If buying a car or brand known to have unusually high maintenance costs (BMW, Audi, Jaguar, Merc, etc.) and I planned on keeping it past the factory warranty, then sure, one of these warranty plans might make financial sense. But for the most part, especially with higher build quality cars, they generally don’t. Car warranty companies and the dealerships are in the business of maximizing profits, like every other business. And if a significant portion of the plans paid out, they’d either go up on the premium/price or they’d stop selling them. I usually buy my grocery-getter cars used and do lots of research (along with having my trusted mechanic thoroughly check it over). If there’s an existing extended warranty that’ll transfer, then that’s fine. But I’ve never bought one, and never regretted that decision (well, not yet

). But I’m sure there will always be anecdotal stories where a person here or there got back more than they put in - same as with all calculated risk situations. But like I said, it’s a VERY profitable business because most people don’t come out ahead.

I’ve never bought one on a new car, primarily because the new cars that I’ve bought tended to be high performance cars that I had modified soon after purchase. So for me, even the factory warranty sometimes gets called into question. I’ve had to fight over system failures that had NOTHING to do with the mods. So I just consider myself “self insured” as I pull out of the tuner parking lot.

As for these high pressure finance guys, I don’t understand why more people don’t just get up and head for the exit sign. I’ve only dealt with one like that. And I asked him how he and the salesman were going to get along when he found out that a smart-mouthed pencil pusher cost him a sale. He didn’t have anything cute to say after that. I’ve been in enough auto production plants to know that whatever mass production car I’m looking at, at least several hundred of them are produced every DAY. There’s nothing special about the one that they have.