Should I buy extended warranty?

I am almost out of Mazda warranty on my 03 Pro5 and these are my options if I want to get an extended warranty:

2 years/24,000 miles ($50 deductible): $653
3 years/36,000 miles ($50 deductible): $865
5 years/50,000 miles ($50 deductible): $1042
5 years/50,000 miles ($0 deductible): $1242

Is it worth it to buy an extended warranty for any of these term periods?
Can I count on anything major happening after 50,000 that would make an extended warranty useful?
I don't plan on modding my car in any way that would void a warranty, so I'm not worried about that. Any advice or suggestions would be great. Thanks.

no

i dunno about that...it's one of those things where if something happens and you don't have one, you'll wish you'd paid the few hundred bucks for it. on the other hand, if you never need it, you'll kick yourself for buying it.

my boyfriend got an ext warranty on his mp3 and it was well worth it. first of all, if he never used it, he would get his money back. turns out, he was covered for a new motor and so many additional things. i have one on my p5 up to 100,000 miles but i haven't had to use mine yet, but it's still nice to know it's there "just in case."

it's a personal decision.

For this car I would say it's not necessary if it is well cared for and relatively stock. How long to you plan to keep the car? As you add more and more mods beyond simple bolt-on stuff, you will have more and more problems (Turbo, chips, etc.) as time goes on. Look for extended wty from a reputable company and make sure that it is transferable to the next owner (even if you don't think there will be one). And make sure the fine print says it kicks in after the factory wty runs out and doesn't run concurrent with it.

I've only had one on anything I ever owned, and that was on a '94 Rodeo that was stock other than an intake. But I got it because I spent most weekends offroading in AZ and I figured the strain of it might break something. Never had to use it though.

I had one for one of my other vehicals, and because I didn't get the car serviced at the dealership's garage, they refused to pay for anything else after I had a problem. Make sure you read the fine print very carefully, because they throw s*** in there to make your life difficult. For my 5, I skipped the warrenty, but I am setting money aside in a cd just in case anything happens. And if nothing happens, I have $$ in savings.

the only reason I would consider it (for you at least) is since you have an 03, you might fall prey to the vtcs/vics (I never know which one) screws falling out and running through the motor. Other than that, I wouldn't worry about it too much!

also, is that full coverage warranty or just power train? that might help the decision...

Good luck getting Mazda to honor their warranty....

This is off topic, but a good story. Way back when, I worked at a Chevy dealer. A friend of the Service Manager bought an new S-10 pick-up. The good ol' Chevy developed a rod knock at about 30k miles. The guy brought it in, but technically a rod knock was not covered by the warranty. The Service Manager told him to keep driving it and when the rod finally let go they could cover it. Well, the guy drove it for quite a while and it held up, so as it approached the end of the warranty he brought it back and cried the blues. The Service Manager asked for his keys and told him to have a seat in the waiting room as he would "take care of it". I watched him as he walked out back, started the truck and held the gas to the floor!
About 30 seconds later... BANG!! (blowup)
He came back in with a big smile on his face and promptly wrote up the claim for a new engine. Sweet

(lol)

Pro5Monkey said:

This is off topic, but a good story. Way back when, I worked at a Chevy dealer. A friend of the Service Manager bought an new S-10 pick-up. The good ol' Chevy developed a rod knock at about 30k miles. The guy brought it in, but technically a rod knock was not covered by the warranty. The Service Manager told him to keep driving it and when the rod finally let go they could cover it. Well, the guy drove it for quite a while and it held up, so as it approached the end of the warranty he brought it back and cried the blues. The Service Manager asked for his keys and told him to have a seat in the waiting room as he would "take care of it". I watched him as he walked out back, started the truck and held the gas to the floor!
About 30 seconds later... BANG!! (blowup)
He came back in with a big smile on his face and promptly wrote up the claim for a new engine. Sweet

Click to expand...

I did that very same thing to my friends Cougar. The A/C went out and it was smoking. He's a low rider and never dogs his car always took care of it. He had 600 mile left on the warranty and he took it in. He said he had to go out of town on that Fri (4 days away) and needed his car. They tried to tell him that they couldn't get it in for a week that they had to go by which cars had the more problems. We get to the house (roomates) and I took the keys from him and headed to town. I didn't quite make it. 60 mph in 1st for 6 miles. The hole thing let go about a mile to the dealer. They had to tow it in. He got a new motor new A/C they even replaced the mat under the hood from when the belt came off and ripped it up.

lol too funny... i have a nother question... where can i get a warranty for over 60,000?
At the rate i'm diving i'm a need a 100,000 in about a yr

Well as for the topic I say get the warranty. All you have to do is keep all of your service records. That 800.00 bucks that PR54life just spent could have covered his blown motor and a rental. If you not modding then I say go for it, better safe then sorry.

Thanks for all the replies. The warranty quotes in the first post were for full coverage (not just powertrain). I work at a Mazda dealer so I have hook-ups with techs and the parts guys, so that is weighing into my decision. The company issuing the warranty is not Mazda and just about every dealer/repair shop will recognize this warranty company. Just some more info if anyone wants to chime in again on this topic. Thanks again!

My advice is to take that money and put it aside for vehicle repairs. If you don't spend that much money, it's money in your pocket.

Instead of purchasing one of an automobile dealer's extended warranty options, Consumer Reports recommends that the buyer take the same amount of money that one would spend on the extended warranty and put in an interest-bearing secured savings account. When the extended warranty period has expired, any money not used on repairs for the vehicle will be direct profit for the vehicle owner.

Statistically speaking, the probability of spending more on covered vehicle repairs than the cost of the warranty is very small, which makes extended warranty programs very profitable for the auto manufacturer and the dealer.

Remember, an extended warranty is nothing more than an insurance policy that guarantees a maximum payout for covered expenses due to repairs over the term of ownership. Consumers should be mindful that effective risk mitigation through insurance policies comes through the balance of three factors: the probability of experiencing a claim event, the severity of the event, and the financial consequence resulting from the event.

In the case of an automobile extended warranty, consumers are paying a guaranteed payment in advance (usually $750 to $1000 or more) to mitigate the risk that the cost of vehicle repairs will exceed the cost of the warranty. However, while reliability trends on most major auto manufacturers have increased significantly in the last 5-10 years, the cost of extended warranty coverage has not decreased.

i did for my mazdaspeed... it was used and warranty end is near. extending it won't hurt, seeing how many problems this car has!