The Cube CVT does have a reputation for failure and is expensive to repair or replace. CarShield is a company that provides repair insurance on vehicles. I got a quote for my 2009 Cube with 168,000 miles and repair insurance on just the drivetrain will cost around $2800 for a term of 18 to 24 months with monthly payments ranging from $120 to $150 over the term. This cost is still somewhat less than the reported $4000+ price of transmission repair.

Does anyone have experience with this company or other repair plans? It might be a viable plan for dealing with the inevitable.

--Bill

Did you know that KBB estimates a trade-in value of a 2009 Cube with 170,000 in good condition at $1500?

X2, talking half a car payment there and on a worn out car. Almost anyway.

When it breaks, and it will, you still lose the car unless they give you a renter.

I never use any plan like that, by that late in the car's life you were supposed to have most or all of a healthy down payment for a new one in place.

I have never paid ever for car repair, doing it all myself, but the one time I did when I got my first truly electronic car I was paranoid it might break in a way I could not understand to cost me a bundle. So, I took out extended warranty insurance on it. Whopping charge for it. Then found out that Ford had overlapped the remainder of the second owner car warranty on top of the extended one with no mention and I should have been offered that one for only $100. Both warranties went the exact same 3 years to the exact month. I got taken for $1000........BUT, went to dealer and threw a fit and threat of lawsuit and they dropped the $1000 one to give me almost all of that back. Then 2 weeks later, the Orange County CA. financial debacle hit putting thousands of businesses out of business due to domino lending effect, and the company I just got a refund from was bankrupt instantly. Boy was I lucky on that one, that company left a bunch of dealerships here local with many thousands in unclaimable warranty losses.

Later I got a good laugh on myself when looking close at the fine print, the warranty did not cover any deeper electronic components either like I was told it would. What an idiot I was! That was the first and only warranty insurance experience I ever had, and it was enough. The cars later proved to be no harder to fix than they were before.

The KBB trade-in may be that low, but the private owner sale price is $4300, average. But there is always a question on expensive repairs to a high-mileage car. And of course the quandry of insurance premiums vs the value of the car. And the shell game of insurance: I'm betting it will break and I will get a repair for less than the $4000 price tag. They are getting that it will not break and I'll pay them a bunch of money.

Anyone have experience with this insurance company?

--Bill