Is Toco worth it?

[roadman65]

Recently the TV is plagued by commercials with people like Mike Ditka advertising car warranties for cars to help prevent high repair bills.  One of em is Toco and the other I have heard (though I am sure there are many more) is Car Shield.  Are any of them worth getting?

Considering labor costs are high especially now that auto makers put simple parts in hard to reach places which takes the technician hours to get at, and hours to replace the new or rebuilt part back in.  A transmission job will run you at minimum $1500.  Then when a car gets old you pay hundreds to replace a water pump to stop a leak that only reappears in another location as you force the high pressure cooling system to find another weak spot to breach and you have another 5 or 6 hundred to repair again and so on until the block cracks because you make the rest of the path of the coolant tight it fractures the engine that is several years old.

Then brakes and other repairs that are needed cost just below a grand and if your a/c goes its as much as the transmission.

Will those advertised warranties lower the cost or is it too good to be true?

[briantroutman]

Ask any number of consumer advocates, financial advise gurus, etc. and they'll all give you the same answer: No.

All of these third party warranties have so many exceptions and exclusions that they're basically worthless. The only time you ever buy an extended car warranty is from the manufacturer of your vehicle.

[renegade]

The only time you ever buy an extended car warranty is from the manufacturer of your vehicle.

Good luck with that.  Most times, an extended warranty is a waste of money.

[golden eagle]

In believe you'd come out better taking out a bank loan to fix your car.

[SP Cook]

The first rule of insurance is that insurance comapnies are in business to make money.  It gets more complicated, but the simplist way to understand insurance is that at the end of the day, its goal is to take in more money than it pays out.  Therefore for most people, by defination, it is a bad buy. 

As to this outfit, and I have seen similar relative to home repairs and other such, it is just not reasonable.   Cars, and, although over a much longer time frame (generational, but part and pieces are different time frames) modern housing is a consumable.  It is not supposed to last forever.   The best way to guard against automobile repair costs are much more simple:

- Buy the best car you can, preferabably a new car with a new car warranty.  If you have to buy a used car, have it checked out by a mechanic, do the carfax thing, and stick with brands that have good quality ratings.  (i. e. not GM, Ford or Chrysler). 

- Keep the car in good repair.  Change the oil and all that other stuff the book says to do, every time, every time, every time. 

- This includes changing the timing belt/chain.  Yes, it is expensive.  Yes, your car is laid up all day or more.  Yes, it might last another 5 years w/o a change.  Or it might break next Thursday and the costs of repair will be more than the value of the car. 

The last thing I will say is that in the USA, insurance is 99% regulated by the states.  Meaning insurance companies will look for a state with weak laws and go there.  One scam I have seen is in dealer sold "extended service plans/extended warranties".  (First, if you are buying a new car, WTF would you need an extended warranty, as some well-made brands will give you a warranty that last for years included, and. more improtantly, if the dealer is saying his brand is going to need expensive work after only a few years, you need a new brand's dealer).  A group of dealers will form an insurance company in a state with weak oversight.  Sell "extended warranties" for a few years, the company paying the dealers huge commissions (often 50% of the sale price), pay a few claims and then, surprise, the company goes broke.  Victim is told by the dealer there is nothing he can do, dealers start an new company, lather, rinse, repeat.

[Road Hog]

I've had mixed luck with extended warranties. GM was great when I bought a Chevy; got a new transmission for just the $200 deductible. Honda wasn't worth spit; it covered not one thing I brought that lemon of a car in for.