Extended Warranty? Best place to buy?

[Ilya]

Hi there,

My father is interested in an extended warranty for his 2014 Pathfinder. He was quoted by some site at $4,100 (60mo/125k with $100 deductible) but using the internet I was able to get a quote for 72mo/84kmi with $0 deductible for $2,385 from a Santa Clara dealer. Is this a good price?

Does anyone here have a better place to get warranties for this vehicle? I know in the Infiniti M forum, we usually use two (Infiniti of Scottsdale and Circle Infiniti in NJ)...but I'm not familiar with any good Nissan dealers, etc.

Thanks!

EDIT: Also, it looks like they said the 60/125 would expire at 126,000 which I found odd. Wouldn't it be 37k (current) + whatever the warranty is? When I got my M56x, it had 42kmi on it. I got a 48/48 warranty for it and my warranty is going to expire at 88kmi.

[barnaclebob]

Extended warranties are a bad deal in general for most people. You really need to read the fine print and be prepared to fight. Make sure it covers the CVT of your car.

84k miles for over 2 grand is stupid.

[Buzzman]

My advice is simple: never ever buy an extended warranty. It's a money grab, pure and simple.
I have never heard of anyone actually getting anything repaired for free under one of these warranties.
They always have an out or an excuse as to why they won't cover the failure. They will fight you tooth and nail if you try to make a claim.

I also never buy maintenance agreements on stuff like appliances, or furnaces, or any other household or consumer goods.
They write exceptions into the fine print of those agreements, and those components that are not covered will always be the stuff that is actually prone to failure.
You are much better off just playing the odds.
Yes, things sometimes break, but in the long run, you will always be financially ahead of the game by just fixing stuff.

[Ilya]

With all due respect, I disagree with both of you. I have had the warranties work out in my favor on both my 07 M35x and my current 11 M56x. I fried a harness behind the dashboard doing a simple footwell LED bulb swap on my M56x (as did 1 or 2 other guys in the Infiniti M section of NICO) and it cost $5k worth of parts to fix. On my M35x, I had the seat memory module/motor go bad after a month of owning the car which was like $1,500 worth of work and it served it's purpose. I would have agreed with your sentiments back in the day when cars weren't as complex...but now one electrical system malfunction could cost $2k+ easy.

My fathers CVT failed at 6kmi on the Pathfinder (brand new mind you)...so should it go again, the warranty will do it's job once more. Don't even know how much that cost because I never saw the paperwork for that job but I'm assuming a new CVT is 3-4K and then labor was another 1k on top of that if not 2k.

Anyway, I swindled a company into giving me their employee pricing for coverage to 60mo/100kmi. Everything covered but stuff like oil, wear and tear, etc. Have 30 days to cancel once I get the package with all the fine print, but I got it for $2,300 (original quoting price was almost $4k). $120 down payment and $90/24 months after.

[Buzzman]

With all due respect, I disagree with both of you. I have had the warranties work out in my favor on both my 07 M35x and my current 11 M56x. I fried a harness behind the dashboard doing a simple footwell LED bulb swap on my M56x (as did 1 or 2 other guys in the Infiniti M section of NICO) and it cost $5k worth of parts to fix. On my M35x, I had the seat memory module/motor go bad after a month of owning the car which was like $1,500 worth of work and it served it's purpose. I would have agreed with your sentiments back in the day when cars weren't as complex...but now one electrical system malfunction could cost $2k+ easy.

My fathers CVT failed at 6kmi on the Pathfinder (brand new mind you)...so should it go again, the warranty will do it's job once more. Don't even know how much that cost because I never saw the paperwork for that job but I'm assuming a new CVT is 3-4K and then labor was another 1k on top of that if not 2k.

Anyway, I swindled a company into giving me their employee pricing for coverage to 60mo/100kmi. Everything covered but stuff like oil, wear and tear, etc. Have 30 days to cancel once I get the package with all the fine print, but I got it for $2,300 (original quoting price was almost $4k). $120 down payment and $90/24 months after.

I see your point of view, but in the first case, frying the harness because you were modifying the lights should technically have voided the warranty.
You got lucky that they covered it.
As for the CVT issues, my view is that Nissan CVT's suck, and I would never buy one of their products that has one.
I love my 2002 Pathfinder, but would not consider even looking at a new one.
Same goes for my 2006 Altima. I'll be replacing it soon, and it won't be with a Nissan.
There are other, better, choices out there than the current Pathfinder. Consumer Reports rates it last in it's class.

[barnaclebob]

Anyway, I swindled a company into giving me their employee pricing for coverage to 60mo/100kmi... I got it for $2,300 (original quoting price was almost $4k). $120 down payment and $90/24 months after.

Man it sounds like you really stuck it to them.

When they tried to sell me the warranty on my Altima they gave up at 50% of the original quote. Isn't the manufacturer's warranty like 60k? Are you really paying $2300 for an extra 40k in warranty coverage?