Are Supercar Warranties A Smart Investment? 

Being truly comfortable with not having warranty is a HUGE opportunity to save money. In 30 years of owning countless cars including exotics I have only once had a failure (engine blew up) that any aftermarket warranty would have covered. The cumulative savings over that time (not counting inflation or investment value on the money) would have bought me a BRAND NEW car to replace the engine I ended up getting replaced for a new crate engine for under $10K anyways. Warranty is something you absolutely pay for in one way or another even if it makes you feel warm and fuzzy when making a claim.

Dan, you nailed this topic! Great video!!!

Extended warranty for my alfa romeo 4c was 3 grand for 5 years lol. Cheers to the lower level exotic crew!!

Great video Dan! Demystifying the whole supercar ownership process!

Brilliant video! Thanks for sharing that was very informative.

Dan! Love the little man finally appearing in a video. Congrats to you and Meg. The enthusiasm of a child for these cars is priceless and completely authentic. Enjoy the holidays 😄

I agree with Dan. I think the best thing to do is put the $6-7K / yr into an interest bearing account as your own fund to take care of issues that may arise with your car. After several years, you'll either have paid for whatever issues have come up or you'll have a nice down payment for your next purchase. Just a thought...

The neon subscribe light is a nice touch. Subliminal suggestion lives!

Dealerships make money when they sell warranties that the manufacturer makes money on them selling. Two levels of profit right off the bat. I worked at dealerships for nearly 20 years. Warranties are profit centers more so than the vehicles themselves when the market wasn’t so upside down. If they were not profitable they wouldn’t be available. In Pennsylvania we could mark up a warranty to twice our cost. Pay the f&i person a cut and the dealership made its bank.

Definitely look at what's NOT included. Make a list of everything you're curious of being covered and find out if it's included and make sure it's in writing!!

Super skeptical of third party warranties. For yeas I've heard stories of people buying these for $$$, then making a claim and not getting service either because of "terms and conditions" or the companies going out of biz.

great info... i think I'm not going to renew the McLaren warranty anymore and after the 1st year on the F12 with a warranty I'm pretty sure I'm also going to let that one go... they've both been great cars

I always suggest that instead of spending money for a warranty, spend it on booze, hookers, and traffic lawyers!

Dan, You were right on the money on the cost of the speed sensor repairs for the DCT costing $7k. That’s exactly what my Ferrari Mechanic charged on a couple of Ferrari California that he had done the tranny out service to replace and upgrade the speed sensor for the DCT. And in addition to the cost of $6,500 for the one year Ferrari power warranty the Ferrari Dealers will also charge for an inspection/certification fee of $1,600 to certify your Ferrari to be eligible for the power warranty, and if they find anything that needs attention (They will most certainly always find something during the inspection/certification.) there will be additional cost. Therefore, for the $8k to $10k or more that you have to spend in order to get a 1 year Ferrari power warranty it would make more financial sense to self insure and self fund any and all future repairs if any. I also believe if you keep up with the annual service/inspection of your Ferrari religiously you are less likely to have to take on a big major repair bill later. Because the major repairs are usually caused by many minor repairs or neglected and deferred maintenance.

Well said!

As a McLaren 720s owner i can tell you that it’s the only car company out there that will warranty your car even if you track and I’m speaking from an actual experience. You rarely hear of engine or trans issues on those cars unless they have been tuned (there is a well known company out there that has been responsible for many destroyed engines) However, the CPO doesn’t cover accumulators even though they fail often (95% of the time you replace them once) or cracked glass, moldings and such. Basically parts that have been known to fail often. I’ve been in numerous talks with McLaren N.A. and they have gone out of their way to assist. Once your McLaren is sorted and has about 10k+ miles, most of the issues you might encounter are usually sorted. We should do a video on McLaren do/don’t and will happily share what I’ve learned through my ownership.

On the newer cars there's also no coverage of the turbos. Ferrari considers them "outside" of the powertrain. There is one car I would want a warranty on, that's the Lusso. Why,? Because many of us have had to have both transmissions replaced on a recall. That said, have that Lusso have its trans done, or is after the bad batch cars, meh, no biggie. But that's the only car I would really want one for. But looking at how I have tracked and treated my cars, I know they are super reliable. Factory warranty is cool, but after that, no way.

Best to accept the risk yourself. Keep it maintained properly AND drive/ exercise the thing regularly, wear & tear & repairs will likely work out less than the warranty

With ferrari I wouldnt bother, agree on all your points. I've owned and worked on them since the 90's and it's extremely rare for cars after 2007 ish to need more than maintenance. Never seen an engine blow and I've serviced 100's of 458s and 488s. Mclarens, would run a mile. Have worked on many of them, 6x,. 7x, 5x, 12c... they are all quite problematic as they get more miles on them. The warranty is garbage at least in the UK, nothing is covered and good luck finding a tech willing to work on them. So complex and work you need often not going to ne covered... not only that but doing work on them especially the 720 is a nightmare, zero room in the damn things to get your arms in unless you are a small child. Lambo, no experence beyond oil changes and occasional small fixes... but heard they are quite reliable again after the gallardo era.

Only 2 warranties worth it over the last 15 years. Fidelity Platinum and Carmax. Fidelity paid out almost every warranty claim my old 911. Carmax always pays on my daily driver for myself and wife. Heck my E550 had it for 1.5 years paid 3200 for the warranty, Carmax already paid out 3500 and I got 50k or 3.5 years left on it.

If you need a warranty you probably shouldn't buy that car. Nothing like buying a supercar and having it sit in a shop for months. Just set the warranty money aside

When I bought my Testarossa from an independent dealership, they tried real hard to get me to buy a 3 year warranty for around $6k a year. I considered it but after talking to my mechanic he told me he’s only seen 2 or 3 claims get paid. 99% of the time they deny the claim by saying it’s abuse/factory defect/normal wear etc. basically, don’t waste your money.

I have a 458 driving it on the street it dropped a valve and locked up the whole engine. The Ferrari extended warranty did pay off in my case, and put in a brand new motor.

I took the 458 out this past weekend and had a blast! Nothing like feeling the wheels momentarily lose grip shifting into 3rd gear (I was driving fast) going up a 15 degree mountain climb! Awesome!

Porsche just sent me a letter extending the coolant pump warranty 10 years on a 991.2. Talk about extended.

Hey Dan I’m hunting for my first Ferrari in Europe. What would you suggest between a manual 360 Modena and a F430 F1 box? They are around the same price to buy with similar mileage. I think the 360 looks better outside, the 430 better inside, the 430 being a timing chain engine does not need that typical timing belt service like 360 but the F1 probably wears the clutch faster than the manual 360. I’m not a rich guy and for me it would be quite a thing to get one of those cars in the garage. What’s your take on that? 🤝

Whats your thought on the 2011 california. I was looking into exotic insurance for it. I have been thinking about getting a california, throw my kids in the back. Any advice is awesome!

It boils down to a lot of factors. I’d be less worried about a warranty on a Ferrari then I would a Mercedes AMG. The Ferrari DCT issue is a real thing, mostly in the 2010-2014 california. And as Dan said the cost of repair now is down considerable. The Ferrari FF has an issue with the front power unit, but again there are repairs available now that mitigate the cost of a warranty. Mclaren has a lot of other issues that likely won’t be covered under warranty. Overall modern supercars are far more reliable then they used to be. Long gone are the days of engine out maintenance with complicated procedures on the modern cars. At the end of the day researching the car you want to buy and the usual issues associated with the car. Knowing what these issues are helps a lot. Also being aware the maintenance on these cars will always be more then a typical Honda. They will break, that’s a given.

Wow, he's growing fast. 😛

What a cute little guy!

You are correct the 15 year Ferrari is not worth it since it does not cover oil leaks. Also for real drivers who are not afraid of depreciation the warranty only lasts for 56,000 miles on the odometer. What does Ferrari know about their powertrains that only allows the warranty to go to 56K miles?

Or the Lambo owner, wants to show off to his friends and revs the schit out of the cold ass engine... Doesn't have the patience to wait for it to warm 🌞up!!

"reving the piss out of those engines" 🙂

Hey Dan!!! What do you think about DDE getting there SVJ WINDOW SMASHED BY A SLEDGEHAMMER from an angry hater. Make a review video!!

Lol @10:59 "you jailbreaking!"

Back in 2015 we bought my wife's Jeep as a CPO. The dealer was very pushy on the extended warranty for the car and kept trying to package it with the financing. At the end of the day we got our own financing less the warranty, but ended up with another 3rd party company that ended up going belly up and acquired by another company with more fine print. We used it once and still have the Jeep. lesson learned by us.

Nice video 😍. One thing I noticed in your videos. Every-time you criticise something or somebody, you look upwards 🙄. Just saying…

I bet it’s hard to remember a time when you weren’t a father.

Yep. I'll take a hard pass every time.

Just watch Dan's channel do it yourself no warranty needed. 👍🏻

No

Dan please remove that wrap on that poor Ferrari. It really looks uglier than a mother in law. I will rather drive it with a shitty paint job. I will not even mention that black tail lights. I do think you mentioned those ugly things in a previous upload.

Want a warranty buy a new one