Just bought an '03 Jetta with 63k for $15,500....

[Oxenpower]

MY FIRST TDI!!!!! In fact, my first car! (I'm 21)
Its a manual, grey/metallic (anthracite?) with grey cloth inside. Car was checked out at a VW dealership because the carfax came up with an accident and did not have appropriate maintenance records. This was a little sketchy, but the dealership (the honda guys next door to the VW) were asking 16,900 for it, so I brought them down to 15,500 even after they replaced 2 worn tires and the VW mechanics only found minor misalignment of body panels.
I also decided to get a 4yr, 40,000 yr warranty on it from VW. I sent them half the money but can still cancel that If I so choose. Is it worth the $17hundred? It includes the turbo, brakes, electronics, A/C etc. National Warranty Corporation. Any feedback would be helpful, Thanks. (Sorry if this is the wrong category)

 

[kjmiller1]

yeah, wrong category (probably best in TDI 101). If you have some tools, time, and mechanical ability (and tdiclub.com) I'd definately get out of that warranty situation. I personally wouldn't do it even if I couldn't work on my car. Just wait as long as possible to get out with your money back, so its kind of like a free warranty I'm guessing

You should post where you are located. Somebody might have some insight on dealers to avoid for service and recommend a local TDI guy.

Congrats on getting your first car.

 

[Oxenpower]

Thanks, yea I had been starting to think I would cancel it, and just put the money aside for repairs. I was a little worried that unknown problems would arise due to the collision w/parked car on the carfax that had no corresponding shop records.
Im in Olympia, WA
Im really excited to learn all about my car-- I've been soaking this site up!!
jay

 

[woofie2]

I paid for the extended warranty on mine and it has already paid for it's self.
I paid $1000 for it when I bought the car new, to double the factory warranty, to 7 years 100k miles, at 51k miles the alternator went out.

 

[dieseldorf]

oxen, did you purchase the car from a VW dealer or elsewhere?

Nobody can really answer "should I spend $$$ on a warranty" question - - you may need it, you may not...it's a total roll of the dice. Just make sure the warranty company is going is legit and going to be around for longer than the next 12 months.

 

[kjmiller1]

Nobody can really answer "should I spend $$$ on a warranty" question - - you may need it, you may not...it's a total roll of the dice.

Do you think 1700 for 40K is good odds though? Maybe I've just had good luck with my car so that warranty doesn't sound appealing to me. I've seen enough very informative posts from dieseldorf to know he knows what he is talking about, so if he doesn't immediately think it is a bad move maybe it isn't. From my rough estimates you could replace the turbo, alternater, MAF, and ecu for less then 1700 if you can provide the labor and spend the time to source the parts.

Jay, do you know if the car was in an accident, fixed, then immediately sold to you? If that is the case, the warranty makes more sense. But if it happened 20K+ miles ago, it seems most quirks from the accident would have been worked out. Oh, and I meant to say put your location in your profile. I don't know why, but I like seeing where everybody is from

 

[dieseldorf]

Do you think 1700 for 40K is good odds though? Maybe I've just had good luck with my car so that warranty doesn't sound appealing to me. I've seen enough very informative posts from dieseldorf to know he knows what he is talking about, so if he doesn't immediately think it is a bad move maybe it isn't. From my rough estimates you could replace the turbo, alternater, MAF, and ecu for less then 1700 if you can provide the labor and spend the time to source the parts.

Jay, do you know if the car was in an accident, fixed, then immediately sold to you? If that is the case, the warranty makes more sense. But if it happened 20K+ miles ago, it seems most quirks from the accident would have been worked out. Oh, and I meant to say put your location in your profile. I don't know why, but I like seeing where everybody is from

Nobody can accurately answer this and we don't know oxen's mechanical proficiency or otherwise. You can blow thru $1700 pretty quick at the dealer when things start to go wrong.

We bought a used MBz last summer. MBz offered us the following coverages:

1 year @$2500
2 year @$3500
3 year @$4500


I pondered this for a long time as the car had only 6 weeks of factory warranty remaining. We didn't end up buying additional coverage but some things did go wrong a few days before the warranty expired and required several trips to the dealer to correct. Total cost of those repairs was well over $5k

Two things I worry about:

• Will the underwriting company still be in business when you need to call them?
• Is the warranty only covering things that never fail?

I've definitely had aftermarket warranty companies pay claims in the past...it's not always a bad deal.

 

[Harvieux]

Though the warranty Chris is offering covers a boat load of items beyond what may be considered catostrofic, I usually try to define these programs as a major medical insurance programs. Example: Tranny problem, pre-mature TB failure, HVAC failures, fuel system problems, major electrical problems, etc. All it would take is one of these major problems to occur to get your money back and probably get into the black or a few other not so major ordeals. The beauty of these programs besides the great price Chris is offering is the fact that if you decide to sell B4 the 100K mark, you add a great value and assurance for that prospective customer resulting in a much easier sale comparitively. Sure, some can repair the minor issues and some major issues as well on their own but, those trannies, TB failures, fuel system, and HVAC issues can break the bank of the best of us. Are these programs for everyone? Name me one thing that everyone agrees on. What a program like this does is provide piece of mind. Another important thing you must keep in mind here is the fact that most programs (ask Chris about his program) require that the vehicle be serviced and maintained with documentation according to the mfgs. recommended intervals in order to reap the benefits. In other words, these programs are not for the "put fuel in and drive it only" type owner. I doubt that this would be a problem with most here but, I thought you should know this. I really wasn't a fan of these warranty programs in the past due to their relatively high cost but, the discount price of what Chris is offering is a real no brainer. Later!

DD is spot on in his thoughts regarding extended warranties. I provided my take on the subject from another post and you may want to pick and choose the pertinent points from here as well. The key is to check out the warranty company's AM Best rating, length of time in business, and be sure you understand the owner's responsibilities as well as what's covered and what's not covered. Some warranties are mainly based for gas vehicles in that they require documented oil changes at say, 4000 miles. This would be cost prohibitive in my book. Most warranty companies also have a turbo diesel surcharge of $150 to $250 which is added to the standard retail cost. There's quite a bit more to check on and I suggest that one should go to the warranty company's website or have them fax you the fine print. Later!

 

[kjmiller1]

I only have my experiences to speak from, which is absolutely dwarfed by DD and Harvieux's experiences. I put 300K on a suburban, 200K on an F150, and almost 50K on my TDI and the only major fixes I needed were 2 transmission rebuilds (frantically trying to find some wood ). With my good luck, I can see why my view might be overly optimistic especially since I don't have a problem doing basic repair on my own.

Still patiently waiting for some RC news Leonard, or did I not get the memo

 

[Oxenpower]

Thanks for all the advice everybody! I dont have very much mechanical background, but I plan on learning as much about my car as I can, and I'm just painting and hanging out this summer, so I might just lay under the shade of my tdi for the summer and get acquainted! Its a difficult decision, but I think im gonna drop the warranty and put the money into a savings account for parts. This will motivate me to learn about my car. Luckily my roomate's boyfriend is a mechanic, and there are good people in Olympia that have tdi's, so it should be a fun summer!
Thanks again everyone, you will be hearing more from me!
Jay