Buying an Aftermarket Warranty: Waiting vs Procrastinating

by Gregory Nelson

If you own a new car and it’s still under the manufacturer’s warranty, when does waiting turn into procrastinating if you’re thinking about an aftermarket warranty? This may be surprising, but procrastination actually kicks in before the existing warranty expires because of a little thing known as “the waiting period.”

The waiting period is a certain amount of time most warranty companies have put in place before your aftermarket warranty goes into affect. It can last anywhere from 30 days to several months. That’s why putting of buying your warranty can put you at risk for being uncovered during that amount of time.

So if you buy an aftermarket warranty for your new car sooner you are giving yourself a guarantee of no problems or headaches. Your car will still be covered under the manufacturer’s warranty while you slide through the waiting period of your aftermarket warranty.

Something very important to keep in mind is that many companies choose to hide the waiting period from you. They are hoping that you won’t read the contract and discover the 30 to 90 day waiting period before you can file a claim.

Why? Because they want to collect monies before you actually use your warranty. They want to force you to buy the warranty and wait at least 60 days before you use it so when you do file a claim they can, without question, deny it and cancel the contract.

Waiting periods should be used to legitimize the warranty – not rip-off people.

For example, when you buy an aftermarket warranty from Motor Vehicle Services we immediately tell you if there is a 30 or 90 day waiting period depending on the vehicle service agreement you choose.

This waiting period protects against pre-existing conditions, because we know that after 30 or 90 days that your car obviously is operational. Therefore, we do not have to have the car inspected by a mechanic (which would be an additional cost to you).

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