I have a 2021 Es 250 and my warranty is up in a few weeks.

Apparently a new extended warranty is $2500. I only have 16,000 miles on my car.

would like to know if for most people it is recommended to get the warranty? What are the biggest things that could go wrong and how much might that cost?

Thanks for any information.

 

There's been a lot of debate about the merits of extended warranties in general on this and many other car boards. You asked for opinions, so I'll give you mine:

1) It's generally agreed that a manufacturer's warranty is more valuable than any sold by a third party; the latter tend to have more exclusions. So if I bought any, it'd be Lexus's own.

2) A warranty is essentially an insurance policy on car repairs. Like all insurance policies, it is probability-based and priced to make a profit for the seller. Accordingly, like any insurance policy, it's a good value only if the price of the costliest repair is beyond your means. This is a question only you can answer.

3) But other than that, you are financially more likely to come out ahead by not buying any extended warranty, for the reason stated in #2.

4) The Lexus ES is one of the most reliable and dependable cars you can buy. And because its mechanicals are heavily based on the popular-priced and bestselling Toyota Camry, its parts are comparatively available and affordable, making most repairs less expensive than other luxury cars. Buying a Lexus ES is something you would do precisely because you wanted to invest up front so that major repairs, and a warranty to prepare for them, would be unnecessary.

5) This is also all the more reason why it makes sense to keep the money you could spend on a warranty and spend it instead on something that will actually lengthen the reliable life of the car and make it cost less in repair or replacement: religious regular maintenance. In particular, full-synthetic oil changes at the "severe service" interval of 5,000 miles meet the factory's recommendations for the way most people actually drive: lots of short trips, stop-and-go, and cold starts.

That's my five cents. All the best to you.

 

In addition to the excellent points posted by Lexfinally, there are scores of previous posts available on this very subject for your reading pleasure. Many are YAY and many are NAY. Do a search and you will find them.

 

Thanks! I am new to this forum (I did have an account years ago). How do I do a search?

Also, is there a tutorial anywhere to give instructions for using this site?

 

I did a quick search for you and found one. Here it is: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...-warranty.html

Go up to top right under your name - "threads" search threads... I used term "extended warranty purchase". You do have to scroll down until you find a thread applicable to your search. GOOD LUCK!

 

My son in law - a former Lexus mechanic and Service Advisor - told me to bite the bullet and get rid of my 2024 ES350 F Sport and my wife’s 2025 BMW X5 before the warranty expires. Why? Electronics. I’ve already had my Lexus in the shop for electric gremlins.

 

If your car has had electronics problems, he may be right to conclude it's prone to them — kind of like a person who's had a particular medical problem is more likely than average to have it again. But I would emphasize this isn't necessarily true of all ES's.

 

I’ve got a 2021 Corvette with a GM extended warranty on it that should last me until 2030. Why? I bought one for my 2015 Corvette a month before the 3/36 ran out on it. It was my third Corvette and only one of my previous Corvettes had been in the shop for a minor repair. A month after the 3/36 ran out on my 2015 I went to a gas station and my fuel door wouldn’t open. I immediately took it to my dealer, showed them the extended warranty paperwork, and sat down in their customer waiting area. Thirty minutes later the Service Advisor came in and told me the actuator went out on the gas door, they would have the part in the next day, and handed me the keys to a loaner so I could get home. Chevrolet rarely gives out loaners. I didn’t pay a dime for that repair and it was $300 short of paying for the warranty.

I sold that car in 2019 and it still had two years left on the warranty which was transferable. I was the only person on eBay Motors selling a 2015 Corvette with a two year warranty and sold it in 11 days for exactly what I asked for it. The Lexus and our BMW both have more electronics on them than that car and the warranties are outrageously priced.

 

While it can't be considered tutorials, you can find information on this site's features under the "FAQ" tab located in tab bar part of the CLUB LEXUS heading included at the top of every web page. It is the "Board FAQ" section of the "FAQ" web page where you'll find subtopic links to details of information on the "Board"'s features (which in turn has a list of topics with page index links taking you directly to the section of a multi topic web of FAQ entries.). At the topic of each FAQ associated web page there a "Search FAQ" section where you can search the FAQ and the result will have the search word(s) highlighted in red in the found text results.

Specifically in regards to your "How do I do a search?" question, details on searching is found under the Board FAQ -> General Forum Usage -> Searching Forums and Threads. (The links take you to the information under the section heading so you'll need to scroll up a tad to see the section title heading on the web page the associated link takes you to.)

 

This is spot on. Electronics such as computer chips, sensors, circuit boards, they will go bad. It’s just a matter of time and luck.

In my case, some sensors failed about 2 years after I bought the car, and thankfully it was covered under warranty. It would've been over $2,000. A lot of ES owners report similar sensor and electronic issues.

At the end of the day, it comes down to peace of mind and some simple math: How much longer do you plan to keep the car? If the extended warranty covers you for another 5 years, and you plan to keep the car for at least 2.5 more years, then it's probably worth it. The extended warranty can usually be transferred to a new owner (nice selling point if you sell), or prorated and credited back to you if you switch to a different Lexus and get a new warranty. For me, ~$1 a day is absolutely worth the peace of mind.

 

My CPO 2022 ES 300h came with an added 2 yrs warranty so I think I am off in 2028. I didn't buy it the day I bought the car. 6 months later was quoted over $4000 for an additional 2 years...thru lexus. I tried to investigate an aftermarket warranty and all companies do not sell in California. You can only buy one thru dealer. I contacted a few.

I have bought warranties before and never used them. My acura came with 4, bought an additonal 3 and today, at 12 yrs old, have never had a repair. I bought this lexus because it was a lexus. It has one of the best repair records in the industry. I will not loose sleep not having a warranty and it probably saved me a lot of money.

 

The resolution to this question - IMO - is to set aside a sum of money each week or month for unexpected repairs. Don't buy a policy. After a few years if no repairs, take a nice trip somewhere with your significant other and enjoy being smart and saving money.

 

It's been reported that 37% - 47% of vehicle owners hold an extended warranty and only one in 10 have ever used it. (ConsumerAffairs) So, if you drive a reliable car and could afford to pay for unexpected repairs out-of-pocket, an extended car warranty might not be worth the cost to you. (CarAndDriver) From a pure numbers standpoint, the smart money is on skipping the protection and instead focusing on buying a model with better-than-average predicted reliability, then properly maintaining it. (ConsumerReports)

 

That’s a great idea but to save the amount of money required to pay for the electronics in these cars would require a lot of setting aside a sum of money. I speak from experience.

A couple of years ago my wife’s 2020 GMC Yukon Denali’s electric running boards starting lowering when they felt like it - not when a door was opened like they were supposed to drop. We ignored it because my wife wasn’t bothered by it. I finally decided last year it irritated me so I asked my son in law, who is a former mechanic that now owns a Matco Tool route, to get me a price on the small motors that control the running boards. We thought they had started to fail.

He got the price from a GMC dealer but came back with a warning: we needed to attach his OBD tool to it and make sure those small motors were the problem. If not it could be the much more expensive computer that controls them. My wife took it to his house, they hooked it up to his OBD tool, and it came back with a warning that he had never seen. It would take the much more expensive diagnostic tools that only the GMC dealer would buy to figure out the problem.

We traded the Denali on a 2025 BMW X5 the next week. I plan to sell it when it’s warranty runs out along with my 2024 Lexus.

 

Actual documentation! With links! You might get kicked off this board for being too coherent. Seriously, wonderful contribution to this board. My compliments.