Third party extended warranty - should i pull the trigger or not? Long term ownership

[danmm7]

Here is my situation. I recently got a 2 owner, previous CPO, fully maintained (all at dealer) 2011 S4 with 58k miles. Car has DSG, Active Diff, Navi, cam... it's well loaded.
It looks and drives perfect. Exterior and interior are super clean and flawless. All key services were done on time + thermostat and Oxy sensor were replaced under warranty sometime around 40k miles. DSG seems to shift perfectly so far. AT fluid was replace by dealer around 33k miles. I plan to replaced it again after 60k miles.
Car was manufactured mid 2010. :( Not ideal.

I bought the car with no extended warranty from the selling dealer. He tried to sell me a plan but it was VERY expensive and from an unknown company. The selling dealer did include for free a 3k miles/3mo 'powertrain only' warranty as courtesy. I still have more than 1000 miles left on it, but i hope i wont have to use it and i don't expect it covers much.

Now, i've been reading on this forum and many other Audi (and other German car) forums that a warranty is a "must have" with any German sports sedan. Some of the DSG failure stories i read here are very disturbing and scary, yet i have also read comments from people who have their S4s for many miles/years, drive them hard and have no DSG issues. I also talked to a local, very well respected Audi mechanic who knows the DSG transmissions well and he said that as long as they are maintained properly, they are very reliable units. Yet, some of the negative forum postings make me feel like I am taking a HUGE gamble driving a 60k miles S4 with no warranty.

On the other hand, i am pretty handy when it comes to maintaining and fixing cars. I've worked on old Audis, Nissans, Toyota, Lexus, Ford, etc. I've replaced all sorts of fluids, filters, belts, spark plugs, brakes, calipers, axles, radiators, hoses, heater cores, shocks, springs, and sensors....on various cars & some SUVs. I have a decent set of various tools, jacks, ramps, etc. I also bought the VAG-COM tool and All-Data DIY subscription for the S4. I am NOT a mechanic by any means and i do NOT have a shop, but i am not afraid to get my hands dirty and work on a car. I also have a reliable spare car to drive if my Audi is out of service for couple of weeks. I like to keep my cars for a longer time....on average i keep them until 140-150k miles.
In addition, my own brother who lives 15mins from me is even more experienced with working on hard core DIY projects on his cars, especially Audis. He has rebuilt and upgraded multiple 2.7TT engines and M/T on his old S4. He has more tools in his garage than some of the small shops in the area.

Based on all the scary topics i read on the forums... I started asking around for extended warranty quotes from some well rated (if there is such thing) third party warranty companies. This is another gamble, i realize, since many people get burned when they try to get their cars repaired and then the warranty company denies the claim due to number of lame excuses. But, assuming that i pick a "good company" ... i am looking at around $5000 cost for a 3yr/36k miles, $100 deductible , full coverage plan. And my car has to get inspected by the dealer first for pre-existing issues. That won't be free.

At some point, i know that i would want to do at least Stage 1 or even Stage 2 upgrade on my car. This may create an issue with the warranty company...or not. I do not want to keep my car stock for the next 3 years!! I also want to do all maintenance on my own - at my garage, so having actual proof of maintenance on paper may be a bit tricky. Just something to consider.

So, after everything i wrote above, should i get a $5k warranty plan for 3 yrs from a third party company or should i just save my money, and hope/pray that if i take good care of it, my car will be somewhat reliable and that if something brakes - i can fix it myself or pay an independent shop to fix it??

Honestly, my biggest fear comes from any potential DSG issues. The DSG seems to be the most complex unit in the entire car. I am still unclear on what is the most common part(s) that fails and if it's ever properly diagnosed. I found a mech unit repair kit that costs only $300. I also read about $9-10k repair bills from dealers :( and i also read about cases where a $3-5k repair was all that was necessary to fully rebuilt it. And these are all dealer prices. The DSG may not be a DIY item on these cars, but there have to be independent transmission shops who can work on/repair these units for less than $9k.
Maybe i am too naive. .. or maybe dealers like to unnecessarily just swap the entire DSG units because they can charge it to Audi or some warranty company?!? I've seen that common practice before, not only with Audis.

Aside from the DSG, is there anything else big, major, and $$$ that i am missing that frequently goes bad on these cars?

I would love to hear from people who have more than 50-60k miles on their S4s. How bad does it get as the car accumulates more and more miles? I am aware that many people on this forum prefer to trade-in and upgrade their S4s as soon as they are out of warranty but there are others who keep them longer.

Thanks in advance!
DM

[blackfunk]

First off congrats,

Honestly I would not get a warranty for 5k. I would put that aside in the event that something may break and use that to repair it. That being said, I will be getting an extended warranty on mine as 50k is fast approaching. I had a powertrain warranty that I purchased from my dealer for $1650 back when my warranty was about to expire on my previous 2010.

[dennisA4]

I've always been advised against these warranties in the past.
The advise given to me is to just sock that money away for emergency repairs.

[Shimmy]

search around for extended warranties. you don't need to purchase it from the same place you bought the car at. I have the fidelity gold package, bought it for $1600. it is the same company and warranty that audi offers as their Audi Pure Protection plan.

[RickFLS4]

I got a Fidelity warranty from FD Warranty (same as sold by local dealers) for about 60% of the price local dealers wanted. I bought it at 25k miles and have 40k miles now. The prices of warranties escalate as you put miles on the car.

Biggest risks in your car are DSG and 2 owners you don't know. If you tune the car, don't bother with the warranty IMO. If you are ok leaving it stock, it is really a judgment call on whether it is worth it or not. I chose to get it for peace of mind and resale whenever I am done with the car. If I sell at 85k-105k miles I figured it would be easier to sell with some warranty left on it.

[Dr GP]

search around for extended warranties. you don't need to purchase it from the same place you bought the car at. I have the fidelity gold package, bought it for $1600. it is the same company and warranty that audi offers as their Audi Pure Protection plan.

THIS. Did the same when I purchased my 2011 with 48K and 2 previous owners. If you purchase your car from an Audi dealer you can roll the cost into the financing if you want.

[danmm7]

THIS. Did the same when I purchased my 2011 with 48K and 2 previous owners. If you purchase your car from an Audi dealer you can roll the cost into the financing if you want.

Car was already purchased more than a month ago and i bought it from a Honda dealer.
I will have to buy a warranty from a dealer/reseller now. Lots of options online but 95% of them have horrible reviews since they are scam operations for the most part.

[Johnnycash]

http://fd-warranty.com/

troy dietrich is legit and many people on the forums here have bought his warranties, i have heard of no horror stories from the fidelity plans he sells, as long as you can read and understand a contract its actually pretty black and white.

[Sales@DriveAuto]

$5k is AMG warranty money. There's a guy named Bruce Mendel (Becks Imports iirc) who is very popular with the Merc/Audi guys - he is an extended warranty broker. Might be worth emailing him to see what the options are.

Depending on the cost and coverage, it could be a worthwhile investment assuming it covers the two major items that are likely to have issues - the DSG/mechatronics unit and the sport diff. We work with extended warranty companies all the time, and I've seen people recoup the investment with a single service (normally RS6s, the big Mercedes', Land Rovers). The S4 has proven itself to be fairly reliable, but I know the DSG and sport diff are two big ticket items that fail with some regularity (and I use this word loosely - they're just the "least" bulletproof in relation to the rest of the car, if that makes sense). Obviously the extended warranty doesn't cover wear and tear, so you'll still be paying out of pocket for that. Also ensure that you're comparing "equal" warranties - not every company covers the same things.

Don't worry about the car being "high mileage" - there's a guy on here with 145k+ on his S4.

[sacandagaD]

I'd roll the dice before I paid 5k for a warranty on our cars. For $ 2k territory, a different story but in the end it's your risk tolerance.

[danmm7]

Thank you for the replies, gents. Very helpful.

On a related note, i just stopped by my local Audi dealer here in San Jose and talked briefly to one of their service advisers. I asked about extended warranties and what companies do they work mostly with and who is easier to work with.
He had some good things to say about Fidelity.
He also told me that i can buy an extended warranty plan from them for my S4 and he quoted me $6,100 for 3yr/36k and $7,900 for 4yr/48k. That's very steep!!! Not sure how much of that is mark up or something else.

[danmm7]

Troy just emailed me back and told me that he can't help me since my car is outside the factory warranty.
:(
This is very disappointing since i was helpful that he may be able to help me. I am back at square one with that one. Maybe it's a sign that i should give up the idea of buying a warranty.


Any other recommendations for a reputable/reliable, yet well priced extended warranty company?

Thanks!

[IanCH]

OP, I was in a similar situation to you, bought the car at 75k, got quoted 6k for a warranty, said fuck that (there is a thread I made on this topic somewhere)

Drove the car for 21k miles and started to notice the quality of the car declining, jumped ship and took a loss for it, but I feel that I am better off for it not having to deal with the issues.

I would speculate youll be fine for a year so dont rush out of the car, but I feel that I learned the hard way what not to do with audi's (buy high and sell higher is no good)

my next audi or more expensive car will be new or very close to new CPO.

[6spdg37s]

these warrantites that are super expensive 5-6-7k dollars thats insane even if it was a factory warranty. Maybe bank the money that u would use to buy the warranty in case a repair occurs and just try to stay on top of your maintenance. If you feel the car is starting to go downhill unload it

[breyton490]

I've always been advised against these warranties in the past.
The advise given to me is to just sock that money away for emergency repairs.

+1 this has been my philosophy. If you can be disciplined enough to not touch the cash you set aside... Worst case you spend it on a major repair, best case you earn 8%-15% depending on how you invest the money.

[Rocketsauce16]

The best warranties actually come from credit unions here in the south.. First Service CU in Houston says it is a true bumper to bumper minus the bumpers..
The best I had was from Louisiana Dealer Services.. My B6 S4 had 25k in covered repairs and only 3700 came out of my pocket total including cost of the warranty and deductibles. I should mention that car was heavily modified with JHM parts and when it came to the engine being replaced they didn't flinch and Audi pulled my parts from the old engine so I could reapply them, but they ultimately switched everything over..
Don't fool yourself gents I've been around the car business a long time when you could fix an a/c for $200 and have money set aside for repairs, but now it's just not worth it.. The full ac system needing to be done is a 6k job.. I'm not going to lose my vacation fund over a few repairs so I'll spend 3k very soon to protect that from happening.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mojangles69]

That much money for an extended warranty is NUTS! Anything above $2,500 is too much. Many people i know that have Audi's purchased extended warranties and all paid less than $3k but that was while they were still under the factory warranty. So, since you are around 60k miles, I am not sure that you can get that good a deal. Based on what you've said so far, not looking like you can get a warranty in that price range.

Here's a thought...take it to an Audi dealership and see how much it would cost for them to CPO it. If you have a good relationship with a local dealer, they could potentially CPO it for you "at-cost." And if the car is in great condition, it shouldn't cost much. Friend of mine, a few years ago, found a mini cooper s for his gf but it was being privately sold and was out of warranty. It was exactly what they were looking for but warranty was a MUST for him. So, he somehow managed to broker a deal with a local dealership where the guy sold his mini to the dealership, they CPO'ed and then my friend bought it from the dealership.

At the end of the day, if a warranty is important to you, I'd bite the bullet, sell/trade your S4 and buy a CPO'ed S4.

[mojangles69]

The best warranties actually come from credit unions here in the south.. First Service CU in Houston says it is a true bumper to bumper minus the bumpers..
The best I had was from Louisiana Dealer Services.. My B6 S4 had 25k in covered repairs and only 3700 came out of my pocket total including cost of the warranty and deductibles. I should mention that car was heavily modified with JHM parts and when it came to the engine being replaced they didn't flinch and Audi pulled my parts from the old engine so I could reapply them, but they ultimately switched everything over..
Don't fool yourself gents I've been around the car business a long time when you could fix an a/c for $200 and have money set aside for repairs, but now it's just not worth it.. The full ac system needing to be done is a 6k job.. I'm not going to lose my vacation fund over a few repairs so I'll spend 3k very soon to protect that from happening.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

+1