A CARCHEX Scam-Protection Checklist to Help You Get a Quality Extended Vehicle Warranty

More than a few of the companies that provide extended vehicle warranties are at least a little shady, and some are outright scammers. So, to adequately protect your large auto investment, you absolutely must be aware of what to look out for when selecting a provider. This CARCHEX scam-protection checklist should help you in your quest to find quality, customized coverage.

Some scams are fairly obvious, offering, for example, too-good-to-be-true coverage and prices or obscuring critical details/information or making outrageous promises. But other scams are more subtle and harder to spot. And that’s why this CARCHEX scam-protection checklist was created. Below you’ll find a few of the more salient points to check into when vetting a potential extended vehicle warranty provider.

Suspicious Name Changes

Most of us know to check a company’s Better Business Bureau rating before doing business with that organization, especially when a good amount of money will be involved. A lot of less-than-reputable companies, though, have found a way around a low rating. They simply change their name and set up shop again in the same old scammy way, thus dodging their dodgy BBB rating.

So one of the first things you need to dig into with respect to your prospective warranty provider is whether the company has changed names over time and if so, what kind of BBB rating is associated with the former name(s). Here’s an example of what you do want to discover: CARCHEX has been in business under the same name for well over a decade and has an A+ BBB rating.

Sufficient Labor-Rate Coverage

Most plans have some kind of policy in place to cover labor charges for repairs. But how do you know whether that coverage is sufficient? If it isn’t, you’ll wind up having to pay the difference out of your own pocket. CARCHEX scam protection, in the form of extensive and up-to-date information, will help you determine whether the plan you’re considering has enough labor-rate coverage.

Adequate Parts Coverage

Your extended vehicle warranty should, of course, include standard wear-and-tear coverage. What you need to be aware of, though, is that wear-and-tear coverage is often limited with respect to smaller parts. For example, some companies cover replacement of seals and gaskets ONLY when their replacement occurs during and as a part of the replacement of a larger component. And you also need to be aware of the converse.

Many companies couch their parts coverage in language so vague and ambiguous that it doesn’t really tell you much at all. This means that you should also make sure your protection policy is exclusionary – that is, one that lists the parts and labor not covered under the policy. This way, you’ll know exactly what you are NOT getting in your extended vehicle warranty.

Established Credibility

We come now to the point that is fairly obvious, but often hard to pin down. Certainly, you want to do business with an established, credible, reliable company. But just how do you determine that?

Let’s take a look at just one illustrative example. CARCHEX has a working partnership with many Fortune 500 companies including CARFAX, Capital One, and Lending Tree. Further, CARCHEX is endorsed by Pat Goss, the nationally recognized mechanic featured on PBS’s MotorWeek and Goss’ Garage. Now, there’s established credibility.

CARCHEX scam protection is based on the fact that information translates into knowledge, which then affords you the power to protect yourself against scams.