I purchased my S2000 this past February. It was a black on black used 2000 with 24,000 miles. I purchased a 100,000 mile warranty with the car for about $800. Well, I stopped driving my S last week and got the old civic out for the winter. I was looking forward to this time to take care of a few "problems" that I was having with the car. They were small things that were not worth losing precious summer days over, so I decided to wait until it got cold outside. There were two problems that I needed to get fixed. The first problem was that the plastic covering over the roll bars has come unlached somehow. The fixture is a two piece fixture and it has come undone. The second thing was that my lighter fixture has somehow come out of the socket and cannot be screwed back into that little hole that was intended for it. I took it in eariler this week to be taken care of and the Honda dealer told me that these things are not covered under the "bumper to bumper" warranty that I paid almost a grand for. I am highly pissed right now. I feel very ripped off right now. Eariler this year I was pissed at Honda because the dealership sold me tires that wore out after only 5000 miles and they had the nerve to consider the car "certified". I know that you guys are going to say " you should have known that the tires wore out quickly, bla bla bla," but I have never had a car with tires that were larger than 14's. I was not aware of how fast these tires wear and that if I bought a used car to make sure that the tires are basically new. I was never a technical car know-it-all. I just wanted a nice car to have fun in. I feel like Honda has not treated me fairly in these two separate cases, and I have not even had the car an entire year yet. I have never owned a MB or a BMW or Lexus or any car in that class, but I have heard from others that their service is wonderful. The way I am treated at these dealerships with my car really makes me feel like Honda should have made the S2000 an Acura.

 

The only difference between Honda and Acura service is that Acura charges you more for it, as an owner of each make, I know. Acura does have a slightly better factory warranty (4 years/50,000 miles) but that's just to be more competitive with the other Luxury names that suck you in with lavish warranty offers. Don't forget that one of the crappier makes out there (Hyundai) has the best warranty going; this is because they know the car has a bad rep and they want to reassure buyers that when the car breaks, it will be covered.

As far as extended warranties go, it's Buyer Beware. Extended warranties have more fine print and disclaimers than any other document I've seen. I have the 7 year/75,000 mile one on my S2K, but it really doesn't cover much, sadly.

 

I agree w/ djohnston, extended warranties are really more of a catastrophic mechanical breakdown insurance policy where only larger ticket items ( like if your tranny fails or engine throws a piston...) are covered, and only for mechanical issues. I tried to use my extended covereage to fix my Acura last month to take care of an engine hesitation prob only to be told that the parts that caused the problem was not covered by the warranty. Luckily, I only paid only $595 for my 7 year /100k policy and the overall protection from big problems is still there, so I wont complain too loudly.
As for the S2000 being an Acura? I guess your perspective depends upon what area of the country you love in. Out here in the Bay Area, we have good and bad Honda dealers, and we have good and bad Acura dealers. I have been told that the after-service curvey's that American Honda does to check on its dealerships will soon be tied to financial incentives so hopefully some of the "bad" dealers will improve and get into compliance..

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by nastinupe1
[B].

 

Well 1st of all.. all the documentation I read prior to signing for my ext warranty told me cometic items are not covered! What the heck did you do to even cause your roll bar covers to come off? Same question for the overhead light!! If those items were loose at purchase, you should hve of had the used car warranty from the dealer fix it. (Don't all dealers give some come of short term warranty with the purchase?) As far as the tires... wear item, should be part of your pre purchase inspection. Were they orginal? if so they were worn out long before you bought the car. as far as the value of the ext warranty... if your engine tranny, ac or diff goes (unless abused)... your warranty "grand" will be money well spent.

 

Humm. Seems like the more you pay, the more you pay. When I had my civic, it was pure bliss for the first 150,000 miles. My next car will be a slightly used civic. I'm getting out of this rat race. Just hope I'm married by then. Hate to be single with no chick magnet.

 

Can I still purchase warranty even though my car has been in a wreck and voided my warranty?

 

Many extended warranties use the word "limited". A deductable applies, items are excluded, etc.

I find that with many items warranties put you at the losing end. You have no leverage, you're at the mercy of companies that want to spend as little money as possible to serve your claim.

I've been at the blunt end of the shaft toooo many times, and I've had to fight like Tyson to get some satisfaction (although *I* stopped short of biting off body parts).

That ain't fair.

Two things I hate in consumer life: Warranties and Rebates

 

Sounds to me like you didn't do your research. It is YOUR responsibility to read the warranty coverage before you buy it. It is YOUR responsibility to check tire tread depth before you buy the car.

If the warranty didn't cover interior trim, you should have bought one that does. You also could have insisted on new tires if the tread depth wasn't sufficient. Feeling "ripped off" about something as black and white as warranty coverage is, IMO just plain silly.

-Nick

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by GTI 20v
[B]Sounds to me like you didn't do your research.