Is it preferred to have extended warranty or certiification if the original is expired on used Honda vehicle?

Question

I'm going to buy a used Honda Civic 2003 from a personal owner whose factory warranty is already expired. I'm going with the auto loan from my local bank regarding payment for this vehicle. Do you recommend me to certify the vehicle through the dealer (if they do) otherwise purchase extended warranty although I'll be taking comprehensive insurance through the insurance company?

Answer 1

Warranty and comprehensive insurance are two completely different instruments. Warranty is to protect against malfunction, eg. your transmission fails and you need a $3000 repair job to get the car to run again.

Comprehensive insurance is to pay you the fair market value of your vehicle if it were to be damaged, say by a fire.

Extended warranty from the manufacturer is generally only available on soon after you purchase a new car. Look closely at the terms and cost of the dealer warranty. If it's only valid at the specific dealer, and you move or you have a problem elsewhere, the warranty isn't very useful.
Also warranties are areas where dealers have a pretty high mark up, so you want to make sure what you get is competitively priced.

Answer 2

Honda Certification is only offered on vehicles the dealer sell. It is not a service you can purchase. You can buy an extended warranty, but it won't be a Honda Warranty. You can only add the new car warranty while the vehicle is less than 2 model years old (2005) or less than 6000 miles. They made this change in policy in Feb 2006.

You can add a used car Honda warranty which doesn't cover as much, but the vehicle must be within the 3 year 36000 original bumper to bumper.

Anything else is an aftermarket warrranty.

AAA offers warranties which you may also want to consider too.

Answer 3

Judging if the car has been maintained well and not abused, then buying the extended warranty, if at all even possible would be a complete waste of money. Those cars will run forever.

Answer 4

Extended warranties are a waste of money. Honda vehicles are excellent quality. If you don't run the s**t out it, & perform regular maintenance, it will last a long time. Abuse is not covered under extended warranty, therefore I wouldn't bother.

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