Warranty about to expire

[FAST851]

After returning from 700 mile trip yesterday i checked the mail and received a letter from suzuki. The letter stated that im coming to the end of my warranty and their offering an extended warranty. I'm not sure if I really need to purchase a warranty. The bike runs great and i do all the required maintenance to keep the bike in good shape. The prices range from 250.00 for 1 year and up to 800.00 for 6 yrs. I plan on keeping the bike for a while atleast another 3 years. My question to you guys is the katana seems to be a bullet proof bike and i dont run it hard at all, is this warranty worth it or should i just ignore it and just do my basic maintenace and i should be fine. This year ive ridden the bike a total of 3,000 miles if this gives any indication of how low my miles are.

[eviilil0ne]

i got the extended when i bought the bike .. prolly never need it .. but nice to know its there

[The CyberPoet]

I've bought one extended warrantee from Suzuki on a new Kat (I've owned four Kats).

The only time it was of any use to me was due to a couple of small paragraphs in the extended warrantee where they say they will reimburse you a certain amount per day if your bike is in the shop for service and/or "included coverage" repairs -- to help pay for a rental vehicle, and they will tow you for free to the closest dealership in the case of a covered break-down. For me, the rental coverage was a critical consideration as the Kat was my primary or only vehicle at various times (for many people, getting this as a rider on their insurance may be cheaper).

The Kat is generally bullet-proof. As long as you do the services you would need to stay current under the warrantee, the odds of anything breaking aside from via user-error are about ten-thousand to one (the primary repair making the warrantee worth considering is bad-shifting causing transmission damages -- if you don't shift poorly and do use the clutch consistently, it's a non-issue).

One other consideration: the factory extended warrantee is transferable ONCE to the next owner. That may make the resale value of the bike higher during the coverage period, as it comes with effectively a guarantee that is nation-wide.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

______________________
CyberPoet's KR Specials
Suzuki Stratosphere - 6 Cylinders, the new Katana?
The Best Motorcycle Metal Billet Tire Valves in the World, plus lots of motorcycle & Katana (GSX600F / GSX750F) specific help files.

[StevieB]

Consumer Reports has always held that extended warranties are not a good buy. Consider, you are contributing to the profits of at least TWO companies- the warranty company AND the shop that does the repairs. From a consumer's standpoint, the extra profit adds little or no value.

Personally, I have only won once on an extended warranty- cost of drive shafts on a Dodge Colt cost me almost exactly what the extended warrnaty cost me- but that does NOT include the interest I paid when I financed the warranty cost with the rest of the purchase price of the vehicle. On other vehicles I purchased (new and used vehicles, cars and bikes,) I never got the extended warranty and never had what would have been a covered repair during what would have been the time the vehicle would have been covered.

So, I am money ahead by NOT having bought extended warranties, and less than break-even the one time I did. From what I have read from Consumer Reports, my experience is about average.

My GF got an extended warranty on her Miata she bought used about a year ago- she wanted the peace of mind, and negeotated a good break on the price (we did our homework, knew what the dealer paid for it) ahead of time.

[steves]

What is this "Warranty" you speak of.

For less than $800 you could replace most any part of the bike that an extended warranty might cover. The most expensive part would be the motor, but I don't expect that you'd pay more than $400-600 for a used known good one.

I paid like $300 for the extended warranty on my truck... at $300 it's paid for itself in rental car coverage for times my truck has been in the shop.... but at any other price I kept telling him to go eff himself. I bought a $1500 extended warranty on my 2000, two year old Pontiac that I bought in 2002... and the company that guaranteed the warranty promptly went out of business. I didn't find out until 2004 when I tried to file a claim on the bad power steering pump.

[The CyberPoet]

Consumer Reports has always held that extended warranties are not a good buy. Consider, you are contributing to the profits of at least TWO companies- the warranty company AND the shop that does the repairs. From a consumer's standpoint, the extra profit adds little or no value.

Did they make any differentiation between OEM Manufacturer warrantees and third party warrantees? This is a real Suzuki warrantee...
Every time I've bought an OEM warrantee (i.e. - with a new vehicle), it was always on the basis of resale value of the vehicle with that warrantee coverage later (compared to the same vehicle being sold sans warrantee). That's two warrantees in my life -- a brand new '95 Saturn, and an '00 Kat. The Saturn paid dividends many times over (thank Gawd I got that warrantee!); the Kat really didn't pay anything.

What is this "Warranty" you speak of.

Suzuki's policy is that you can buy the extended factory (manufacturer) warrantee at any time up to the expiration of the standard year's warrantee. The extended has all the same features as the standard year warrantee (guaranteed repair at any Suzuki dealership using brand new parts), plus riders with rental-reimbursement and towing. It's common for them to mail notices to rider's whose existing warrantee is about to run out.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

______________________
CyberPoet's KR Specials
Suzuki Stratosphere - 6 Cylinders, the new Katana?
The Best Motorcycle Metal Billet Tire Valves in the World, plus lots of motorcycle & Katana (GSX600F / GSX750F) specific help files.

[steves]

Suzuki's policy is that you can buy the extended factory (manufacturer) warrantee at any time up to the expiration of the standard year's warrantee. The extended has all the same features as the standard year warrantee (guaranteed repair at any Suzuki dealership using brand new parts), plus riders with rental-reimbursement and towing. It's common for them to mail notices to rider's whose existing warrantee is about to run out.

I should have specified the sarcasm. The point I was trying to make is that I've never had one, and never needed one on either of the Suzuki's I've wrenched on.

[Enjay386]

I agree that it depends on what it's covering, but I'm always a fan of warranties, it's a stress reliever for me...

[The CyberPoet]

I should have specified the sarcasm. The point I was trying to make is that I've never had one, and never needed one on either of the Suzuki's I've wrenched on.

I concur that Suzuki generally builds very high-quality, immensely reliable bikes and the odds of you needing the warrantee to cover anything as the first owner (unless you specifically abuse the tranny) is very, very low.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

______________________
CyberPoet's KR Specials
Suzuki Stratosphere - 6 Cylinders, the new Katana?
The Best Motorcycle Metal Billet Tire Valves in the World, plus lots of motorcycle & Katana (GSX600F / GSX750F) specific help files.

[lanceg]

at only 3k miles this year you need moss protection more than an extended warranty.