Reliability- Extended warranty worth it?

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jamih70

New member
Joined
Oct 28, 2019
Messages
4
I am a new member here, and am sure I will be using this forum a lot! For now, I have a question about general reliability and whether from your experience you think an extended warranty is worth it for the Soul EV.

I am in the United States, in Portland Oregon. I bought a used 2016 Kia Soul EV this past weekend from a local Kia dealership. I financed it under a 48 month term. It has 14K on the odometer, and is a “certified pre-owned” which means it is under the same warranty as a new car, with 100,000 powertrain for another 7 years, and basic warranty for another 2.

I walked into the dealership knowing they would try to sell me the extended warranty, or “service plan” as they called it, and I was determined not to fall for it. But then they said that with an electric car it was even more important and the numbers didn’t look too bad at first, so I fell for it. But now I am doubting that this was wise. I have 30 days to cancel it and get a full refund.

So my question to you. Do you think with an electric car, there is more likelihood for potential expensive repairs? I don’t drive a lot, maybe 4K miles a year, but I also tend to keep cars until they have high mileage and are older. My gamble is how likely it is I’d encounter a major problem within the next 7 years, which is how long the extended warranty lasts. The other gamble is if the extended warranty would cover what went wrong. The paperwork about it seems pretty comprehensive, but it doesn’t specifically list things related to electric cars.

I know in general these warranties aren’t worth it, but would it be true that with an electric I might be taking on more risk and it would be wise to keep it?

Thanks all!
 
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It is 100% certain that the guy who sold you the extended warranty was tricking you.
He does not know the likely costs of repair. No one does. These cars haven't been around long enough.

He is also confused, (and has confused you) about the warranty on an Electric Vehicle.
It is the EV System Warranty that is important for us.
This is 10 years / 100,000 miles regardless of owner.

The Powertrain Warranty refers to the drive shaft.
No one on this forum has ever had an issue with this.
In fact I had to check where on our car this was. We have never talked about this.
You can have some peace of mind knowing that this is covered by your CPO, but I doubt you will ever need to fix it.

Apart from two major issues our cars ( and most other EVs) are fairly maintenance free.
The most expensive issue is battery failure. This is becoming quite common.
That will be covered by the EV System Warranty. ( regardless of your CPO and regardless of the extended warranty).

The other issue is On Board Ch arger failure. Almost all the 2016s and earlier have had an OBC failure.
It has always been repaired under the EV System Warranty. ( regardless of your CPO and regardless of the extended warranty).

If I were you I would ask for my money back.
 
Thanks for the info JejuSoul, I just called and canceled my extended warranty as well going to save like $3k, thanks man =)
 
JejuSoul said:
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The Powertrain Warranty refers to the drive shaft.
No one on this forum has ever had an issue with this.
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*Correction I now have had such problems (I swear it was from a curious Cat that fatally crawled into the wheel well ...looked like claw marks on rubber boots/hoses and a dead cat was removed)

I just had drive axle repaired as my 2015 Soul EV + was leaking in the driveway. A/C line from compressor was also leaking down back of motor/drive unit.

I do have an extended warranty through CNA with a $100 deductible.(Warranty was $1800 when I purchased vehicle from Bill Like Chrysler in Phoenix, AZ) Extended Warranty was 9 years or 150,000 miles for coverage in both Canada and US...preemptive for moving to Point Roberts, WA which is basically Vancouver)

They ended replacing Charging door opener(door would stick), passenger side mirror (would not Auto fold in).

Total cost was $2131.17.
The actual cost for just the drive axle seal was a $10.00 part + $39.80 in ATF but labor was $333.50 so $383.30 for the axle seal.
AC leak labor was $435.00 + $175.87 for the high pressure hose/line and $15.20 for 1lb of R134A freon for a total of $626.07

So subtotal for just fixing the leak issues I had was: $1009.37

I got the 2015 Soul EV+ used in September of 2018, then when I was only getting 39 miles on full charge it went in for Battery degradation on January 14th 2019 and was returned with replacement battery(ies; since they changed 12v battery as well) on February 22nd 2019.

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