sup garage dudes

Do any of you have any experience with CNA Auto Warranties? I'm in the process of buying a 2004 350Z roadster and the dealership offers a 4yr/48k warranty for right around $2000. Allegedly it covers everything outside of the normal wear items (though it does cover gaskets and seals) and most importantly the mechanics of the car's convertible top and the electronics in the car. According to the dealer I can take it anywhere I want and the warranty will be honored.

I'm wondering if a) any of you have any experience with third-party warranties (in particular through CNA) and b) whether you think it's a worthwhile thing to pick up?

Thanks.

4/22/2009 11:52:58 PM

I had the carmax warranty. I paid $1800 for 4 years/50k warranty.


The AC died and melted the fused battery terminal and the fan controls (a small amount). The bill was $1400, and I paid $50. There have been other issues with the car that weren't covered because of my modifications.

In the end, I probably came out even.

4/23/2009 12:12:35 AM

aftermarket warranties have a tendency to be slow on payment and are generally a pain. I never got my entire money's worth out of the one I had (MAYBE recouped a third). Not sure how quirky the top is or the electronics are on a 350Z but you may want to take the gamble. Also they almost always cover a much lowere hourly rate than any decent shop would charge, so you end up paying add'l money out of pocket.

I would only buy the warranty if there is a known issue with a major item for that year and make that is not covered by a recall or factory warranty at this point.



[Edited on April 23, 2009 at 10:20 AM. Reason : or if you are plannin on driving it like a bat outta hell and then selling it in 4yrs ]

4/23/2009 10:19:33 AM

According to the dealer, outside of a $100 deductible, CNA would deal directly with the shop for the rest of the payment. You bring up a good point though in that I need to make sure that they'll cover the repairs at the shop of my choice and at the price of my shop's services. Thanks.

4/23/2009 10:43:09 AM

Insurance is SUPPOSED to deal directly with the shop, but often the shop will want the money prior to releasing your vehicle, so you will have to pay the shop, wait for insurance to reimburse them (they HAVE to reimburse the SHOP most of the time), and then wait for the shop to credit you your money back. This whole process will take weeks if not over a month. Unless you find a shop that deals with aftermarket warranties consistently, they will be wary of releasing your car until they get a confirmed payment one way or another.

4/23/2009 10:54:26 AM

Like any indemnity style insurance plan, very smart people are calculating the risk of you actually collecting on the full value of the policy. It obviously designed so that you pay in more than you get out, but still benefit from the security of knowing that you are covered in case those unlikely problems do in fact occur.

The only way the consumer wins in a strict monetary sense is if there is what economists would call asymmetrical information--you know more about the risk of something going wrong (like the potential for serious repairs on a car) than the insurance company does. So you're always going to get the best deal if you buy a warranty for a car with a high likelihood of expensive repairs, as long as that likelihood is not fully reflected in the cost of the policy. It's like a patient with a lot of health problems paying a premium similar to a healthy patient, either because the unhealthy patient hid his health problems or because the insurance company is not allowed to "penalize" for certain conditions. That unhealthy patient essentially gets a ton of healthy people paying his inevitable health bills, as opposed to the healthy patients who just buy insurance to pay for protection from an unlikely accident.

Do you have a lot of savings or expect to have a lot of savings in the future? if you do, I would not bother. Buying the insurance plan would likely be a waste then.

4/23/2009 11:11:10 AM

its a tarp

4/25/2009 8:15:48 PM