David Digney <dodgedakotaquadcab@yahoo.com> wrote:
: wanted to know,if i wanted an "extended warranty"
: contract on mt truck.
: I'd like to know your feelings & what those of u have..
It depends; an extended warranty could be anything from 1 month/1000
miles to to 10 years/100,000 or more. It depends on the length of
the term, what is covered, and for how much they are offering it to
you. Another thing to consider is wether it is a Chrysler warranty or
an aftermarket one. If aftermarket, research the company to see how
they handle their claims, have they been around for a while, etc. It
is certainly nice to have the piece of mind that a good extended warranty
can provide, but you need to weigh it against the initial cost to make
a determination as to wether it is worth the money or not. One option
you might want to look into is taking the money you would have spent on
the warranty and putting it into some sort of money market account or CD.
At todays rates, that won't net you much, but at the very least, the
money is there for a buffer. When you're considering the extended
warranty, in addition to looking at the initial cost, also consider it
broken down over the life of the warranty; for example, what it is
costing you per month or per day; is the insurance/peace of mind
offered by the warranty worth $1/day to you? $2/day? Only you can
make that decision.
One thing to keep in mind is that there is money to be made in
extended warranties, otherwise they wouldn't offer them. That is,
on the whole, the people who sell extended warranties are taking in
more money on the warranties than they are paying out in warranty
claims. This fact alone implies that the odds are that you would be
OK without the warranty, but that is little consolation if you turn
out to be one of those people who has to pay out of pocket for an
expensive repair because you didn't get the warranty. Some people
look at them more like an insurance policy, as opposed to an outright
"will I make or lose money on this" proposition. You don't get any
benefit from simply having an insurance policy, yet people continue
to shell out the money for premiums because they know that *if* something
does happen, they will be covered. Even if you never need to use the
policy, that sort of peace of mind might be worth the cost to you.
I have had warranties on many of my vehicles; some more than paid
for themselves while others went unused. It really is a crap shoot; if
you knew in advance what was going to break this would be easy, but
you (usually) don't, so you just have to consider all the options
and play the odds.
--
-Jon-
.-- Jon Steiger --- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com --.
| '70 Barracuda, '90 Dakota Convertible, '92 Ram 4x4, '96 Dakota |
| '96 Intruder, '96 Kolb FireFly, '99 Cherokee, '01 Ram 3500 |
`----------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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