Hi folks,

My 2007 A4 is reaching 50K miles soon. Got a mail from the dealer that I could buy
extended warranty (no luck since trying to reach him).

Before I call him again, wanted to check with you:
1. You guys think extended warranty is a good idea?
2. If so (and if anyone has done that), how many extra miles/years does it
cover, and what is the usual price?

I'm hoping the extra bucks are worth it. Pls let me know.
Thanks.

 

Personally, I don't go for them, but everyone's situation is different. The ones they showed me when I bought my Audi were insanely priced. I can do simpler tasks myself and parts can be easily obtained for a discount in this internet age. Anything I can't handle, I have a private mechanic or the Audi dealership (if it's a very Audi-specific issue) at my disposal.

I've never bought an extended warranty on any of my vehicles. If you have driven the car from it's early life, maintained it, and know its history, you're not likely to have a rash of sudden $1000+ repairs (other than typical maintenance items). Even if it starts falling apart and costing you money, you can usually unload it and buy something else and take less of a loss than the warranty would have cost you.

Like I said, though, everyone's situation is different. I know some people who won't drive a car after it's out of warranty. Sure, it's nice piece of mind, but personally, I don't have that kind of money to blow.

 

Extended warranties do have a down side. Mechanics at dealers are usually paid based on billable hours worked. Service Advisors are usually paid commision on services sold. Dealers make lots of money on parts. When you bring in your car, they will look up and see if this is an extended warranty. So say you bring it in because an O2 sensor is bad. If you were a paying customer, they may bill you 2 hours labor at $125/hr, part at list price plus 25% plus a myriad of fees that have nothing to do with the repair. So say this comes out to $500. When it's under an extended warranty, they have to go by pre-negotiated parts prices (like cost plus 5%) and labor hours and rates and no fees. So maybe they will pay 7/10ths of an hour at $85/hr. So the mechanic gets less billable hours for the same work and gets a lower rate, the parts dept gets less for their parts and no fees, the SA gets squat, so say it comes out to $300 for the same repair. So what does this mean to you? If they are busy and two people come in and one is paying cash and one is warranty, who do you think gets priority. Also, many times they will just reset the code and put "cannot reproduce" on the invoice just to get it off the mechanic's job list because he would rather take on something more profitable for him.

So just on this principle, I would not get it, but that's just me. So if you are the type to drop the car of at the dealer for every little thing, this may pay off. If you use a very good independant mechanic or you DIY, then it's not likely to pay off.

Keep in mind, you or your indy can use salvage yard parts, rebuilt parts, oem parts, aftermarket parts and you can make repairs for a lot less money than the dealer. For example, on my kid's SLK, the turn signals stopped working. Dealer wanted $1,100 to fix, somewhat fair if you consider the part alone was $800+tax. Called a salvage yard, got the part for $125, took me 20 minutes to swap it out. If you are not open to this, clearly it would have been easier to have the extended warranty and let them deal with it.

 

what? i thought those guys were all paid by the hour.

 

Billable hours. So if they can bill 2 hours labor and get it done in 30 minutes, they get typically get paid for 2 hours work. It's their incentive to do a quick job regardless of quality and overbill which makes the dealer more money too. I heard from MB dealer mechanics that do oil changes and short change each oil change by a half quart so they can do an oil change on their car for free or not change the oil filter so they can use the filter for their car or friends car. Maybe they were lying, but when you hear it from 2-3 sources, same story, you start to wonder.

 

Thanks guys for all the insight, think I won't get the extended warranty.
Like KingWulfgar said, I have taken care of the car since buying it new,
and probably won't get a chance to use the warranty (hopefully, but I'll take
the chance and save the money).

My 45K service is coming up next week. Anything else I should watch out for/ask them
to look into, considering this is the last service before warranty is up?
Asked the dealer to check the cam follower last time, he said he won't
do it until there is a problem.

 

That's one you'll have to do yourself. If there IS a problem, it's too late and will cost you well over $1k at that point. I'm planning on pulling mine out and checking it/replacing it around 50k miles.

 

IMO
You should not own an Audi WITHOUT a warranty..... extended or aftermarket.

buellwinkle states facts but his reasoning is severly flawed. No business is turned away because the job doesn't pay as much as another. The technician doesn't know if his next job will pay more or less than the job your complaining about.

 

Nobody is going to pull your high pressure fuel pump to inspect your follower for free. Its takes a good technician 30 to 45 to R/R.

You work for free at your job.....?

Tech don't get paid when they punch in every morning...... they get paid for turning the wrench, if you or Audi won't pay them for turning the wrench... they move on to something else that will pay.

 

Yes and No...

a 2.0L takes 4.8 quarts of oil. Your usually billed for 5. Some techs just dump the full 5, cause .2 isn't going to harm anything.

Some people just do 4.8 and save the .2 until it adds up enough to do their own car. its either that or throw it away. Cause technically Audi states your car is only supposed to take 4.8, Does it really matter..... Do you want every zip tie or extra bolt that come with a part replacement kit...? Every o-ring or washer....?

And if a dealer doesn't replace an oil filter...... thats not the dealer. Thats a shady scumbag technician, And like every job and every kind of workplace... everyone has one