I have a 2008 Mitsubishi Outlander XLS V6 and considering getting an extended warranty do you guys recommend it? Please share your opinion/experience.
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/auto_warranty/

 

not on an 08 model....

 

You can buy extended warranties on about any kind of purchase these days but I never thought they paid off.Even if you are the type of person who isn't real particular about maintenance in order to come out ahead financially you have to have a major issue in order to recoup what you paid out.My advice for you would be to take that same amount that you would pay for the extended warranty and put it into doing a little extra than the minimum maintenance.Learn to do as much as you can yourself,or seek out a knowledgeable person for practical solutions.Pay attention to changes in your vehicle,don't wait to repair the obvious

 

The company selling it is turning a profit, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it. So in the long run, theoretically you are better off without it. You might get burned once or twice but overall in theory you should come out ahead if you never get one. I had one on my first car and the $200 deductible made it useless, I could fix pretty much anything that went wrong by myself for that price.

 

I worked as a GM service writer for 7 years and dealt with many warranty companies. The manufacturers extended warranties are good but expensive. The non-manufacturer warranties are poor. Example: Customer would come in with a leaking oil pan. Customers warranty contract would say this is covered. Call it in to warranty company and they wouldn't cover it if the gasket was causing the leak. Or the most they would pay labor rate wise would be $40 per hour. Sometimes they wouldn't answer the phone, you leave a message and they'd never call back. Many dealerships will not accept these warranties.

 

I've had a good experience with them, but generally I don't buy them and I've heard terrible things about them. I am talking about non-OEM warranties as I don't have experience with OEM warranties. It is very dependent on the company, but the general consensus is that it is very difficult to get them to actually pay a claim. As others have said, it's in their best interest not to because unpaid claims are straight profit. I had a low end car at a high end brand and the dealership doing my maintenance/repairs handled the warranty company. I am sure a typical consumer brand would not go through the trouble of dealing with them. TL;DR, I wouldn't buy them on a car I've owned myself for it's lifetime because I know how the car has been maintained. On a used car, you never know what kind of negligence the prior owner has put the car through so I would consider it depending on price and coverage.

Like all insurance, this coverage is really for catastrophic repairs that would cost thousands, like transmission or engine. If they don't cover the other stuff, why bother. Not sure on the '08, but my '16 has 10 years on powertrain. That will do for me. It's not that I am concerned about the actual years of coverage, but the fact that the company will stand by the expensive repairs for so long indicates that they've built those components to last.

As others have said, buy it if you can't afford to pay on a big repair bill. If you can take the hit, it's worth the gamble to avoid the insurance. Odds and statistics are on your side.