Extended Warranty on e-Golf?

Wondering if folks think it makes sense to get an extended warranty from the dealer on the e-Golf. We bought the car and don't plan to sell for probably 10 years at least. Since it is a first model year car with a lot of electronics, a completely new electric drivetrain, and lots of other computer operated features, we're thinking that an extended warranty might make sense for us for this car. Thoughts? And, in terms of length and pricing, what do folks think makes sense/is reasonable? Thanks.

Search Is it worth buying an extended car warranty. There's lots of articles on the pros and cons

Consumer Reports says no. 17% of your payment goes to commission and overhead. It's a high profit industry as evidenced by it's something they always try to sell you...appliances, electronics etc. You're better off insuring yourself and buying good dividend paying stocks with the money

Ron

6yr 60,000 extended warranty we were quoted $1286. I am aware the first 3 years is really covered under warranty at any rate, so i consider this to be the yr 4-6 warranty.

I am fairly sceptical on extended warranties; did not get one on my previous car (3yr old Touareg) which in hindsight would have saved me money. Most people lose out on extended warranties; and if you can absorb repair costs you're probably better off taking the risk.

Given that I cannot take this car to my local non-dealer VW specialist & this is the first generation of e-Golf, it seems to me the odds are indeed slightly more in favor of buying one. We did, but I forgot to negotiate hard on this which in hindsight was a missed opportunity. Do some research upfront, find out the cost to the dealership and offer them slightly above that rather than paying list price.

Flyingdutchman81 said:

6yr 60,000 extended warranty we were quoted $1286. I am aware the first 3 years is really covered under warranty at any rate, so i consider this to be the yr 4-6 warranty.

I am fairly sceptical on extended warranties; did not get one on my previous car (3yr old Touareg) which in hindsight would have saved me money. Most people lose out on extended warranties; and if you can absorb repair costs you're probably better off taking the risk.

Given that I cannot take this car to my local non-dealer VW specialist & this is the first generation of e-Golf, it seems to me the odds are indeed slightly more in favor of buying one. We did, but I forgot to negotiate hard on this which in hindsight was a missed opportunity. Do some research upfront, find out the cost to the dealership and offer them slightly above that rather than paying list price.

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Where are you located?

I was quoted $1795 non-negotiable for the 6-year (although I am pretty sure they said 85K) extended warranty. Considering the EW for the same reasons you listed, but $1795 seems a bit steep, especially since I had only a few hundred dollars of non-warranty repair work done by the end of year 6 with my current VW. I still have a few days to decide before I take delivery.

Anyone know if it is possible to buy an EW from a dealer other than the one who sells you the car?

eGolf2015 said:

Flyingdutchman81 said:

6yr 60,000 extended warranty we were quoted $1286. I am aware the first 3 years is really covered under warranty at any rate, so i consider this to be the yr 4-6 warranty.

I am fairly sceptical on extended warranties; did not get one on my previous car (3yr old Touareg) which in hindsight would have saved me money. Most people lose out on extended warranties; and if you can absorb repair costs you're probably better off taking the risk.

Given that I cannot take this car to my local non-dealer VW specialist & this is the first generation of e-Golf, it seems to me the odds are indeed slightly more in favor of buying one. We did, but I forgot to negotiate hard on this which in hindsight was a missed opportunity. Do some research upfront, find out the cost to the dealership and offer them slightly above that rather than paying list price.

Click to expand...

Where are you located?

I was quoted $1795 non-negotiable for the 6-year (although I am pretty sure they said 85K) extended warranty. Considering the EW for the same reasons you listed, but $1795 seems a bit steep, especially since I had only a few hundred dollars of non-warranty repair work done by the end of year 6 with my current VW. I still have a few days to decide before I take delivery.

Anyone know if it is possible to buy an EW from a dealer other than the one who sells you the car?

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I don't know if you can buy it from another dealer. If so, that gives more leverage in the negotiations.

For the reasons both of you have listed, I'm thinking that I'll probably get an extended warranty too. I've read a bunch of articles (and some folks here) that talk about extended warranties being a bad deal because they are moneymakers for the dealers. However, I'm not sure that's the right lens to be looking at them through, especially for a first model year, first mass market electric car from the dealer (I know, they sell the e-Up in Europe, but it's the first one available here). I think of it more like insurance. My health insurance is probably (and hopefully will always be) a money maker for the provider. My homeowners insurance, same thing. Car insurance, money maker for them too. But all of these, give me peace of mind against the risk that I have a huge expense to pay. Granted, it is much less likely that the car will have a major systems failure that will cost thousands of dollars. But, with an unproven electric car (from a company that I understand to have some history of electrical problems), the safer bet seems to be to pay some money upfront to not have to worry about a costly malfunction/breakdown of some part in a few years. So, for me, even if I never use it, I think I'll get tremendous value out of not having to worry about the specter of the costly breakdown. Peace of mind has real value to me.

What works against your argument is that even though it's a new design, whatever design flaws might exist are going to show up in the first year or two and those flaws would be corrected on your car, and worked into all the others as well if it's things like software updates, or else by recalls.

Also, the e-Up electric car has been on sale in Europe since the fall of 2013 so some experience would have been transferred to the e-golf and the e-golf has been on sale in Europe for 6 months and nobody on the German forum is reporting problems.

Still, peace of mind is important, but my whole life, I've taken the money I would have spent on all forms of insurance, and invested it to generate assets which give me the same piece of mind because I know I can pay for any problems

Ron

cove3 said:

What works against your argument is that even though it's a new design, whatever design flaws might exist are going to show up in the first year or two and those flaws would be corrected on your car, and worked into all the others as well if it's things like software updates, or else by recalls.

Also, the e-Up electric car has been on sale in Europe since the fall of 2013 so some experience would have been transferred to the e-golf and the e-golf has been on sale in Europe for 6 months and nobody on the German forum is reporting problems.

Still, peace of mind is important, but my whole life, I've taken the money I would have spent on all forms of insurance, and invested it to generate assets which give me the same piece of mind because I know I can pay for any problems

Ron

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Ron - I agree that the e-up being on the market since last year and the 6 months of the e-golf sales w/o problems in Europe are helpful for suggesting that the car is made well without major flaws that are apparent at this point (i3 experience seems to be very different). However, I'm not sure that means that how it's designed and the parts that VW has used won't wear, fail, malfunction, etc. a few years down the road. I don't think there's any real way to be confident about that until the product has actually been out for 5-6 years or more. Some electronics work great for a couple years then start having parts fail (screens, sensors, etc.) So, I'm just not confident about it with this car. It may be if I did extensive research I'd find that most of the parts used have proven track records, but I don't have the time nor skill to investigate that heavily. So, I'm cool paying for the peace of mind.

However, I don't think your anti-extended warranty philosophy is wrong. I've never gotten one before. And if you're comofortable not having one, then no reason to get one. But with the new technology and unproven track record of this car, the balance tips in favor of the warranty for me. I must say, that do disagree with your skip "all forms of insurance" philosophy though. There is no way I would ever skip on health insurance, homeowners insurance or regular auto insurance (actually it's illegal to skip auto insurance in CA). No amount of savvy investing could ever make up for the cost of a catastrophic health issue, catastrophic event at my house, or catastrophic car accident. That is just too much risk to save a relatively small amount of cash comparatively. I am fortunate enough to have other disposable income and other ways to save that allow me to invest enough to feel comfortable with my financial picture even with buying insurance (and in this case, an extended warranty too).

E golf2015, we bought at Cherry Hill NJ. The warranty is services through Fidelity Warranty Services. You can buy the extended warranty through any dealership i believe, and you can also look into 3rd party extended warranties if you have the time....

Flyingdutchman81 said:

E golf2015, we bought at Cherry Hill NJ. The warranty is services through Fidelity Warranty Services. You can buy the extended warranty through any dealership i believe, and you can also look into 3rd party extended warranties if you have the time....

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Thanks - I may do some calling around to other dealers here in NorCal. Also looking at the window sticker, I see that our car comes with a 3yr/36k VW warranty, 5 yr/60k warranty on Powertrain and High Voltage system, 8yr/100k warranty on the battery and 12yr corrosion perforation warranty. It seems like the major systems (and presumably highest ticket items) are already covered for at least 5 years, which makes me question even more if the extended warranty is worth it, especially at 1800 bucks.

I'll have to ask the dealership to explain in more detail exactly what is and isn't covered under the High Voltage and Powertrain warranties. Our shipment got screwed up somehow, and the car wont be delivered for at least another week, so I still have some time to research and decide.