Community Chat

[beach-mom]

I'm specifically talking about Car Shield and Endurance. Someone contacted DH, and it sounds too good to be true.

[CelticCrafter]

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@beach-mom wrote:

I'm specifically talking about Car Shield and Endurance. Someone contacted DH, and it sounds too good to be true.

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Then it probably is.

[Venezia]

The general rule is (as you know):  "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

I've never bought into any of these types of coverage plans.  If I want an extended warranty, I'd go with the one offered by the make of my car.  (In my case, Subaru.)

[Venezia]

@beach-mom - Here's a recent review on Consumer Affairs about CarShield.  A quick google search will bring you up more information.

"We had a policy with Car Shield for 2-3 years. We paid $158.00. When we had a problem with our cooling system (a covered system), we submitted a claim. The process was extremely frustrating for us as well as our mechanic. Through that frustration, we found out they had just paid a 10,000,000 settlement for false advertising. Unfortunately they did not pay customers! Too late for us. After 8 days, they totally denied every penny of the claim. There is an article by the Federal Trade Commission dated July 2024 stating Car Shield does not pay as advertised. Run, don’t walk away from this company!"

[Biftu]

I shake my head when I see these Endurance commercials.  "Who's going to pay for your next repair you or Endurance."  Obviously you are since you pay monthly.  They make it sound like it's free.  Just another scam.

[Desertdi]

NOT me.    I don't have any of those "home appliance" plans, either.   I take my chances...and hope for the best.

[pigletsmom2]

You should ask a mechanic you trust. We have a mechanic here who does an hour radio show every week and he said once that some are better than others. He didn't say which on was good, probably because he didn't want to do advertising for them. They should be able to tell you who pays and is easy for them to work with.

[AuntG]

Probably a bad idea.$158 a month seems like a waste of money. You'd be better putting money in an emergency fund of your own.

[SilleeMee]

My thoughts about that kind of 'insurance' is rather than spending my money on premiums for such coverage, I would put the money into my savings account and have it there for emergencies.  Extended warranty type spending isn't recoverable and if you need repairs then your resources can be limited to where the warranty will cover. It's like a HMO in comparison to health insurance in that regard.

[Venezia]

It's interesting that, when I lived in England, I only ever had Volkswagens.  They did an extended warranty on their cars that you could purchase.  It was a reasonable amount for an extra 5 years of coverage.

And the clincher was that, if you hadn't made a claim after 5 years, you got all of your money back.  They were that confident in their vehicles.  I took out the policy once and, indeed, got my entire premium back after 5 years.

Most of the time I didn't buy any kind of extended warranty, because I knew the cars were reliable but, if the manufacturer offered that here, I'd buy it.  Just for peace of mind, with a no-lose guarantee.