Hi All, I am a Finance Manager at a Honda dealership and I am happy to answer any questions folks may have about vehicle service contracts (within reason, I don't want to come home from work and keep working LOL).
This will sound like a sales pitch because at the end of the day it's what I have to do all day. It's a bit long winded but I hope I can shed some light on things, and as a fellow Z owner I can give you the impartial answer to any questions if you feel a finance manager has been unscrupulous with you.
I will put my two bits in as well since we are talking about Nissans and not Hondas. I have purchased a vehicle service contract on every vehicle I have owned except two vehicles that I leased for 3 years/36,000 miles. (people call them extended warranties, but this is misleading as the only thing that can be called a warranty is the one from the factory. Not even factory "extended warranties" can be called warranties. What comes with the car for "free" (trust me you pay for this as part of a new car's price) is the warranty. Anything purchased with the vehicle is a service contract.
That being said, you will want to look for a first party VSC, not a 3rd party. This includes the manufacturers service contracts as well as a handful of other reputable service contract companies. (Zurich and Nationwide for example are both excellent and usually better than the manufacturer for lots of reasons which I can explain if anyone cares). These are considered 1st party not because they bear the name of the manufacturer, but because they underwrite their own policies. What this means to you is that they sell the service contract and they also pay out the claims. 3rd party refers to a service contract company that sells a service contract which is under written by a different insurance company. This can be bad for many reasons, one of which is they could go out of business and the under writing company is under no legal responsibility to pay out claims!
Contrary to what some people still believe, vehicle service contracts are extremely smart purchases and relatively speaking cheap insurance policies. What man makes man can break, and visit your local car dealership and it isn't hard to tell where the money is made, the service department. These cars are complex, have more parts than ever, have more computers, sensors, chips, motors, electronics, and gadgets and accessories than ever before. Take a second to look up the cost of many parts on these cars and you will be dismayed at just how much it costs to replace or fix them. Honda's labor rates in my area are $105 an hour, diagnostics $105 an hour, and then add the cost of parts to that.
Yes, you might never use your VSC. That is entirely possible. But studies show that of all insurance policies you can get, you are more likely to use a service contract than most other polcies, and it is less expensive as well than most insurance out there.
Ask yourself this. If AAA charges $90 per year for the Plus membership (100 miles of towing, 4 calls per year, etc.), multiply that out by 8 years if the AAA cost was to stay the same, and you have $720 dollars spent for just roadside assistance which comes for free and unlimited with good service contracts. Would you pay another $900 more to have almost every part and component fixed for $100 or $50 dollar deductibles for 8 years 100k or 120k miles?
I will answer yes every time. People spend fortunes on accessories and mods and all sorts of stuff. Yes you might never use your service contract. But I can guarantee if you don't have one and something breaks you will be one sad individual when the realty of what they are going to charge to fix your Z hits you.
I just purchased a used 2010 Titan and a new 370Z Roadster and they both have vehicle service contracts on them for 8 years. People can believe what they want, go ahead listen to those who tell you not to buy one. Will they pay to fix your car when something happens to it? Ultimately you should decide if that thought makes you uncomfortable, let them fix their own car if they wish but you have to decide what scenario you feel more comfortable about.
One last thing. For those who don't believe a "warranty" is a good idea I'll make you this offer. I will pay you the $43 bucks a month for 5 years that I am paying, and you sign something promising to fix any part that fails on my car under the "bumper to bumper" plan and come unlock my car when I lock my keys in it and change my tire and tow me at 2am. Sound like a fair trade? ;o)
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