When I bought my Blazer I took an extended warranty and am I glad I did. I had three issues come up over the past year or so - the actuator for the rear lift glass broke, the ratchet mechanism for the parking brake went wonky and would not set, and a small oil leak developed at the front.

Figuring that I would only have the $100 deductible to pay, I took it to the dealer to have all three fixed. They called today to say that the front leak was just from the pan gasket, but that the rear main seal was also leaking! They said the tranny would have to be dropped to fix it and when I asked how they diagnosed it was the rear seal (did they look at the flexplate?), the service writer didn’t have a good answer. I told them, “No problem. By all means, go ahead and fix it.” Hey, the warranty is covering all of it. So for my deductible, I’m getting ~$1,700 of work done, plus 6 days of car rental.

I did have to pass up their extra charge items - replacing the serpentine belt (do it myself) and an engine flush to ’remove all the gunky oil that builds up over time’. Yeah, right, after only 43,000 miles of regular oil changes.

So, next time you buy a used vehicle, it might be worth it to consider an extended warranty.

 

My extended warrenty cost $800 (NZ). So far I've had the transfer case replaced with a 2nd hand unit which cost them over $3K. My excess (deductable, you guys call it) was $350. And it's still got a year to go.

 

Sounds like a sweet deal! But your 02 only has 43k on it?! And they still thought the rear main seal went out already? Tell em your trannys been slippin too

 

Hhhmmm, never thought of that.
I was surprised by the rear seal diagnosis, also. I never saw anything that would have made me suspect it, but if they want to replace it...

 

I bought my 04 Blazer last May and I have had to have my dealer replace the power steering core, fix an oil pan leak, and fix a leak in the thermostat housing. This all happened one after the other with in four weeks. The first two my extended warranty covered with only $100 deductable each time. The last one my dealer fixed for free because I told the head service manager that I was getting very frustrated with this vehicle developing a new leak every few days. I always ask for a warranty when buying used.
I wished I asked for the better plan because I did have to have the oil cooler lines fixed because they started leaking shortly after I bought my Blazer. They weren't covered by the warrenty.
I was hoping this Blazer would be as reliable as my old 1990 Chevy C1500. My truck has never had any problems or leaks in the 12 years I have had it. Just an alternator, and a starter have had to be replaced. (Oh I did have to have the paint replaced because the original paint decided to fall off). It does burn oil but only a quart every 1500 miles. It runs perfect.
My truck has 121300 miles and has never leaked.
My Blazer has 47800 miles and within the 10000 miles I have driven it, it has had four different fluid leaks. The fifth leak is on its way I think. It left a silver dollar size oil spot one day, but has not dripped since. Hopefully if it does leak my warranty will cover it.

 

The only extended warranty I have ever had was on my old 2001 Bonneville SSEi. That paid for a new steering rack ($1700 installed), LIM gaskets ($600 installed), intermediate steering shaft replaced ($300 installed done twice), front wheel bearing ($600 installed), and a new fuel pump ($500 installed). I paid $2100 for the extended warranty with belts, hoses, and gaskets covered (basically everything but the tires, brakes, and wiring was covered) and had no deductible. So yeah, that paid for itself.

The dealership I was dealing with out in Western NY was great. Had very skilled mechanics and never screwed around. When I moved, the only local Pontiac dealership had VERY young mechanics that seemed to be quite forgetful. Made me regret having a warranty. The last repair was the fuel pump during which they neglected to fully connect the main fuel supply line at the pump assembly. It decided to pop off as I backed into my garage, but I did not notice it at the time. I smelled fuel inside my house hours later and found a pool of gasoline under the back end of my car. Last time I ever went to that dealership again!

Since then, I have not gotten another extended warranty. My Rainier had an additional 18 months and 13k miles of the factory warranty left (which would have just ran out this past December if I had not crossed 36k miles in September of last year). The truck did not roll of the dealer lot until December of 2005 and I bought it in 2007 with 23k miles on it. So the 3yr/36k b2b warranty was in effect. I have used it a few times for miscellaneous things.

 

I've only had an extended warranty once.
My 94 Yukon started blowing tranny fluid on the interstate. Two decent truckers blocked me in and pointed it out to me before too much damage. Couldn't see the smoke through all the crap in the back. I got a new transmission and a free tow from Memphis, Tn. to Little Rock, Ar. so I guess it was a good deal that time. Haven't used one since.

 

I had a 97 ext. cab s10 4x4 (bought it for $10k with only 1500 miles on it in 98) anyways my first time ever going offroad my buddy shaun says to me look theres a mud puddle we can blast through (yea I know this already sounds bad danged newbie mistake!) anyways in 4hi hit the water at 50 mph instant dead stop wont back up wont go forward water starts coming in under the doors bout the time it got up to my ankles I looked at shaun and said screw this im outta here! rolled the window down climbed into the bed and hopped onto dry land.
A friendly guy comes around the corner sees us and starts laughing "first time here?" uh yea "figured as much, you know theres a full size chevy on 35s buried in the middle of that "puddle" right? been there 4 years nobody has been able to get her out yet" at this point i look at my friend and say im never taking you anywhere again.
onto the relevance:
spent a week with a pressure washer cleaning the mud from under and inside the truck then called the dealership I bought the truck from: "my friend bought a 16ft. ski boat and im towing it home for him when my truck just died it wont go more than 15 mph now if I wanted this to happen I woulda bought a ford wtf!" no problem we'll send a ttruck and a free rental right over! $200 deductible and I ended up with a new starter, new trans and new xfer case... warranties rule!
(however another friend of mine was the mechanic who worked on the truck about a week after I got it back he called and asked me the real story I told him the same thing I said when I called his response? try again bro I seen how much mud was inside that beast wtf did you REALLY do? so I told him the whole story and he laughs and reminds me how lucky I am he was working on it and not one of the other guys)