Extended Warranties and Security+Plus Prepaid maintenance???

[henrysunset]

The title says it all, I'm trying to decide if I will cancel either of these additional purchase decisions we made in the stressful room with the finance guy. I bought both, in a large part since both are cancellable withing 30 days. Now I'm trying to make an educated decision about both.

1) What do people think about buying extended warranties for the leaf?
(Price is ~1350$ for 96mo/100,000mi/100$ dedictible). The claim made at the dealer was that the car has a lot of expensive electronics, but only the battery itself has a serious warranty.

The included warranty says: "Every US specification Nissan LEAF® is backed by a New Vehicle Limited Warranty providing: 36-month/36,000-mile basic coverage (whichever occurs earlier); 60-month/60,000-mile powertrain and electric vehicle system coverage (whichever occurs earlier); and 96 months/100,000 miles Lithium-Ion Battery coverage (whichever occurs earlier)."

Upon closer inspection of the warranty, I'm pretty sure it's not worth the money and can cancel it within 60 days. My biggest worry is the battery and it's covered already. Am I missing something?

2) What do people think about the Security Plus Prepaid Maintenance?
It's a slightly harder calculation, and seems to pivot on how hard you drive the car. (service schedule 1 vs 2) Sicne our usage is light, I think I can save a lot of money by following schedule 2 and dropping the service plan.

It costs about 1000$ and covers the first 8 services of the car. Per the service schedule, the 7500mile (1/2 year) service is just to rotate the tires (based on Schedule 2 which I will qualify for due to relatively easy driving). I think I can get that done for free at a tire shop. The 15000mile (1 year) service depends in cost for Schedule 1 vs. Schedule 2. I don't think that I will warrant the agressive replacement of brake fluid - Does anyone know the cost for a 15k service following Schedule 2?

Most important question: What is the minimum "nissan certified" servicing interval to keep the car properly warranted?

 

[reeler]

I bought the Extended Warranty for my 2011. It was far cheaper buying on the Internet from an out-of-state Nissan dealer. Search the web as there are better deals out there for the Nissan factory warranty.

I wouldn't buy the service contract because there really is no service needed.

 

[planet4ever]

As far as I'm concerned they are both a total waste of money. Have you seen the threads that talk about how much we are actually paying for service? There is quite literally nothing that has to be done that you can't do yourself (tire rotation, replace climate control filter) or have done free, other than the battery check (free for two years) and maybe flush the brake fluid. I suspect strongly that the price for the maintenance contract is based on what you have to do for gas cars, which is WAAAY more.

Ray

 

[ksnogas2112]

Prepaid maintenance, heck no. Extended warranty, because I bought instead of lease I went with the extended warranty 96k miles/8 years.

Wish I'd leased for a whole bunch of reasons.

 

[Stanton]

Extended Warranty: yes (although I paid much less--the dealer matched what was then a CA quote for Leafs). I would do this for any new technology that can (practically) only be sourced/fixed by a single manufacturer (in this case obviously Nissan). I don't think the extended warranty prices quoted (at least initially) were that out of line.

Pre-paid maintenance: no (there really is no maintenance for a Leaf, so it seems dis-ingenuous for a dealer to push this).

 

[Elephanthead]

The warranty doesn't cover battery derogation so it is pretty useless unless your $3,000 cd player breaks. I guess we don't have many high mileage leafs yet so if I planned to own for 8 years I might buy the warranty just for the radio. The leaf is the first car I leased since the depreciation and long term battery cost are terrible and unknown. I preferred to just pay the price upfront. I probably would return both of those to the dealer you bought from and buy a cheaper warranty from an online Nissan dealer.

 

[OrientExpress]

Cancel them. The only thing they provide is a fatter profit margin for your dealer.

 

[QueenBee]

It's been discussed elsewhere BUT if I were in your shoes I would get some quotes from the Nissan Dealers who sell Nissan warranties online. Their sites might not make it obvious which dealer they are but ensure that you are getting a quote for the Nissan warranty and not a third party warranty.
Last time I looked the Gold Preferred 96 Month 100,000 Mile Coverage $0 deductible was $1553 from NissanExtendedWarranty.com

A lot of people really don't like warranties but if you are going to keep the car I would be really inclined to get a manufacturer extended warranty. Sure Nissan makes money on them but that's true of car insurance as well but.... Sure most of the problems are going to be after the warranty expires and the car is 10+ years old with 150k+ miles but to me there are some complicated electrical systems and computers in this car, and even all cars. If you've got an intermittent problem to troubleshoot and it's on your dime that could get costly really fast. As someone that likes to be cheap and troubleshoot things himself I have to admit that it's very nice to just be able to take the car into the dealer and let them fix stuff on Nissan's dime. Really if any of the major electronic components fail after 36 months and before the extended warranty expires the warranty will certainly pay for it self.

I like to look at the cost a different way. Original warranty is 36 months and new warranty in my above example is 92 so that's only $27 a month for 56 months of coverage....

Another thing to note you can buy the extended warranty as long as the original warranty is still in effect, you do have to bring the car into any Nissan dealer for an inspection (Costs $100 or $150, I forget) If you leased it would be a great idea to just wait until the lease is coming up and then you can decide if you will be keeping it or not.

As for the maintenance it probably just depends on how much you would do yourself and if you want to change the brake fluid as often as Nissan says. As you said rotating the tires can be free. There are also brake fluid tests which will give you an idea of if it needs to be changed and thus far mine is still nearly perfect after 18 months and 15,000 miles but Nissan would have recommended changing it already.

Congrats on the new LEAF! I have a feeling the buying a new car stress will quickly fade as you fall in love with your EV.

 

[LEAFfan]

Cancel them. The only thing they provide is a fatter profit margin for your dealer.

+1!

 

[Stanton]

Cancel them. The only thing they provide is a fatter profit margin for your dealer.

If only ONE thing breaks on my Leaf in the 8 years of coverage I purchased, it will pay for itself. Good luck getting a third party to figure out what was wrong, let alone get the parts to fix it. This is NEW TECHNOLOGY.

 

[henrysunset]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm definitely going to get a refund on the service contract since the Schedule 2 servicing is cheap, and I will probably take a credit on the extended warranty as well since it doesn't seem like the risk of non-warranted failure is particularly high, and quite frankly, I can afford to take the risk and pocket the likely savings.


As a point of reference, what are some of the more expensive non-warranty items which could fail? (I'm still open to suggestions on the warranty thing.)

 

[planet4ever]

I will probably take a credit on the extended warranty as well since it doesn't seem like the risk of non-warranted failure is particularly high, and quite frankly, I can afford to take the risk and pocket the likely savings.

Insurance companies hire some of the best statisticians in the world. They make the rules and set the prices, and the only way they can stay in business is if they win the game. My rule is simple. I buy insurance if (a) I am required by law to have it, or (b) there is a reasonable chance of a loss so great that it would break me.

Ray

 

[RegGuheert]

As a point of reference, what are some of the more expensive non-warranty items which could fail? (I'm still open to suggestions on the warranty thing.)

- Charger (known failure item on the LEAF)
- Inverter (motor drive)
- DC/DC converter
- Battery controller
- Brake controller

I think all of these items cost more than you paid for the warranty, just for the part. Note that the first four are already covered for 60 months and 60,000 miles, so I think the differences of opinion here likely depend on how long people expect to keep the car.

So far, the inverter and the DC/DC converter in the LEAF have been rock solid, but power electronic components like this tend to have MTBFs less than ten years.

I bought the 96-month/100,000-mile warranty for $1200 and I don't regret it one bit (unless we wreck the car before we can take advantage of he warranty)

 

[QueenBee]

As a point of reference, what are some of the more expensive non-warranty items which could fail? (I'm still open to suggestions on the warranty thing.)

- Charger (known failure item on the LEAF)
- Inverter (motor drive)
- DC/DC converter
- Battery controller
- Brake controller
..
I bought the 96-month/100,000-mile warranty for $1200 and I don't regret it one bit (unless we wreck the car before we can take advantage of he warranty)

Not that it will happen but if it does you can get a prorated refund. (You can always get a prorated refund)

Another one that has been a "big" issue is the PTC heater.

 

[henrysunset]

I have a 2013 - didn't they replace the heater with a new (hopefully more reliable) design?

 

[RegGuheert]

I have a 2013 - didn't they replace the heater with a new (hopefully more reliable) design?

They replaced the 2011/2012 heater, which was a resistor, with a hybrid design which uses a heat pump and has a resistor (perhaps the same one!) as backup. Hopefully they fixed what has been failing in the 2011/2012s, but the design for the heater is much more complex in order to improve the efficiency.

 

[LEAFer]

I have a 2013 - didn't they replace the heater with a new (hopefully more reliable) design?

They replaced the 2011/2012 heater, which was a resistor, with a hybrid design which uses a heat pump and has a resistor (perhaps the same one!) as backup. Hopefully they fixed what has been failing in the 2011/2012s, but the design for the heater is much more complex in order to improve the efficiency.

But ... it's only available in the "SV" & "SL" trim level, not the bottom trim level "S".