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Author Topic: Should I Extend My Land Rover Warranty Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-17-2007 08:55 PM                     I received an offer today from SERVICE PROTECTION DIRECT in St. Louis to extend my Land Rover warranty by up to 6 years or 100K miles. Before I call these guys has anyone here on F-T delt with this company before? I may be interested in extending it a couple of years but probably not past that. I would just like to hear from soneone thats delt with them and claims before I bother to call about it. Personally I don't find LR parts any more expensive than their Japaneese counterparts but if you loose an engine or tranny in any vehicle its pretty expensive to deal with. Thanks, Mark  |  IP: Logged Anslem Rayburn Master Film Handler Posts: 476 From: Yuma, AZ, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 07-18-2007 04:24 AM                     Don't know anything about them personally, but they have had 16 complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau in St. Louis, and, according the BBB, they have only been in business for 11 months! St. Louis BBB  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-18-2007 05:02 AM                     The new cars that my folks, friends and I have purchased have received similiar extended warranty offers like these from third party companies and we just toss them away knowing that the dealer themselves offer extended warranties when signing the contracts at the point of sale... ...as with you Mark on that LR that you purchased if it came from a respectable dealer-they should have offered some sort of extended warranty if it warranted to be such at the time of sale...instead of being labelled as an "as is, no warranty" vehicle.  |  IP: Logged Phil Blake Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 558 From: esperance western australia Registered: Nov 2003 posted 07-18-2007 05:28 AM                        gee Mark you got a Landrover with warrant issues , the best fix is to quit it and go Landcruiser !  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 07-18-2007 08:10 AM                    find out the information about who furnished the warranty for the dealer you bought the Rover from. Was it the manufacturer or someone else. Then get with them to extend the warranty. I to have received these offers from third parties but they are assuming you did not already extend the warranty as I did when I purchased my car. I will say that after you car reaches 60,000 miles and or has had it's timing belt replaced forget about the warranties. Power train warranties will cover timing belt and related issues if it fails before 60,000 miles. After that it will not cover the costs if you fail to have it replaced at the 60,000 mile mark. Some warranties may have that mileage higher it depends on the manufacturer.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-18-2007 08:57 AM                     I don't have any issues with the LR itself its been a great vehicle. The dealer did offer me an extended warranty when I bought it which I turned down and I can probably go back to them and still get it. I just thought it odd that one arrived in the mail like this as it had nothing to do with the dealer. Daryl, The LR timming belts are good till 72K. Had them done a bit past that. Fortunately we have several really good independent LR service places around the SLC area. So I'm not stuck paying LR $95.00 an hour, the independents are $75.00 an hour. The timming belts on this engine are a big deal because of the quad cams and three belts so a DIY is pretty much out of the question here. It typically costs about 1500.00 at a LR dealer just for the belts installed and not including any idlers, waterpump, and tensioner which are always extra. At the independent LR shop (Red Rover) the whole thing cost me about the same as just for the belts at LR. The 72K service is the single most expensive service to be done on the FL'er and the others are pretty minimal in cost. Most owners find that if you follow the prescribed LR maintainance schedule you'll have few problems with the vehicle. Land Cruisers are nice but bad gas pigs and when I go to the food store or Home Depot which White Land Cruiser do I get into when I come out to leave? Toyotas are great SUV's but all too common around here AND just as expensive to maintain as a LR. I like the LR ALOT and I would buy another one again! The comfort and drivability are beyond amazing for an SUV... show me another SUV that drives and handles like a BMW 325 series?? The new LR-2 does outperform the BMW SUV in the latest Road and Track review. So far on off road outings the Freelander has left its bigger brothers in the dust... the AWD and electronic traction control are amazing and it fits down the narrow mining roads like a shoe horn in a new shoe. Owning a LR is like belonging to a exclusive club and best of all when I come out from Home Depot its the only one parked there(well usually) . My biggest gripe about the FL'er is clearance so I'm installing a 2" lift kit on it in a couple of weeks. That also allows much larger tires to be fit with no modifications. In most cases that takes care of ground clearance issues with this model and the lift kit is only a couple of hundred and easy to install yourself. Mark  |  IP: Logged John Walsh Film God Posts: 2490 From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way Registered: Oct 1999 posted 07-18-2007 09:23 AM                     It sounds like this is a 3rd-party warranty (not from LR.) Read the fine print, because I have heard that they avoid paying out by covering only things that rarely break. Many will also void the warranty if the car is used off-road. I would suggest reading through some of the Land Rover forums: http://www.landroversonly.com/ http://www.landroverexchange.com/forum/messages.html http://www.discoweb.org/ I paid $1400 to extend the warranty (with a $100 deductable) on my '02 DII for two years. If I waited until I reached 50K miles, I would have had to pay a $1200 'certified status check' fee, and then pay the $1400 to extend the warranty. I don't know if this would also apply to your Freelander. The opinions I have read on this sort of lean towards: The warranty from LR is the only one worth doing, and only if you can get it without the 'certified status check' fee. The Freelander has been discontinued in favor of the LR2. I an LR2 as a overnight loaner, and it was pretty nice. It has a Volvo engine. The "key" is a square block that fits into an opening on the dashboard (although there is a regular key in case the batteries go dead.) When you put it in reverse, the side mirrors tilt down so you can see the curb, but then you can't see where you're going! With the nav system, a sexy English lady tells you where to go. Ohh, baby!  |  IP: Logged Lyle Romer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1400 From: Davie, FL, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 07-18-2007 10:25 AM                     Be very wary of all auto (and other product) extended warranties. This is especially true with Land Rover. Because of statistical failure rates most reputable warranty companies don't cover Land Rover. You have to read all the fine print of the contract about what's covered. You also must be very careful about the viability of the company and what is backing the warranty. Be very careful! [ 07-19-2007, 06:25 AM: Message edited by: Lyle Romer ]  |  IP: Logged Bruce Hansen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 847 From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-18-2007 12:03 PM                     I made the mistake of buying an extended warranty form the dealer when I bought a new car one time. I will never do that again. I found out it did not cover anything. Any time I would call about anything they would tell me "that's not covered". Whenever someone pushes something like this on you, it is because they are making money on it. If they are making money on it, you are losing money on it. Bad idea. As for the third party warranty, this sounds like a very bad idea to me.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-18-2007 12:26 PM                        We have 2002 and 2003 Fords and we started getting those third party warranty sales pitches when the factory warranty was about to run out. We didn't buy them. Our vehicles have 101,000 and 49,000 miles on them and never have needed a major repair yet (Go Ford!) I've never bought an extended warranty on anything except a computer. They're not worth the money. Today's cars are built so much better than they were 15 or 20 years ago, if you just keep the oil changed and do the other regular maintenance, you'll probably save money even if you have to do the occasional repair. Extended warranties are a huge profit maker for whoever sells them, that's why they're always pushed as the standard part of a sales pitch these days. If you decide to get a third-party warranty though, I would be sure to find out who does the work on the vehicle. The warranty company might specify some shop that you don't like. Find out if you can pick your own shop or not.  |  IP: Logged Brad Allen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 688 From: Evansville, IN, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 07-18-2007 01:05 PM                     Extended warranty's on most anything is a waste of money. It's almost pure profit for whom ever is selling them.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-18-2007 01:23 PM                     Well, the extended LR warranty is actually a pretty good deal since it covers just about everything. I'll definately pass on these guys though... Thanks! Mark  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 07-18-2007 02:47 PM                     I know 2 people who own Land Rovers. Neither bought the extended warranty, both wish they had. Forget your emotional feelings about L.R. and check vehicle brand service issues. You'll find L.R. at the bottom for most years. One of these people had the pneumatic suspension develop some problem that cost a little over $4,000 and a 2 week wait for parts to fix. The other continues to have a myriad of electrical and heating and a.c. problems. Both vehicles were bought new, one is a Range Rover and the other a Discovery.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-18-2007 08:38 PM                     I too received extended warranty notificaitons the moment my car's warranties were running out (5-years later). I generally get extended warranties on cars...particularly the more expensive ones and have never regretted it...but I always went though the manufacturer. It is like other insurance...you are betting on having a problem. Most extended warranties are about as much as one major repair (for the long term warranties...not just one extra year...but usually in the 5-6 year and the 70-100K mile ranage). Now if there is a 0% financing campaign going that you can put the extended warranty in...then it is almost stupid not to get it...you are effectively paying for all major repairs over the life of the loan in small increments. Steve  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-18-2007 09:06 PM                     I agree with both Bill and Steve on this, LR has never had a good track record for reliability but the odd thing is you'll find that LR owners are extremely loyal to the brand. Either you get a good one or you get a bad one, there is no maybe or in between. I assume I got lucky though as there have been no major problems with this one in almost 90K now. The FL has had major engine problems when it forst appeared but those were obviously solved before the FL'er hit the US market and the Diesel version had more problems than a pack of Weasels but the Diesel was never sold here. Oddly with all its problems it was the best selling SUV in Europe for many years. It has a JATCO tranny which is basically the same as a Nissan. Nissan spun off the tranny end of things a number of years back and its now called JATCO. For all the high tech stuff in this vehicle its amazing how reliable its been. Its got 6 computers on a network and is all fly by wire. No throttle cable here. The engine has a HP to weight ratio that is unbelievable even today and the design is some 6 years old now, the engine is all alumnium except the cylinder liners. Anyway, I'm tossing the offer that came in the mail. I might keep this vehicle another two years but if I loose the engine or tranny in that time to me its still worth 4 grand to fix it. Heck the equivelent Subaru tranny costs about the same.... for a VW tranny or engine you don't even want to know how much. So its still cheaper than another equivelent vehicle and bodies last darn near for ever out here to boot. The car is still immaculate and besides... the fun factor is very definately there and that is not present in many other SUV's. Mark  |  IP: Logged

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