Glad the link was helpful. I also went through the process of trying to decide if the warranty was something I wanted or not. It's a personal choice - and in my case I decided I'm willing to gamble. I'll take my chances with the car as it is. I didn't buy the extended warranty... (although I could still change my mind in the next 3000 miles!)

Eric

 

Assuming you will not be keeping the car for the full duration of the warranty, (and since many of us are tech freaks there is a good chance even more inviting techno-toys will be available 6 years down the road) the price in the $800-$900 range for 8 years/100,000 miles might be a good investment.

In addition to the protection it provides while you own it, I got to believe it will be an asset in getting a premium price on resale, even if only a year or two remains on the warranty.

Dan

(BTW I have had extended warranties on 2 cars in my life. One I never used. The other I used once and it paid for the two contracts combined. Neither was a Honda.)

 

I have purchased Honda EWs and never used it. But, with this being a hybrid I am interested in purchasing in. Give it be an expensive peice of mind.

 

The HondaCare extended warranty is certainly not "just an extension of" a factory bumper-to-bumper warranty. That is almost NEVER the case with an extended warranty. Nothing unusual about this at all.
What it is intended to cover, in its limited way, is SOME of the major components that MAY crap out. Some of these items are big ticket items.
It is true that even on a less-than-Honda-reliability car, you are not likely to SAVE more in repair bills than you SPEND on purchasing the extended warranty (that's how they can continue to offer such warranties ). But if your CVT tranny dies, that repair will pay for it. If your IMA battery dies (for those of us in the 8yr/80K states), that repair will pay for it. If your head gasket blows, that repair will pay for it. If more than one item ends up getting covered, you end up way ahead by having the extended warranty.
It's a roll of the dice. Personally, I will probably get one, the 8yr/120K one from Bernardi. It limits your potential repair costs somewhat on the big items, plus I plan on keeping the HCH-II a long while (100K+). Do I expect ant of these things to happen on my HCH-II? No, but I'll feel more comfortable, especially in a new generation car with new generation hybrid technology and a new generation, complex little ICE.
If I lived in CA, I'd be a little less convinced, due to the much longer IMA battery warranty.

 

If you do NOT buy the extended warranty the long IMA warranty, either 8 or 10/15 year, are prorated.
If your battery craps out at the half way point you pay half, Honda pays half.

If you buy Honda Care extended warranty do you pay zero?

 

I am interested in everyones opinion on this. I have some mild concerns about the CVT longevity. But even more, this car is largely controlled by software it seems. This is where I believe an expensive vulnerability could exist as far as repair bills. I do not expect a Honda car mechanic to be an expert at software "reapir." therefore, something that goes wrong which winds up being a "control program." for instance could get expensive to fix. Does the EW cover this? And am I concerned about something that I shouldnt be? Any opnions welcome.

 

As a software programmer myself, I can say that the dealer or anyone will likely not be fixing the software if it glitches. More likely, the manufacturer themselves would fix it and provide a software upgrade that the dealers can install. But from what I know of the auto makers, their software is about as proprietary or secret as it gets and short of a select few that are probly held under lock and key, no one else will have enough information to make modifications to the software to begin with.

There are some hobbyist that'll hack it and probly learn a lot but in the end, the manufacturer will ultimately be responsible for fixing it (if they choose to) and the dealer will do nothing more than apply the update.


Thanks,
Shawn

 

Well..OK!. But would that be a repair that is covered by the EW.? Meaning--not an upgrade, but a repair/replacement/reloading..whatever..of malfunctioning software.

 

Kenny,

I remember differently on the IMA prorated warranty - and I think it was from Tarabell. There is a bit of confusion in the warranty manual, but the IMA system is FULLY covered (not prorated) for the 8/10 or whatever it is in the state you bought the car- and the 12V standard battery is prorated.

Eric

 

Kenny, take a look at pg 29 of your 2006 Honda standard warranty book. This shows the IMA warranty and refers to the back of the booklet for the list of covered hybrid parts. The back page shows it is a full 10/yr/150kmile warranty for all the listed hybrid components including IMA battery. It is not pro-rated.

If you go to pg 30, you will see where it says the "original battery" is covered for 3 years. However they are talking about the 12V battery (though it doesn't explicitly say this) Finally if you go to pg 37 you will see the replacement parts warranty where it says a "replacement battery" is covered for another 3 years and after that it is pro-rated and gives the schedule. Again they are talking about the 12V battery. Everyone (including many dealers who should know better) who flips through this book fast, thinks this section is talking about the IMA battery here, but it isn't. Honda really needs to make this clearer.

So the point is that for you and me in CA, even a maximum 8 yr Honda Care extended warranty doesn't do us any good as far as the IMA battery is concerned because our 10 yr (green state) standard warranty already covers us.