Extended warranty worth it for '10 458?

I had a 2010 Italia and I have a 2013 spider. My spider goes out of warranty in January. My dealer quoted me $9500 if my memory is correct for 2 years coverage.
On the one hand, it sounds cheap as a repair could be 2-3 times that. On the other hand, who pays 10K for 30K worth of coverage?
My dash went out on my spider. Without the current warranty it would have been an 18K hit. It makes me think about the warranty but still not likely to do it. Transmissions which have not been failing at a high rate, do occasionally have issues. Issues which can be expensive. The failure rate is nothing like what is rumored: my dealer has only had 1 for all the Calis and 458s they have delivered. The good news is that there are some authorized dealers (mine being one of them) who can now fix the transmission rather than replacing it for much less than the purported 35-50K hit you might hear about.
Lastly, most problems I believe show themselves in that first 5K. Given that the car you are looking at hit that landmark, I would think a very thorough pre-inspection would give you a significant insight into the likely reliability of the car you are looking at.
Taking the opposite side of the argument, how much is piece of mind worth to you? If you think you might sell it inside that 2 years, will the warranty have some value? If you are far from a dealer, the towing cost could be appreciable and warranty would cover it. PhilnotHill has made this point in another thread. Plus, are you so far stretched in getting the car that a big repair could be "fatal"? If so, maybe 10K up front is a good deal.
For now, I am going the self insurance route. I cannot say it is the right approach, just that it makes the most economic sense to me right now. There are a fair number of high milage cars out there. The failure rate of these cars just doesn't seem to be that bad.
Best

 

I bought one on my 2010 with 4200 miles. I want to drive and will drive more than you stated you would. I did it more for the piece of mind factor. I never buy an extended warranty no matter what but the one for my Ferrari I did without blinking.

 

Yes. Bought 2 years on my 2012 spider.

Comforting to know for sure what my loss is...$9500. Can afford it. Would ruin my ownship experience if i got a $50k bill. Won't miss the 9500. Just not that much money. I wouldn't go to Vegas and bet $9500 hoping to double my money. I would feel totally stupid if i got a big bill and didnt buy the insurance. Thats just me and my risk tolerance. I hope we have no claims. The repairs are a hassle and then you always wonder...what's next. If i decide to sell the car i assume i will get the premium back...especially on a car with 23k miles.

 

+1 I have a 2012 spider and purchased the warranty too. To much shizzle could go wrong at too great of an expense.

 

I didn't get it and kept the money. I am not paying 10k for 30K insurance.

 

Who knows more about the probability and costs - you or the warranty guys? They're making money or they wouldn't be in the business. Their bet is you won't need the repair...you should agree with them.

 

Brilliant - by the same token don't buy health insurance or life insurance!!

 

I understand your logic and I usually don't buy extended warranties. I am sure SF has done the math and they will make money...like all insurance companies. But i would hate to have to explain to the wife that I didn't get thE coverage and had a $50k or more bill.

A story. I bought a warranty on all our appliances from our natural gas company. It's $21 a month and added to our bill. Before the program we had our furnace go out and our ac go out. Each repair was about $500. After i signed up for the program within a few months our side by side frig died. So i called the gas company. Turns out we had a power surge and the mother board was fried. They ordered a new motherboard, installed it and the frig is perfect. Cost of parts and labor over $400. Then the mechanism that works the ice maker dispenser broke a week later. They had to send two men to take the door apart and replace the broken part. That was over $500. The money is one thing. Finding repairmen who can work on your particular appliance is another. That is worth $21 a month. They have a 24 hour hotline.

My wife was very pleased that I bought into the program...i forgot to tell her when i did it. Her hero now! Now if I'm not around she knows how to get everything fixed. For us geezers it's nice to know we are not going to get ripped off. Nothing really to do with Fcars. Just an interesting story.

 

The car has 5000 miles and you plan to add another 8,000 miles over two years?

The final mileage will be around 13,000 miles?

Your annual service is free due to the 7 year warranty

I wouldn't get the 2 yr warranty due to low mileage. But do a thorough inspection and get any flaws fixed.

(I've got 39,000 miles on my spider.)

 

When I bought my 2010 458 two years ago, it had the extra two years of full coverage, transferred over to me from the previous owner. Now, that coverage just expired.
The car can be covered by the "New Power" warranty from Ferrari, for about $5,000/year,
For the next 7 years, subject to a yearly inspection. I chose not to spend the money.
Like AZ Giallo said above, they are in this game to make money. I chose to go with the odds.

 

Forgive my ignorance but does Ferrari actually limit the dollar value of the warranty you purchase to $30k?

 

Not to my knowledge.

 

My '14 in service date was 10/23/13...about to start the last year. Tough call. ...starting to think about it.

 

Very big difference between life insurance or health insurance. In those cases you are essentially insuring against catastrophic loss. An event that happens extremely rarely but could be absolutely devastating.

In the case of a warranty the max payout is nowhere near catastrophic. If it is you probably should not have one of these cars.

In terms of incidences, if you plan on having an exotic for many many years or multiple cars each years you are more likely to realize the actual "odds". For example if you had 5 exotics for 20 years would it really make sense to insure them all? Do that math..Even one exotic for 20 years.

With life insurance or health insurance you only get "one" big catastrophic event and it is all over.

In other words, if you are flipping a coins 20-50 times--it would not be so "brilliant" to bet against the odds. That is unless you think Ferrari is gracing us with negative margin on their warranty program--now the odds of that are extremely low.

 

Glad to hear your 458 spider is doing well at 39,000 miles! I just got mine about a month ago with only 3,800. My warranty is going to run out in 4 months. I'm leaning not to purchase the extended warranty given my low miles. I'm thinking I should run up the miles a bit during the next 4 months to see if I can flush out any issues that might come up. I read from another thread that if any issues comes up, it's within the first 5K miles.

 

I agree. But SF is smart enough to know that many buyers are not going to spend $200-300k on a car and risk a huge loss in a few days or months after purchase.

 

Yes, Ferrari would be leaving a lot of money on the table by not capitalizing on this type of behavioral inefficiency demonstrated by buyers. Especially since they can do the "trade" 1000's of times (globally) which helps them get the revenue vs repair expenditure data and therefore more certain margin.

Would be interesting to know the actual numbers in terms of payout vs. revenue. At least that way you could get an idea of the premium over fair value. Paying a bit over is not so bad for piece of mind--especially if you have one car or are a new buyer. However, currently, hard to know how much "over" you are really paying.

Incidentally, another way to look at it, if you have a mediocre Ferrari service center it may be insurance on them spending too much of your money to fix a car properly. That is definitely worth something..

 

Fwiw , I purchased a 2007 430 spider with 5000 miles on the clock and was offered a warranty and passed. Fast forward 4000 miles a year later my car went in for a 2200 $ service .... 15 k ( that price was at a 10 % discount ) later I wished I had the warranty. Fool me once shame on you , fool me twice shame on me.

I also like the fact that a car with warranty will probably sell faster than one without.

 

From the Ferrari New Power Warranty perspective , since this 458 is already out of factory warranty, your only option via Ferrari would be the New Power Warranty,which, assuming all Service and repairs are up to date, will run you $4500.00 per year, on a year to year basis. When it comes time to renew, you get a $375 discount for continuing coverage. You would get an additional $375 discount if you had no claims in the previous years coverage, bringing your year over year cost down to $3,750 per year.

Um, you're not paying for $30k coverage, you are paying for unlimited coverage ( from a dollar amount perspective )... if its a covered repair, Ferrari does not limit the amount they pay out , like alot of 3rd party policies do.

No. They will cover listed repairs in full during the term of the New Power Warranty

Since your car IS still covered by factory warranty, you have the option of purchasing either one or two years of " Extended Coverage Plus " Which is extending the same coverage as your initial 3 year warranty covered.

1 Year $ 6300.00
2 Year $ 9900.00

I am pretty sure that my health insurance covers more than one event... Heart attack in 2014 , liver failure in 2015, Heart attack again in 2016... you are paying to limit your pesonal liability with either policy.

The New Power Warranty program in a way could be considered a loss leader, as the margin IS minimal for the Dealership ( We collect the money from the client and give it to Ferrari SpA ) but then we hope to get the Ferrari back in for repairs over the next year.
I have asked for data from Ferrari on the Money in vs Money out perspective.... no word back yet, but I am interested as well.

I for one AM surprised that Ferrari would be making money, not because of the amount of repairs ( because they are rare ) but that when a big repair comes into play, you'd have to have sold 5 policies to cover that one big repair... not to mention all the minor repairs that are covered as well...

This point is probably the one that gets over looked the most often... when YOU , the BUYER are looking for a Ferrari, are you going to consider the car WITH warranty coverage or the one WITHOUT warranty coverage?

I personally, want to know that the previous owner had ALL the repairs possible taken care of by Ferrari. Vs the option that the seller, trying to maximize his profit, had the check engine light cleared, and covered up another failure, because he didn't want to pay out of pocket...

Just sayin'

All good points and it comes down to what YOU are willing to do.

S

 

Steve , in the words of Wimpy " I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today "

 

What broke on your MY2007 430?

 

just bought 2014 458 spider in May of this year. Next spring, I will have it inspected and purchase the extended warranty. I decided that before I bought the car. I have not had one problem yet, but, if I do, I want the peace of mind...keeps me focused on what I should be focused on...driving it and loving every minute of it

 

+458

SF is smart. If something breaks they can say: why didn't you buy the extended warranty we offered?

 

I generally self insure except for liability and home insurance. It pays in the long run. But you might want to look into the new Power Plus plan that warrants mechanicals for a lot less money.