Extended warranties on used cars used to be a joke, now they are the only thing saving me

Back in 2017 I bought a 2012 sedan in Austin and laughed off the $900 warranty offer, then the transmission went out 8 months later and cost me $3,400 out of pocket. Last month I grabbed a certified pre-owned truck and actually read the exclusion list, turns out most plans don't cover seals or gaskets past 60,000 miles, which is exactly what failed on my friend's SUV in Dallas. Has anyone else noticed the fine print got way stricter since around 2020, or am I just unlucky with my choices?

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jamiekim15d ago

MAN I feel this so hard. I was watching a YouTube mechanic talk about this exact thing, he said the warranty companies basically rewrote their contracts after 2020 to make everything an "exclusion" instead of a "coverage." He showed a claim denial where the customer's whole engine went because of a bad oil pump, but the fine print said the pump was covered, not the damage it caused. So basically they cover the $200 part and leave you holding a $4,000 bill. The gasket thing you mentioned is REAL, I read a post from a guy in Houston who had a rear main seal leak at 70k miles and they told him "wear item" and walked away. It's like they know the exact parts that fail and make sure those are the ones not covered.