Several vehicles listed on the Leasebusters website have extended warranties attached and often customers ask if they are necessary. Most factory warranties cover three years or 60,000 kilometres (whichever comes first) on comprehensive coverage and an additional 2 years or 100,000kms on the power-train. If the original term was four years, there is no comprehensive warranty coverage during the final year of the lease. Is this important?
Most customers finance the cost of their extended warranty in the lease payment, raising the payment by $20 - $30 per month. If the added security of trouble free driving until the end of the lease was really important, then this is a small price to pay compared to the potential bill you may receive for a major repair. Lease customers, by nature, don’t like spending money on something that they will be returning at the maturity of the agreement.
On the other side of the coin, today’s vehicles are built better than ever and most don’t experience major issues during the lease period. Many manufacturers (Acura, Buick and Cadillac to name three) have gone to four year factory warranties, since claims have dramatically decreased during this period (and this warranty offering becomes an attractive marketing tool).
One thing to consider when taking over a lease is the service/warranty history of the vehicle. Most leases on Leasebusters.com are one owner vehicles and, more often than not, you can obtain the service history of the vehicle from the original owner. By supplying the VIN number to your dealership you can usually find out if there have been any warranty claims or recalls. A vehicle with a clean warranty history that has been serviced regularly will be less likely to have warranty issues after the factory warranty period has ended.
If the vehicle you like has an extended warranty, it’s always a good idea to get a copy of the documents to confirm exactly what is covered and if there are any deductibles. Remember that tires, brakes and ‘wearable items’ and are not normally covered by factory or extended warranties!
Thank you for reading this first segment of my Leasebusters Lease-Blog. We at Leasebusters encourage you to make your comments and we will publish your thoughts and continue these informative segments based on your participation and encouragement.
Happy motoring – leasing – financing – owning and enjoying…..
Randy Warren
Director of Training |