Endurance Warranty

I had always done all the service. It was my second Ford vehicle, the same type, and I thought, "Okay, I'll get a quote from Ford. My life won't get any worse." But Ford gave me a quote, and I felt that it was too expensive. It was over $1,000 a year for the car and there were limitations, but they were going to extend the warranty out quite a bit. Some time past, mileage on my vehicle got up well over 60,000 to like 64,000. And I was doing some other inquiries online and I saw the ConsumerAffairs solicitation about auto warranties and I felt a sense of comfort about ConsumerAffairs being a relatively objective assessor of what is being offered. So, I put in the information about myself to try to get a quote and I listened to the pitches that came at me electronically. ConsumerAffairs gave me a number, I selected one and it just happened to be Endurance.

The thing that I liked about them was they're not a brokered service, that you were talking to a person who worked at Endurance Auto Warranty who writes the expense check. They're not just taking a cut of finding a victim. It wasn't a heavy pitch sale. Every question I asked was well-answered. And even then, I just took the number of the person I spoke to and I said, "I'll make a decision this weekend." At the same time, that was coincident with me speaking with Ford, and Ford almost harassed me. "What are you going to do? What are you going to do? Your mileage is going up."

Ford structured an environment where they find hardcore driven sales people that just annoy you. So, I lost my sense of endurance to tolerate the Ford thing. By the third time the guy asked me, "What are you going to do?", I said, "I'm going to drive the car until it breaks and take the risk and pay for the repair myself because you're playing a game with effective insurance here and you're making money." Am I just willing to stand at the roulette table and think, "Oh, the transmission will make it to 70,000."

What these people who are selling this stuff don't understand is that you have three other people that you know with the product and they're on their 120,000th mile and they haven't had a problem. And you've done regular maintenance. I'm an engineer and I've done regular catalog maintenance all the way along and I don't have any really horrible disturbing problems with the vehicle. And it's completely paid off now for like three years. Do I want to suddenly pay more and more and more? And every year, you pass every few more miles that go on the car. When I was talking to Endurance, the person told me the quote they gave me would be the quote that would hold until the car clicked over to 70,000 miles. So, I was sitting there thinking, "These calls are never going to stop. I can probably shop this for a little longer. Risk at driving a little longer, and then make a decision at 68,000 or 69,000 miles."

I became more keenly aware of what the shortages meant for the retail experience of buying, and that used car prices were increasing for the first time in 28 years. Statistically, they never have. I have an extremely low mile, good quality vehicle, well taken care of. It's 2021 and I'm driving around in a 2013 Ford Flex. The Ford Flex's design hasn't changed. It's an acquired taste. It's not all sexy, but I accepted it. I traded in an Audi Q7 for the Ford Flex and the Ford Flex was as good of a vehicle in 2010 when I bought my first one, and it was 40% less than the equivalent purchasing of the Q7, a new 2010. I was so happy with the 2010 Ford Flex, I bought another one in 2013, I leased it. And then, at the end of that lease, I bought it out because I would have given back cars to dealerships with a total of over 30,000 miles unused mileage. So, when I bought the car out. I was happy with it.

Now, I'm probably driving around in the state of Pennsylvania with the only Ford Flex with 64,000 miles on it. I had it built to the specification that I wanted. It's loaded. But it has no sunroof. I don't like sunroofs. I like the extra headroom of no sunroof and I like the fact that the sunroof weighs in terms of all of its mechanicals and everything. It adds 100 pounds of weight to the very top of the car. It changes the center of gravity and handling of the car and things like that. For the amount of time I'm going to use it, I'm not going to pay 1,500 bucks to open it three times a year. I get to this point, and Endurance called me back and said, "Because you're of your age, the car's owned, we can sweeten the warranty a little bit."

And then, I told Endurance all the different comparable numbers that I've heard in the market for the additional amounts of mileage you can drive and how much per month, how much per year you pay for these things. Generally, for four years of additional coverage, you pay for it in 24 months, and everybody's playing the numbers and statistics and gain here. If you get the whole thing paid off, then you don't have to pay for 24 more months, but you're still covered. According to the terms of the warranty, you can adjust the amount of your cost if you change it from a four-year plan to a three-year plan or even a two-year plan. So, you can modulate how much you want to spend, then you discover it's transferable to a new owner as long as they re-up the program. That increases the value of it.

And right now, we're at this one time in third year experience of used cars being worth more every month than they have been in the last 30 years, and it's just because you can't buy the new car you want at the dealership. And your used car doesn't represent any problem to you in its function. Why endure the additional economic burden right now? Just keep driving your car.

So, I reached the point where, economically, I found that I could get a warranty that would be good to take me to 100,000 miles for about 120 bucks a month. And I thought, "I'll probably drive this car for six more months until the shortage of new car availabilities is addressed in the market." I can actually place the order for the vehicle that I want and have it speced because it's never going to be on the lot. It's always gizmoed out more than I want it in the last 10% of all the options that you buy on the car, the things that go wrong or haven't been adequately tested because they're unproven in terms of true durability. So, I rationalized I'll pay 120 a month for at least six months until I get through that time and I'm covered for any big failure. If I just decide spontaneously to sell the car, I can sell it and transfer it with the warranty, which is, in today's market where used cars are going up, it enhances the value of the car I'm selling.

The reps seemed the more rational of people that I met in the marketplace. And there are mean jokes about auto warranties right now on the internet. There's a famous meme I've seen where it's actually one man standing in a men's room against a bank of 30 urinals. And another man walks into the men's room. Now, there are 30 urinals and the man walks all the way to this urinal adjacent to the man that's already occupied. And then you see his head turning and he says, "I'd like to talk to you about a new automobile warranty." The parody in the pictures. In no men's restroom would another guy walk all the way down and stand right at the urinal next to you when you have 30 urinals to choose from. But the joke is the first thing that comes out of the guy's mouth is something about an automobile warranty. That's why he took the extra steps. It's a perfect parable for what's going on in the marketplace today.

All these companies that are selling modeled their selling protocol to the C student in your class. Professional salespeople that are involved, it's a numbers game. They just got to get you to yes, they just got to get your credit card number and get you through their mill. So, their pitch is designed for a C student. They never anticipate an informed customer would ever arrive at their door. The thing that Endurance could do better is figure out quickly through a series of qualifying questions when they're talking with the customer, where does the customer sit on the intelligence bell curve? Are they smarter than the average cat or are they just another entrapment mechanism that we have to use all of our sales pitches and all of our special adjectives that, "This is the super, prestige," dah, dah, dah.

When I'm talking to someone, I understand what I want. I actually had to draw it out of them. "Oh, so I could do this for over two years, not three? Oh, okay. And I could do it to a monthly payment and I could do it to this." I asked more questions than the guy could answer, but it's necessary in order to get him to tell me what I want to know because the middle of the road, the consumer is not going to call and understand what they want and what they need and where the fulcrum should be to make the decision.

Also, I was told I was going to get some coupons for Amazon because I paid for the whole thing upfront. I thought that was awesome. I was good with just taking the cash off but the coupon was equal. They said we had to do the coupons because I had to deal with Amazon. That made my policy even a better deal. But you have to actually get the coupons for the good deal to be there. I was told that normally, people make payments so I would get one coupon on the front end and another coupon on the back end. The guy that was green said that I would get both coupons on the front end. He said I would get one right away then I would get one three months later. But I haven't received any. That's a small snafu.

The green guy told me the cost for a month. I said, “No, hold on. I don't want to do that. I'm looking to pay the whole thing off, and is that a discount?” He didn't know and he would have to get ahold of somebody else. He would call me back the next day. I have three of these, “I'll get back with you, call you back tomorrow,” because the guy was green. I get that he was new at a job but I really needed and wanted cash. Also, they never explained how the payment was going to be made. They just said I would get a credit.

One thing that I liked about Endurance was they offered a warranty through my bank at work. My credit union is right at the end of the parking lot and that's really handy to use. But they didn't even make the top 20. They wanted to have a loan on the vehicle but I didn't really want to pay interest on a vehicle just to have a warranty. I did the Consumer Reports and Endurance rated the highest. I didn't have to have a loan and that was one of the reasons I went with Endurance. I read through my policy and I have to have a log of all my maintenance and all my stuff and I kind of get that. By the time I bought the warranty, everything all-in was 47,000 bucks. I’m like, “Is this for their benefit to not pay for something because I should have done something better the way they wanted it done?”

It's just I had a little confusion on the sign-up and I haven't gotten my promised benefit yet. I had confusion about getting a copy of the policy. It went through a couple of different people. They kept wanting me to download it off their site but I wanted them to mail me a paper copy so I could read it. Why would I want to read a warranty on my cell phone? That basically demands that you have a computer and a printer at home, which I do. Finally, I got ahold of a guy who gave me a link and who would actually work on the printer. The third guy was a smart one and knew exactly what the issue was. He was going, “I don't know why the first two people did that, but this is the easy way to do it.” He finally mailed a copy to me. But that was a one-two-three process to get a copy of the policy.

The warranty industry has been eroded by a lot of charlatans. I've gotten quotes all over the place. One would be $4,700 and with less coverage. It didn't cover this and it didn't cover that. I got quotes for $2,100 that didn't begin to cover the things that were important to me. It was all powertrain. Most of these engines and the powertrain in most of these vehicles now go 300,000 miles without any issues if you service them regularly. But it’s all the little electronic things that could go wrong with age and with time. Those are the things that concern me because I don’t want something not working in my car. If it’s not working, I'm not comfortable.

I want everything that's in that car to be functioning. I got vibrators in my backseat and reclining back seats. I've got power sunshades and the side windows in the back window. I've got a bar in the car. It's all factory put in there. I have a fancy sound system too. My particular car felt like a limo. And most of those things, I never sit in the backseat to use all of them. But I want them working anyways. If something isn't functioning, I want it fixed.

I had been dealing with a company called Alfa Warranty and they've changed a lot of their policies. Another company has kind of taken them over. I had my car covered under them and that was a great policy that I'd had for five years. It's coming to an end in November. I wanted to renew before that expired and I know that there was a 30-day wait. I went online and there was some kind of a promotion for the top 10 companies for warranty extensions. Endurance was one of the top four listed in there. I contacted all of them. They came up with what I thought was the best policy for what I wanted to fill my needs, ad pricing-wise, and everything. It was taken into consideration. I went with them.

When I first called, they had my name on file for some reason that they quoted me on my Hyundai. It was probably a year or two earlier on another vehicle that we were purchasing for my wife. Their rep talked to me and she was a little snide. She said, “Well, we already quoted you on that. It's still the same.” She was not rude, but was a little curt. I said I didn't recall but I asked if they could send it to me and let me know what it was. She had gone back through it again. Somebody else then followed up.

The person I talked to when I finally decided to pull the trigger on it was exceptional. He was absolutely wonderful and he made sure all the T's are crossed I's were dotted. He explained things really well. He answered every question that I had and didn't dodge any issues. I felt that there was integrity in the individual, so I was very comfortable in making that final decision. The only question that I have now is where I should pay the $78 a month. Do they take that out automatically? That's what I'd like them to do. I put it on a debit card.

Long story short, the extended warranty that I had on the car when I purchased it had 4,000 miles left to it, and it was gonna expire. And then, when my husband went to bring the car, they asked about it. We looked, and sure enough, there was an extended warranty, and I only had about 4,000 miles before it would have expired based off of the mileage. So, when we were in a Nissan dealership while they were finishing up with the car, I blurted out the question, “I wonder if I can do an extended warranty on an extended warranty?” And the girl there was like, “Yeah, you can.”

She gave us the number to the guy at the Nissan dealership and for us to give him a call. I called and scheduled an appointment. It was on a Friday, but he wouldn't be able to see us until Monday. I panicked. I know we will not go over these miles, but let me just look somewhere else. I went online, and that's how I came about with getting to Endurance.

The guy that I talked to was awesome. He was really nice, very informative, and just broke everything down. I just explained to him what literally just took place. We just got the car back. I said, “This is what's going on. With this pandemic, I can't afford, or god forbid, anything else like this to happen.” Because what was about to be a good $1,500 job, we only have to pay 200 something. When he explained how extended warranties work, I said, “Look, I need this to be covered pretty much for the life of the car or 100,000 miles, something more than just what it was.” Because we just bought the car and I didn’t want it to come up on an expiration that could easily happen. He explained everything. He told me what the pricing was. I asked, “Does it cover everything that would potentially have a comma in the price tag?” And he said, “Yes, everything under the hood.”

He started naming off parts. I asked, “Sir, if it has a comma, that means it’s expensive. Does it cover it?” “Yeah.” “Okay. That’s all I need to know.” The engine, the scary stuff, I need to make sure that the car is covered. He made sure that it was. So, it was a great experience considering I've never done that before and just did it on a whim. I panicked because of how much we were potentially about to have to pay. I don't even know where the money would come from. In the end, it worked out very well.

I know that anything that needs to be done or covered is covered. It’s better than the car insurance. I don’t know what will happen if, God forbid, you’re in an accident. But I know that if anything was to break down in the car that is not under the wear and tear stuff, I know that my car is covered. And where we brought it to, they were excellent. Not only do we know that the extended warranty is gonna work, but even a place that we bring the vehicle to is perfectly fine.

Signing up wasn’t difficult and they gave me a little bit of time. The person was calm and I told her that it was very important to be patient and calm because there are people whose guard is gonna be up. I don't like to have a pushy salesperson so the minute I see something like that, I'm turning deaf ears or hanging up the phone. This particular lady wasn't like that and wasn’t cutting you off. I had the opportunity to ask her how she measures up with other companies. She was honest and upfront.

The communication with the rep was good and she explained what they have to offer and the coverage. But I have to call Endurance for some promotions that I’m supposed to benefit from now. I have not yet seen those and my time is running out. I just had some concerns with the promotional part of it. For instance, if you say you will get three years and then you get two years extra for free, it's like you'll never make it to the two years based on the terms that they have and mileage. So that should be eliminated from anyone's promotion because it’s not true.

It’s easy to say that after my coverage begins, then I’ll have some time to then try it out. But there’s no way to try out the warranty unless it’s there and it’s not right now. The waiting period is not doing anything for me. They did say that I can get that back before the 30 days but that’s like jumping ship. You need to be aware of updates that they would need to do but I can’t try it out and it has not actually started. I started this week. If the person wants to be able to cancel, it sounds like you can only cancel before you get started. So that will be a major problem with me and this is where I have the heavy weight on my mind and decide on what I wanna do, especially if my maturity date is coming up. But yet, I still got to pay on the car.

A lot of times they wanna hurry up and lock you in. I might say that I'm gonna cancel this and make myself not locked in for a three-year agreement, but then I might want to sign back up with them in a month or two. Right now, people like me might have a lot of other decisions that they need to make. We get it that the car breaks down and this and that can cause that. But I don't wanna be locked into a person's contract either if my car ends up reaching the miles beforehand or it’s too much of an expense. The price per month is what I jumped on. I heard that CarShield, for instance, might have been asking for a little bit more than $100 per month but then you get a better term. But they're not living up to what they say either and you might have to pay more out of your pocket when it's time to pay your deductible. My main concern is if you happen to be in a situation where you have to owe them the remainder of the timeframe.

Anyhow the service advisor now tells me to submit a service receipt. Oh, I left out that on July 15th, they somehow misplaced my initial email with proof of miles, so I had to resend it to a service advisor for her to send it. But we are a week later. Seven days since I dropped the vehicle at the shop within their network, and I was told today, the 19th of July, my vehicle service receipt was denied because it didn’t display a VIN or tag. The ticket stated the vehicle itself and miles, but because it had no VIN or tag, it’s denied. So for seven days of denied service, no one thought to reach out to the consumer, which is me? Meanwhile, if you are late or didn’t pay, they make sure they get in contact with you. I’m sorry, but I don’t think endurance likes use vehicles, so proceed with caution when setting up service and ask a lot of questions. Also, make sure you have a copy of the carfax because they see what they want on it.