[billdaman]

Have never purchased a extended Warranty or service contract, never believed in them, never felt the need, but picking up the 7500 mile Solstice from dealer next week and he is providing a 1 year 14,000 mile service contract with the purchase. The dealer has sold this GWC service contracts since 1996. They have been around a while.

He is now offering me (with 0 sales pressure) the options of significantly increasing the time up to 5 years. Very tempting when I’m considering that the differential has already been replaced in this 2006, not long ago. It runs great, no weird noises or clunks.

So all these extensions work out to around 33$ a month. My biggest concerns over a 5 year period would be a differential replacement, axle, maybe a water pump, and possibly throw in an A/C compressor .

I completely get the game the service contract company’s play and I’m prepared to meet them if any of these repairs are needed.

Based on some members experience, is a low cost service contract offering on a low mileage Solstice a blessing, or a dumb buy? He’s giving me the first year regardless, but I seriously think the laws of probability favor spending the $800 - $1000 if just the Diff craps the bed over a 4 year period.

If you look at what’s covered (I think they will fully cover a solstice’s Differential) interested in peoples thoughts on if it seem like a good bet…add 1 year, 2, 3, or 4l or just stay put at 1? I want nothing to do with drawing under this car, just fun!

 

[RedOne07]

Only insure stuff you can not really afford when they fail (like your house burning down).

Assuming you can pay the repairs you should not get that warranty.

the possible issues you mention seem not very likely to me.

 

[JohnWR]

How much are you planning to drive it? Neither of mine has required any major work.

 

[edkop]

My Solstice has 23K and I would not purchase any warranty products. The big ticket items have no real wear yet. Just my .02, your mileage may vary..

 

[billdaman]

Only insure stuff you can not really afford when they fail (like your house burning down).

Assuming you can pay the repairs you should not get that warranty.

the possible issues you mention seem not very likely to me.

With the depth of experience you guys have I take what you say as gospel, so it’s difficult to understand with this situation. Low mileage car, and the previous owner putting in $5,000 in differential work over three years. The service contract would have covered in full, at a cost of $800 total ( for the contract) and the contract would still be there in force for any other nuance failure like water pump, steering rack, etc.

Hasn’t anyone to you guys knowledge made out like bandits on a service contract? Itsnnot like I won't be able to easily foot the bill for repairs, it’s that I would hate to do it!

And for this little princess, Wouldn’t the previous owner have come out ahead by spending the $800 for three years of coverage? All the work below was done by a reputable Pontiac GMC dealer, and I can’t help but think there is more to come. Question is, how soon?

 

[billdaman]

How much are you planning to drive it? Neither of mine has required any major work.

Hard to say John. If I get the feeling it’s reliable after owning it for a while I would like to spend hundreds of summertime hours in it each year.

 

[RedOne07]

With the depth of experience you guys have I take what you say as gospel

Well, don't listen to me regarding technical advice. Listen to other guys like John, Chop, Rob, KG, Hoosier, etcetera. they really know what you are talking about.

Do remember that the warranty company makes a living because on average people pay more than they get. And I assume you are also just an average person ;-)

 

[JohnWR]

Hard to say John. If I get the feeling it’s reliable after owning it for a while I would like to spend hundreds of summertime hours in it each year.

My 07 is contemporary to your 06, and I have driven it 115k fairly vigorous miles.

The drive axles in the early cars tended to whine, clunk, and make other noises. It appears the previous owner was finicky, and had a cooperative dealer.

 

[billdaman]

My original 2006 was a whine and clunker and got replaced and all was well. Appears that this 2006 was the same. Question is once the whining and clunking begins on a 2006 does it stay the same over 50000 miles, or get worse to where a replacement is needed? I haven’t owned one long enough to know.

 

[JohnWR]

My original 2006 was a whine and clunker and got replaced and all was well. Appears that this 2006 was the same. Question is once the whining and clunking begins on a 2006 does it stay the same over 50000 miles, or get worse to where a replacement is needed? I haven’t owned one long enough to know.

I clearly cannot speak to your car, and we all know that the Sky is the superior version of the platform, but mine still makes exactly the same noises that it did when I drove it away from the dealer 16-1/2 years ago. I have had zero issues that would make a service contract worthwhile, and the miles that I have driven have not been cruising.

 

[HHGadget]

For me the quality of the warranty (once you are ok with the fine print) is directly tied to the quality of the service department and if you already have a great mechanic you trust outside the dealer or not.
There are a couple of labor intensive (read “costly) repairs that “could” happen to consider past the differential.
For example the water pump is a low parts cost vs high labor cost job.
If i had to guess the chances of that happening are probably 60/40 in favor of not happening.
If you are mechanically handy they generally make no sense, however for aomw folk they are a sense of security they will be covered.
Gotta go with your gut.

 

[The Silver Fox]

It's my opiniion that an extended warranty on a used car is NEVER worthwhile. My '06 has 106.000 miles on it and the only major repair has been the water pump and that cost was considerably less than the cost of an extended warranty.

If you opt for the extended warranty, be prepared to have ALL maintenance and repair work done at an authorized dealer and keep all maintenance/repair invoices. You can check the oil and the air in the tires, but that's about it. everything else needs to be done by an authorized repair center.

 

[rob the elder]

Do your research. Many who bought extended warranties found that they refused to pay when the time came. I have no experience with that company but I know I bought one for a 2015 RAM and in three different failures they refused to pay.

 

[sprdave]

I learned many years ago from Consumer Reports that all extended warranties favor the seller, not the consumer. I’ve learned it the hard way a few times like on home warranties as they refused to cover things.

 

[HHGadget]

For me the quality of the warranty (once you are ok with the fine print) is directly tied to the quality of the service department and if you already have a great mechanic you trust outside the dealer or not.
There are a couple of labor intensive (read “costly) repairs that “could” happen to consider past the differential.
For example the water pump is a low parts cost vs high labor cost job.
If i had to guess the chances of that happening are probably 60/40 in favor of not happening.
If you are mechanically handy they generally make no sense, however for aomw folk they are a sense of security they will be covered.
Gotta go with your gut.

Oh never mind. I didn't see the pics from the first post and thought this dealer was offering a GM extended warranty from the pics of the second post. (Was just waking from a nap and now that i am fully awake, what was i thinking? GM would not offer a warranty on a car this old).
In my humble opinion… HARD Pass on aftermarket warranties 100%.

 

[sirwm]

well... a water pump job completed by a GM dealer is going to cost $1,000 or more...

ask specifically about this job regarding the warranty to determine cost/benefit.

 

[tchr49]

Kind of like walking into a casino in Vegas and thinking “this place was built making people big winners every day…”

 

[chickenwire]

Kind of like walking into a casino in Vegas and thinking “this place was built making people big winners every day…”

Kind of like one Christmas visit to Michigan's upper peninsula. Brother-in-law asked if I wanted to go to the nearby casino because "You could hit it big!" I said "If you don't understand odds, you look at what they have and what you have and explain to me how often they 'hit it big' versus the players."

I heard a radio host state the billions of dollars that "Best Buy" makes every year on extended warranties. His advise was to take the money to Vegas because the odds of the warranty paying off are about the same. The difference was at least you'll have some entertainment value in Vegas.

 

[BrokeGarageRoadster]

2006 owner here had the car since 72k miles now at 130k very spirited driver, no autocross but winding roads all over the place where I live. Differentials are cheap to buy second hand and can be installed with basic wrenches and red locktite, a blown motor just means rebuild her with forged internals (my motors not blown but I'm still doing this now) that warranty isn't going to cover the real problems you're going to have like sensors wearing out, bushings degrading from age alone etc. Buy it if you want peace of mind but the 2.4 ecotec at stock power levels isn't going to explode. The ar5 trans won't blow up with competent driving, and the clutch won't be covered anyway since it's a wear and tear item. As for clunks and whines, it's an old car it will clunk and whine, the 06's specifically don't have a trans tunnel brace and clunk on clutch release, 60k miles and my transmission is still tight precise and clutch still grabs, but then I don't do burnouts or slam gears like a teenager.

 

[billdaman]

2006 owner here had the car since 72k miles now at 130k very spirited driver, no autocross but winding roads all over the place where I live. Differentials are cheap to buy second hand and can be installed with basic wrenches and red locktite, a blown motor just means rebuild her with forged internals (my motors not blown but I'm still doing this now) that warranty isn't going to cover the real problems you're going to have like sensors wearing out, bushings degrading from age alone etc. Buy it if you want peace of mind but the 2.4 ecotec at stock power levels isn't going to explode. The ar5 trans won't blow up with competent driving, and the clutch won't be covered anyway since it's a wear and tear item. As for clunks and whines, it's an old car it will clunk and whine, the 06's specifically don't have a trans tunnel brace and clunk on clutch release, 60k miles and my transmission is still tight precise and clutch still grabs, but then I don't do burnouts or slam gears like a teenager.

Its interesting thou that if you look at my original post, and the service records the previous owner had the differential replaced twice in about 1500 miles. So we have the 6600 mile original replacement and one more, and when I test drove it all seemed very tight.

If you check my earliest posts back in 2006 you will see my 06 had the same clunk and whine issue and I believe I had one of the earliest differential replacements under warranty. (Ahhh those days with members: Birdliver, missol, solcandy…and the very pugnacious StevieG) OMG!!! The Clunk is GONE

So I am familiar with the issue, how it was fixed in later years but not backwards compatible to 2006. 17 years later I want the little museum piece perfect condition low mileage 06 Solstice back in the garage…but and this is a giant waaaaaaaa 😢

I don’t want a whining car with as we called it in 06 the “clunk of death“. Given that the previous owner drove it like 300 miles a year, had a differential replaced at 6600 miles, and appeared to sell It immediately following the last differential repair at 7500 miles, I am …understandably …apprehensive?

Anyway for some reason the dealer is giving me the 12 month 14000 mile service contract as part of the purchase, so if the worst occurs maybe I will get a chance to see if an Engineer who can play with the lawyers will be successful in getting a claim paid!