schalliol

I just got a quote for "Audi Pure Protection Platinum" that would be as follows:

• 6 year (from now) 72k mile warranty (from now)
• If the car has 24,000 miles, the warranty would be good for 6 years from the time of purchase (4.5 years after OEM warranty expires) and for 96,000 miles
• $3,066 w/ $250 deductible

With the way I drive the car at about 1k/month, that would cover me out to 2021 and to ~8.5 years from purchase for the ~$90k OTD car. It seems to cover non wear and tare items except the automatic cruise control. The fine print mentions it excludes "standard transmission clutch components and assemblies" which I think means our dual clutch automatic transmission isn't a manual transmission and would be covered (but I'd want to confirm).

The way pricing works, I believe the price goes up as miles and age goes up (even under warranty). As a result, I don't think I can wait and get the same price if I wait until the OEM is about to expire.

What do you guys think? Thanks!

Rush2112

I just called my Audi dealer for prices on my car as my original warranty expires this Sept.

This is the Platinum package that Schalliol mentions above.

3 yr. 36 months - $4613
4 yr. 48 months - $5427
5 yr. 60 months - $6100
6 yr. 60 months - $6431

These come with a $250 deductible

schalliol

Ouch. You should definitely try Factory Discount Warranty for what I'm sure is better pricing. They're an Audi Dealer too, but you'll see that once you get a layer in.

1st Time Audi

The finance guys have flexibility in the cost of the insurance. Also, the Platinum should have no deductible, which is a bit of better than the CPO $85

schalliol

There are two (maybe more) deductible options on the Platinum. I went with the $250 because it dropped the price quite a lot. I really bought with a premium of $3,306 so it would protect me from major issues. I think it was like $1,500 more for $0 deductible.

Acuransx

That is for your S6, correct? Presumably A6 3.0T is less. Thanks for the good info. I'm going to check this out in next few weeks. Love my A6 and would like to keep beyond warranty but cost of repairs certainly a concern. There are two ways to go on this -- put $1,000 away every year and thus have a fund to defray repair costs once warranty over or buy extended warranty. From what I understand this warranty is through Fidelity Insurance and not VAG. I've heard various things about third party warranty providers (some not so good) so I'm going to ask my local dealer what their experience has been with Fidelity.


Best,
Jeff

snagitseven

That's correct, Fidelity is a third party warranty company. If your dealer sells it, I'm sure they will give them a glowing review.

I go with your second choice - I invest my money against future repairs instead of buying extended warranties. This way I know I will likely get my money's worth vs paying for a warranty that may or may not pay off.

These warranty companies are not charitable organizations - on average they will come out ahead and make a profit. And for the insured, it's like going to Las Vegas - some will come out ahead and many more are left with a only bus ticket home.

I suppose it depends one's tolerance for risk. I believe it's relatively low considering the up front warranty cost and any deductibles to reduce the warranty cost ($250 for each incidence can add up). $3K-6K is a lot of repairs for under 100K miles.

The only insurance/warranty I ever buy is either required by law or by my mortgage company. These are for covering a major loss that I can't easily cover on my own, i.e. home, auto and life insurance. So far, after four Audis over 28 combined years, I'm ahead.
To each their own.

schalliol

Yes, for my S6. I want to clarify that my pricing was from just under 25k miles at December 31, 2015 (see signature). This means that I have some overlap from when Fidelity kicks in and Audi's expires. This is why my cost is less than the OPs. Additionally, pricing is in mile ranges and set on a calendar year basis. For my car, I waited until the end of the year and making sure I'm below 25 k mi when getting the warranty - lots more expensive sitting where I am two months later and just over 25k mi. I would also note that there doesn't seem to be pricing differences for trim levels or at least individual features, so if you spent $6K on B&O, that comes along free, etc.

$3K is NOT much for me to spend given I'll be covering many years and up to almost 100 k mi. Yes, so I was unlucky on my A6 and needed a new engine at 72k (at about the value of the car at that time), but Audi saw how well I maintained it and I ended up paying like $1,200 on a $25,000 repair (yes it would cost that much at the dealer on a 3.2 V6).

The $250 deductible is per visit and not per incident, and Fidelity confirmed I could save them up and just have one $250 for multiple items if so desired. The C6 A6 had a fraction of the stuff that could go wrong as the almost loaded C7 S6. Just in the past couple of days we've seen that in used parts costs alone, putting in the top view on this forum is thousands in parts. That's not including labor or new OEM dealer prices. I chose the $250 deductible for risk management, and I bet there are lots of $1,000+ parts on their own, forgetting labor.

• Display System - $1,550 Part Alone
• Alternator - $1,060 Part Alone
• Adaptive Cruise Sensor Right - $1,850 Part Alone
• Adaptive Cruise Sensor Right - $2,250 Part Alone
• DSG Transmission Replacement - $5,000+??
• Engine - $25,919 Part Alone + >$5,000 for labor?

Now, I agree, I wouldn't want to pay $6,000+ on the car and take my chances. Excluding a fluke on the engine, in my A6 during the time period I covered with the S6 warranty on a garaged car, I needed:

• New ABS controller
• Adaptive Curve Motor for a headlight (requires a whole new Bi-Xenon light bank)
• A rear taillight replacement
• wonky center rear weight sensor (causes Air Bag light to fire, and you can clear code easily in VAGCOM)
• Washer fluid pump replacement
• Sirius module replacement (lots of trouble shooting here to get to this, but I ultimately just put in a MOST loop)
• Two different fuel pumps (not happened twice, but I ended up having to replace a front and rear. I probably blame the engine issue for this, but I had to pay for it out of pocket)
• A thermostat
• Repaired wiring harness (lots of trouble shooting here)
• Security siren (that was actually a misdiagnosis by the dealer)
• L&R upper guide link
• and the check engine/MIL light came on and I just didn't fix it since it ran okay with the EVAP error. The buyer took it to California and had to fix it (don't know what it costs).

I guess 3 of those happened from 100-115k mi., but there are probably some things I forgot and hopefully you get the point. Also hopefully the C7s are built better, but the experience I had (save for the engine) is not un-usual on the C6 forum. The car was well taken care of, and these items didn't go out all at once.

Snagit, I agree with you about having high deductibles and not covering warranties on lots of items, and I know you say it with pride that you don't fall for the extended warranty push. Warranty companies are in the business of making money, that's for sure, but I actually think more items fail or go out of spec than most people know. An aware person (like one on AW) can notice when things aren't working quite right, check codes via VCDS to point out issues and be an advocate for getting your money's worth. Starting by understanding the sweet spot for risk and cost of warranty gets you part of the way there by keeping the price low enough to work. If I had a few million in the bank, I still would've bought this warranty if I were planning to keep the car for a long time.

I'll end with saying that if you sell your car right before the warranty expires, you'll definitely get a lot more private party than without. If people can CARFAX and know it hasn't been wrecked, they know they can take it to the dealer and get it fixed if needed. This will really help ROI!

snagitseven

Schalliol, as I wrote, with extended warranties some will come out ahead and many will not - the odds are always with the house. Your past experience has given you good reason to purchase a warranty and I can understand that. On the other hand, my experience has been quite a bit different - with all my Audis combined I've had nowhere near as many non-maintenance issues as have you outside of the new car warranty. We all make decisions like this based on our past experience and, as a result, our future expectations. I don't wish for you to have problems with your car but also I hope you come out ahead with your investment.

BTW, when I mentioned "incidents", I too was referring to service visits. At the same time, if there's a issue that needs immediate attention, it might be difficult to time other problems for a single visit. You never know if and when something will go wrong.

schalliol

I contend the odds are with me. The odds are not always with the house, but they average as such over all buyers. In my case, I am confident I've shifted them to my advantage.

In my favor:

• Go as late as possible in a pricing bracket by date
• Go as high as possible in a pricing bracket by miles
• Buy from the cheapest dealer
• Pay attention to error codes proactively
• Pay attention to potential issues with the vehicle that may not be quite right
• Get a car virtually loaded so youre near the top of the bracket of potential things to go wrong
• Hang on AW to see issues likely to fail and check them
• Build a good relationship with service department so they'll really listen
• I will probably sell private party just before the warranty ends, which guarantees me a higher purchase price. This value comes not from the warranty company, but from a buyer.

If I were to map expected return over multiple cars, I believe the NPV would be positive most of the time.