extended warranty for my 2015 SEL.. to buy or nor to buy..

[tinaisis]

I am am buying my 2015 SEL eGolf that I have leased for the past 3 years. Yay!

I am financing through a local dealer (3.29%) for 5 years. The question is whether I should purchase a 10yr/100,00 mile extended warranty for $3190 or not. I don't drive it that much and the dealer says that if I sell the car, they will return the rest of the cost of the warranty. That would be $61/month for the warranty.

I am not generally a warranty kind of person- I wouldn't consider it for a gas guzzler, and the general advice is that warranties pad the pockets of dealers anyway. But is there something about maintenance/repair of an 'electric' car that would warrant any special protection?

Or perhaps I can negotiate a better deal elsewhere, if it is prudent to have some kind of warranty?

Thanks in advance!

 

[miimura]

I don't know if it's a good idea to get it for the e-Golf specifically, but if you do buy it, negotiate the price down. I would not pay more than $2,000.

For my RAV4 EV, I got the "New Car" plan before the bumper to bumper warranty ran out. My local dealer where I have the car serviced wanted $3,400. I shopped around and got it for $1,275 by text message and phone from a dealer about 40 minutes away. The cabin heater on the RAV4 has a high failure rate and costs over $2,000 to fix, so that pushed me over into buying it. I've now owned the car for 64 months and haven't used the extended warranty yet. However, I have another 32 months and 45,000 miles to go.

 

[tinaisis]

Yes, thanks, I will try to negotiate that if I go ahead with it.

Yeah, so the Rav4 EV had a particular issue that warranted a warranty

I'm wondering if there is anything in particular about electric vehicles, per se, that make them different from regular vehicles, that would warrant an extended warranty. For example, since everything is electrical, maybe electrical repairs are either rare, so a warranty would be unnecessary, or they are common and costly, in which case, a warranty may be a good idea.

Still can't find anything that would help me make that decision. The dealer, of course, says that it's super important to have a warranty!

 

[johnnylingo]

I wouldn't do it. You'll be covered by the battery warranty for the first 7 years and that's by far the most important thing. Extended warranties are ripoffs 99% of the time and with EVs it's closer to 100%

 

[miimura]

The charge port is one of the problematic items on the US e-Golf. As long as you keep the lock solenoid lubricated with a high quality silicone based lubricant, it should continue to work normally. However, the fix, if required, is a very expensive complete charge port replacement, for a simple solenoid. That is definitely not covered by the traction battery warranty.

 

[tinaisis]

OK!

Thanks you guys! Signing papers tonight and I am NOT purchasing the extended warranty.

miimura - thanks for the heads up on the charging port! We had the same issue and the dealer put in a new charging port while it was still under warranty. I read the whole thread and it was really helpful. http://www.myvwegolf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=839 I'm still going to spray with silicone, just for extra protection.

Onward!