Warranty Hacker

Has anyone hacked an extended warranty to own a traditionally unreliable car for less than it would typically cost?

For instance Doug Demuro bought his Range Rover from CarMax, opting to purchase $3k in max care warranty to protect it bumper to bumper. It ended up paying out close to the cars purchase price in repairs.

Has anyone else had experience or success with similar products?

You would PURPOSEFULLY buy a unreliable car just to watch it sit in a repair shop just to stick it to the company?

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I wouldn’t do that purposely but buying an extended warranty from Ziegler on a Pacifica Hybrid was the only way I was going to buy it vs an Odyssey. Not sure if it will pay for itself but the PacHy is at the dealer now for a clicking in the wheels. They replaced some ball bearings but that didn’t fix it - now they are saying the cause may be the axle is shifting and I might need a new transmission lol wth

For one, I didn’t ask for your opinion on whether you think it’s a good idea or not. I asked if anyone had attempted to recreate this saga of events that was documented over the course of 6 years, and whether they were successful.

https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/heres-final-update-my-range-rover-carmax-warranty-281474979901455

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That’s the definition of a Jeep Product.
Just Enough Engine Parts…lol

So I guess this is a ‘post your best stick it to the warranty company post’? I read it as, lets buy a car that will save me money on the warranty repairs. Demuro did mention he loves Range Rovers but knows how crappy they were so he cost Carmax so much money they stopped offering warranties for it.

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Thats like saying leasehacking is a “stick it to the banks” group. It’s not. It’s about owning cars that you’ll enjoy for the cheapest amount possible.

If I wanted to live a little, and someday own a high end performance car like a 760li or S63, would getting a warranty be about “sticking it to the warranty company” or ensuring that I’m running the lowest TCO numbers?

That’s exactly what I’m getting at here. Market is about to plummet hard. Fun cars will be available. What’s the cheapest and most intelligent way to safeguard potential failure?

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Carmax still sells a pretty competitive warranty, they just stopped selling super high risk vehicles (or sell them for a higher price). Anecdotally, a 6 yr/+60k mile warranty on a off-warranty 2017 Panamera 4S was $3350 back in May. It was equivalent to the factory warranty, underwritten by fidelity.

Speaking of Fidelity, the Fidelity Platinum warranties are top notch factory equivalents. The hack is buying one when the car has <9,999 miles (any age). Folks have paid $3000 to cover 6 year old 911s for 8 years longer.

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Well thats more believable, fun cars and how do i protect myself?

I can align with that, thats why Doug bought the rover, he liked it very much but not to pay xxx in repairs.

The cars that are gonna crash i believe are the sub 100k, like the charger those are probably getting repod left and right all month.

But still it is hard to find those deals as warranties not sold by carmax were not so exploitable, so what fun cars does carmax sell

I purchased a Ford PremiumCARE Warranty (six additional years) for under $800 (or was it just over $600?) directly from FMC. I extended my lease and did not want to chance anything happening after the three-year factory warranty expired. I have no deductible, and it includes car rental. I am not a Reddit member, but I got fortunate to find great information on the site via a simple Google search.

PremiumCARE_Bro_2021.pdf (579.0 KB)

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Generic breakdown from CarMax below. Doesn’t appear they give breakdowns immediately while browsing through cars. Just saw a pretty V8 6 series with 50k miles in the 20’s. Doug said on a currently used Carmax Range Rover a warranty would run 9k. Using that as a worst case scenario, you get a used 6 figure luxury car with peace of mind for the same price as an optioned Honda Accord. And the market will only grow softer on these high end beasts from here.

Thanks to that bumper to warranty they jacked up the prices

Usually if you finance with a CU they offer warranty for way less

CarMax did, but they might still even be a bargain on Range Rovers at the jacked up prices.

Did they jack up prices on other fun cars too, is a M6 warranty proportionally jacked up?

How bout AutoNation warranties? Other dealer chains or 3rd parties? Carvana, Shift, Driveway, people that are new to the game without great SOP’s in place?

The fidelity tip above was great.

Just remember, all warranties aren’t equal. Look for exclusionary ones with high claim limits - if it’s not on the excluded list, it’s covered. Most of the real cheap warranties provided out there are non-exclusionary, so only covers the few listed components.

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Absolutely. Deductibles and rental/loaner car clauses are worth considering too.

Btw what are you trying to buy from carmax?
You can drive a beater and still get all the muchachas

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I am very sexy and fun, so I really need to be driving a car that is also very sexy and fun.

I want a car that makes me and other people both go :astonished::flushed::drooling_face::heart_eyes::smirk: every time they see it.

I want an unreliable turd. I want it to scream nouveau rich. I want it to be obnoxious yet sinister like a bad guy chase car in a Bond film or the main antagonist’s car in a teen show airing on the CW.

Looking at M6’s, naturally.

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I bought a 750 from carmax recently.
Within their 90 days warranty period(came free with any carmax purchase), they probably put in 6-7k worth of repair if I was bring the car to dealer…

And at this point, my MaxCare warranty haven’t kick in yet…

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Can’t tell if you’re being serious?

spongebob squarepants dancing GIF

I was window shopping a CPO XC90 and was surprised by how reasonably priced a Certified by Volvo warranty extension costs.

About $3K to go from 5/50K to 10/100K bumper-to-bumper on a low-mileage XC90 with $100 deductible, from Steingold, a dealer in New England. The warranty is an exclusionary policy and can only be added to cars purchased as CPO. Almost seems like a no-brainer given how unreliable these SPA vehicles are.

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Do you get a loaner vehicle? How is getting parts for Volvo is it quick?