Extended Warranty
 

I've searched and seen threads on the extended warranty and also discovered fd-warranty.com. Most of the threads are about new owners buying extended warranty at the time of purchase. I just bought a used '11 with warranty expiring this coming fall. I'm seriously thinking of an extended warranty ( the fidelity one ) since I plan on keeping the car for a long time and the mileage is still low keeping the warranty cost manageable (low 3k for 4 year/80k for the platinum). Wanted to get peoples thoughts on anyone that bought it and it's usefulness. I realize that the Q5 is a new vehicle so probably nobody's been able to find out whether it's actually useful but some of you may have experience on other Audi's.

fd-warranty cannot provide audi branded paperwork when there is less than a year left on the factory warranty ( as is my case ) but says that the warranty will be just like the audi one and show up by the VIN search at the dealer.

Examine a sample contract before committing. The Platinum warranty is not the same as the factory warranty and will not cover many things, i.e. the sound/nav system and others.

To be clear... what you are saying is that what is sold by FD Warranty are warranty plans ie coverage that may be sold by dealers in addition to or instead of the Genuine Audi Factory Backed warranty... it is NOT the Genuine Audi Factory Backed extended warranty. Am I correct?

Correct (but never offered instead of the factory warranty). FD and the others are third party warranty companies where some have a relationship with the dealers in that they work with them for direct reimbursement after the warranty company certifies and approves the repair. Others require the customer pay the dealer and wait for reimbursement directly from the warranty provider.

The only warranties offered directly and backed by Audi are the factory new car warranty and the used car CPO warranty. Anything else is a third party policy contract sold by the individual dealer (or the warranty company directly in some cases) for a profit. In that sense, it's really the same as the dealer selling window tint, paint protection or other third party after-purchase items.

Wow... so after the Factory New Car Warranty expires, there had been NO Audi of America Extended Service Agreement that was available from the dealership at the time of the new car purchase to have extended the coverage as there is with the Mercedes Benz USA backed Extended Limited Warranty... Just an aftermarket ELW with Audi Logos on the sales literature.

http://static.dealer.com/sites/a/aud...e_Brochure.pdf

Definitely review third party extended warranties carefully. The "gotchyas" tend to be things that are supposedly covered (to help sell them), but magically become wear-and-tear items when you actually make a claim. Caveat emptor with these things!

Reading your PDF, looks like platinum does claim to cover audio/electronics, so long as they are factory and not aftermarket.

Brutus: I'm waiting on a Scuba Blue TDI too!

They recently changed that. Still, there are many things that are not covered that would be under the manf. new car warranty. Also, there is a greater potential for "gray areas" where they could refuse to cover a repair or at the least, make it difficult to get approval. Always remember, warranty companies are in business to make money, are not charitable organizations and do not have the same level of state regulation as found with home, car and health insurance companies. Caveat emptor - the fine print prevails.

BMW offers a 100K warranty from what I understand too

Have you guys looked at all the feedback on Fidelity services ( i.e a google search )? The reviews are horrendous and scary. Any thoughts or real world experiences?