EV Extended Warranty Coverage

[Anonymous]

A Tesla-owning friend let me know of a new company doing an extended warranty program specifically for electric cars, called X-Care. Seems like a good idea, as most standard 3rd party extended warranty programs I've seen have fine print that usually says something like "high-voltage battery, and any component connected to the high-voltage battery in an electric or hybrid vehicle are not covered", which is most of an i3. Unfortunately the X-care program is designed to mirror the Tesla warranty. Since the Tesla factory warranty covers the high-voltage battery AND the drive train for 8 yrs, 100,000 miles, this new X-Care extended warranty excludes the drive train (and HV battery) from coverage. Great for Tesla owners, but for any other electric car owner, the X-Care warranty is pretty much useless as it does not cover the electric motor or the drive train (which would likely exclude the REX motor - which is half the i3, and some of the most expensive repairs.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-electric-xcelerate/xcelerate-to-sell-third-party-warranties-for-evs-including-teslas-idUSKCN1Q32GE

 

[i3Houston]

Battery is already covered for 8 years and 100k miles, is there really a need for a extended warranty beyond that?

I normally change cars after 6 years so i have 4 more years to go, if the next 4 years look like last 2 from out of pocket maintenance cost, i3 would pretty much pay for itself.

ps. bought used for ~$20K.

 

[Anonymous]

is there really a need for a extended warranty beyond that?

For most, the answer is likely no. Companies make money on the extended warranty because they know most will never be used, or won't pay out what they cost to purchase. And most 3rd party extended warranties are a crap-shoot. Almost all only pay out for repairs that are less than the NADA trade-in value of the vehicle. (The BMW extended warranty uses the NADA retail value). And 3rd party warranties can be very difficult to collect on for any repairs that are 'expensive'. Endurance, the company that underwrites the Tesla extended warranty above, and has several others aimed at electric and hybrid cars, has reams of bad reports on the BBB site, on giving the customer the run-around, and denying claims on ludicrous technicalities. Saw one claim they denied - drive train failure, in need of repair. Also had drive train leaking seals precipitated by the drive train failure. Because leaking seals is listed in the policy as 'not covered', they denied the drive train repair claim, as 'caused by leaking seals, which are not coverd' - which the repair shop master mechanics categorically denied was the cause, but the Endurance 'inspector' who has to authorize the repair claimed was the cause. After reporting to BBB, Endurance simply refunded the warranty policy cost to the owner, and walked away, which seems to be their typical strategy - if the repair costs more than what was paid for the policy, deny the claim, and if pushed by a public consumer complaint, just refund the policy payment.

On the other side of the coin, if your LED display craters - it's several thousand dollars to replace. If a motor mount fails, and drops your electric motor out of line, the damage is upwards of $10K. AC compressor fails - $3K to $4K (and up to $22K). One of the ECM components goes out, $4K. Rex engine fails - $13K.