travelride

Hi. I am in the wrong thread on purpose, so please keep reading. We just bought a 2010 IS350C and the factory warranty was within three months of expiring when we bought it, so we're at the point of deciding whether or not to buy an extended warranty. I'm leaning towards no, but the Mrs leans towards yes.

I wanted to ask the SC430 group how your cars are holding up -- since they are a bit older and would possibly be a good indicator of whether a warranty is a good investment or a waste of money. If I hear this group saying they have cars with 150k on them and no significant problems then I'm going to skip the warranty. If, on the other hand, I hear a few horror stories, we may very well buy in on the warranty idea.

I'm especially interested in the hard top convertible aspect of your cars. Have you had any issues? I suspect the convertible could get pretty expensive to fix if it breaks.

Thanks for your feedback!

texsexlex

iTrader: (3)

...congrats on your new purchase !!! I have a 2002 sc430, it currently has 216k on the ticker, I bought the car used in 2008. I have had no issues with my baby (knock on wood),other than the regular maintenance, I've only replaced a battery & radiator. There have been some members here that haven't been as lucky as myself, but overall, I think the mass have had a very good experience.I owned a LS400, which had 300K on it & it purred like a kitten when i sold it......wish I still had it...lol....hopefully some others will chime in & give their personal thoughts

ktdsc430

I have not had any problems with the top on my SC430

Moonstruck

My SC430 is a 2007. I have now had it for two years and it is closing in on 70,000 miles. I live in upstate NY so you can imagine that the top is up and down constantly and I have had no problems to date.

FLYCT

On the average extended warranties are not good investments. It's just like Vegas, the odd's favor the house. Occasionally they pay off.

Saying all that, I bought an extended warranty because it kept the wife happy. She worries about unexpected expenses even though we can afford anything that happens. You know the old saying, "Happy wife, Happy life."

If your wife wins then don't buy an extended warranty locally if you live in Florida. Florida law requires that dealers to sell warranties at list price. The law was enacted to prevent overcharging but it also prevented discounting.

I live in Florida and I've bought Toyota and Lexus extended warranties from Troy Dietrich at a discount. He's in Greenfield MA, I also bought one from Jerry Johnson at Midwest Toyota.

If you get rid of your car before the extended warranty expires Lexus will send you a check for prorated balance if you call them.

Contact info for Jerry Johnson at Midwest Toyota/Superstore. 800-530-5789

Here's Troy's contact info.

Troy Dietrich
Factory Discount Warranty / Toyota & Ford of Greenfield
Tel. 413-772-0989
Fax. 413-774-2247
Web. http://www.FD-Warranty.com

MDames2

iTrader: (1)

You can no longer purchase an extended warranty from a Toyota or Lexus dealer if you're not a resident of the state they're in. So these two sources (really good, by the way) cannot be used if you're a resident of Florida. I have a 2003 SC430 with 106,000 miles on it. The top works great, with no problems. We did have to replace the brake booster on the car. This cost $2,200 at the Lexus dealer. My extended warranty covered it completely. Other than that, this car has been very reliable, especially, top.

FLYCT

Thanks for that info. It's the first time I heard that. It's not that I don't believe you, but to confirm it I just sent an email to Troy asking clarification.

When I was shopping for a Ford ESP Last month, I heard the same thing. Many discount dealers were not writing ESP for Florida residents. Both Troy and Jerry, being that they also have a Ford stores, were able to quote a discounted Ford ESP for me in Florida.

I'll post Troy's response when I get it.

JohnnyCake

That kinda sums it up. They are not going to sell you something that they lose money on so ultimately it is a bad investment (financially) for most people, although the warm feeling doesn't have a dollar value.

We've had this discussion before. Basically it comes down to this: if a $2K hit is going to really hose you for a long time, then you need the coverage. If that's something you could weather, than being "self-insured" makes more sense.

FLYCT

You were correct. Here is Troy's response.

-----------

Unfortunately, Toyota/Lexus are now restricting dealers from selling policies across state lines. So at the moment, I can only sell a genuine Toyota/Lexus policy if they have a Massachusetts address we can use for the paperwork, or there's a way they could come here in-person to purchase it.....

If that's not possible, I could sell a Fidelity plan.which is what is most commonly sold in Toyota's Southeast region (Florida). For those it doesn't matter what address we use.

Troy Dietrich
Factory Discount Warranty / Toyota & Ford of Greenfield
Fathers & Sons Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche
& Kia of West Springfield
Tel. 413-772-0989
Fax. 413-774-2247

mohrd

iTrader: (3)

My '04 has 107K miles now. No top issues. Nothing, but maintenance. Unfortunately my last top down day was yesterday as the forecast is not good here in the great white north. Just did an oil change before she is going to rest til spring and decided it was time to have a serious look at all the suspension components, not because of any issue just because of age. They are all still in excellent condition. Couldn't believe it. My Jag had to have most everything updated by the time she was 8.

Extended warranty? You would be better off banking the $ and self-insuring IMHO.

OBP

I have 75k miles on my 2005. Bought it in 2008 when it came off lease with 23k miles. No top problems. I did get an extended warranty from a Lexus dealer out of state way back when (which has since expired). It has totally paid for itself with the following fixes: two 02 sensors, seat heater ( with replacement of most of the driver's seat including new leather ), trunk struts, Mark Lev speaker and maybe one or two smaller things. If I could get a reliable warranty from a company that would not keep denying claims, I would seriously think about it. I read some worrying things about the Fidelity warranty in reviews whereas my Lexus Platinum was what it said it would be - platinum coverage for nearly everything, with no deductible.

grottoman

I just ran into my first roof problem. I use it extremely frequently here in Alabama, and it recently decided not to quite finish operating properly.

Long story short, the dealer ended up replacing the roof latch motor, ran about $6xx and $6xx for labor and parts.

It wasn't the best experience, but it seems to be completely reliably working again.

I had coincidentally turned off the engine just as it finished closing (seems like the first time I ever did that) when it 'broke', so I was really sure it was a sequence / timing issue, but they ended up replacing the motor. We did disconnect / reboot the ecu, supposedly looked for shavings in the motor, etc.

I don't feel 100% comfortable mostly because I didn't get a chance to follow up directly with the technician, but he did seem credible and competent when I spoke with him early on.

I will share that this dealer, and another service shop I had look at it prior, both confirmed that seeing an SC430 with a roof problem was EXTREMELY rare, and in fact, I think neither had seen it before at all, certainly not recently.

Good luck. Highly recommended, even after my own roof oops.

In fact, I still plan to get a newer one in a year or two, and give my current to my niece.