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Enjoying Your Cadillac

Warranty - by Bruce Nunnally

Cadillacs come with a 4 year, 50,000 mile warranty.  Currently Cadillac is one of the most reliable brands of automobiles made in the world.  Cadillac is the luxury, premium brand of the world's largest automobile manufacturer.


Should I buy an extended warranty?
There are several factors you should consider regarding extended warranties. 

First, how long do you intend to keep your Cadillac?  Obviously, if you intend or plan to sell or trade the Cadillac within the term of the new car warranty, an extended warranty is not a great investment.

Second, if you plan to keep your Cadillac for a while, how long is your loan term?  There are few things more frustrating than having car payments at the same time as you have expensive repairs.  If your car loan is longer than the new car warranty, you may prefer to get an extended warranty to limit your risk.
 
Finally, if you are going to keep your Cadillac, you should consider your sensitivity to large repair costs.  One nice feature of an extended warranty is that you limit your total outlay / risk for car repairs to a known value.  However, with an extended warranty you have to invest cost even if nothing ever goes wrong with the Cadillac.

When should I buy an extended warranty?
Keep in mind that extended warranty costs go up when the Cadillac has over 12 months or 12K miles on it.  So if you do plan to get an extended warranty, it is smart to either get it as part of the purchase, if you can negotiate a reasonable warranty cost from the sales Dealer, or within the 12 month / 12 K mile window.
Another key milestone that drives the price of an extended warranty is to purchase an extended warranty while the new car warranty is still in effect. 

Should I go with the GMPP factory warranty, or an aftermarket warranty? 
The GMPP warranty offers very nice coverage, and is universally accepted at Cadillac dealers for repairs.  A key feature to explore with your local Dealer when considering other types of extended warranties is whether the Dealer Service regularly deals with that type of warranty, and how good they are about paying.

What deductible should I get?
I prefer to get a $0 deductible.  If you consider the number of times the car might be in the shop for work over the life of the extended warranty, it is usually obvious that the deductible reduction is likely to pay for itself over the life of the warranty. 

A very important consideration however is to ensure that the deductible if any is per visit and not per repair.  A per repair deductible would mean that if your car requires 3 different repairs during one visit to the Dealer,  you would have to pay the deductible 3 times during that visit.