New Car Warranty
 

Ok first off I know this is a dumb question so I apologise.

So I'm slowly researching to buy a new car. I currently own a used one and want to go new this time. I'm kinda eyeing the mazda 3 but that's another story.

My question is about the warranty. Since I bought this car used, it was already out of warranty. All the work I did on it was wherever I wanted.

If I buy a new car, I assume I need to follow their maintenance package to a tee and have to do all the service at a dealer. I don't want to do that because dealers cost so much and rip you off. So in terms of warranty, what do I have to do to not void it? What kind of work can I get someone other than a dealer to do?

I'm not sure if that made any sense, I just don't want to follow the maintenance schedule to the letter if I don't have to.

Oh! Is an extended warranty worth it?

It all depends. Ask LOTS of question before you buy.

Some dealers will let you do your own oil changes etc, or take the car to other shops for maintenace, as long as you keep the reciepts as proof incase anything happens.

Other places require you to have your vehicle serviced at the dealership for a certain amount of time as to not void the warranty. Some places even offer deals where you can get a year of free oil changes, provided you go to them for servicing...

So yeah, it all depends and you should ask them about this before you buy. Extended warranty is not a bad idea, but it can be a trade-off. Should nothing happen to the car, you spent the money for nothing, other then piece of mind...lol.

First of all Sumol, I actually take offense to your comment about "dealerships ripping you off". Let me get this straight... you've never bought a new car, but you have enough experience with servicing a car at a dealership to come to that conclusion?

Please forgive me if I'm missing some details of your opinion.

Secondly, what MPR said.

Don't doo it.

my dad got a 3 or 4 year warranty from lubrico(sp?) (the company the dealership worked through) and he cant do a simple oil change, and apparently cant replace wipers without consulting their customer's sales w/o voiding the warranty and losing all coverage... friggen bull.

so he has to go to their recommended shop that has outrageous prices.... imho if u reaaallyy want one go 1 year. that's it. after that if you have any issues just deal with it... unless you want to slave to just follow the warranty guidelines...


..oh...and yeaa....dealerships reallly do rip people off... got charged like 740 to machine my rotors and find the cause for loss of braking power.....which they couldn't find.. learned my lesson after that.

In short, Yes.

I purchased my used car off a dealer, and brought it there for a year and half following the maintenance schedule because I didn't know any better. I paid a lot of money in labour that I'm now saving going somewhere private.

I also had the dealer tell me I had cracked stabilizer bars which I later confirmed to be false, it was just the bushings that were bad and needed to be replaced. Had I gone through with it, it was a $1200 job for both bars and bushings, when all I needed were the front bushings.

I now go to a private mechanic (a vendor of this site) who tells me exactly what I need nothing more. The opposite of my dealership experience where they told me many things I didn't need. Hence my apprehension to the warranty and having to bring it do a dealership.

^I've heard this exact story many times over, from many different people. I've also experienced it, first-hand. Hence, partly why I will never buy a new car from a dealership and partly why I do ALL work on my own vehicles.

Obviously, not everyone can do so, but having a good mechanic you can trust is just as good and can be very valuable for obvious reasons.

I've also heard of and personally known a few very good mechanics who happen to work at dealerships.

Personally, I will never buy a new car, simply because the loss of value as soon as you drive it away. You can buy the same car a couple years old with maybe 50,000kms or less on it and save yourself a heap of cash, and it'll still be practically brand new. In some cases, you'll still have a warranty till at least 100k+ and you can take it to a mechanic you trust.

New cars, imo, are not worth the huge price tags they wear. People who lease new cars, over and over (one term ends, they get another new car), are basically 'renting' cars their whole life, and spending more money per year on those vehicles, then someone would, buying a cheaper car (out-right, no payments) a few years older and having it maintained by them selves or a trusted mechanic.

Just a few things I've come to realize and think about...

don't buy a new car. They are overprice , as soon as they leave the lot you already lost 2000-3000 $ . Also the new mazda 3 is ugly :D (this face is pretty much front of the mazda 3)

I rather buy a car that has 30000-40000 km on it . You pay a lot less and if the car was a lemon out of the factory you ll know by then.

if anything , I much rather lease the car , you could still buy it after , but f you dont like it or the car turns out to be a lemon then you can always return it

^problem with leasing is, if you want to own the car at the end of the term you still have to pay a pre-detemined amount which is always way more then the car is worth at that point.

I actually like the new mazda 3's. I think they're one of the most unique and good looking cars on the road. Whether I'd buy one is another story.

Some dealership maintenance isnt that bad. I take my dads new Mitsubishi to dealer for oil changes etc, and it costs me 42$ or so. Yes slightly more than if you were to do it at home or some sketch little shops, but its not outrageous.

I'm only considering the Mazda 3 over a civic because Mazda has become very aggressive in terms of pricing and options they put on the car to compete with the civic. Mazda 3 is now the best selling car in Canada knocking off the Civic, as their base model is the second or third Civic model.

I do agree with you Mike, I don't want a brand spanking new car, a couple years is good. I just don't want to do what I did with this car, I bought it 5 years old and everything needed to be replaced once I got it. First time mistakes, I don't want to repeat. I'm currently looking for the demo cars, best value I think.