Consumer Reports has an excellent article this morning warning against the fraud that is the extended warranty. From the article:

“We have long advised against extended warranties. In fact, we feel so strongly that consumers are being misled about them that we took out a full-page ad in USA Today on Nov. 14 to warn shoppers.”

My! That’s nice of them. Why are extended warranties a scam?

“For the consumer, extended warranties are notoriously bad deals because:

•Products seldom break within the extended-warranty window (typically around three years), our data show.
•When electronics and appliances do break, the repair often costs about the same as the cost of the warranty.”

For retailers, however, extended warranties are a cash cow. A store that makes only 10 bucks on the TV you purchase can make $50 on the warranty.

Consumer Reports has only two exceptions to the “do not buy” rule:

1) Rear-projection microdisplay TVs, because they often break and are expensive to repair…
2) Apple computers, because they only have 90 days of tech support, after which it will cost you $49 dollars to give them a call.

So stand firm, consumers! No more extended warranties!— MEGHANN MARCO
Why you don’t need an extended warranty [ConsumerReports]

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