Extended Warranty/ Camry Problems - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

drift_n_shift · 07-06-2005, 08:37 PM

Hi,
My father owns a 2003 Toyota Camry LE. He and I are currently wondering whether to purchase the extended warrenty, for an additional 2-3 years for around $1200CDN from a Toyota Dealer. Does anyone have any opinions on whether to purchase it or not? BTW, does the GEN 5/ 2003 Camrys' have any defects/problems, such as from Factory or in general, that many people have with their cars.

Any help appreciated, thanks

Toodeep · 07-06-2005, 09:36 PM

IF your gunna do MODS to it then i wouldnt get the Warrenty cuase i think it would VOid the Warrenty I just got my 03 and i Brought a Warrenty. Now i gotta wait for it to expire before i can do my Mods. Um the only problem ive Hear of so Far is that the Muffler on the SE are hanging lowerer and some times scrap for some people. But that all ic an really think of.

fungke · 07-06-2005, 10:25 PM

what MODS are you talking about though? knowing Toyota or any car manufacturer for that matter...something as small and changing the bulbs can void warranty (going too far)...I was actually thinking the same thing. I have received great service on my car and I want to keep it that way. The only mods I am looking at is adding a computer or navigation system on there. That's pretty much as far as I will go...will that void warranty?

fungke · 07-06-2005, 10:26 PM

Drift_n_Shift...
where did you get that pricing from? and..is it 2 years for 1200? or 3 years for 1200? and is that the most you can get?

reason why i ask is because this car is suppose to last me about 10 years if not longer as my next car will be bought completely by me. I am sharing my car with my mum now.

Cyorke · 07-06-2005, 10:28 PM

the extended warranty is really a matter of opinion on your part. I sell used cars and of course we try to sell warranties with all of the cars we sell. What you are trying to do in the case of purchasing an extended warranty is prevent having to pay high repair bills later in the future. Most of the warranty companies charge some kind of deductible for the repairs that are performed. If you have the money to pay for repairs and it is not a concern then you may not need it. However most of them also offer some kind of roadside assistance, rental car coverage and things of that nature. SO if you do ahve a problem you are not without a car or left stranded on the side of the road. I will tell you that you want to buy an exclusionary warranty if you do buy one. BAsicall there are two types of warrnaties, a stated and exclusionary. The stated is the limited warranties that you always hear about. They tell you waht they will cover and if it is not on the list you are SOL. The exclusionary warranties tell you waht is not covered and then everything else is. Also I would not recommend buying something that is only going to cover the powertrain. If you keep the maintenance up on your car you are probably not going to have a problem with the powertrain. You are more worried about all the electrical type items. Power windows, door locks, and stereo things like that. I used to be a Toyota mechaninc and I have bought a warranty on both my Camry and my Sienna. I paid aobut 900USD for the one on my Camry and to date have used it twice with the repairs costing me a total of 100USD as opposed to about 600USD if I had to pay for it out of pocket. Right now the water pump is starting to rattle on my Camry and when I have it replaced it will cost me 50USD instead of the 300-400 it would if I paid for it. Right there my warranty has paid for itself and I am covered still up to almost 100k miles if anything else should go wrong. On my sienna I have not had to use it but who knows how long those dual power sliding doors will last before they go out. nother thing to consider is the amount of mileage you can put on the car in that time frame, or in your case I guess kilometers. I know the warranties that we sell are either for a specific time ie 48 months from date of purchase or up to a total of 100k miles on the car, or you can get them in 12 month 12000 mile increments. In other words 12/12000, 24/24000 etc etc. SO depending on how much you drive you need to pick the one that is going to give the best value for your money. These are all things I discuss with customers when presenting warranties to them.

chronoti · 07-06-2005, 10:42 PM

i used my out of manu warrenty about twice. cv boot and power antena, i dont think it was worth it we paid about 1k for 3 extra years or so and only for about 600 in work. it's all a matter of luck like with cyorke his camry needed it but his sienna didnt need it at all so far.

i told my sister not to get it for her new cam so far no regets

Cyorke · 07-06-2005, 10:49 PM

Chronoti, I agree it is a matter of luck but also my camry is a 94 with almost 75k miles on it. My Sienna is a 02 with just over 38k miles on it. Luckily I have not had the opportunity to use the warrnaty on that one yet since any problems I would have had were covered under the factory warranty. However about a month after I got it I noticed a very slight leak around my power steering pump. I didnt do anything about it and now it has stopped but who is to say in 6 months it wont take a dump. Also my Sienna is an XLE so it has lots of extras and I dont want to have to pay out of pocket for repairs. It is a lot easier to come up with about 20 bucks a month in the payment and then only have a 50-100 dollar bill if I do need it. Then to have to come up with several hundred or even thousand, god forbid, if something were to go wrong.

ShawnM · 07-07-2005, 06:45 AM

You could take that money and just put it in the bank to cover future repairs. The only major problem we had with our 03 LE was the CD player crapping out, witch was luckily covered on the tail end of the mfg warranty. Aside from that its just been maintenance costs which wont be covered under warranty anyway.

jhbhatia · 07-07-2005, 12:08 PM

my extended warranty has provided a free transmission on my ES! so its all luck! I rather pay to have a piece of mind than worry when the time comes!

Cyorke · 07-07-2005, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhbhatia

I rather pay to have a piece of mind than worry when the time comes!

That really is key to the idea also. However I ahve to agree with ShawnM as to keeping the money and using it for future repairs if needed. If you were just buying the car and were able to finance it in or just pay for it when the car has lower miles, since it is usually less expensive the lower the mileage on the car. It doesnt make a lot of sense to pay for it after the fact in my opinion. You may or may not have any peoblems with the car that is the risk you take with any vehicle no matter if you purchaseed it new or used. You never know what might happen 20k miles down the road or tomorrow for that matter.