"mrsteveo" <mrsteveo@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:137af523-e8df-4659-a1f3-a8873880685f@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mar 18, 9:40 pm, techman41...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> Is it ever worth purchasing an extended warranty on a used vehicle
> that is relatively reliable (toyota, honda, etc.)?
I bought my 'Toyota Certified Used Vehicle' from Lithia Toyota in
Medford, Oregon. I also (first car buying experience, give me a
break..) was conned, er, talked into buying the 'extended warranty'
offered by Lithia.
Like a moron -- I bought it.
Since I drove a lot -- and it was a miles/years thing -- I went past
the piles in a pretty short amount of time. That was $2k down the
drain pretty fast.
The few issues I did have with the car, I caused myself by using way
to much injector cleaning thinking I was doing a good thing when I
wasn't. Also, since Lithia seems to employ morons in the service
department, it took them '10 hours' to diagnose and thankfully, that
10 hours x 95.00/hr was covered under the warranty and the replacement
of the cracked/dirty injector was as well. They told me that I should
feel thankful I had the warranty because had I not, I guess they
really thought I would have paid $1000 just to DIAGNOSE a bad
injector. Ray O can chime in but that just seems absurd....
In an ideal world, a dealer wouldn't possibly think $1000 to diagnose
a vehicle is sane -- but Lithia can and does.
Anyway, I wouldn't recommend it. I wish I hadn't purchased it on
mine.
(2002 Toyota Corolla, CE purchased with 62,000 miles -- 144k strong
today!)
**************
The problems you encountered is one of the reasons I tell people to lay
off
the injector cleaner there is a drivability problem that might be caused
by
dirty injectors.
What kind of symptoms did you experience?
And yes, 10 hours diagnosis time seems ridiculous. Since flat rate time
includes diagnosis and testing, they should have only charged you for the
flat rate time to diagnose and change the injectors.
Flat rate time is a double-edged sword. A shop may come out ahead with
the
majority of the vehicles they work on, but they should eat the extra labor
in those few cases where they can't beat the flat rate time. If they want
to charge extra when they can't beat flat rate, then a fair shop should
give
a credit or discount if they do beat flat rate time.
--
Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)
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