I purchased my 04 HCH CVT in California at the end of September 2004. I moved to DC a few months ago. I have a couple of questions for all of you knowledgeable people.

First, is it normal for the shifter to be able to shift from N to D to S without me having to push the release button (forgive me if I'm not using the right terminology)? My ex noticed this after I first bought the car and thought it was weird. It was never a problem for me until this past weekend when I was driving on the highway and accidentally knocked it from D into N while I was in the left lane and couldn't figure out why it wasn't accelerating. I called the dealer to see if I needed service, and the guy said it was normal and wasn't something that needed to be fixed. This was my first car, so I don't even know if other cars do this. Is this normal? If not, would it be covered under my warranty?

Second, I remember that when I bought the car, I thought the warranty was particularly short - 3/36 - but I didn't purchase an extended warranty at the time. My auto broker said that if I wanted to, I could purchase an extended warranty any time before the original warranty expired. Is it worth it? How much can I expect to pay? How do I go about it?

Thanks!

 

I can't answer the warranty question, but I can answer the D->S/N one...

I just bought an '04 last week and mine does the same thing. I'm pretty sure that it's supposed to be like that. My previous car was the same way also.

 

Yes, this is a normal feature.

 

Unfortunately, you are going to end up paying a lot more for the extended warranty now that you've exceeded 6000 miles.

The cheapest place to get the HondaCare warranty is online from Saccucci (http://www.myhondawarranty.com/) or Bernardi (http://www.bernardiwarranty.com/Depa...ic-Hybrid.aspx)

Both of these are Honda dealers that specialize in selling the HondaCare extended warranty for much cheaper than regular dealers (for my new 07, the difference was about 300%). They will both usually offer very similar prices.

 

Thanks so much for the responses! And thanks for pointing me toward HondaCare sales. The question I have is whether the extended warranty is worth it. I'm not really sure...

 

First off, I'd be surprised if you could even purchase an extended service contract this late in the game (on an '04 vehicle).

As for "is it worth it"... IMHO none of these contracts are worth it. It's basically an expensive insurance policy. If nothing fails, you've wasted your money. If something expensive fails, you'll probably recover your initial expenses (or more)... but remember, this is a Honda. If you do the maintenance and don't thrash the vehicle (unlikely on a Hybrid!!!), you'll LIKELY have good luck with it.

Recovery on a service contract also has strings attached... you have to meet all the stipulations buried in the contract. For example, do you have all the maintenance receipts? Like any insurance policy, the administrator is looking for ways to AVOID payment. Some of these contracts also have deductables.

In the case of the Honda service contract, it's likely reputable and backed by Honda. In the case of aftermarket service contracts... be very careful. I've been in the auto business for 30 years... I've seen many of these companies fail and default on payments. Dealers often hate them, too... and avoid work related to them because the administrators are a pain to deal with... are late with payments... and pay the dealer less than they would typically charge the retail customer or the factory (on a warranty claim).

Lastly, I'm not certain of the original warranty coverage on the '04 model, but on my '06 (HCHII), California and most New England states (the "Clean" states!!) have greatly enhanced factory warranties. Most of my emission and hybrid-specific components are covered for 15 years, 150,000 mi. Since your vehicle was originally sold in CA, you might want to see if it qualifies for this extended coverage (which is FREE).

Good luck!

 

First, can you even *get* a HondaCare warranty with a 2004 vehicle?
[edit] Looks like Barnardi offers up to 60months/60K miles for $885 ($100 deductible) or $995 ($0 deductible). This is (at least for California) ONLY IF: within 3 years of in-service date, under 36K miles, and car is for personal use.
[/edit]

Jeff's right about the "extra" coverage time & miles if the hybrid was purchased NEW (first put into service by YOU) in California. I'm not sure if this applied to the HCH1, but it sure does to the HCH2.
If you have this extra coverage, I would bypass an extended warranty. At this late stage (since the costs are likely to be quite high), I might bypass an extended warranty anyway.

I DID buy a HondaCare 8yr/120K miles warranty on my new 2006 HCH2. But it was $980 or so, and has $0 deductible, is backed by Honda, and FOR SURE covers the hybrid components. A third-party warranty may easily exclude these components, or may *try* to avoid payment on them down the road. Third-party ext. warranties are a crap-shoot. A typical way of payment avoidance is not *specifically* listing any hybrid components in the contract, then denying payment as the part/system is not *listed* as *covered*.
I am NOT recommending against them necessarily - just read carefully, and pick a company with a good reputation and some longevity.

 

I noticed that you also live in Washington, DC. I have an '03 Civic Hybrid and have taken it to Bill Page Honda, Falls Church since I bought the car. (I bought my car at Landmark Honda - ughhhhhh! terrible sales and service experience.) Anyway, if you don't have a place to service your car, you may want to try Bill Page . . . ask for Glen - he has taken good care of my "baby."

I found out today, when I picked it up my civic for service, that last week Honda approved an extended warranty on the civic hybrid transmission. So, at no cost, the service department flushed my transmision 3 times and it is running great. I understand that many owners have transmision problems.

If you have already paid to have your transmision flushed/fixed, I understand that you can be reimbursed for the cost. Worth checking.