Extended warranties

[Joecooool]

Originally Posted by Lotusmotion

Knowing my car and chosing who I do business with is all about managing personal accountability, not setting myself up for a fleecing, and not paying someone to "protect" me.

It has nothing to do with fixing electrical problems.

The electrical components in Lotus cars, like most modern cars, are not designed to be repaired. They are intended to be replaced just like any other modern car I own.

Give me a break. Most Elise owners are lucky to live within 100 miles of a single dealer. There isn't another realistic option for the vast majority of us.

You "know" your car, you "choose" who works on your car. Its all a load of crap. If your electronics take a sh*t, you like the rest of us will take your car to the closest Lotus dealer and you will pay them what it cost to fix it.

[Randy Chase]

Not everyone.

1. I have NEVER had the local dealer work on my Lotus. I took it over a hundred miles way.

2. As soon as you do anything to the car, modifications... or if you autocross it, you may not be covered. An extended warranty works if you want to keep the car stock and not compete in it. But some would rather have the freedom.

3. I had the alarm module, dash cluster and more worked on. But not at the dealer.

[CrusaderTBC]

GEICO offered me their extended warranty as part of their insurance coverage.

[codingparadox]

I just went through the same debate (with myself). Dealer wanted 2100$ for a 6yr/72k mile extended warranty (platinum). However, I looked at the exclusion list, which was long and distinguished (much like my Johnson), and noticed that basically everything made by Lotus (with the possible exception of electronics, though it was indescript) wasn't covered, and everything made by Toyota (powertrain) was. Given that I can rebuild a 2ZZ and transmission, on the crazy offchance that I nuke the powertrain anytime soon, for less than 2100$, I decided to take the gamble myself. Also, since it's fairly obviously built out for autox (exhaust, $$$ shocks, bar) it's unlikely they'd agree to do the warranty anyway upon inspection.

So, I took the car out and drove past 10k miles (when the prices for the extended warranty jump up an echelon). I've got a garage full of tools for a reason. However, if you're not like me, then it's far more reasonable to pick up a warranty. I don't know many people who would be just fine pulling their engine and rebuilding it. For them it would cost far MORE than 2100$ so the warranty makes sense.