Personal opinion: People have vastly different thresholds for risk, and money means different things to different people. To haroldo, it would be painful to fork over money to cover something that might never occur. To others, it is well worth it to set a limit on what their car is going to cost them down the road. Different strokes for different folks.

Personally, what I'd like to see is a catastrophic car insurance policy, where you are responsible for the cost of any given repair up to a certain amount and the policy picks up anything above that. (And, what you choose for that value determines the cost of the policy.) I think it is that fear of being told "Tsk, tsk, you need a new transmission and that's going to cost you $10k" that drives most people to purchase an extended warranty. (And, that's just what a friend of mine was told recently by a local dealer.)

Or, as another friend once observed: Trust me on this: Thank your lucky stars that your insurance payment is not a good deal for you.

Oh, BTW, that original friend declined to have his transmission replaced and is still driving his 2007 TCH with 100k mi on the odometer. It's been running fine, and we think the problem was probably due to some overheat situation, but he worries about taking it out of town, though.

 

You want such a policy...self insure.
Realistically, the most expensive potential repair is around $1500-2000...maybe $3000 at the most, but in all likelihood, the average owner will never see that within the first 10 years.
Here's your catastrophic repair policy. Put $50 a month into a cookie jar. After ten years, if you end up with a $6000 repair (do you know anyone who had such a repair?) grab the jar.
We're not talking about insuring a Boeing 747.

 

I reluctantly paid top price of $1775 for 8yr/75,000 miles at the time of purchase of my 2012 TCH. The interesting incentive is that the dealer will refund the total amount if I don't use it. I just hope they're still in business that long!

 

An extended warranty is like life insurance, good to have but you are best off if you don't use it.

For about $15 - $20, a month, you get a tremendous amount of peace of mind.

 

Not really and a poor rationale to throw money away on a very bad bet. Life insurance should only be purchased in a situation where the loss of the individual would cause severe economic hardship that alters a family's lifestyle (a father dies and there's not enough money to pay the mortgage and fund college, etc.). In that situation, life insurance is needed.
To equate that dire scenario with replacing a water pump on a seven year old car is silly.
It's an extremely poor "investment".
You'd be significantly better off taking the money and putting it in a cookie jar and paying the repair bill on your own...if and when it occurs. Your monthly peace of mind payment will usually add up to cover most (if not all) of the cost of usual out of warranty repairs.

 

"It's an extremely poor "investment".

Not to a family who has a major failure out of warranty and doesn't have the money to pay for it. Many components on high-tech cars are very, very expensive to repair.

"You'd be significantly better off taking the money and putting it in a cookie jar and paying the repair bill on your own.."

Perhaps, especially with a Toyota, but most individuals/families are not disciplined enough to do so. $10-$20 'hidden' in their monthly payment is affordable to most.

Extended warranties are not for everyone. It only takes one major breakdown after the manufacturer's warranty has expired to make someone wish they had bought one.

Extended warranties also include car rental privileges which are nice if your car is in for service. This comes in handy especially if the vehicle is in for service for an extended period. A number of years ago our '06 Prius had a water pump failure. Because of the extended warranty, we got a rental for free. And it took over a week for the repair to be completed (the part was out of stock).

While a Toyota is less likely to break down that most other vehicles, some do. And some do have major repairs.

 

I bought a discounted 7yr/100K miles platinum, no-deductible extended warranty for our '07 RAV4 and have taken advantage of it at least twice; I don't know how much I saved or shaved off the cost of the warranty, which was $800. (It turns out, however, that a lot of these cars have water-pump failures at around 60K miles, so I may have another occasion to use it in another 15,000 miles.) I bought an identical extended warranty on our '12 Camry hybrid (discounted price: $999), mostly out of concern about all the fancy electronics on the car.

 

To each his own, like haroldo says it's for the peace of mind.

If consumer reports is correct the Camry Hybrid shows to have excellent reliability vs toyota's gas powered version.

Toyota Camry Hybrid XLE - predicted reliability shows excellent, ownership satisfaction shows excellent.

Toyota Camry XLE V6 - predicted reliability shows very good, ownership satisfactions shows very good.

If you know which part on your can needs replacing, you can buy it from a reliable auto store. You can have the part installed by a independent shop for half the labor cost of the toyota dealer.

I'm like haroldo and think you would have been better off putting the $1799 in a cookie jar just in case you needed any repairs. These hybrid cars have rather long warranties and if a problem exist it should fail within the warranty period. The toyota hybrid synergy system is warrantied for like 100,000 miles. Up to 150,000 miles or 120 months for California on the hybrid battery warranty.

This below is from my TCH XLE warranty book.

Hybrid System Warranty:
covers the battery control module, hybrid battery, hybrid control module, inverter and converter. The coverage is for 96 months or 100,000 miles, whichever occurs first.

Powertrain warranty:
it covers the engine, transaxle/motor/generator and front wheel drive system for 60 months or 60,000 miles whichever occurs first.

 

"I'm like haroldo and think you would have been better off putting the $1799 in a cookie jar"

Per BUGS, the 8 year genuine Toyota warranty is well under $1000, or about $9-$10 per month. If you are someone that keeps a vehicle for a long time, an extended warranty for only $9 a month buys a lot of piece of mind.


I have in the past personally bought 2 zero deductible warranties from Jerry Johnson at the Midwest Toyota Superstore (800-530-5789). Each time he saved me about $1000. I am getting ready to buy my 3rd from him. I have priced it out locally and he will once again save me about $1000.

Another BIG advantage of getting a warranty is that if you decide to sell your vehicle privately rather than trading it in, and it is still covered by the warranty, you will likely sell it a lot faster and for a lot more because you can offer it with full warranty - most used cars don't have this option. If you do trade-in your vehicle, you do get back a refund for the unused portion, pro-rated of course.

Again, extended warranties are not for everyone. Nor am I suggesting anyone buy one, especially for someone who absolutely does not want one, But to me, on a $30k vehicle filled with many expensive and some very expensive components, even simple repairs are not cheap. $9 a month is a bargain. Toyotas in general have a very good track record but not all Toyotas are created equal - some do have failures.

 

I paid $999, 45% below "sticker." I figured that the peace of mind was worth that price. However, I will readily concede that I might not need it. After all, reliability was an important factor in my decision to buy the Camry -- and why I shied away from the Ford Fusion hybrid.