# Anyone purchase the vw extended warranty for their Routan?



## Silverstone6 (Aug 1, 2002)

Anyone purchase the vw extended warranty for their Routan? We are getting a 2010 SEL Prem.

Being a Chrysler derived product and some of the problems I've heard about I was considering the VW warranty. 

Price paid? for how long? Been worth it?

Thanks


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## routan (Aug 2, 2010)

*Yes*

I purchased the 7yr/100K and boy am I glad I did.. I can see myself using it once the manufacture warranty ends... 

I believe I paid around $2,300 for it, but that is just a guess. Most people say not to buy it, but I can see the transmission going out before 100k.


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## 58kafer (Jun 27, 2007)

It's funny you brought this up. I was going to ask the same question. We have had our Routan for about 3-4 weeks now and have been looking into the extended warranty(didn't have the extra cash at the table to do it then). We bought one on our 2000 Passat and it paid for itself easily on 3 emissions air pumps. Didn't buy one for our 2005 passat and just 1500 miles over the waranty period the turbo went. The dealer didn't offer us the Volkwagen extended warranty but a third party warranty. They probably make more money selling that one VS. the VW one. I just don't want to buy one that says they cover everything bumper to bumper, inside and out for 10y/100K and find out in 99K that the tranny went and they won't do jack for me. I did a google search on the warranty company and read some pretty bad posts about them but checked the BBB and they have a A+ rating. I do know to take peoples reviews/complaints with a grain of salt (could be a disgruntled employee writing the complaint). So please chime in because I'd like to get one too. We had AAA quote us one and it was just shy of 2K. I'm basically looking at 10y/100K Bumper to Bumper, drive train, and electronics, we are planning on keeping it a while.


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## routan (Aug 2, 2010)

58kafer said:


> It's funny you brought this up. I was going to ask the same question. We have had our Routan for about 3-4 weeks now and have been looking into the extended warranty(didn't have the extra cash at the table to do it then). We bought one on our 2000 Passat and it paid for itself easily on 3 emissions air pumps. Didn't buy one for our 2005 passat and just 1500 miles over the waranty period the turbo went. The dealer didn't offer us the Volkwagen extended warranty but a third party warranty. They probably make more money selling that one VS. the VW one. I just don't want to buy one that says they cover everything bumper to bumper, inside and out for 10y/100K and find out in 99K that the tranny went and they won't do jack for me. I did a google search on the warranty company and read some pretty bad posts about them but checked the BBB and they have a A+ rating. I do know to take peoples reviews/complaints with a grain of salt (could be a disgruntled employee writing the complaint). So please chime in because I'd like to get one too. We had AAA quote us one and it was just shy of 2K. I'm basically looking at 10y/100K Bumper to Bumper, drive train, and electronics, we are planning on keeping it a while.


Alright.. I lied

Here are the details of the Warranty 

7yr/100k

$1,550 - Tax free b/c i purchased it before we drove the car home

"Platinum Plan"

$0 detectable

$35,000 out the door with warranty for our SEL Basic (no tow, nav, tv's) 

0% for 6yrs

Exclusions listed in the picture below


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## Silverstone6 (Aug 1, 2002)

Did they specifically tell you that it would cover the NAV systems and the DVD systems? 

Thanks


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## Optical TDI (Dec 18, 2001)

An exclusionary policy is the only way to go.


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## Silverstone6 (Aug 1, 2002)

I'm not sure what an exclusionary policy is?


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## luckeydoug1 (Feb 11, 2001)

I don't generally purchase the warranty on new vehicles. I did, however, purchase one for my 03 Eurovan when it was nearing the end of its factory warranty. I was able to extend the warranty another 5 years or 50K miles which effectively gave me a 10yr 105K warranty. (I traded the EV in before the warranty expired and am getting a prorated refund).

[Edit..] I should add that I will evaluate the situation as the Routan nears the end of its warranty. If I choose to keep the van past its warranty, I may just buy a VW extended warranty at that time.


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## Silverstone6 (Aug 1, 2002)

I normally would not either but being a Chrysler based product makes me think twice. 

I'm interested to see what others paid for their coverages when they bought their Routans???? 

Thanks


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## rmbalisa (Jan 17, 2002)

bought a platinum warranty with fidelity recently, 9 months after i bought the car. got a quote from a jerry smith at an alabama dealer (found from the tdi forums) and gave me the following prices, which are supposedly $100 over cost, no tax, and only if you are less than 10k miles

$0 deductible
5yr/75k - $1206
6yr/85k - $1314
6yr/100k - $1709
7yr/70k - $1323
7yr/100k - $1844

when i went back to him at 9500 miles, he didn't respond to my emails and read he doesn't concentrate on warranties anymore. so i took the quote to http://www.volkswagenextendedwarranty.com/ and they initially gave me a quote of $1764 for 6yr/85k. they kept on saying it's a very competitive quote but sent them the email that I got from Jerry and they matched it on the spot. they gave me the usual spiel that it might go up before the end of the month (September) but from what Jerry told me, is that it goes up once you pass the 10k, 20k, 30k etc markers or at the end of the year, so I knew it wasn't changing. I called back a month later at 9990, took a picture of my mileage, and signed the deal. 10% down and 12 month interest free financing (they charge the rest on a monthly basis). The price difference to jump to 7yr was not worth it so 6yr/85k was optimal. So now I have coverage until 10/2017 or 94990 miles 

If you wait past 10k, you might as well wait until 19500 miles or until the end of that year, as it doesn't matter when you do it in between, but the prices start to go up considerably past that first year or 10k.


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## rmbalisa (Jan 17, 2002)

Silverstone6 said:


> Did they specifically tell you that it would cover the NAV systems and the DVD systems?
> 
> Thanks


DVD is included definitely, as for NAV, I would think so because it's factory installed. Platinum is the way to go, especially $0 deductible so I can bring it whenever I want


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## 58kafer (Jun 27, 2007)

*Update*

I just bought the VW extended warranty for our Routan. I shopped it around from several places one of them being www.volkswagenextendedwarranty.com and a few dealers. The price range varies dramatically on whom you call and how much they want to make off of it. I narrowed it down to two places www.volkswagenextendedwarranty.com or Chris Farnham at VW of Langhorne (a PA VW dealer). VEW started high then I worked them lower, Chris came right out to the point, explained a few things and different options to me and he got me where VEW.com was. Only thing for me was, I live in PA and have to pay sales tax. Even with tax it was a few bucks higher(around $25 bucks), but to give it to a person like him was worth it. And what I mean by that is when speaking with VEW I could hear several women(probably 10) speaking with other customers about their warranties. With Chris I was dealing with ONE guy, I have a question I call Chris, not whomever answers the phone and so on.

So all said and done I got a great deal with Chris for a Platinum 6 Year/ 100K warranty with a $0 detuctible. That turns out to be a 6 Year 110K warranty. Hard to believe we did 10K in 5 months! If you want to talk to Chris about a warranty give him a shout at 215-741-4100 and ask for Chris. I have no affiliation with Chris or the dealer he works for, but he turned a great deal for me and I just want to try to send alittle business his way. He is on the Vortex (10 year vet---you can search him out or just Google Chris Farnham, try it). Your best bet might be to call him VS PM'ing.

There are few option for paying for the waranty, one of them being 0% financing (there are strings attached for the 0%, Chris can explain them to you) or pay for it outright which is what we did (cash back from our credit card applied directly to the bill, thus lowering the cost of the warranty).

Trust me when I tell you, you won't be disappointed if you deal with Chris, he knows the competition.


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## TCM GLX (Jan 2, 2000)

I bought the 7yr/70K platinum, also paid about $1500, purchased when I bought the car.

On a side note, took the van in for service to my local VW dealer, time for the 12k service, and I was blown away. Picked up the van, they checked the rotors (only because I said take a look at em and see if they are starting to warp, not because I was getting vibes) and decided to replace all four rotors, and pads, no charge. The van was washed too, kick ass service!!!


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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

I have a question. I have bought extended warranties twice. One on a used vehicle and one on a new vehicle. Both times, the warranty covered the total mileage and years on the vehicle from new, not from the date of purchased, ie, 60k mileage extended warranty on a used car meant it expired at exactly 60k miles on the odometer. But reading these posts, it sounds like everyone bought extended warranties that go an additional 60k, 85k, whatever the number is, above what your current mileage is. If you have 10k miles when you buy the warranty, it provides a warranty until 95k miles (on an 85k mile warranty). Are you sure that is what you really bought? You may have indeed bought a warranty that starts counting from where you begin, but you may have bought a warranty that expires when the vehicle reaches that number. That is what mine did. Yours might be better, but I just want to point that out, just in case. 

Read the contract again, including all the fine print. Make sure you are good.

Another point I want to make is that when I bought my used car extended warranty, it sucked. The warranty company fought everything. They claimed it was a lack of maintenance, abuse or neglect or improper use. Just my experience.


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## 58kafer (Jun 27, 2007)

This one does indeed add to you current mileage, but the years do not. I could have gotten a 6 year 85K which would have been a 6 year 95K, but I know my luck I have a problem at 96K. If you get it at 9999 it is one price, if your over 10K but under 20K(19,999) it is another, so technically you could get a 7 year 119,999 mile warranty. I hope I never need it but if I do I hope it goes easy. This may be the first car that I get all the recommened service done at the dealer and not me doing it, and I'm very meticulous about my cars. I sort of ran it to this scenario when our 05 Wagon was 1500 miles out of warranty and we ate a turbo. "We'll sir, if you had all you services done with us we would have covered the cost completely." Tha was my big F-U to that dealer!


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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

I'll share with you one situtation I had with an extended warranty. I had purchased a used Dodge Durango that had about 50k miles. I bought the extended warranty to get me to 100k. Right after a freeze plug went bad. I had towing and I had the repair covered under the warranty. Before scheduling, I talked with the dealer (who is also the warranty company). They said since its a freeze plug, it's not covered because that is lack of maintenance. They actually said, show us proof that the radiator fluid was changed or we wont cover the repair. Needless to say, how can I have proof of maintenance on a vehicle that was used. There escape clause was that the manual, which for the time was overdone maintenance, called for a radiator flush at 3yrs 36k miles. 

Well, I stuck it to them. I read through the contract in detail and found that I can cancel the thing and get a prorated refund. I overpaid for the warranty in the first place. So it turned out to be a win win for me. I did the freeze plug myself and they refunded me $2k for a repair they could have done for a couple of hundred. So I am a quite reserved about extended warranties unless they are factory and only if the service intervals are reasonable. Otherwise, there is too much wiggle room for dealers to get out. 

I have to say that VW has been remarkably easy to work with when compared to Chrysler dealers. So I am impressed thus far and may consider a VW extended warranty, only. And the service requirements on the Routan are very reasonable, no 3k oil and 15k trans service crap.


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## 58kafer (Jun 27, 2007)

Yep, there definitely are loop holes. I really like to do all the maintenance on my own vehicles, but I guess I'll give in so that way they can only argue with the dealer. It's all about the documentation I guess.


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## MozartMan (Jul 31, 2010)

*Extended Warranty*

Hi everybody,

I got quote today from VW EW:



> The VW plan does overlap. I have 3 terms for you to review, both are the VW Drive Easy Platinum with $100 deductibles;
> 
> 6yr/60,000 miles = $1680; $168 down with 12 months @ $126
> 6yr/72,000 miles = $2106; $210.60 down with 12 months @ $157.95
> 6yr/85,000 miles = $2343; $234.30 down with 12 months @ $175.73 or 18 months @ $117


I have 2009 Routan SEL Basic with 15,800 miles. Are those good prices or should I bargain more?

TIA


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## Zambee500 (Jun 23, 2011)

MM - check your PMs.

Is that total miles/total age, or does the clock (odometer) start ticking as of the time of purchase? I paid right about $2k for 6 years/100k total miles with $0 deductible for a reputable (via my credit union) 3rd party warranty. And I had significantly more miles than you when we purchased our '09 SEL, so my price was higher than it would have been with only 15k miles. I went 3rd party b/c I've had very bad luck with VW dealerships in my area, so I wanted the option of going to an independent or Dodge/Chrysler dealership for work. But generally consumer advocates frown on 3rd party warranties and insist only on mfr. extended warranties.

If you do buy a warranty, make sure you buy an "excluded items" warranty where everything is covered except what they say in the contract is excluded. Otherwise, it is much easier for them to weasel out of coverage. Also, be sure to review what items are excluded. Wear items such as tires (excl. road hazard) and brakes are never covered. Items like fluids, belts/hoses, and sales tax are often excluded even from the top-of-the-line platinum warranties. Just make sure you know what coverage you're getting (or not getting).


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## MozartMan (Jul 31, 2010)

Zambee500,

I purchased my 09 SEL in August of 2010 with 5,500 miles on odometer. Later I went to the local VW dealership and they confirmed that factory warranty transferred. So far I didn't spend a single dollar on my minivan. All problems (AC leak, door harness) were fixed under recalls and warranty, and all maintenance (oil changes, tire rotation) was done under VW Care Free Maintenance plan. 

Now, as of February 2012, I have 15,800 miles and factory warranty will expire by months (not by miles) this November (2012). And I am thinking about extended warranty because we all know about Chrysler quality reputation 

The quote I got is from the lady from Vaden Volkswagen located in Savannah GA after I submitted quote request on VW Extended Warranty website. They maintain the VW extended warranty website. They sell the VW Drive Easy plan (backed by Fidelity Warranty Services, endorsed by Volkswagen of North American).


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## 58kafer (Jun 27, 2007)

Call Chris Farnham @ VW Of Langhorne, if anything just to price check. For our 2010 we bought the extended warranty for a 6yr/100K ZERO detuctible was $1774.44, and that was with PA sales tax(6%), so without tax it was $1,674. Had to pay the tax because I live in PA. It was a mere $25 bucks more than Volkwagenextendedwarranties.com best quote to me. Now keep in mind, if you don't have to pay the sales tax that means more than likely, HE'S CHEAPER than VEW. 

Also from my dealing with VEW they will push you into thinking "You need this NOW", wrong, it's one price from 0-9999 miles and from 10K-19,999 it's another and so on. It does not make sense to buy the warranty if your anywhere "between" those mileages. The warranty mileage ADDS to your current mileage. So if you get quoted say $1800 and your at 10,000 miles, your warranty is now good until 110,000. BUT if you wait until 19,999, your warranty is now good until 119,999 for the SAME PRICE. It makes sense to wait. All Chris asked was, is your mileage under 10K or under 20K. 

The warranty I bought is the EXACT same one that VEW is selling (VW Platinum), and the same one the dealer I bought our Routan at that quoted me--get this $2,500! Yep $2,500, the dealer can charge what they want, if they sell a thrid party one like one from JM&A or CNA they are banging even MORE profit off those ones.

You need to shop it around, but really need to call Chris 215-741-4100, tell him you found him on the Vortex, or the TDI Forums. 

The VW Platinum warranty can be used almost anywhere, even an independent shop. My van breaksdown in the middle of nowhere I take it to some XYZ repair shop, show them the paperwork, they call the warranty claim number and they get paid direct by a something like a credit card is how Chris explained it to me. Even covers rental car and lodging. I hope I never need it but we have it just incase. This is the first vehicle of ours that will get all the servicing done at the dealer so there is no beef with warranty claims-hopefully. I wish I knew about Chris before we bought our van, because the dealer I bought ours from did a dealer trade with his dealer to get our Routan. I only know Chris from talking to him on the phone a few times about the warranty, if you check the link below I'm sure you will be impressed with his reputation! I'm not knocking VEW, but I just didn't get the same quality customer service feeling as I did talking to Chris. VEW started high and I worked them down to a good number, they're very persistant and will call you every so often.

Google Chris Farnham


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## sladethesleeper (Oct 28, 2011)

I plan to get it. I'm not very convinced the transmission will last to 100k miles. Not impressed with the shifting.

And that's not to mention other items that have been annoying from time to time already.


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## rgreipel (Apr 19, 2008)

sladethesleeper said:


> I plan to get it. I'm not very convinced the transmission will last to 100k miles. Not impressed with the shifting.


I agree, I am not feeling the transmission and have a hard time believing it works as designed. I took my car to the Dealer to have it checked out for transmission problems and they only ran a software update. At first it felt like their was some improvements in the shifts, but the more I drive it, I still think something isn't right. It shifts too late in my opinion and sometime it actually shift pretty hard. You can really feel it. I am somewhat disappointed in the tranny, thank go my wife drives the car more and she doesn't care, nor do I think she feels it.


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