Nissan extended warranty: cost, coverage and plans

With the rising cost of parts and labor, you might be considering an extended auto warranty to protect yourself from unexpected repair bills. That’s especially true if you drive a Nissan and your factory bumper-to-bumper warranty likely expires after just three years or 36,000 miles.

Nissan offers its own brand of extended warranty plans, but it’s worth seeing how they stack up against your other options before you sign on the dotted line. Keep reading to find out what they cover, what they cost and whether they’re ultimately worth it.

Key insights

• Nissan’s official extended warranty program is called Security+Plus.
• Security+Plus plans come in three coverage levels, but Nissan claims that 97% of customers choose the top-tier Gold Preferred option.
• Coverage terms up to six years or 75,000 miles tend to cost well below the extended warranty average, but prices rise quickly for terms between 75,000 and 120,000 miles.
• Nissans have above-average reliability, so we wouldn’t consider a Security+Plus plan an essential purchase (even though the low price may be worth it for peace of mind).

Nissan extended warranty coverage

Nissan’s official program for extended warranties (also called vehicle service contracts) is called Security+Plus. Like basically all extended auto warranties, they only cover parts that fail on their own and won’t cover repairs needed due to negligence, damage, misuse or missed maintenance.

Nissan offers Security+Plus plans for both “new” and “used” Nissan vehicles. For a vehicle to qualify as “new,” it must still be within the factory 3-year/36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty period.

You can buy a Security+Plus plan for a used vehicle outside of this warranty period at any point before it hits 8 years old or 100,000 miles on the odometer. (To Nissan’s credit, most automakers only let you purchase extended warranties for used vehicles on the date you purchase the vehicle.)

For new vehicles, term options range from 4 years/48,000 miles to 8 years/120,000 miles. For used vehicles, term options range from 1 year/12,000 miles to 7 years/100,000 miles.

Most automakers’ extended warranty terms are counted from the vehicle’s in-service date, which is when it was sold to its first owner, not the date you bought the warranty.

Keep in mind that if you purchase a 4-year/48,000-mile warranty on a “new” Nissan, you’re not extending your 3-year/36,000-mile factory warranty by another four years. Rather, you’re extending the warranty period to four years, essentially adding one year or 12,000 miles of coverage.

» LEARN: What does a car warranty cover?

Nissan extended warranty benefits

All Nissan Security+Plus plans include one common perk — up to $100 of emergency roadside assistance per claim, and it’s available 24/7 with no deductible. This assistance includes jump-start, locksmith, fuel delivery and flat tire services.

Nissan’s two higher coverage tiers (Gold Preferred and Silver Preferred) add the following benefits:

• Trip interruption coverage, which partially reimburses you for meals, lodging and alternate transportation if your Nissan has a warranty-covered breakdown over 100 miles from home
• Car rental assistance, which reimburses you up to $35 per day for up to five days if you need a rental car while your Nissan is in the shop for a warranty-covered repair
• Towing reimbursement of up to $100 per claim

Overall, this is a pretty common slate of benefits for an extended auto warranty plan.

Nissan extended warranty plans

Security+Plus plans come in three levels of coverage:

• Powertrain Preferred covers roughly 840 parts (mostly those related to your vehicle’s engine, transmission, drive axle, steering, suspension and air conditioning).
• Silver Preferred covers roughly 1,500 parts across most major systems in your vehicle.
• Gold Preferred covers roughly 2,200 parts across all major systems in your vehicle.

According to Nissan, 97% of Security+Plus customers choose Gold Preferred over the other two options, presumably because it provides the most coverage. That said, don’t forget that auto warranties aren’t designed to cover damage to your vehicle — only parts that fail on their own. (That’s the main difference between auto warranties and auto insurance.)

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of the number of parts covered by each Security+Plus plan, courtesy of Nissan.

Given the chart above, it’s clear why most Security+Plus customers go with Gold Preferred plans. Gold Preferred covers roughly 50% more parts than Silver Preferred, and Nissan’s factory powertrain warranty already lasts for five years or 60,000 miles, so an extended Powertrain Preferred warranty isn’t all that valuable.

Nissan extended warranty cost

Extended warranty providers rarely publish pricing for their plans online, and many automakers require you to reach out to a dealership for a quote if you want to know how much they charge. However, Gates Nissan maintains a handy website where you can price out a Nissan Security+Plus extended warranty. Keep in mind that your results may differ if you get pricing from somewhere else.

Nissan Security+Plus costs

Here are some quotes we gathered for various Nissan vehicles. Note that the deductible for all quoted plans was $100. (Eliminating the deductible on Gold Preferred and Silver Preferred plans increased their prices by 25.5% and 20%, respectively.)

For context, the average cost of an extended auto warranty is around $2,500. That means Gold Preferred plans are surprisingly affordable for most terms below 6 years/75,000 miles, but after that, costs for certain models can rise quickly.

These numbers suggest that if you plan to own your Nissan past 100,000 miles, you might consider a third-party warranty option more seriously.

(If you were surprised by the low quotes for a Nissan LEAF, keep in mind that the factory warranty on a LEAF includes five years or 60,000 miles of EV powertrain coverage plus eight years or 100,000 miles of battery pack coverage. In other words, protection for pricey EV-related parts is already pretty good, so a Security+Plus warranty isn’t responsible for any critical gaps.)

Nissan extended warranty terms and conditions

We looked over a sample contract for a Security+Plus plan and included a summary of some of the main points you should be aware of below. However, we always recommend reading your contract before you sign to make sure there are no surprises down the road.

Overall, the only major “gotchas” we could find hiding in the Security+Plus terms and conditions were the stipulations against track and performance use.

Both the Nissan GT-R and Nissan Z are heavily marketed as high-performance sports cars, and yet Nissan lists “use on a track” as a general exclusion for all vehicles. Even damage as a result of using factory-installed launch control can void the warranty on your transmission, which one owner reportedly discovered to the tune of $20,000. If you’re hoping that your factory or extended Nissan warranty will protect your car all the way to the limits, you may be disappointed.

Is a Nissan extended warranty worth it?

Before determining whether a Security+Plus plan is worth it, it might be worth taking a step back to determine whether you need an extended warranty at all.

In general, an extended warranty is more likely to be a smart purchase if any of the following statements are true for you:

• You plan to own an unreliable car past the factory warranty period
• You can’t afford a surprise repair bill of $1,000 or more, but you can budget roughly $40 per month for a warranty
• You don’t mind paying for the peace of mind that comes from warranty coverage, even if it doesn’t end up doing much for you

If you’re on the fence, let’s examine how likely your Nissan is to have a covered breakdown and what that breakdown could cost.

For starters, Nissans are pretty reliable these days. J.D. Power ranked Nissan 10th out of 32 carmakers in its 2023 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study, with “just” 170 issues per 100 vehicles. (For context, No. 1 was Lexus with 133, and No. 32 was Land Rover with 273). Based on that, we wouldn’t say that these vehicles are unreliable enough to make extended warranty coverage a must-buy.

However, if and when parts do fail, the price of getting your Nissan back on the road can be high. According to Nissan itself, the average repair estimate for a covered part can range anywhere from $378 for a failed power window motor to $6,328 for major engine repairs.

While your Nissan is unlikely to experience a catastrophic breakdown, it’s worth remembering that a 6-year/75,000-mile Gold Preferred warranty for a 2023 Nissan Altima costs just $830. That might be worth it just for peace of mind.

Still, it’s always smart to shop around, and you might find an even better deal with a dedicated extended warranty company. 

» MORE: Pros and cons of extended auto warranties

Nissan extended warranty alternatives

Broadly speaking, third-party extended warranties stand out from original equipment manufacturer (OEM) extended warranties in two ways.

First, they offer longer terms. OEM options rarely extend past 150,000 miles, while third-party extended warranties can stretch all the way to 10 years or 300,000 miles.

Second, third-party extended warranty companies offer a wider range of options for you to choose from. They might not all be better than what you’d get from Nissan, but getting quotes from different companies can often net you some savings on similar coverage.

An extended warranty from a third-party warranty company might be a particularly good option if you plan to own your Nissan past 75,000 miles. According to the quotes we received from Nissan, that’s when Security+Plus warranties start getting expensive.