You can also download the file by clicking here: Tom Torbjornsen Explains How To Purchase A Used Car Warranty

To hear the entire show visit America’s Car Show’s Sirius/XM Radio Archives and select the July 4th’s show.

Just because it’s a necessity doesn’t mean you should leap right into buying a car that you’ve found for sale.

Here are some tips for signs to back away slowly before signing that purchase agreement.

Missing Records
If the seller doesn’t have a service history, you’re taking a big risk. Every major auto shop is computerized; chances that a car made in the last two decades has been serviced without a trace are virtually nil. If you can’t document when it was last serviced, odds are it hasn’t.

Creative Maintenance
If a car has mismatched tires, or looks like something that came out of Dr. Frankenstein’s Mad Garage, it’s probably got problems. In particular, check out the paint job. If the paint job looks like it came from the Home Depot, it’s time to back away nice and easy.

Other key signs are cars in lots so covered in oil and transmission fluid that you can’t tell if any of them are leaking, and anything that has stashes of nuts in it from something out of a Disney cartoon. All of these are signs of long term abandonment.

Prior Ownership by Miscreants
Rental companies turn cars over to used car lots when they run out of warranty coverage, and can’t be maintained readily. Which is a euphemism for "Was driven until the axles bent, and was abused by everyone who rented it." Given the incentives to unplug odometers to avoid rental car mileage charges, you can’t even take a guess on the actual mileage. Similar abuses happen to cars owned by teenagers and turned into street racers.

This isn’t to say there aren’t good deals out there in used cars, but you should always take the time to do your homework, and to look into the issues of getting a new warranty on a used car.

The fact is, auto warranty brokers search for the warranty that affords them the highest mark-up. Often, the consumer does not know who they are actually buying their coverage from and is unable to research the records of these companies. The companies supplying coverage to these brokers have the industry’s highest rate of Better Business Bureau complaints with several of them having over 100 Better Business Bureau complaints in the past 3 years. The brokers themselves also have a very high rate of Better Business Bureau complaints with one of them having over 300 complaints in the past 3 years.
BUYER BEWARE
Consumers should be aware that a warranty broker bears NO RESPONSIBILITY to them once the sale has been made. Here is what one warranty broker has buried deep in their web site:

 <Warranty Broker>. does not process or pay for any claims. These matters are handled by your warranty company. You are actually purchasing the warranty directly from the warranty provider you’ve selected and any claims should be directed to their claims department. Please keep the warranty company claims phone number provided in your vehicle in the event you need to have repairs done.

 By purchasing a warranty <Warranty Broker>., no contract is made between you, the purchaser and <Warranty Broker>. <Warranty Broker> does not agree to and is not liable for payment of any claims and is not liable or responsible for the actions or business operations of any warranty company.

Contrast that business model with buying your coverage direct. Direct providers are responsible for paying claims and since they can’t hide behind anonymous warranty brokers, it is easy for you to research their records. Warranty Direct is a direct provider of coverage to consumers as well as over 2,200 new and used car dealers, banks and credit unions and has a 28 year track record of paying claims.
Warranty Direct is NOT a broker or an Internet only company.  When you purchase from us, we agree to be liable for and pay your claims. It’s what we do and have done…for 28 years.

For a free, instant online extended warranty rate quote, please click here.