GMC extended warranty: cost, coverage and plans

GMC extended warranty coverage

GMC’s official extended warranties (known as vehicle service contracts) are called GMC Protection Plans. These plans are designed to extend your existing GMC factory warranties, which include three years or 36,000 miles of bumper-to-bumper coverage and five years or 60,000 miles of powertrain coverage.

That means your extended warranty will cover the cost of repairing or replacing specified components that break or malfunction as a result of normal use. (If you want to protect yourself against repair bills after an accident, theft or vandalism, you should look into comprehensive auto insurance.)

You can technically purchase a GMC Protection Plan at any point before your GMC vehicle hits eight years old or 100,000 miles on the odometer, but the cost of coverage rises as you wait.

» LEARN: What does a car warranty cover?

GMC extended warranty terms and conditions

We read the sample contract for a GMC Protection Plan, and overall, GMC doesn’t seem to be hiding any atypical “gotchas” in its terms and conditions. We’ve broken down the more important terms and conditions below, but it’s always a good idea to read your contract before you sign so you know what’s expected of you and what you’re getting.

GMC extended warranty benefits

In addition to parts coverage, all GMC Protection Plans come with the following benefits:

• Disappearing deductibles, which can waive your $100 deductible if you get your warranty repair work done at the same GMC dealer that sold you the warranty
• Roadside assistance, including up to $100 for towing (per occurrence), battery service, flat tire assistance, emergency fuel and fluid delivery, and lockout assistance
• Rental car coverage of up to $40 per day for 10 days while your GMC vehicle is in the shop for a covered repair
• Trip interruption coverage of up to $200 per day for up to five days to help cover emergency travel expenses (meals, lodging, taxis, etc.) if your GMC vehicle has a covered breakdown more than 100 miles from home.

Overall, these are above-average benefits for an automaker’s extended warranty. Some brands only cover $35 per day for a rental car and $50 per day for trip interruptions (if they even cover them at all), so GMC’s limits are generous by comparison.

It’s worth noting that your $100 towing benefit only applies if your breakdown is covered by your warranty plan, though.

» READ: Where can you use an extended auto warranty?

GMC extended warranty plans

GMC Protection Plans come with three coverage options: Powertrain, Silver and Platinum.

The Platinum plan is essentially an extended bumper-to-bumper warranty. It’s also an “exclusionary” warranty, meaning it’ll cover all parts except those specifically outlined in the terms and conditions.

Here’s a breakdown of what each GMC Protection Plan covers, courtesy of GMC itself:

According to RepairPal, some of the most common issues with GMC vehicles have to do with the engine, transmission and electrical system. Some of these issues may be covered by the Silver plan, but even so, most GMC Protection Plan customers still end up choosing Platinum.

GMC extended warranty cost

GMC doesn’t offer a way to purchase GMC Protection Plans online. That means you have to purchase them from a local dealer, and since some dealers charge high markups (even on warranties), you won’t know if you’ve found a good deal until you’ve called multiple dealers for competing quotes.

GMC Protection Plan costs

The good news is that’s exactly what we did, and here are the best offers we received.

Most automakers’ extended auto warranty terms start from the date the vehicle is purchased by its first owner, even if you’re buying the warranty later.

For context, the average extended auto warranty costs around $1,000 per year of coverage. That means GMC Protection Plans are considerably more expensive than average. Even the seven-year/70,000-mile warranty on our brand-new Sierra was quoted as $3,700, which is a lot for a plan that only really extends the factory warranty by four years or 34,000 miles.

These are similar prices to what we were quoted by BMW for its extended warranties, and BMWs cost 50% more than the average vehicle to maintain and repair, according to RepairPal. Maintenance and repairs on GMC vehicles, by comparison, are only 15% more expensive than average.

The fact that it costs nearly 10% of an Acadia’s MSRP to cover its parts for a few more years begs a simple question: Why are GMC Protection Plans so expensive? The answer could lie in GMC’s reliability ratings.

Is a GMC extended warranty worth it?

As a general rule, an auto extended warranty is more likely to be worth the cost if any of the following are true:

• You drive a historically unreliable car.
• You can’t afford an unexpected repair bill, but you can budget ahead for a warranty payment.
• The cost of the warranty is less than what you expect to spend on repairs.
• You really don’t mind paying extra for peace of mind, even if you never file a claim.

In terms of reliability, J.D. Power ranked GMC 18th out of 29 carmakers in 2024, and Consumer Reports ranked it 24th out of 30 brands in 2023. Considering that the latter outlet includes a wider range of model years in its rankings, these rankings suggest that GMCs don’t age particularly well and begin having most of their problems once they’ve run out of factory warranty coverage.

We’ve seen evidence of this in consumer reviews: Brian, a ConsumerAffairs reviewer from Indiana, wrote, “Shifting assembly is junk. Most go bad before the 36k warranty ... Mine went bad at literally 37,229.”

Additionally, “[there are] common points of failure on these vehicles—such as the engine, transmission and power steering,” Eric Hamilton, founder of Whyte Knyte Inspections told ConsumerAffairs in an email. “Sometimes the infotainment system also fails on a GMC, and it can’t be repaired since individual components aren’t sold piecemeal. You’ll have to replace it, and the cost can range from $2,500 to $5,000.”

If you have substantial savings, the burden of a significant repair bill might not be a major concern, but for others, it could be dire. A ConsumerAffairs investigation found that the majority of drivers surveyed couldn’t afford to pay $1,000 in cash for a repair bill, 13% of which had no way to handle a bill that large, even with credit.

Reports of poor reliability normally weigh in favor of an extended warranty being worth it, but given the relatively high costs of GMC Protection Plans, you might still be better off paying for repairs out of pocket.

2019 RepairPal data shows that GMCs cost an average of $744 a year to repair and maintain, which when adjusted for inflation is about $1,017. That’s just 12% above average ($891 per year) and probably not enough to justify purchasing a Protection Plan that costs around $1,100 per year of coverage, which is roughly what we were quoted to cover our 2018 Yukon. However, if you can get a better deal on your GMC Protection Plan, like we did for our Sierra and Acadia, you have better odds of your warranty paying for itself.

Even the more affordable quotes we got for GMC Protection Plans were still above the average cost of an extended warranty, though. That’s why we decided to get quotes from third-party warranty companies for an idea of how GMC Protection Plans stack up against the rest of the market.

» MORE: Pros and cons of extended auto warranties

GMC extended warranty alternatives

Dedicated extended warranty companies often offer coverage that’s similar to what you can get from your automaker but at a lower cost. However, you shouldn’t expect to get a better deal from every warranty provider you speak with.

Check out the table below to see what GMC quoted us compared to some quotes we received for Platinum-equivalent seven-year/100,000-mile warranties from third-party warranty providers, rounded to the nearest dollar.

While quotes for our Acadia were almost identical across all three warranty providers, olive3.5 offered a much lower quote than the others for our GMC Sierra 2500HD, and Endurance4.6 was much softer on our aging Yukon.

That’s why it pays to shop around. Getting multiple quotes from dealers and third-party companies can save you thousands on extended warranty protection and make your purchase a much smarter move. If you’re interested in buying an extended warranty for your GMC, we recommend that you do your research, compare quotes from different warranty providers and read reviews to see what past customers recommend before you buy.

If you want to learn more, check out our hub for extended car warranty articles.