Extended warranty - still a bad idea?

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LTLFTcomposite

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Joined
Apr 23, 2010
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Location
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I normally avoid these like the plague, but hearing stories about LEAFs dying like NOGASHOLE's and another guy with a $1300 shift knob I'm wondering if maybe this might be worth considering on a "slightly used" Leaf I may be getting. Any thoughts on this?

https://owners.nissanusa.com/nowners/navigation/extendedServiceContent

GOLD PREFERRED
COVERAGE SO EXTENSIVE, ONLY A FEW ITEMS ARE NOT COVERED: Virtually all major
components of your Nissan are covered, except for normal maintenance services and the items listed in
the footnote below, providing you with an unprecedented level of exclusionary coverage.
...
The Gold Preferred Plan does not cover:
Tires, wheels, wheel balance and alignment, battery, spark plugs and wires, fluids (unless required with covered repair), wiper blades, A/C recharge (unless required with covered repair), lubricants and filters (unless required with covered repair), disc
brake rotors and drums, brake pads, strut inserts/shock absorbers, clutch friction disc and pressure plate, throw out bearing, lamp assemblies/lenses and bulbs, carpet and upholstery, trim, moldings, glass, bright metal, body sheet metal, exhaust system,
paint and rust, squeaks and rattles, water leaks, wind noise, any component of an electrically-powered vehicle (Except Nissan LEAF), immobilizer key, keyfob, air bags and any related sensors and modules, and all items not covered by the Nissan Limited
Warranty or Emissions Warranty. For complete information concerning components covered, and those components which are excluded from coverage, please refer to the Security+Plus Service Contract or contact your local Nissan dealer.
 
I got this when my factory warranty was expiring. The trick is to find it cheap enough, and pay monthly if you have a lease. I bought it from Jim Bone Nissan, IIRC. I'm going to see if I can get another year's worth, as a matter of fact.
 
You got the gold preferred from Nissan? How much was coverage for year #4? I'm looking at a one year old 16 SV, with the eight year capacity warranty it could be a relatively long term solution, but the possibility of failures not covered by the 3/36 or 5/60 factory warranty is daunting. If I could get bumper to bumper through 8/96 I'd feel better, not that only getting eight years out of a car is wonderful, but better than potentially junking a car after just five years (or the four years of me having it).

The wording one the gold preferred is a little strange:

"any component of an electrically-powered vehicle (Except Nissan LEAF)"

I assume that means the Leaf is an exception to the exception
 
When I purchased my 2014 SV with 8,700 miles a few weeks ago, I fretted over the decision of whether to buy the extended warranty. I normally don't purchase extended warranties on items like this. Had I purchased an extended warranty on my 2007 Prius I would have lost money.

I'm not worried about the battery or electric motor, but other big-ticket items that can go wrong on the car. It's ultimately a gamble.

My Leaf was making a clicking sound on accel/decel and took it to the dealer. I still had 2 days left of the factory warranty. They performed Nissan Technical Bulletin (NTB 12-055b) and did a caliper service for the clicking. They also replaced the telematics unit. The 3G was added as part of the CPO program but would not connect.

With 2 days remaining on the factory warranty I looked closer at the warranty offered through Jim Bone Nissan. Something didn't add up:

The used warranty for a car under 40K for 60 months was $1,195. In order to get 60 months from a “new” car warranty I would have to purchase the 96 month warranty (96-36months=60 months since a new car warranty starts from the original in service date) for $1,405. That makes it $210 less expensive to buy a “used” car warranty over a “new” car warranty.

This is how it’s explained on the site:

New Vehicle plans are effective on the date the vehicle was first sold new and the mileage starts at Zero. For example: If your vehicle is 14 months of with 15,000 miles and you purchase a 60 Month / 100,000 Mile New Vehicle Plan the vehicle will be covered for 46 additional months or up to 100,000 miles, whichever occurs first.

The "Pre-Owned" plans are the same type of coverage, the difference is in how the time and mileage are calculated. When you purchase a Pre-Owned plan the time and mileage start on the date you purchase it. For example: Your vehicle has 37,000 miles and you purchase a 60 Month / 60,000 Mile plan; the vehicle will be covered for five years from today's date or up to 97,000 miles, whichever occurs first.

In the end I decided to gamble and get the 7-year "used" warranty with a $100 deductible. I will never reach the mile limit. It was $1,365. That's $195 a year for peace of mind.
 
jim0266 said:
...
In the end I decided to gamble and get the 7-year "used" warranty with a $100 deductible. I will never reach the mile limit. It was $1,365. That's $195 a year for peace of mind.
That sounds about like what I want. In my case I'm looking for coverage out to the 8 year mark on vehicle that is one year old, so two years left on the bumper to bumper and four years left on the powertrain. I'm nervous about pricey things failing just two years from now (either non-powertrain like the AC or something that they say isn't powertrain but the car is still crapped out) as well as costly things going after the five year mark. If I get to 7 years from now (eight years of age on the car) I won't be thrilled if I have to junk it for a costly failure but I will have gotten enough value/use out of it that it won't feel like a catastrophe.

A friend of mine had his Volt in the shop for 43 days, it was fixed under warranty (seems GM has better coverage). The idea of having one of these cars hostage at a dealer on your own dime is scary, not even clear they always have competent people at all the dealers to fix them. When I leased before this wasn't an issue.

So much for EVs having fewer moving parts and hardly anything to go wrong, I think we're seeing that's a myth.

One more question, Jim Bone Nissan, is that what used to be Santa Rosa? I heard they were selling Nissan warranties at a discount nationwide, looks like Nissan may have shut them down on that.
 
One more question, Jim Bone Nissan, is that what used to be Santa Rosa? I heard they were selling Nissan warranties at a discount nationwide, looks like Nissan may have shut them down on that

That's the place. I hope they can still sell them. I paid about $450 for one extra year by getting in on the very end of the New car warranty.
 
I also purchased an Extended Warranty through Jim Bone Nissan. I debated for quite a while, but I went for the 96 month/96k miles with $0 deductible for around $1800. I bought during the last week of my factory warranty. I asked my local dealer first, but they only offered the 75month/75k miles for $2500. Surprisingly enough, the Service department did the required inspection for the Extended Warranty at no charge, along with the yearly battery test. I've never been a big fan of extended warranties, but due to the current quality of goods available, I now get them on the big ticket items.
 
So is there any reason to make a move on this with a one year old car? Or wait until just before the three year B2B warranty is up? I suppose the only concern might be that Nissan decides aging LEAFs are too problematic and either jacks the price or flat out stops offering these plans.

I sense though that major problems are not all that common, but when they do happen it can be pretty ugly, and you're totally at their mercy. Exactly the sort of thing you want insurance for.
 
The nissansrextendedservicecontracts.com (aka Jim Bone Nissan) web site is a pain to use to get your quote, especially when going back and forth between "new" and "pre-owned" and trying to figure out pricing. I had to use several emails to keep them separate.

But once I purchased the agreement is was painless. A few days later I received the contract via UPS and sent back a copy via their pre-paid UPS letter.

I did get this notice from them at the end of March, FWIW...

You recently received a quote for the purchase of a Security+Plus plan for your vehicle and it looks like you didn't complete it. I wanted to let you know that Nissan will be raising pricing on Security+Plus plans somewhere between April 1st and April 15th, 2017. Each year is different but we wanted to let you know in advance so that you have the chance to lock in the current price for the Security+Plus plan you were shopping for.

I have to correct what I wrote earlier from memory. I went for the pre-owned 6-yr/80k mile warranty for $1,365 with $100 deductible. That's $227.50 per year. Curious to see how much the pricing goes up.
 
I recently bought a 2012 Leaf SL (43k miles) for cheap. It was originally not sold as certified pre-owned but as part of the bargaining process I managed to get the dealer to certify it and thus make it eligible for the extended warranty. I chose the Gold preferred 7 yrs 100k miles with 0 deductible and ended up paying $1500 for this. As I used financing, this is paid off monthly and can be cancelled at any point of time with a potential refund. This way I am somewhat covered until end of 2019 or 100k miles which made me feel "safe enough" when deciding to purchase an older Leaf. The car is in excellent condition, however only with 11 bars.
 
Everything still ok with Jim Bones? I just got quote from Jim Bones for new car warranty for my 2015 then-new Leaf. His new car extended warranties are good up to 12,000 miles and mine is at 11,300. I got quote for LEAF Gold Preferred 72 Month 100,000 Mile Coverage for $935, compared to the original one my dealer sold me for Silver 72 month/75,000 coverage for $2500! I'm fighting with my dealer, though, because I tried to cancel it the day after I bought the car in 2015, they didn't, again a month later, and again 5 months later. I just found out today it was never cancelled so I have to see how much Nissan Customer Affairs will refund me before buying the much cheaper Jim Bones.
 
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