Quote Originally Posted by Stan Calow View Post
Forgive me for beating the dead horse.

What I cant get past is this: for new cars, there is already a manufacturers warranty that cover most things, for 3-5 years (does Hyundai still have 10 years?). And emissions-related stuff for 10 years by law, right? So it seems to me that there is no value added by the extended warranties for the first several years anyway. And most people dont keep their cars that long. Salespeople have told me that transferrable warranties increase re-sale value, but I also point out that none of those dealers asked me whether my trade-in had an extended warranty. What am I missing?
With a few exceptions the OEM "bumper to bumper" warranty is generally 3 years or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first, with a powertrain warranty of 5 years, 60,000 miles, whichever comes first. So yes, there's no inherent urgency to purchase the extended service contract at the same time as buying the vehicle new, although some manufacturer contracts add some benefits that are not available in the OEM warranty, such as rental reimbursement during warranty repairs before the ESC takes over after 3 years or 36K miles. The risk of waiting is generally around general price increases. Some manufacturer contracts have a slight cost increase if purchased after 12 mos/12K miles, such as MOPAR. Relative to transferability, that depends upon the specific contract; some have that feature and some do not. In some cases, state insurance laws apply to transferability. Most manufacturer contracts have a pro-rate refund available so if one decides to sell or trade earlier than originally intended, they can get a portion of the premium they paid back. I personally just did that when I traded at four years rather than the seven I originally anticipated and put that toward the cost of a new contract on the new vehicle. For trade-in, an existing ESC is unlikely to affect the trade in value offered by a dealer. A transferable ESC might be helpful for a private sale, however.