High Mileage Clarity PHEV - Reliability, Maintenance, Cost

[K8QM]

Back to reliability... What is the basic warranty on the Clarity? Does something end at 36,000 miles? (I am currently at 32,000).

Will Honda continue to do 'free' service bulletins after warranty expiration?

3 years 36,000 miles on most of the vehicle with the normal exceptions like safety, emissions and the battery.
Service bulletins should be free "forever" I think.
You can still buy a Hondacare warranty as long as you are inside the 36,000 miles. I was at 35k+ and went ahead and extended mine.

BTW The local Honda dealer just repaired a seatbelt on our 2005 Accord (253k miles) for no charge yesterday.

geo

 

[MrFixit]

@K8QM
Would you tell us how much it cost you to extend your warranty?
I did not choose extended initially, and having passed 6,000 miles, I was told that it now makes no sense to extend until you reach the 36,000 mile point.
I was curious as to whether the price was similar to the initial extension option when the vehicle is new, or, is it higher?

I don't normally do these things, but worried about limited production / outrageous replacement cost prices...

 

[2002]

Back to reliability... What is the basic warranty on the Clarity? Does something end at 36,000 miles? (I am currently at 32,000).

Will Honda continue to do 'free' service bulletins after warranty expiration?

Service bulletins yes.

Standard warranty is 3 years or 36,000 miles
Powertrain warranty is 5 years or 60,000 miles
Battery warranty is 8 years or 100,000 miles (California is higher)

 

[mhb]

@K8QM
Would you tell us how much it cost you to extend your warranty?
I did not choose extended initially, and having passed 6,000 miles, I was told that it now makes no sense to extend until you reach the 36,000 mile point.
I was curious as to whether the price was similar to the initial extension option when the vehicle is new, or, is it higher?

I don't normally do these things, but worried about limited production / outrageous replacement cost prices...

Agreed. With the general reliability of Hondas and the expanded warranty required by my state, it seemed reasonable at 6K miles to pass on the extended warranty. However, with the possibility that parts will be very limited in the Northeast, I'm revisiting that decision. Would be great to hear how much more an extended warranty costs after 6K.

I wonder if the extended warranty be the same cost 2 years from now or should I lock it in now?

 

[David Towle]

Agreed. With the general reliability of Hondas and the expanded warranty required by my state, it seemed reasonable at 6K miles to pass on the extended warranty. However, with the possibility that parts will be very limited in the Northeast, I'm revisiting that decision. Would be great to hear how much more an extended warranty costs after 6K.

I wonder if the extended warranty be the same cost 2 years from now or should I lock it in now?

My 8 year/120k miles Honda warranty was around $1400.

 

[2002]

Agreed. With the general reliability of Hondas and the expanded warranty required by my state, it seemed reasonable at 6K miles to pass on the extended warranty. However, with the possibility that parts will be very limited in the Northeast, I'm revisiting that decision. Would be great to hear how much more an extended warranty costs after 6K.

I wonder if the extended warranty be the same cost 2 years from now or should I lock it in now?

Not sure that parts availability would factor into a decision about extended warranty, having a warranty or not won't make a difference in that regards. There have been threads here about extended warranty, the gist of it is that most people seem to go through hyannishondacare.com. You can go to the site and get a quote. When I looked at it it seems like it was better to wait to sign up for extended coverage until shortly before the standard warranty expires, because in most cases extended coverage starts immediately when you purchase the policy not when standard warranty ends. If you sign up now you will essentially have duplicate insurance, and it also means the extended warranty won't last as long after the end of standard warranty. Although the possible risk of waiting could mean they have price increases by the time you sign up, but I think that would be less of a concern than having duplicate coverage.

 

[K8QM]

I did the F52 which extends it to (not by) 5 years and 120,000 miles.

My decision was based on the cost of some of the technology in the Clarity which could make for expensive repairs.

geo

 

[ClarityBill]

Are repair manuals available for the Clarity? I have been using Alldatadiy.com for my cars, but it looks like Honda has nothing newer than 2015 there.

On this forum, I have seen a wheel bearing go bad. That is a pretty simple DIY fix, but Advance Auto does not have that bearing (Rock Auto was not clear). Almost seems like Honda is 'forcing' me into HondaCare.

 

[David Towle]

Not sure that parts availability would factor into a decision about extended warranty, having a warranty or not won't make a difference in that regards. There have been threads here about extended warranty, the gist of it is that most people seem to go through hyannishondacare.com. You can go to the site and get a quote. When I looked at it it seems like it was better to wait to sign up for extended coverage until shortly before the standard warranty expires, because in most cases extended coverage starts immediately when you purchase the policy not when standard warranty ends. If you sign up now you will essentially have duplicate insurance, and it also means the extended warranty won't last as long after the end of standard warranty. Although the possible risk of waiting could mean they have price increases by the time you sign up, but I think that would be less of a concern than having duplicate coverage.

Its not duplicate, extended warranties are always (AFAIK) based on total mileage, and either months from new or months from warranty purchase depending on the plan. The one big advantage you do get for waiting is if the car is totaled, or you decide to sell it, you won't have wasted your money.

 

[MrFixit]

Its not duplicate, extended warranties are always (AFAIK) based on total mileage and total ownership time.

David: I think it IS duplicated... From what I was told (by hyannishondacare) the initial new car warranty is for a prescribed number of miles / years (for instance the F52 is good until 5 years / 120K miles). You can only purchase the new car warranties if you have less than 6K mikes.

After 6K miles, if you purchase a warranty, it applies incrementally from the day of purchase (ie: if you had 6K miles and you purchased a 50K warranty, you are only extending the original warranty from 36K to 50K, and you have 'wasted' 30K miles because of the overlap. If you wait until just before your 36K and buy a 50K warranty, it will carry you up to 86K. This is confusing, but here are the exact words from hyannishondacare that I got in an email exchange:

---------------------------------------------------------------
HI,

Since you have exceeded 6000 miles, I would highly recommend waiting till closer to the end of the factory warranty. The cut off for new car plans is 6K miles. Any plan that you purchase now would start today, so you are essentially losing 3 years of whatever plan you buy. I would wait till the end of the factory warranty 36 months or 36k miles to add the coverage.

Best,
Sean
----------------------------------------------------------------

 

[insightman]

Are repair manuals available for the Clarity? I have been using Alldatadiy.com for my cars, but it looks like Honda has nothing newer than 2015 there.

On this forum, I have seen a wheel bearing go bad. That is a pretty simple DIY fix, but Advance Auto does not have that bearing (Rock Auto was not clear). Almost seems like Honda is 'forcing' me into HondaCare.

I can't imagine how thick a Clarity repair manual would be! I've never seen any hint that one is available. Instead, as with everything else these days, the repair information is all online. You have to pay to get a PDF file of the info you need on the Honda Service Express website.

 

[David Towle]

David: I think it IS duplicated... From what I was told (by hyannishondacare) the initial new car warranty is for a prescribed number of miles / years (for instance the F52 is good until 5 years / 120K miles). You can only purchase the new car warranties if you have less than 6K mikes.

After 6K miles, if you purchase a warranty, it applies incrementally from the day of purchase (ie: if you had 6K miles and you purchased a 50K warranty, you are only extending the original warranty from 36K to 50K, and you have 'wasted' 30K miles because of the overlap. If you wait until just before your 36K and buy a 50K warranty, it will carry you up to 86K. This is confusing, but here are the exact words from hyannishondacare that I got in an email exchange:

---------------------------------------------------------------
HI,

Since you have exceeded 6000 miles, I would highly recommend waiting till closer to the end of the factory warranty. The cut off for new car plans is 6K miles. Any plan that you purchase now would start today, so you are essentially losing 3 years of whatever plan you buy. I would wait till the end of the factory warranty 36 months or 36k miles to add the coverage.

Best,
Sean
----------------------------------------------------------------

Mine is different because its a new car warranty, 8 years or 120k, so its good for 5 years or 84k after the factory warranty ends.

Hyannis says you are losing 3 years, but say nothing about losing miles, so I would suggest you call them to clarify. What they have stated could mean any of the following choices if you buy the 5 year/50 k when you are at 3 years/36k
1.You get 5 additional years and 14k additional miles or
2. 5 additional years and 50k additional miles or

If their answer is number 2 than I am an idiot for buying the new car warranty, I could have waited and gotten a warranty good until 156k odometer miles instead of 120. (Well I might be an idiot anyway.)

Or they might be saying its just a waste to buy it now because you might total or sell the car before the factory warranty is up. Again good to call to clarify.

 

[MrFixit]

Hyannis says you are losing 3 years, but say nothing about losing miles, so I would suggest you call them to clarify. What they have stated could mean any of the following choices if you buy the 5 year/50 k when you are at 3 years/36k
1.You get 5 additional years and 14k additional miles or
2. 5 additional years and 50k additional miles or

If their answer is number 2 than I am an idiot for buying the new car warranty, I could have waited and gotten a warranty good until 156k odometer miles instead of 120. (Well I might be an idiot anyway.)

You would not be an idiot... If I waited until I was at 3/36K, and bought an additional 5/50K, that would put me at a grand total of 8/86K. You bought the 8/120K which is better. Also, it is totally unclear what the price would be. It is likely that I would pay more to get the extension up to this 8/86K than you did to get the 'new car' option of 8/120K. This is all a big game, and I think once I reach the 3 years (for me, that will be sooner than the 36K) I'm sure they will present me with a whole confusing matrix or choices (as they did for you originally). It will be a cost trade, and quite likely you will have gotten a better "deal" by acting early.

 

[ab13]

Its not duplicate, extended warranties are always (AFAIK) based on total mileage, and either months from new or months from warranty purchase depending on the plan. The one big advantage you do get for waiting is if the car is totaled, or you decide to sell it, you won't have wasted your money.

There is a cancellation policy, so the coverage can be cancelled. You can get some prorated amount back.

 

[2002]

David: I think it IS duplicated... From what I was told (by hyannishondacare) the initial new car warranty is for a prescribed number of miles / years (for instance the F52 is good until 5 years / 120K miles). You can only purchase the new car warranties if you have less than 6K mikes.

After 6K miles, if you purchase a warranty, it applies incrementally from the day of purchase (ie: if you had 6K miles and you purchased a 50K warranty, you are only extending the original warranty from 36K to 50K, and you have 'wasted' 30K miles because of the overlap. If you wait until just before your 36K and buy a 50K warranty, it will carry you up to 86K. This is confusing, but here are the exact words from hyannishondacare that I got in an email exchange:

---------------------------------------------------------------
HI,

Since you have exceeded 6000 miles, I would highly recommend waiting till closer to the end of the factory warranty. The cut off for new car plans is 6K miles. Any plan that you purchase now would start today, so you are essentially losing 3 years of whatever plan you buy. I would wait till the end of the factory warranty 36 months or 36k miles to add the coverage.

Best,
Sean
----------------------------------------------------------------

There is a whole thread on this topic located at:

https://insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/why-not-to-buy-that-extended-warranty.3703/

On there a month ago I posted some quotes that I got from Hyannis for new car (which I still quality for) as well as a quote for 7,000 miles (just past new car) as well as 30,000 miles (nearing end of Honda basic warranty).

2000 miles

Code - Years - Mileage - Rate
D82 - 8 - 120,000 - $1,564.00
* Coverage for a New Honda vehicle begins when the vehicle is originally put into service at zero miles.

So this would be coverage for years 4-8, at $312 per year (1,564/5)

7,000 miles

Code - Years - Mileage - Rate
F52 - 5 - 120,000 - $1,319.00
* Coverage for a Near New Honda vehicle begins on date of plan purhcase [sic] and expires at the end of plan terms or stated mileage, whichever comes first.

I estimate that at 7,000 miles I would still have over two years of regular warranty left, so due to overlap the five year extended warranty would effectively only cover years 4-6. That works out to $439 per year (1,319/3) not to mention being uninsured in years 7 and 8.

30,000 miles

Code - Years - Mileage - Rate
F52 - 5 - 120,000 - $1,419.00
* Coverage for a Near New Honda vehicle begins on date of plan purhcase and expires at the end of plan terms or stated mileage, whichever comes first.

I estimate that at 30,000 miles I would be near the end of the 36 month regular warranty, so the five year extended warranty would cover years 4-8. And it would be the best deal at $283 per year (1,419/5)

Unless as I mentioned their prices go up two years from now, so for me the option is to price protect now at $1,564.00 while I am still eligible for new car, or take a chance and wait a couple of years and hope that it is still priced at $1,419.00.

 

[MrFixit]

I suppose this is obvious, but when considering the extended warranty, it is important to keep your driving scenario in mind.
Don't purchase an 8 year, 120K plan if you drive less than 10K per year... The 8 year, 80K plan is a better fit and lower cost.

 

[David Towle]

For you maybe. I'm at 18000 miles after 10 months, I think it'll go down over time but not sure.

 

[2002]

I suppose this is obvious, but when considering the extended warranty, it is important to keep your driving scenario in mind.
Don't purchase an 8 year, 120K plan if you drive less than 10K per year... The 8 year, 80K plan is a better fit and lower cost.

Although sometimes things change, and also I think the warranty is transferable so as a selling feature it might be worth more with higher mileage. But yes there is quite a price difference so it's worth thinking about.

G58 5 80,000 $1,078.00
G50 5 100,000 $1,339.00
G52 5 120,000 $1,519.00