mini survey: Honda Civic 5-year repair costs

Discussion in 'Civic' started by S. S., May 10, 2004.

  1. S. S.

    S. S. Guest

    Hello listers,

    I hope you may help me by laying your hands on this mini survey.
    Basically I want to figure out whether it is worthwhile to purchase
    the extended warranty for Honda Civic. My 03 Civic will hit 30k miles
    in one and half year after its purchase. If at that moment I am to buy
    a bumper-to-bumper wear and tear plan for 5 years/100k miles with $0
    deductible, the premium will be $1,000 or so. It will pay the cost to
    repair or replace any part of the vehicle where a failure has
    occurred, EXCEPT for those items listed below:

    Battery; tires; wheels/rims; exhaust and emissions systems; shock
    absorbers; friction clutch disc & pressure plate; throw out bearing;
    manual and hydraulic linkages; safety restraint systems; glass;
    lenses; sealed beams; bulbs; brake rotors & drums; TV/video/game
    systems; weather strips; exterior body parts/ornamentation; paint;
    upholstery & carpet; phone systems.

    I figure out that if in five years, my repair/replacement costs for
    items NOT listed in the EXCLUSION list are more than $1,000, then it
    is worthwhile to buy the extended warranty now. Since it is my first
    car, I do not know how much I might be spending in repair/replacement
    in the first several years on a Honda Civic. If you have owned the car
    for a while (not necessary 5 years), can you let me know how much the
    cost is for you? I appreciate a lot if you can distinguish between
    both the cost for the items in the exclusion list and those are not.
    Thank you very much!

    SS
     
    S. S., May 10, 2004
    #1
  2. S. S.

    Larry Guest

    I have a 99 Civic EX Coupe w/AT and have owned it since May 1999. It
    currently has 55,000 miles and hasn't seen a repair shop except for
    maintenance items such as oil changes, new tires, and brakes, I haven't
    spent one dime on repairs that would be covered by an extended warranty. My
    advice is to save your cash.
    I also have a 2001 CRV with 36,000 miles that falls under the same
    circumstance as described above.
     
    Larry, May 10, 2004
    #2
  3. S. S.

    mike Guest

    98 civic, since new... 45k miles.

    one upper O2 sensor, about $200, replaced by me. thats all, aside from
    normal preventative maintenance done by me and replacing all 4 of the OEM
    firestones. i would have lost money on a warranty. besides, arent 3 of the 5
    years already covered by the factory warranty?
     
    mike, May 11, 2004
    #3
  4. S. S.

    Pars Guest

    1998 Civic DX Hatch. 174,000 KM. One stone chip at 25,000KM that blew out
    the radiator (which wasn't covered by warranty...since it was a road
    hazard issue). Also, the car has been riding on fat tires and performance
    shocks/springs since 30,000KM. The performance add-ons have not effective
    other chassis component and the body still feels tight. Other then the
    performance add-ons, new radiator from stone chip and regular preventative
    maintenance, there's no other additional cost to report. I don't know
    about 2003 model, but in the previous model, the extended warranty was a
    waste of $$$. (I had a 6 years 160,000KM warranty package on my 98 Civic
    Hatch that I never got to use).

    Pars
     
    Pars, May 11, 2004
    #4
  5. S. S.

    z Guest

    My experience, not much chance of expensive repairs up till timing
    belt replacement time, around 100,000. Around then, things start
    crumbling.
     
    z, May 11, 2004
    #5
  6. S. S.

    Otto Guest

    When I buy a new car, I install screens in front of the rads. The
    reduction in air flow is negligible and protection from rocks and
    grasshoppers is substantial.

    Otto
     
    Otto, May 11, 2004
    #6
  7. Ahhh... if it were that simple, then warranties wouldn't exist! Fact
    of the matter is, dealers usually make a killing on extended
    warranties (particularly on cars known for quality such as Honda) as
    they rarely require the amount of repairs to justify the cost of the
    warranty itself. Think about it - if warranties were not as
    profitable (read: required work does not offset cost of warranty) then
    dealers would not push them as hard as they do. You are essentially
    paying for repairs whether you need them or not.

    Of course, the worthiness of a warranty varies from one person to the
    next. For someone who is not mechanically inclined and drives their
    car like an appliance and possibly on a fixed budget, a warranty
    offers the peace of mind that if something should go, they won't be
    faced with a huge surprise bill. On the flipside, more than likely
    they will spend more on the warranty than the actual repairs for said
    period of time. But, it is up to that person to put a value on "peace
    of mind".

    On the other hand, if the person is a do-it-yourselfer and is somewhat
    knowledgeable to foresee signs of impending doom, then - barring a
    complete lemon - they would be wiser to not take the warranty. If you
    have a mechanic friend and can avoid the dealer altogether (thus save
    much $$), even better.

    On a personal note, I foolishly took the extended warranty on my 96
    Integra - which I purchased from a dealer secondhand in 1998 - and
    wasted my money. I had two relatively minor repairs done over the 7
    years / 100K miles and did not even come close to justifying the cost
    ($945 for warranty vs $600 of work). It should also be noted that one
    of the repair jobs (power antenna motor - $325CND!) was only done
    *because* I had the warranty; otherwise I would have simply put a
    fixed mast).

    I will never buy an extended warranty again.

    Bottom line - the *best* thing you can do - provided you have the
    discipline - is to take the money you would otherwise give the dealer
    for warranty and put it in a savings account and DON'T TOUCH IT. If
    something should break, you dip into it. In the end, if you didn't
    need your full "warranty", you get the remaining money back, plus
    whatever interest that account gets (although not much these days, but
    still better than what the dealer gives you). Finally, this type of
    warranty has no "exclusions". ;-)

    Sorry for the long post, but that's my $0.02 on the topic......

    Kevin
     
    Kevin Sargent, May 11, 2004
    #7
  8. Then why do you pay for car insurance? You never get that back, either.
    It's just money down the drain....

    Oh, you say. But car insurance is for "what-if".

    Well, an extended warranty is nothing but insurance. It's no different
    than car insurance, or homeowner's insurance, or renter's insurance, or
    whatever.

    That YOU didn't get anything back on it for THAT car is an accounting
    argument only. You got peace of mind, right? You got the ability to
    walk in and drop off the keys and have anything handled at no extra cost
    to you, even catastrophic things. Is the ability to do so not worth
    anything to you?

    Then I ask again: why pay for car insurance? Why carry homeowner's
    insurance? They're the same thing. You don't get anything back from
    them, either.
     
    Elmo P. Shagnasty, May 11, 2004
    #8
  9. S. S.

    Sean Dinh Guest

    We couldn't register our cars without insurances. We could be fined for not
    having insurances. We could get our cars impounded for not having
    insurances.
     
    Sean Dinh, May 11, 2004
    #9
  10. S. S.

    dep_blueman Guest

    Keep in mind that the 'list' price on the Honda extended service
    contract are just like the list prices of cars; you should never pay
    it!

    For most plans you should expect a 40%-60% markup. So if the dealer
    is asking $1,000 she might be paying $500 or less. For example, you
    can purchase the 5/100 plan via http://www.curryhondacare.com/ for
    ~$840 which would still include some amount of profit for that dealer.
    Your dealer might be willing to take less profit to make a sale.

    -D
     
    dep_blueman, May 11, 2004
    #10
  11. S. S.

    dizzy Guest

    Well, there's a co-pay...
     
    dizzy, May 11, 2004
    #11
  12. S. S.

    dizzy Guest

    Umm... I'd say that's pretty close. Think about odds of having the
    numbers match much more tightly then that.
     
    dizzy, May 11, 2004
    #12
  13. S. S.

    mike Guest

    a) its the law, in many places
    b) so you wont lose any assets, if sued (rightfully or wrongfully). people
    have had the nerve to rear-end other people, then sue them claiming that
    they were "backed into" and suffered injuries.
     
    mike, May 12, 2004
    #13
  14. S. S.

    mike Guest

    law. especially if youre financing.
    cant get a mortgage without it.
    and if you own your house and car outright, you can get by with the minimum
    insurance required, if any. and if you have the funds to do repairs or
    replace the car or house if destroyed, fine.

    if you take care of your honda, it should last a good long time without any
    warranty work. the first 3 years are covered, no charge. wanna pay $1000 to
    feel warm n fuzzy for 2 more years? go ahead. id rather take the $1000 and
    feel warm and fuzzy on a nice vacation.
     
    mike, May 12, 2004
    #14
  15. S. S.

    mike Guest

    and almost $400 of that inflated cost was a friggin antenna. an easy DIY job
    worth about $30.

    so he paid $945 and got $200 back. almost like playing roulette
     
    mike, May 12, 2004
    #15
  16. You are correct that the extended warranty is essentially insurance.
    However, the best financial advice when considering insurance is to
    think 'comprehensive' and 'catastrophic.' Extended warranties can be
    (but aren't necessarily) fairly comprehensive. But are these repairs
    catastrophic? You might possibly have $4K in repairs, $3K after you
    apply the money you saved by not buying the extended warranty. That
    is going to be painful but if it is catastrophic, you probably can't
    afford the car in the first place.

    Compare that to a car accident where you could total your brand new
    car and/or face $250K (or more) in personal injury claims. That
    sounds catastrophic to most people.
     
    Gordon McGrew, May 12, 2004
    #16
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