Thanks, David---good advice. I'm at 45K on this Audi and have gone
back and forth about paying $3K for an extended warranty for another
50,000 miles of relative peace of mind. I had a Volvo that burned a
valve with less than a thousand miles left to go on its warranty and
that saved me almost $3000 so I've experienced first hand the value of
a warranty.

Still on the fence,
Jeff
On Jan 30, 2008, at 4:20 PM, Dvdclarksn@aol.com wrote:

> I would recommend the one of the warranty companies that your local
> Audi dealership works with. The reason being that a lot of
> dealerships will not want to work with a company that they don't do
> business with for payment reasons (i.e. they don't want to release
> the repaired vehicle if payment will be mailed in two weeks from a
> company that they have no business relationship with).  You may want
> to see if there is an Audi owner's group in your area and ask which
> company that your dealership works with has been the best to work
> with from other Audi owners. Most dealerships will sell the
> Manufacturer's ESC plan as well as a few others. One other
> consideration is to make sure that the ESC company will use only
> original parts as opposed to providing their own from their source
> on big ticket items like a transmission. This is more common with
> the smaller ESC companies that work with the smaller volume used car
> dealerships. Also check to see how long the ESC company has been in
> business. I have known of several that have gone out of business and
> their contracts are no longer in force or are bought out by another
> company that provides only partial compensation. Finally, read all
> the fine print on the coverage of your contract and if your model
> has a higher incidence or repair or poor service record then get the
> higher level of coverage. I have worked with Zurich (formerly
> Universal Underwriters) and GE Capital. Both seem to be very fair
> and reasonable from the customer's perspective. Good luck.
>
> David Clarkson (speaking again from a service advisor's perspective)
> 90 Westy (246k)
>
>
>
> Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.