My 2006 1500 SLT 5.7L Hemi is nearing 100,000. My service guy at the dealership recommended (after having spent $4,500 in the past few months: new cooling system and very soon after, replacing my cylinder heads) buying an extended service contract something or other.

He explained that it is bumper-to-bumper coverage exluding trim, tires, brake pads, ect. It is a two-year unlimited miles plan transferrable to another vehicle if I purchase a new chrysler vehicle (I've never heard of one that transferrs between vehicles, just owners). It covers rental car during repairs, hotel room if you're travelling, roadside assistance ect. all for $3,000

My question is will I actually need this if I plan on driving my truck as long as it will go(100-200k more miles) Will I be spending the kind of money I have recently in order to drive it that much longer.

Please Advise

 

Honestly it depends on the price you get and what it covers. I had one by penn warranties offered by the dealership i got my dodge dakota from a few years ago... i spent 400$ and ended up blowing my motor at 146k .... They paid all except my 100$ deductable.... Now there are alot of companies out there so do your homework. I think penn is only offered through used car dealers and i have never been able to find rates that cheap again.... Most are gonna run you somewhere from 900-1800....
Alot of people say they're scams but i had one pay out for me several times. Check Out NDW and theres another one they advertise on Tv now ... something with an f or a g it starts with i cant remember which though.

 

Thanks Sean, I'll look into those suggestions. I've started my internet search at

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/warranty.htm

it recommended a few companies, who have been higher than the dealer offer so far....

 

I usually don't keep a vehicle long enough to be much out of warranty, but I plan to keep this one since I've sunk about $12k in mods in it.

What I plan on doing is taking about what an extended warranty would cost me per month and sticking that much into an interest bearing account. Hopefully, if something goes bad wrong at some point down the line, I'll have a nice buffer built up to pay for it with.

One luxury I have is that I do 90% of my own work and could probably handle most things short of a complete engine or tranny rebuild. So in most cases I'd only be looking at buying parts. LABOR cost is what kills!!!

 

Yeah, that labor is rough. I went with option #2 from hammer and a few other people I've talked to. That way I'll have the money to put towards repair or a new truck.

Thanks for the advice

 

Generally, you'll find the coverage costs more than the repair, especially at 100K. Many insurance companies write this coverage and it's usually better coverage than warranty providers.

 

If you are not mechanically inclined and have the tools, but have the money, then go ahead and cough it up.