People still buy extended warranties eh? I figured people are getting smart since Best Buy's earnings per share are down.

Depends. I'll get a warranty if the item is known to have a high failure rate, simply cause I can take it back to the retailer as opposed to mail it in and wait 5 weeks to get it back. For 50 bucks it's worth it for say something with a 1 in 3 fail rate. (xbox 360)

Getting a car fixed under warranty is like pulling teeth. I would never get an extended warranty for a car.

I would have gotten one for my TV but it was 150 bucks for a 700 dollar TV.

@sonneillon:

Well thats typicly the problem, the extra warranty is always to expensive in relation to the price of what your buying the warranty for. Enterprise rentacar would do alot better selling their worthless insurance if it wasnt 4 dollars a day less then the price of the car i rent.

I only purchased an extended warranty for my iMac, and Apple Care is fantastic.
You can call them and talk to someone free to try to fix your mac, bring it to the store to get them to fix it or, in my case, they even sent a guy to my house to replace a hard drive and logic board.
All free.
It was well worth the money and I would absolutely buy it again.

After replacing the glass covered lcd on my Tablet PC, I forked out for an all inclusive coverage for 3 years.

I normally eschew any sort of extended warranty, but if it involves a portable piece of expensive electronics with 1/16" of glass covering the display, well, I'd have to give it some consideration. But only if it covered accidental damage.

because Worst Buy wont let you buy anything if you buy an extended waranty

There is ONE kind of "extended warranty" I might buy. For LCD TVs and/or computer monitors, I'd pay a few percent more to be absolutely sure it had absolutely ZERO bad pixels (and not just the few they try to convince you that is "acceptable" by industry standards).

The industry already says that more than 99% of TVs and monitors have ZERO bad pixels. So wouldn't they be ahead by charging 2% for a guarantee of ZERO bad pixels where they only have to replace in fewer than 1% of units? So why is no one offering this?

My credit card doubles warranties, so most electronics that come with a 1 year manu warranty magically become two years.

It's been useful, I had a broken toshiba laptop, 18 months old, and visa just paid me back the original purchase price instead of trying to repair it. I got a new computer basically for free.

I will occasionally buy an extended warranty if I'm buying a refurb with a short warranty (woot.com is a key offender), or if I'm buying something off ebay. Squaretrade.com is reliable, cheap, and they really believe in customer service. I have never bought a store extended warranty.

@veronykah: I agree 100%, I had a similar situation. Apple Care is priceless

I've only bought two. One was for my laptop, and it's already seen some use when the screen went on the fritz.

The second one was for a 100.00 cement mixer from harbor freight. Their warranty is for 30 days, but I can't guarantee I'll actually *use* it within that 30 days. So this was a case where an extra warranty made sense.

I like buying extended warranties that come with a "no lemon" or replacement guarantee. Usually I'll get it for a laptop, since it's pretty easy to come up with reasons why your laptop is broken - it might be overheating, dead pixels, whatever. Bring it in 3 times and they give you a brand new one.

We bought an extended warranty for our rear projection tv because they are prone to problems, and I used it to get the tv replaced after 4 years. We also bought an extended warranty for the refrigerator. We've had the icemaker replaced 3 times under the extended warranty. Finally, I got the extended warranty for my 2005 Ford Explorer. And I've had it repaired so many times under the regular warranty, I'm pretty sure I'll be needing that extended warranty.
All that being said, was I wise in buying the warranties or just not good at picking products that aren't prone to fail?

I got one on my laptop with accidental damage coverage. So far, I needed a new power cord, new battery and new hard drive. Glad I had that option.

@sonneillon: Most TV power supplies cost $300... just throwing that out there.

Extended warranties are good for certain items. I'll never buy a laptop without one, for instance. But a car? A game? No thanks.

Kenmore Elite Refrigerator. Within the first 2 months the ice maker had to be replaced. Sears allows you to ADD the extended warrenty anytime within the first 90 days of purchase. I added it after the ice maker went out. A year later into my 3 year extented warrenty some 2 dollar piece of plastic on the ice dispencer door broke off. Because of the design of it, the ENTIRE freezer door had to be replaced. $1,200 part. Since then the ice maker had to be replaced again. Best $250 extended warrenty I ever purchased. Because of this, I think I will buy extended warrenties on any appliance like this thats over $2500 which this refrigerator was. I had my AC replaced last year ($6,000)and paid $1000 for a 10 year full parts and labor warrenty. I figured for $100 a year its peace of mind. Oh, I live in Arizona and ice makers and A/C's get used more than other parts of the country because of the heat here. So not sure if my warrenty logic would follow in cooler climates.

Professor Chen is exceptionally short-sighted on his overly-broad generalization. Yes, there are plenty of times when buying an extended warranty is excessive and perhaps even a waste of money but there are plenty of others where it absolutely is not. It's all a question of what your peace of mind is worth and how well you can handle the (sometimes quite high) unexpected expenses should something malfunction. What arrogance it is for anyone else to tell you what level of risk YOU ought to take. If something happens, YOU are the one on the hook for the expenses.

Extend warranties are, at heart, insurance - how much risk do YOU want to take? I don't see the same people who condemn extended warranties, also condemning the insurance industry and most would say you're a fool to go without auto insurance, home insurance, health insurance etc.

@fantomesq: Just don't come crying to me if you turn down the extended warranty and then something inevitably happens. Murphy is alive and well.

I do not buy extended warranties EXCEPT for Applecare for my laptops.
Applecare has saved me big time & I have received not 1 but 2 laptop replacements from Apple.

Years ago, just 2 months before the warranty was up on a Apple Powerbook, it started having major problems & I sent it to Apple multiple times.
Without asking, the Applecare tech said "I think we have done as much as we can for you, we will give you a new laptop". They didn't have any more 15 inch Powerbooks, so Apple gave me the choice of a larger 17 in Powerbook OR the brand smacking new Macbook Pro for no extra cost.
I took the Macbook Pro of course. (When I got off the phone with Applecare, I did a little dance of happiness).

When THAT Macbook Pro went belly-up, I called Applecare, sent it in numerous times, they could not fix it & I received a new Macbook Pro replacement.
Overall, I would give Applecare 5 stars out of 5. It's the best money I have spent. Also, Applecare troubleshooting by phone has always been superb.

And no, I do not work for Apple or have Apple stock, but a graphic designer who loves her Mac.

$30 for 3 years coverage on a $900 TV at sam's club is worth it IMO. I also had a fridge go out that I got from sears and the replacement plan covered damage from a lighting storm so that turned out ok. I dont mind paying for a extended warranty as long as its 10% or less the cost of the item. It's stupid when they try to sell you a $200 warranty on a $450 door buster laptop at best buy.

I bought a cheap budget Acer laptop at a national electronics retailer for my sister and her family. Considering that there is a chance the laptop gets dropped or that the hard drive will crash within 1 or 2 years, I bought the 2 year ADH (Accidental Damage from Handling) service plan. It was about half the cost of the notebook. If my 1 year old niece, heaven forbid, decides to draw on the screen with a sharp object, they will replace the LCD. Then if the hard drive crashes 3 months later, they will replace the HDD. If it gets dropped down a flight of stairs, they could replace it with a new computer (equivalent or better specs) at no cost to me. Same thing goes for digital cameras... if it gets wet or dropped, Best Buy eats the cost and they give you a new one. Sounds kind of ridiculous NOT to get an extended warranty in this scenario, especially when kids are in the picture. Disclosure: I also work at the retailer, who shall remain nameless.

@Megladon: And if you have full coverage on your regular car all you have to do is pay the deductible.

I think I paid $1000 or so on my Acura for a warranty that extended the original by 3 years. Almost anything on a modern car that goes bad is going to set you back $500 or more, so I think I'm ahead by at least a few hundred in year 6.

@Shadowfire: That's true but with the extended warranty you get maybe 2 years extra of coverage. Maybe if it were a longer warranty or cheaper, but as it is it just isn't worth it for a TV anyways.

@Eric1285:

THat's not exactly how most of those "no lemon" guarantees work. The salespeople always like to oversell based on the "no lemon" clause.

For a majority of service plans, the "no lemon" clause has a set price (usually the original cost of the laptop) that the company is willing to pay for repairs. Depending on the repairs, if any of the repairs exceed the original cost of the unit (or exceed a certain percentage of the cost of the unit), the plan company will, at their discretion, either replace the unit with a new one or give you the balance of the account (cost - repairs).

So if you buy a $1200 laptop, the screen breaks, and you have it replaced, you may have $600-$800 left on the contract. If it happens again, they may simply elect to give you the $600-$800, but you won't get the full $1200 back.

@tom2133:

Service plans n-e-v-e-r cover batteries beyond some nominal time (usually 90 days), as batteries are a disposable, consumable part.

Has anybody mentioned the quality of the company behind the warranty? Many have gone bust. I had one that did, an appliance warranty from a regional store, now gone. I almost never buy any warranty, I try to self-insure and part of doing that is buying things I can afford to replace or fix (no $2,500.00 fridge with fancy electronics for me, I try to buy top quality things with limited complexity as much as possible). I can often fix the basic stuff like my dryer with traditional knobs & switches. I also take very very good care of things so they last.

I dunno. I hear too many stories about how warranties aren't honored (or are under honored). In the end, they're insurance companies so the goal is to profit rather than insure.

@RvLeshrac: When I worked at Circuit City, our protection plans covered one battery replacement. Most of the time it was a generic battery, but "complimentary battery replacement" was the first part of the sales script.

Yeah seriously. I hate how people I know by Dell laptops and when it fails after the first year they start bashing on how garbage they are.

If you don't buy an extended warranty with Dell, all your calls get sent to INDIA. People don't seem to understand that shit DOES and WILL happen. No type of electronics out there will work 100% forever. I bought my XPS m1330 an extended warranty and so far I've had to replace the entire motherboard when the video card died.

To replace the board itself was over $250 and with installation and labor that would be over $300 easy. Since I had the 3 year warranty, I got a tech to come to my house the next DAY, and replace the part on the spot within 20 mins. But like others have said, how much risk do you want to take?

@wvFrugan: Yes, and what about those clauses that say that a manager can refuse a warranty repair or replacement for any reason. I would never buy a store warranty because of this, if the manager is having a bad day you can consider yourself to be out many hours of time to just get a replacement under a warranty which you paid for. Not fun if your a busy person with a work schedule. Store warranties are almost 100% profit for the store, and if its going to cost them too much to replace your product then they could refuse you the replacement. How many stories have we seen on here from people who cannot get retailer x to honor the warranty purchased from them?

How about doing the research and buying something that your satisfied with (as you mention) so that you don't have to worry about how you are going to replace the item if it breaks in a year or 2.

If you do buy a warranty, buy it from a trusted company!

@sonneillon: Actually, a lot of TV manufacturers go cheap on certain parts, and the power supply is generally one of them. We've got a 2.5 year old Samsung with a power supply that died 6 months ago to prove it.

Extended warranties are actually a form of prepaid insurance. So it really is all about peace of mind. When I worked at a Best Buy store, I used to look up the cost of particular plan to get an idea of the expected return on a service plan. The markup varied for different items. Examples:

1) A $35 speaker service plan cost Best Buy about $4. Speakers are also pretty robust in my experience and the plan simply adds a few years to the 10-year manufacturer warranty. 10 years from now, I'm probably ready to upgrade anyway. The neglible peace of mind wouldn't be worth a 775% markup to me in this case.

2) A $45 VCR plan cost Best Buy around $39. VCRs were a high failure rate item. When VCRs were more expensive, I might have considered it since it also included cleanings and the 15% markup isn't that bad. Computer plans had a similar story.

I realize that 9 out of 10 times the extended warranty is not a money saving thing for me, but it is a stress reliever when something goes wrong.

If my laptop breaks, I know who to take it to, and I know what I'll have to pay ($0).

If I had no warranty, I would probably still take it to the same place, but then I'd spend the time between dropping it off and getting the phone call anxiously wondering how much it was going to cost me to fix it, and whether or not they were really going to hunt around for the best price to get parts, or if they were going to try and inflate the cost to sell me on a new one, or any of the millions of things that could go wrong when you take something in somewhere for repair.

To me, it's worth that extra cash just to avoid the stress and uncertaintly. If I buy a service plan at the time of purchase, I know exactly what I'm going to have to spend on repairs for it, and I never need to worry again.

@Shadowfire: I know they cheap out on certain areas and it sucks that your tv died but most TVs that I looked at when I was shopping for TVs were rated for like 40,000-50,000 minutes. Now that doesn't mean it's going to fail I'm just saying that the fail rate is lower.

Accidental Damage protection on a laptop? Even when I did the repair myself for $200 (HP wanted $600) that $200 still would have covered 2 years of protection and I wouldnt need to lift a finger.

I can easilly find ways to get my moneys worth out of a warranty.

I forgot to mention, my homeowners policy just came in the mail and they are offering for $89 a year to cover ANYTHING in the house that fails. Yes, there is a $500 deductable. But if my 15 year old 2nd A/C goes out(which I know it will soon) or my 10 year old rear projection TV its worth it. I'm calling tomorrow to add it. Its called Equipment Breakdown Coverage and more insurance agencies are offering it. Check to see if you can get it instead of purchasing store warrenties. Its through your homeowners insurance (mine is with Allied) Worth it on all higher priced items (refrigerators, A/C's are the two big ones for me) but it also covers computers, heating systems, and anything eles you want fixed (less that $500 deductable). Oh, and its says your rates cannot be increased based on any claims made through this program. Check it out with your homeowners Insurance company. Equipment Breakdown Coverage .

@Skaperen: i've bought an e3xtended warranty for my past 2 laptops... and it's paid out. twice.
i'm incredibly hard on my laptops, using them all the time, and things tend to break.

I should have proof my message. The Equipment Breakdown Coverage I talked about is NOT $89 its $29. $29 a year.

@Psychosocial: Yes, I do.

For things that I use and don't want to buy again I have brought one. Laptop, got laptop replaced when it went bad. Have replaced three Tom Tom's with a service plan and a PS3 (even got $50 back on that one and a bigger HD).

All of these items where over their mfg plan, I don't use credit to buy them and I spent less then a TomTom for the service plan on all three items. They where also replaced instantly with brand new items.

I know, just dumb.

@veronykah: Technically, it's not free. That's what you're paying for when you pay for AppleCare. I mean, it's good that you are happy with what you paid for, but it's not free.

I read something today that said you should never buy an extended warranty if the cost is over 20% of the price of the item. Good rule of thumb?

@pragakhan:

I bought one on a 32" 720p LCD from LG 2 years ago, and when it broke recently, I got it replaced with a 46" 1080p LCD from Samsung.

There are times when extended warranties pay off. It's a pain to go through the warranty company, since they try everything they can to keep you from getting what you've paid for, but it's better than having to buy a brand new TV.

@gStein: Amen, brother.

I run my laptop from 7AM to 10PM, seven days a week. It rarely leaves the house, but it is constantly on.
My first HP laptop lasted 2 years 9 months before the charging circuitry failed.
I ordered a $1200 customized-to-order (CTO) HP laptop to replace it. Because of my experience with the first laptop, I spent an extra $200 to extend its factory warranty to three years.
The DV9000 laptops turned out to be lemons: all the AMD-nVidia combo motherboards were bad, in such numbers that HP quietly extended their coverage of these models. Mine went back to HP four times for bad system boards, a defective hinge, and once because they cracked the case while they were "fixing" it.
The fifth time it died, 30 months fter I bought it, I asked HP for a new one. Their drones sent me a reply that included a ticket number, with which I called the case managers in Palo Alto... long story short, that $200 warranty got me another $1200 CTO laptop, this time a DV7T-2000.

I always recommend extended warranties for laptops, and this time I got more than my money's worth out of it.

@EarlNowak:

See, now that is a situation where I would like to have a credit card, but there doesn't seem to be one that doesn't suck. I don't have a warranty on my laptop because I couldn't afford it up front.

I like Visa because everyone takes it, but it's so hard to find a provider that won't screw me to the wall.

The only thing I purchase extended warranties for are for Apple computers. Not that I'm anti-Apple; I buy them, after all! I don't worry about cheap crap like iPods and accessories, but for a $1900 computer that I know for a fact will fail within 3 years? Yup.

The iMac I'm posting from was a replacement of a 3 year iMac that was determined to be unrepairable. If it were my PC, I'd've repaired it (I don't take warranties for PC parts, but I build my own PC's, where in this context, PC's means non-Apple PC's).

Cars? No point (and really, I only buy American cars, and this hasn't been a problem in over 10 years, where I would insist on a warranty at any price). Other electronics? I just buy them at Sam's Club, where I can take them back regardless of the timeframe (only had to do so once). Toasters? Dude, it's $30; not worth my time.

Warranties I have not regretted popping for:

1) Hoover WindTunnel - shop must have had to service it 3 times

2) any electronics my daughter owned in her teen years ...

@wvFrugan: Agreed. I will only buy an extended warranty from the manufacturer for this very reason. Aftermarket third-party warranties are often worth less than the paper they are printed on.

@jp:

Thank you for that. I'm going to check on it.

I've only ever purchased a extended warranty once, and that was for an off the shelf printer. I ended up taking advantage of it once the printer died and the store sent me a gift card for it which i proceeded to purchase a brand new printer with.