Top 3 Auto Warranty Plans For 2024
Updated July 1st, 2024
Owning a car means sometimes you’ll have unexpected repairs, especially as it gets older. Even though your car comes with a factory warranty that lasts a few years, it won’t cover everything forever. An extended warranty helps continue that coverage so you don’t get stuck with big repair bills.
There are many warranty providers out there, but not all are good. We’ve looked into the best ones to help you choose wisely. We’ll talk about Endurance and a few others that might fit your needs well.
These warranties cost money, but they offer helpful extras like choosing your own mechanic, 24/7 roadside help, towing, and even a rental car if you need it.
Here are the top three auto warranty plans for 2024:
We tested these services by entering our zip code and car details. The results were really surprising.
1. Carchex
Carchex offers vehicle coverage plans that help you save on pricey auto repairs. The service is available in all 50 states and has a large variety of coverage plans because of their partnerships with many reputable extended auto warranties.
Carchex offers customization of coverage plans, 24/7 roadside assistance, trip interruption insurance, and rental car reimbursement when your car is in the shop. Carchex's website makes it easy to get a free quote after providing essential vehicle information such as year, make, model, and mileage.
2. Endurance
Endurance is one of the fastest growing auto coverage companies due to their flexible coverage plans and multitude of services. Some of these benefits include 24/7 roadside assistance, complete tire coverage, collision discount, and total loss protection. Endurance's mobile app is also very useful for viewing contract details and creates an intuitive experience.
Endurance offers coverage that competes at the highest level with other top companies in the industry. Their high-mileage coverage, maintenance coverage, and everyday driver benefits are services that are not included in many other auto protection policies. Endurance is highly rated by customer reviews and has excellent 24/7 customer service.
3. Complete Car Warranty
Complete Car Warranty offers vehicle coverage plans that help you save on pricey auto repairs. The service is available in all 50 states and has a large variety of coverage plans because of their partnerships with many reputable extended auto warranties.
Complete Car Warranty offers customization of coverage plans, 24/7 roadside assistance, trip interruption insurance, and rental car reimbursement when your car is in the shop. Complete Car Warranty's website makes it easy to get a free quote after providing essential vehicle information such as year, make, model, and mileage.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Methodology
In evaluating extended warranty providers, we examined five critical areas of service and coverage. They included customer service (as experienced in our direct contact with the companies) and reviews from existing customers, ease of filing a claim and the turnaround time of claims and payments, the breadth and cost of plans offered, overall trustworthiness by company reputation and the pricing of their offerings. Forbes Wheels surveyed 12 providers in total.
Customer Service and Reviews: 25%
When we contacted extended warranty companies to inquire about pricing and details on specific coverage options, we observed how pushy or accommodating each representative was. How knowledgeable were they about their product lines? How clearly could they articulate their company’s policies on various covered items?
At the same time, we used public reviews of each company to observe recent customer interactions and to determine how many complaints companies responded to. Claims of slow service, denied claims and other issues were noted if they were common.
Claims and Payments: 25%
Extended warranty providers love to tout their strong claim approval rates and easy claims processing, but important questions about how claims are paid and the times around the process need to be answered. In addition to asking questions about the communication process and payment timelines, our research included a thorough review of customers’ opinions of filing a claim and having their vehicle repaired.
We also reviewed customers’ experiences with claims payments. If the provider pays the shop directly, how long did that take? Did the shop have trouble communicating with the warranty provider, or were there problems with payments? Did the provider pay for what they said they would?
Plans, Selection and Add-Ons: 25%
Variety is the spice of life, and it’s extremely helpful when buying a warranty for your car. We observed the number of plans available from each provider and how covered components were spread between them. Additionally, we asked each company how their policies’ availability and coverage change as cars age. For example, how much more expensive or restrictive is a warranty for a car with 150,000 miles as opposed to one with 50,000?
We also asked about and reviewed each company’s list of available add-ons, benefits and discounts. Points were awarded to companies that offer generous discounts and extensive add-on menus for services such as tire protection and rental car reimbursement.
Overall Trustworthiness: 15%
Trustworthiness is subjective, but our rating in this area relates to how well a company’s website, public information, reviews and phone representatives inspire trust. We focused on representatives’ attitudes and openness to share information and how thoroughly the company’s online information is laid out. We observed the process of obtaining a quote and assessed how difficult or annoying it is to find a price. Finally, we observed how many sales or spam calls were received after contacting a company. Points were awarded to companies that did not start calling or texting after we asked them not to contact us.
Pricing and Value: 10%
Many warranty companies offer monthly payment plans and other flexible payment options. Companies earn points here by offering the broadest array of payment options, and for pricing their coverage options reasonably. It’s worth noting that almost everything is more expensive, especially car parts, so we factored price increases into our scoring in this category. Some warranty providers have responded to increases in their costs by bumping the costs of warranty coverage policies.