I'm thinking of buying a 2002 IS 300 with 60K miles. It's "Pre
Certified" - so I get the warranty up to 2 years or 100K miles. The
dealer is offering me an extended premium warranty (transferable) of 5
years - 125K miles for $2,350. Is it worth it?

<jkarevoll (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

In general, I am not a fan of extended "warranties" which are actually
insurance contracts, but if you opt to get one, I recommend only getting one
backed by the automaker because third party contracts usually are so full of
loopholes that they hardly cover anything, or they end up going out of
business. The price of service contracts is negotiable.

Your other option is to put the $2,350 into a savings account and use it if
any unforeseen repairs arise.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

"Ray O" <rokigawaATtristarassociatesDOTcom> wrote

:
I vote for option (B. Find a reputable independent shop. Change the timing
belt/water pump within 120% of the period recommended. Religiously get the
oil changed (3500-5000) and I think you will come out WAY AHEAD.

JFI;
Over the last 9 yrs I've owned three cars that averaged 50-60k /year, oil
was changed as per manu recommendation i.e. 16-25k depending on manu. None
of these vehicles (Diesel & Petrol) had any engine problems.
And yet I constantly see US posts recommending short intervals?

"Jerohm" <jDrEmLoEhTrE (AT) snet (DOT) net> wrote

On Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:49:37 GMT, "Jerohm" <jDrEmLoEhTrE (AT) snet (DOT) net>
graced this newsgroup with:


...maybe..and that's a *big* maybe. My 02 LS430 had *both* power side
mirrors fail on me (they think it may have been a defective run).
Anyway, just out side of the standard warranty and into my extended
warranty (which I paid $1,500 btw), the mirrors failed. They were
replaced free of charge. Had I NOT had the extended warranty, it
would of cost me $1,800.

Yeah, $1,800.

Also, both lift assists in my trunk lid wore out. They too were
covered by my extended warranty. Cost without warranty would of been
$400 plus installation charge (and no, nobody sells aftermarket lifts
for the LS430 that I could find).

And, the *entire* cost of the warranty was refundable if I had not
used it but I've already recovered the cost of the initial investment
with the two items above.

So, it's up to you. Just keep in mind that when something goes bad,
the price to replace it can be a very expensive out of pocket expense.

Ray O wrote:
This assumes that the warranties backed by the automakers are really
superior to the third party warranties. In Lexus's case, the Certified
Pre Owned warranties are really third party warranties, a fact they
hide from you until you try to use it. See my posts in the thread
titled "toyota vs. nissan". You may get some extra assurance that the
warranty is "backed" by Lexus or the car has passed a "rigorous" Lexus
inspection (whatever that means) but don't be fooled into thinking
you're getting a warranty that's the same quality as the Lexus factory
warranty because you're not, and adjust your expectations and
willingness to pay accordingly.

Lexus's are very reliable cars and in general probably don't need
extended warranties but as others have noted if things do go wrong it
can get expensive, especially with fancy power doo-dads. I bought
Certified Pre-Owned but if I had it to do over I'd probably buy a
non-CPO Lexus for thousands less and have it thoroughly inspected by a
Toyota or Lexus mechanic before purchase, and go without a warranty.
The suggestion made by another poster to put the cost of the warranty
in a bank account against future problems could make it more
comfortable to do that.

Even if I was worried about that and decided to purchase a high-end
third-party warranty, assuming I could do the research and find one
that is respectable and won't go out of business (and you can probably
find that if you're willing to pay a premimum price for it), it would
probably have been less expensive to do that than to buy Lexus CPO.

"old man" <dl (AT) spoofmail (DOT) notme> wrote

overdoing it, my 1990 LS400 can be down a 1/2 quart or so after 5000 miles.
It is kind of like just 'telling' everyone never to put metal in the
microwave... it is just easier than expecting them to monitor all conditions
that can specifically lead to problems.

<xyzzy.dude (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

According to the Lexus web site, the Lexus Certified Pre-Owned Warranty is
warranted by Toyota Financial Services, Inc. Yes, TFS is a third party, but
that third party is a wholly owned subsidiary of TMS. Perhaps your car was
not a Lexus CPO car?

During my time as a district service manager, I did not deal with any third
party extended service contract companies that I would recommend to anyone,
other than the one backed by the automakers.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

Ray O wrote:
I'm not sure if that's who they were using in 2001 when I bought mine.
And while it's wholly owned it's still a different entity set up to
isolate Toyota/Lexus from responsibility for those warranties. They
could spin it off at any time. It may be better than any other
extended warranty company out there, but it's still a non-Lexus
warranty.

It definitely was (is? I still own it but the warranty is long expired
as I'm closing in on 140K miles)

<xyzzy.dude (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

Lexus has been using TFS since the inception of the Certified Pre-Owned
program. "Extended warranties" are actually insurance policies, and the
companies issuing those policies have to comply with various laws regulating
insurance companies. TFS is a separate entity not so much to isolate
Toyota/Lexus from responsibility for those policies, but so that a car
company does not have to comply with the insurance regulations, which
probably prohibit a non-insurance company from issuing insurance policies
any way.

From my 15 years experience working for the company, I do not forsee Toyota
spinning off TFS. Toyota's mode of operation is to either acquire companies
that they pay a lot of money to for support or product, or form their own so
that they can control costs, quality of service, or retain profits.

As to whether it is worth paying extra for a CPO vehicle from a dealer, it
is a catch-22. A CPO vehicle will be less than 5 years old, have less than
60,000 miles, have a verifiable CarFax report, undergo a 161 point
inspection with repairs as necessary, get detailed, and have the extended
"warranty" and the owner is eligible for the stuff that new vehicle buyers
get like concierge service, car washes, trip interruption insurance, etc.
For whatever premium that the customer has to pay for a CPO vehicle, you
could probably pay someone to do the inspection, get the CarFax report, and
purchase the extended service contract from the dealership and have money
left over to pay for your own car washes, rental cars, trip interruption
service, etc. Here are the catches - if a third party inspects the car for
you and they miss someting major, they are not going to pay to fix it for
you, and my guess is that most, if not all, of the choice vehicles on a
dealer's lot will be CPO and the leftovers will be just a used car. If all
you want is a used car, then CPO isn't worth it, but if you want a cherry
car, then CPO may be your only choice unless you find a private party with
one.

--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)


--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)