Extended Warranty
 

Have to vent. Last week Tuesday the check engine light came on my 2014 Durango Citadel, 36,700 miles, just 700 miles out of the factory warranty. :( Called my dealer right away and the soonest they could get me in was a week later, said since the light wasn't blinking it could wait.

Long story short, it ended up being a fuel pressure sensor in the gas tank, lucky I purchased the extended warranty as this was a two-day, $500 repair. Extended warranty covered the whole thing including rental, just had to pay the $100 deductible. Guess I would have thought that Dodge would have been a little more flexible on the mileage.

A lot of times it depends on the dealer and if you have had previous relationships with them, such as, a repeat vehicle purchase customer and also how much of a hard ass you can be with the the service adviser. Lol

Well, you got a rental, got the problem fixed, and it only cost you $100. The timing sucks but look at the plus side, how might that have cost you if you didn't have coverage?

I knew a guy who, years ago, had a JGC. One of the cam shafts fractured when it was a couple of thousand miles past the warrantee. A cam shaft fracturing is not something the owner could have affected. Clearly a manufacturing defect right? They wouldn't budge an inch and ended up coughing up, I think, something like $4 grand for a new motor.

We purchased a lifetime service plan and warranty from Chrysler for our 2012 Durango. Since we average 25K per year on it and plan to keep it 8-10 years it seemed worthwhile. I do not believe the same plan is still available. So far it was worth it. Here is why:

1. At 40K we had lost heat. The part was back-ordered through Chrysler. We had a loaner for the whole 3 week period.
2. At 70K a drain line from sunroof disconnected at firewall dumping moisture into the passenger footwell. A 2 day fix and a service loaner again.
3. At 110K, the formerly mild hemi valvetrain tick became loud and the service engine light started popping up due to misfires on #3. It took them three attempts to finally resolve it (Cam replacement).

For us it has already paid for itself between the regular maintenance and repairs 2 and 3. The only thing we ever buy extended warranties on are vehicles that we plan to keep. This time it worked in our favor.

I believe your drive train warranty would have covered it!

Working at a Chrysler dealership myself I know that these warranty issues can be tricky at times. Certain parts are only covered up to 36k while some are covered for up to 100k and all this depends on what category the part falls into. There is something called a dealer good will, and this is when a customer who is out of warranty but has always had their regular maintenance performed at the dealer has a repair needed, the dealer can still cover the repair for the customer at no expense for the customer. Each dealership has a monthly allowance from the manufacturer for this.