PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

I just bought a low mileage 05 GXP from a Dodge/Jeep dealer that is in a "family" of dealerships that also include a Chevy dealer. I was offered a ext. warr. issued by Chrysler Corp. for approx. $2100.00 lasting for 60 months or 70,000miles/whichever comes first. The quote was for the "Maximum Care Plan" which supposedly only excludes coverage on body panels,glass & wear items. (Tires,pads,rotors,belts etc)Otherwise....it's touted as a "bumper to bumper" warranty covering "Complete Mechanical Coverage For More Than 5,000 Components" + towing & loaner vehicle. I definitely want to purchase a warranty/service contract for the car and was wondering if I could, would it be a better move to get a Major Guard plan from the Chevy dealer, if it's even possible. I have heard a few horror stories about 3rd party plans. Any tips,sources or advice is appreciated. Thanks !............ Edit: the dealer assured me that the work could absolutely be performed by a GM technician and would not have to be done by Chry./Jeep techs.

I forgot to mention that I did do a search on this subject first but, wasn't able to find very much on the subject.

Why? If an "Extended Warranty" was a good deal for you even most of the time, they'd go out of business.

Take that $2100 and put it in a high-yield savings account and save it for when your problems come up.

00Beast wrote:Take that $2100 and put it in a high-yield savings account and save it for when your problems come up.

Not meaning to be a "sma7+ a7se", but please tell me where I can find a "high-yield savings account".

As far as the "extended warranty", it's a crap shoot. I got one on the ole Bonneville for 100K miles when we bought the car new (36 month/36,000 miles) and got my money back twice over (oil pan gasket, rear wheel brake cylinders, lower intake manifold gasket, and ECC unit) - BC

LOL Bill. Still, he's better off not buying it and just keeping that cash and fixing stuff himself as it comes. Lots of these places give you a runaround, even with a "Factory" warranty.

Indeed ! I think we net approx. a whopping 0.49% on our current savings acct. and maybe 0.78% on a 24mo. CD !! I'll bet that this car will require two or three times the $2,100.00 amount at some point, the big question is......will it happen within the warr. period ?! Honestly, If I'd researched how trouble prone the 05 GXPs (N'star) are, I probably would've passed on it and picked another SLE or a later model Gran Prix. Unfortunately, 21,687 actual miles "blinded" me, and that, combined with the sweet exhaust burble are what pushed me over the edge of reason. I'll go ahead and buy the Chrysler plan and probably utilize the heck outa' it before it expires, or, I unload this car.

The only real expensive issue you will run across is head gaskets, and those are even less common for 2004 / 2005.

There are Northstar specific shops that you can go to and they will drop the engine, install good head studs that are a permanent fix for this issue and put it back in for $1,500 - $2,000. Or you can drop the engine yourself and do the job for about $600 or so with the cost of the stud kit.

Like everyone else said it is a crap shoot. If you dont have it and need it you wish you had it.

We bought a "Vehicle One" warentee on our '04 Buick Rainier. We negotiated it into the purchase price and I think ended up costing us around $1400 for a 60 month / 100k (total on vehicle - bought truck with 32k on it). I would say all said and done we got about $3k back in repairs so it worked out for us. Some of these repairs were big bills because of labor that I likely would have tackled if we did not have the warentee other things were expensive no matter what (complete gauge cluster for example).

As we got near the 100k mark more things seemed to be deamed as "wear and tear" and much less was covered which I can see to a point but was not quite what I was under the impression of when we bought the warentee (the air levelling suspension in the rear for example, covered about 1/2 the bill) . Ours did not cover 'luxury items' - navigation, heated seats etc.

With this being said and done, when we bought the bonneville this past February I did not even ask about this. Seems like these cars are fairly easy to work on and lots of room to work on (I am a 3800 not the N*).

Wow... don't mind me, I will just post FOUR times in a row

I guess my phone messed up a bit, I flagged it so soon a mod should be here to delete the copies

Who reports their own posts...? Honestly... lol

J Wikoff wrote:Who reports their own posts...? Honestly... lol

Thanks!!!

It annoyed me

LOL.

Anyways, it seems the N* issues act up more towards/after 100k, so who knows what you will actually end up getting out of the deal.

Either way, it's your money, and if this makes you feel more comfortable in owning the car, I wish you all the best with it.

00Beast wrote:LOL.

Anyways, it seems the N* issues act up more towards/after 100k, so who knows what you will actually end up getting out of the deal.

Either way, it's your money, and if this makes you feel more comfortable in owning the car, I wish you all the best with it.

I appreciate the sentiments 00Beast, thanks ! But.......... since you don't know me, you can't know that Murphy's Law has been a constant throughout the past 40 years of my life, and continues to be, up to and including today !!

Based on experience I will say "do it". The first time this thing goes in the shop for a repair you will be thankful. A trans will cost you $2500......that's good enough reason right there. lol

BTW, nice find!

Norm

Thanks Norm ! I figure we'd have paid another $2000.00 for the car anyway, if it'd been priced according to most of the pricing formulas applied to our area. So........we'll just plow that money into the lower priced car and call it a day. I can "wrench" pretty well for a non-professional but, electronics and diagnostics usually leave me scratchin' my head.

NEVER, EVER, EVER, buy an extended warranty that ISN'T an extended of your manufacturer's warranty!

They are utter, absolute nightmares for you, the service department, and anyone else involved! Since this is a GM vehicle, ONLY get a GMPP.

CMNTMXR57 wrote:NEVER, EVER, EVER, buy an extended warranty that ISN'T an extended of your manufacturer's warranty!

They are utter, absolute nightmares for you, the service department, and anyone else involved! Since this is a GM vehicle, ONLY get a GMPP.

GMPP wont be offered for the car because of the age...I bought the same warranty for my 05 with low miles. It is for 3 year 36K mile figured the same as you the peace of mind is worth it. Of course, have not had to have it in yet after 5 months and 9,000 miles runs like a champ(I figured I would drive 18k a year for 2 years and sell it with just under 100K miles. It is probably my favorate (everyday) car I have have ever owned...which is saying alot since I have had alot of cars...

I believe you can get GMPP coverage all the way back to a 1998 vehicle currently.

Ok here's my two cents guys (and gals).

Bought my 2005 GXP from GM dealership, researched the car before I bought it even had my buddy at a different dealership ran the vehicle's VIN through their backdoor to check for potential "lemon" issues based on the service history, all checked ok.

Upon purchasing the car I was offered the extended warranty plan (the usual show that we all go through) and was able to negotiate a fair price for a genuine GM extended warranty through Coverage One is owned by the General.

Had the car for about a year and it was brought to my attention at my routine oil change that most of my engine seals were leaking ever so slightly a.k.a sweats. All engine seals, power steering rack w/pump, water pump and front and rear suspension end links with sway bar bushings were listed to be replaced.

The call was initiated from the shop to Coverage One, arrangement was made for an adjuster to visit the shop to review and verify the deficiencies and inform the Coverage One head office of the details. Head office then reviewed and provided approval to fix all on the list using genuine GM parts (except for the susupension components which I substituted the GM for the superior Energy Suspension). Needless to say I was elated to know all this was being repaired under warranty and full rental coverage for the time the vehicle was in the shop which turned out to be a total of seventeen days.

After all said and done, doing the math I was ahead by $5400.00 and I still have 10 months or 10,000 miles of coverage remaining!

Mind you not having my GXP for such a long time was like eating your favourte pizza with no cheese, you can manage without but it just taste horrible.

Long and short; I'd go for it if you plan on keeping the car for a while BUT ensure the warranty is honoured at the GM dealership or an approved shop of your choice and negotiate your best price.

Good luck!

It's not that the warranty isn't honored at a GM dealership. You could buy Joe Schmoe's 130th Ave. and B.S. street warranty policy, the dealership doesn't care as long as we get our money!

Thats where the issue comes in! It's in the B.S. that I need to go through to get that money, as well as you the customer have to go through to get your coverage that you paid for. It's time wasted holding up a lift/stall/technician, which COSTS the dealership money in the interim. It's your time in frustration (as well as mine), while adjuster after adjuster comes and goes and none seem to communicate with one another, you, or the dealership. It's threats of having to seek legal counsel, etc...

A GMPP is really an extension of your factory warranty. WE (the dealership), act as judge, jury, and executioner. The Adjuster is ME! No B.S., no time wasted, etc... Part found faulty, part gets replaced! Period, nada, end of story. You pay any deductible, and you've got your car back in roughly half the time.

Don't buy a warranty policy "owned" by GM, Buy the GM warranty...

I speak from experience.