[AshleeG]

I bought a 2011 Insight EX yesterday and got talked into buying an additional Honda Care Protection Plan. It basically adds 5 years to the 3-year bumper to bumper warranty ($100 deductible per incident) as well as gap coverage in case the car is totaled. I'm wondering if anyone else has done this or is the extra coverage useless? It's adding an additional $3K to the cost of the car over the life of my 60 month loan. I'm tempted to cancel it, but don't know if I can. Any advice/help would be appreciated!

So happy this forum exists!

 

[Roger B.]

i got the 8 year 100000 mile $0 dedutable for $935.00 from hyannishonda.com, sacuui honda.com is also a good place to get honda care. my local dealer was way more expensive at $1200 for 7 year 75000 mile $0 dedudable. my gap insurance is covered through honda finance.

 

[kjanracing]

Ironic how you are told about Honda reliability, then get sold an extended warranty. You are still responsible for the cost maintainance and meeting the minimum requirements listed in the owner's manual. The extended warranty doesn't cover wear out items, like brake pads, bulbs, belts etc. Depending on what state you are in, the battery pack is covered up to 10 years/150K miles, IIRC. That being said, $3000 will cover a lot of repairs. It may not cover an engine or transmission but the chance of those coming apart are pretty low. I don't know about Honda's provider but when repairs get expensive, the warranty companys can play all sorts of games to avoid paying out all the cost; for example not paying all the shop's labor rate, not paying list price for covered parts, sourcing used parts or cheap aftermarket-like Chinese clone-parts. Guess who makes up the difference?
Really, you are taking the chance you'll need expensive repairs and the dealer is taking the chance you won't. As in Vegas, the house almost always wins.

 

[satchel]

You were royally ripped off. Extended warranties are rarely a good deal, especially on a new vehicle. Most especially on a Honda for crimony sake.

 

[Roger B.]

honda care is a factory warrenty, they don't use aftermarket parts, and treat the extended warranty as a continuation of the factory warranty. i had one on my 03 honda civic hybrid, they rebuilt the cvt transmission and replaced a couple of sway links when they started rattling. the dealer never gave me any run around, or questioned my maintenance practices.

 

[MacNoob]

Are you sure it ADDS 5 years to the 3 year warranty? Usually when you buy a "5 year" extended warranty, that means 5 years TOTAL including the 3 year factory warranty!

In Canada the Insight is covered by a 5 year 60k miles/100k km powertrain warranty anyways.

 

[AshleeG]

The EW I bought made the bumper to bumper (regular warranty is 3 years) last 8 years total. I know that my Insight already has: 3 year bumper to bumper, 5 year power train, 10 year hybrid battery--without the EW. The EW I bought also has a $100 deductible per incident. Gah.

It was a long day with lots of haggling and by the time my husband and I got to the finance manager we caved. I knew in my head I shouldn't have bought it. Turns out we can cancel it with no penalty.

I'll do a bit more research and maybe pick up a better deal or sock money away each month and take my chances. It's true--we all bought Hondas because they are good, reliable cars. I think it's just the unknown quantity of the hybrid components that make me a little nervous. My mechanic who I've taken my Civics to for the past 15 years can't work on the hybrid components so I'll be at the whim of the dealership if anything ever goes wrong--unless there are more independent mechanics getting trained to work on hybrids (hopefully :0))

 

[kjanracing]

Ashlee, as far as routine maintenence goes for your Insight, your mechanic will be just fine. He wouldn't really be getting into the "hybrid" stuff until the car is out of warranty. The hybrid end of it really isn't that big of an issue anyway. All of the service information, scanners, and programming is avaliable to him/her now, for all the systems in the car. If they are well equipped for Honda, it isn't a big step to equip for hybrid service. Didn't the Civic Hybrid come out several years ago, not to mention the original Insight? Your Insight has the same basic system. There is LOTS of training on hybrids avaliable to the independent service shops. It is hard for me to imagine a Toyota shop that didn't work on Prius's, or Prii or whatever.
I hope this all helps, and helps you with your final decision regarding the extended warranty.

 

[Cobb]

I bought it. I think its 80 thousand miles 8 years. I got it for other things like any problems with the AC, computer, cvt, stuff like that. I also end up using warranties when I buy stuff.

Guess I am not the average consumer?

 

[moorea]

I also purchased the extended warranty 100k or 10 years $0 deductible for about $1500. The catch is I have to bring to to a McGrath dealership for the $0 deductible, otherwise it's $100. I just felt safer because of the hybrid stuff plus I got the car for what I thought was a good price 2010 EX (20K out the door with new tags, pro care kit, wheel locks, splash guards and cargo tray with 0.9% Honda financing for 60 months. I looked at it as cheap insurance.

 

[zurk]

i got it. its good. keep it. you will spend more than 3K on repairs in 7-8 years.