Service Contracts

[2KDHS]

We had a 88 year old member of our church pass away. He had a 2004 Jeep Liberty that he had bought new and always keep in the garage. It has
11457 miles on it. The wife liked it so I gave $12500.00 for it.
My question is should I get a Chrysler Service Contract on it. Wife took Jeep to the dealer for it 12000 mile service and they wanted to sell a 7year/60000mile warranty. DO I need to pay the $1320.00 or keep the money.
Thanks for your input.

[AMGoff]

Well.. what are the details of it? Is this an aftermarket or factort warranty? Would this be a continuation of the factory bumper-to-bumper warranty or just the powertrain? If it's a factory extended warranty I'm assuming this Jeep was purchased at the very end of 2004 because the last I knew Chrysler will only offer to extend the factory warranty while it's still covered by the original 3yr one.

If it's a continuation of the factory bumper-to-bumper and you plan on keeping it for a while then I'd say go for it, otherwise I'd pass.

But yeah... a few more details would be helpful.

[c5 rv]

1 - Determine if a service contract makes sense for the model. (With a Jeep, probably.)

2 - Learn the terms and limitations of the factory service contracts. There are different levels of contract with GMPP. Chrysler may have the same. Does the contract start the day / mileage you buy the contract or after the end of the factory warranty.

3 - Figure out when the end of your factory warranty is. (Check the in-service date for the car.) I know GMPP can't be bought after the original factory warranty lapses.

4 - Figure out the time / mileage that works for you.

5 - Look on the internet for pricing. There are dealers that sell legit GMPP contracts online at a big discount. Maybe there are Chrysler dealers that do the same.

[Rolex]

Funny C5 mentioned the probabliity of using an extended warranty on a Jeep. I believe that's very insightful. I owned a 98 Jeep Grand Cherokee and it was covered with an extended warranty when the original factory warranty expired. That extention cost $1200 IIRC, but it paid for itself twice over.

Because of that horrible experience with my Jeep I purchased extended warranties on the next 2 vehicles I owned. My 99 GMC Sierra truck's extended contract missed paying for itself by about $200. The excessive amount I paid for the extended coverage on my 03 Escalade never paid for iteslf. I imagine I would have had to see an engine, transmission, or serious driveline failure of some kind to make that contract pay for itself. All the same I got about 50% of the original value back when I sold my Escalade. So in a way it was an insurance policy I had while I owned my Escalade, that I got a pro-rated refund on when I sold it.

Bottom line is if you own a vehicle known to be high maintenance and/or plan on keeping your vehicle for a very long time and putting very high miles on it, you may want to buy it as an "insurance plan." Hell we insure almost everything else we own....so why not?

Like everything else at a car dealer the cost of these things IS NEGOCIABLE. Don't get ripped off on the extended warranty.

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

I bought a service contract on my Mercedes and now that I have it, I feel a lot more confident owning it. Things will still break, but I won't have to pay full costs on many of the more basic (and complicated) things (engine, drivetrain, a/c evaporator, etc etc). These cars can be very expensive to keep up, so I knew it was in my best interest to buy one of these, and for mine, the two most common mechanical failures are the A/C Evaporator ($3500) and the headgaskets (about the same), and I paid like $2500 for this contract, so if both fail, this contract would have paid for it's self almost 3x over.

If I ever buy a Norhtstar car, I *WILL* be buying a service contract, no two ways about it.