quickcat

How reliable is your C6 Corvette?

I had a conversation today with the extended warranty folks. I was not real impressed with the offer they presented me. They want over $3000 to continue bumper to bumper coverage on my 11 Grand Sport out to 75,000 miles. They talk like it is a no pressure deal but say I must decide on the call because they don't want folks calling back when they DO have a problem to turn on the coverage. They tell me that if I am not happy with the deal I can cancel for a full refund in 30 days.

My problem is this.... what is the likelihood that I will incur repair costs that will go over $3k during the time of the coverage? Is the quality of the Corvette so bad that I need to pay that much? It is like betting someone three thousand bucks that the car will break down. What are my odds? If the odds are real good that I will have a problem.... maybe I need to call them back, but I need some data.

I'm thinking the Corvette I have is a pretty reliable machine. I paid a lot of money for it and expect it to be. General Motors spend millions of dollars developing it and the production facility where it is made. Repeatability and quality are a big part of that development. It seems to me that it is a low likelyhood that I will incur a large repair before I get to 75 or even 100 thousand miles. Something else that factors into this mix is that I do my own maintenance... I only go to the dealer to have warranty work done because it is free.

My questions to the forum: How reliable is your Vette? How many of you have had unexpected and expensive repairs outside or deliberate or accidental wear and tear?

Matt

CHEV AGAIN

Not a fan of warranties here, that 3g invested will likely pay any repairs. Most only pay a pro rated amount of the repair anyway depending on the mileage.

Mark

87SAM

I think they are charging about double what GMEPP insurance would cost.

Torchsport

Skip it. Of course they are going to give you the hard sell. They want your money!
Plenty of guys here with high miles with little trouble.

wayback

I agree. I'm one with high milage. Biggest repair was a fuel pump $2500, covered under powertrain warranty. Had half shafts seals replaced under warranty also, both after 75,000 miles.

Only other non wear item was the Alternator which I upgraded to a 170A Billet unit for $500. I am at 151,000 miles now and going strong.

FortMorganAl

What are the chances of needing a $3K repair? Pretty much the same as needing a $3K repair to your house. My repair bills in 8 years have been less than $150. These are VERY reliable cars.

Next you need to have some understanding of how insurance works. Insurance works by a lot of people paying a little bit so that a few people will get back more than the cost but, more importantly, so that a few people can make a living. They aren't charging you $3K so that they can pay more than $3K on average. They think the average repair cost is going to be less than $3K or they wouldn't be selling you a policy.

Next you need to look up "adverse selection". Simply, that means that people who expect lots of problems with their car will buy the insurance but people who don't, won't. People who expect trouble usually have a reason for that expectation. Maybe they don't maintain their car. Or maybe they just put on a lot of miles like Wayback. But typically they expect to have problems because they have had more problems than other people. That means their repair bills are going to be higher. So, not only do the people selling the insurance (the people with the most experience in what repairs cost) think it is going to cost less than $3K, they know that even the people who have more trouble than most are going to cost them less than $3K.

Putting on my flame suit, if you are stretched so thin that you can't afford a $3K repair bill, then you really shouldn't be wasting so much money on a Corvette. Get a Camaro and put $15K in the bank for repair bills.

Finally, invest the $3K and you will always have enough money to pay a $3K bill. And, if you are like me and spend only $150 in 8 years, you could be able to have $6,500 in that account in 8 years. Or, if you bought the Camaro you would have $32K.

Ward Cleaver

QuickCat, the C6 is a very reliable car.

Also, remember this, on the off chance that you would need some sort of expensive repair costing 2 or 3 thousand dollars, a repair costing that much would most likely be in the powertrain...and the C6 has a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty from GM (that transfers from owner to owner until the car reaches 100,000 miles), which covers the engine, transmission and rear end (along with other things associated with the drivetrain such as wheel bearings, u-joints, fuel pump, engine mounts, etc.).

Regards,
-Ward

Buck Henry

Geez, at $3,000 you can certainly self insure the car. These companies would not sell extended warranties if they did not make money off of them. Sure, there is always a chance you could have a catastrophic failure of a major drive train component, which is about these aftermarket warranties cover. But the odds are that you will not have a major failure. That is why they sell these extended warranties and that is why they are huge money makers.

I concur with the advice already given of parking your $3K in a money market account and leave it there as your car emergency repair fund. If you never end up using it, it just became your "buy me a new shotgun fund", or your "let's have one hell of a blowout party" fund, or (my favorite) your "let's go fly fishing in Patagonia" fund. You get the picture.

AORoads

There is so much that could be written in response to your questions, OP, and some of it has been written above. But, my wish is that you re-read "Ft. Morgan AL's" post, especially the last two paragraphs.*

Matter of fact, I wish he would just copy it to a file somewhere and trot it out about twice a week for many other threads and posts that directly, or tangentially require the same good insight.

* If ever I needed a flame suit it would be for this. I'd go even further and say, on any given car which is beyond a powertrain warranty what would you do if TWO things went out in the same year? Park it in the "north forty" and let it become lawn art? If you can't afford those repairs, and don't want it to become lawn art, then one of two things has to occur: have more money on hand, or get a less expensive car and bank the rest.

ben dover

If the odds weren't in their favor, they wouldn't be selling it.

mcuzin1985

For me I purchased an extended warranty bumper to bumper back in 2009 for my 08 Coupe and paid 2,200 for 7 year 84,000 miles. Yes I believe it was a waste due to the fact I have only used it once when replacing a TPMS and the warranty place only paid for 70% of the repair but its the peace of mind knowing that if in fact something happens, you will be covered.

Like everyone else is stating the car is very reliable driving spirited or not, but at the end of the day if it makes you feel better knowing you are covered in the case of having something go wrong then grab it, if not save the 3K and spend it on your Wife ha.

jrose7004

I don't ever buy the extended warranty. As I look back on the ones that I've had over the years they've never paid for them selves. I drive 30,000 or so miles a year in my work, I sell commercial real estate, currently in a Cadillac SRX and I've still never had a warranty that was worth that kind of money.

Rebel Yell

Third party warranty sellers are a bunch of scam artist. They sell you at a inflated price, and when you need them it's like pulling hens teeth (that's a southern saying for my northern friends) to get paid. I would put the 3K in a saving account, and if you need it there it will be. If you don't need it, it's a good down payment on a new Vette when you're ready.

RocketDawg

I've never had any repairs on my C6 and I've had it for 3 years. The only think I've done is get new tires and a new battery.

I had a C5 for about 9 years and had to replace brake rotors and pads, replace the water pump, and one new battery. Oh ... and I had a tail light and a turn signal bulb that needed replacing. That's it.

duckvett

We bought an extended warranty on our `10 Grand Sport before we departed on the National Corvette Caravan last year. In the event something did happen I didn't want us to be stuck thousands of miles from home trying to work out finances. Did I need it? No, but at $1500 I still thought of it as cheap insurance.

Think of it as insurance....how many years have you been paying insurance premiums and how many times have you gotten something back?

But I do think that $3000 is double what you could find.

v26278

Whether to buy a warranty or not is up to you, but if you do buy, you want a good price. There's usually a hefty profit in the list price both for the selling dealer as well a the warranty company, since capitalizing on people's fears is often lucrative.

Check this gentleman out and see if he can sell to you, he's been the go-to guy for GMPP for as long as I've been on this forum.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-fichtner.html

ls1121

I bought my car with the GMPP warranty B2B for 12 months, the warranty cost me a little over $400 at the time of purchase. A few weeks later and around $2,200 in warranty parts and labor with a lot of hassle from GM my car was repaired and has been good since, about 2 years. Our cars have a lot of Fancy electronics and Chevy mechanics (parts changers) in my opinion lack the ability to repair them without replacing parts and help from Detroit. This is just my experience, hope it helps you make a decision.

Cor430vette

LS3 is rock solid and basic engine. You will never own an engine that is less expensive to fix and more reliable with this much performance output. Most of the repairs a shade tree mechanic with a service tech manual can fix. Now if you owned a euro car with all the new fangled crap that doesn't produce more HP or Torque or anything but problems then you need the warranty. The S65 in my M3 I sold , would costs around 30k to replace and owners were spinning connecting rod bearings and had tons of problems. The LS3 engine however is only 13k to replace approximately and has no known major issues.....I say skip it and save your money. Go buy the 150 dollar service tech manual and fix everything yourself those morons at the stealership have never fixed anything on my car, only messed things up....

saber

Those 3rd party insurance companies go out of business every day!!

JayinAZ

You sure about this? My '05 has a 100k mile powertrain warranty?