99% of purchasers, he uses every day. Over the past 15 years (he is now 76), the company has completely rebuilt it 3 times (everything but the frame), replaced it with a newer model (2 times), and completely rebuilt both of those newer models at least 2 times each. My friend just keeps wearing them out!

 

I think this would be wearing me out instead of the treadmills !!
Its too bad we can't get a lifetime warranty on a car (would cost an arm and a leg if you could).

 

I bought 10 yrs extended warranty for my 16 Honda Pilot. Used it last time to fix the power liftgate. would have cost $1400 if it wasn't the EW. That was the 2nd time using it. Haven't use it on Clara yet. But I am sure will need it eventually.

I think it is a no brainer to get it since we can get it so much cheaper over the internet/phone than getting it from local dealer. The car is so unique that you can't really bring it anywhere else since no on would have the experience to work on it.

 

Excellent point. Also, not every Honda dealer has a mechanic/technician who is qualified/certified to work on the vehicle. Recently, a forum member had the battery charger replaced and a certified technician was brought in from another dealership to perform the work.

 

Our Clarity is 2018 with 35K. I bought 8ys/100K extended warranty. There has been some rattling noise coming from the speakers, sound like the casing or tweeter is loose. The weather strip at the back passenger door sometimes will come loose. I got lazy with COVID and postponed it until 2022 thinking extended insurance would pay for it.
First the Honda dealership wanted $180 to diagnose, then proceeded to tell me those things are not covered under extended warranty. The sales guy who sold me the extended warranty told me that it covers stuff just like the original 3 yrs 36K warranty. You can never trust these crooked sales guys. No wonder Tesla got rid of them. Anyway, I was grateful that the supervisor gave me a walk and didn't charge me $180. Just be aware that not everything is covered under extended warranty. I called the corporate and confirm, basically only the major components are covered.

 

Not everything is covered by the extended warranty but most are. I had issue with the passenger window rolling really slow and a failed power liftgate in my Pilot. Both were covered in the warranty. Service manager should be able to tell you if whatever need repair is covered or not.

 

I guess I'll mention here briefly. I didn't mention in this thread initially because I think most here would say I'm covered for this one even without the extended warranty. That is to say the Honda extended warranty in ZEV states that cover emissions components etc.

My charger died on my 2018 Clarity. It took a week to get the part and install it. The paperwork said some number above $4600, then my cost $0 billed to "VSC" which I believe is the extended warranty. The dealer in my town seems to excel at making sure you pay more than quoted even for the most basic service. I believe them to be as dishonest as a dealer can be. So in my case having the extended warranty may of avoiding me having to fight for my rights so to speak. Unknown. I mean I do have the longest duration HondaCare I could buy, so we'll never know.

I will say I was super pleased to not be on the hook for more than 4.5K in repairs. I briefly had a panic thought that maybe my garage has rodents; couldn't see why the charger would fail. And of course no warranty will cover abuse or rodent damage. Luckily the problem was not rodent related, and was covered in full. So I feel lucky and blessed.

 

My driver’s side view mirror housing will not fold in either direction. The dealer said they would have to do a $125 diagnostic test to determine if it was covered by Hondacare. The mirror has never been hit or damaged which the dealer acknowledged. . I asked what would cause it not to be covered. He had no answer. Just told him to not fix it and I’ll try again next year. I called Hondacare and they said the same thing. A part in the housing obviously failed. Just stuck! Anyone have an idea why this would not be covered?

 

Per the VSC, page 9, Sec IV, A, 3, “...all rear or side view mirror housings/frames (except for heated mirror glass failure), and brackets, ...” are specifically excluded from coverage.

With the above information, a $125 diagnostic fee would seem to be inappropriate and the folks at the dealership should be reprimanded accordingly for attempting to charge such a fee. Likewise, owners should read the contract.