Re: extended warranty
arjuna,<br /><br />If you are considering an extended warranty, READ THE FINE PRINT!<br /><br />I've only ever gotten extended warranties (or extended service plans, or whatever you want to call them) on two "big-ticket" items: the house, and my wife's pre-owned car, both of which we got at the same time about 4 years ago. I got these plans for "peace of mind" because I didn't yet have any significant tools, homeowning experience, etc. and we had little savings left after these purchases.<br /><br />With the home plan, we had to threaten legal action--and in two cases pay for our own "second opinon" inspections--the three times we needed to exercise it (central heater, dishwasher, water heater). Every three months they were sending us policy changes that excluded more and more stuff (they reserved the right to essentially "change anything at any time"...see the fine print). We wound up ahead on that one, but not by very much. We dropped that yearly renewal plan after two years because all the "old" appliances in the house were then new, and I was by then able to fix most of my own home repair problems.<br /><br />With the car, only one thing out of the 4 or 5 things that we took it back to the shop for was covered (see the fine print), and even that would have cost less than half of what we paid for the plan.<br /><br />I, for one, intend to never again buy an extended warranty.
