Extended Warranty from Mazda

[markuszoom5]

I bought my 2010 Mazda 5 van brand new and other than rear shock replaced I had no other problems. Then at 42000 miles, the sliding doors would not close when it's below freezing. This week I have a metallic noise that rattles, possibly motor mount, but who knows and am driving a loaner again. The repairs previously for the sliding doors were already around $2000, but thank god for the extended warranty. I did not believe I would ever say this, but Mazda's Total Care Warranty is definitely worth the money. There are details @: http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/dis...arameter=modelsWarrantyMEPP&vehicleCode=CX9#1
I figured I would bring it up for any other unfortunate owners considering whether they should buy the warranty. Mazda is not a very reliable car at all, and I will most likely not buy another. Good luck everybody.

 

[Silentnoise713]

What exactly did they do with the door(S?) that cost $2000 just to fix the latches!? Can you share what was the most expensive item or two? Even if they replace the whole door, it probably still fall short of that. I've gutted a few doors and swapped internal to familiarize myself with the internal workings and it is not that complicated inside - granted I've never dealt with sliding doors, only hinged. I think they are just over billing "funny money" as it is warranty repair (perhaps some sort of discounted rate applies that impacts their bottom dollar so they make up for it). Warranty is a good expense if you simply want hassle free ownership but rarely (there will always be exceptions as lemons and defects do occur) pay for itself. It is one bet I would not advocate, unless you get to draw up or nego terms and not simply buy what they offer. You are PRE-paying for convenience that you may or may not consume within a timer period (miles or year), which their actuaries have accounted for. Rather, I would suggest everyone find and support your local mechanic (there are some good ones but hard to find). Also, if you have doubts about the car and had factor in buying extended warranty, perhaps you should consider adding that money into another car to begin with.

If you dont mind sharing, what package did you buy and what is your deductible?

 

[gino]

Mazda is not a very reliable car at all, and I will most likely not buy another. Good luck everybody.

Sorry, totally disagree. Have owned Mazdas since 1988 and have had virtually zero problems. Have replaced one wheel bearing, one front axle c-joint, one pair front rotors, the usual brake pads and timing belts. One of the vehicles (P5) has 187,000 miles (wheel bearing), another (626) had 107,000 (c-joint), the third (Protege ES) 90,000 (rotors). Wouldn't own any other make.

As for $2,000 door repair, somebody took you to the cleaners.

 

[markuszoom5]

I disagree

What exactly did they do with the door(S?) that cost $2000 just to fix the latches!? Can you share what was the most expensive item or two? Even if they replace the whole door, it probably still fall short of that. I've gutted a few doors and swapped internal to familiarize myself with the internal workings and it is not that complicated inside - granted I've never dealt with sliding doors, only hinged. I think they are just over billing "funny money" as it is warranty repair (perhaps some sort of discounted rate applies that impacts their bottom dollar so they make up for it). Warranty is a good expense if you simply want hassle free ownership but rarely (there will always be exceptions as lemons and defects do occur) pay for itself. It is one bet I would not advocate, unless you get to draw up or nego terms and not simply buy what they offer. You are PRE-paying for convenience that you may or may not consume within a timer period (miles or year), which their actuaries have accounted for. Rather, I would suggest everyone find and support your local mechanic (there are some good ones but hard to find). Also, if you have doubts about the car and had factor in buying extended warranty, perhaps you should consider adding that money into another car to begin with.

If you don’t mind sharing, what package did you buy and what is your deductible?

To Silentnoise713 ----When the dealer does a repair, they count the amount of time to disassemble and reassemble and repair. All that time goes towards the hours spent repairing. They spent 7 hours on the doors, with approx. $90 labor, so that is $630, and also the internal prices of the genuine mazda parts are more then what you can get online or from a parts store. The replacement of insides of one door comes to about $600 per door per parts. So that is 2 doors, $1200 and labor about $600 so there is $1800, and then plus tax 0.08%, which is $150, so that comes to about $2000. You see it's just about $2000. If I did not have the warranty I would still have to pay these dealer prices. I don't feel comfortable taking a 3.5 year old car to a shop and have them do "research". This is a warranty that is backed by mazda, comes from mazda, and is in the system of every mazda dealer. They can pull it right up. If I could find a full size van brand new for what I paid for this bucket, I would definitely consider it. But this car was a bargain hard to refuse. Today they notified me by email, that the noise I was hearing last week, was actually the belt tensioner pulley that lost it's lube and wore out. The bearing is what made the sound. That is really sad, and if I did not have the warranty it would be about $150 for the part and about $100 for labor, I am sure. So that is close to $300. That is really sad on a 3.5 year old car when my wife's civic is 7 years old and had nothing ever replaced other then routine stuff. If I could do it over, I would go with a Honda. The way I bought this car is that I looked on websites to find a last year model, and trade in my car and get the best deal possible, which I did at the time, but if I had to pay for all these repairs out of pocket this car would have been gone a long time ago. I plan to trade it after the warranty is over, if it continues on this path. Otherwise I will keep it...

The warranty is TotalCare: http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/dis...arameter=modelsWarrantyMEPP&vehicleCode=CX9#1
Deductible is $50, chump change for the stuff they had to do so far. I plan to listen to every possible thing that changes and take it to dealer, before the warranty expires. I hope my front shocks blow too. I would like a new pair before they actually go.

 

[markuszoom5]

To Gino---- I did not pay for it. It was covered by extended warranty. If I had to pay that much for the doors, I would have waited until temps go up and dumped the POS to some dealer and got myself a Civic. They should have tested the latches in freezing temps especially when they export the car to Canada etc. But apparently after getting a recall on the 2006 mazda continued using the flawed part in my 2010 MZ5. That is the sad part of the story. Now the doors can freeze and still latch without a problem. The dealer did not take me to the cleaners, they just charge their hourly rate and the MSRP on parts like every other dealer does. I would not go to them for the air filter or a light bulb obviously.

 

[gino]

Understand the stealership cost. Should have thoroughly read the bit about extended warranty coverage. Warranties are like insurance, dealers can pad labor costs, to a degree, At least it's taken care of. Agree with you on other work. Have a local shop that's excellent and labor's half the cost of the dealer. Fortunately, The dealership parts manager's a bud and I get 27% off list on OEM.

 

[Silentnoise713]

I still don’t understand how it takes them 7 hrs to repair a door latch but hey, it is what it is. As long as you are happy with the warranty, that’s all that matters b/c at the end of the day it is your money well spent. What I’m trying to convey is that you are not getting what you think you are getting.

For apples to apples, the projected $300 belt tensioner pulley repair can be done for $16 in parts (Gates is very good) + a few mins or your time or local mechanics which is way less than $90/hr this dealer charges. It is also much more convenient NOT having to make an appt, taking the trip to drop the car off, or waiting for them. The Mz5 does not contain any technology so unique/advance that it requires “research”. Any capable ASE cert. tech can do most repairs. If you are referring to looking through a shop manual or a source like All Data, the Mazda mech most likely has to look through these sources too (granted they prob have even more references) so that’s moot. I always try to convey that if you bring the car in for minor repair, you are likely going to get the new guy’s dirty hands all over it whereas with the local one-two man garage (assuming you have a good one) you know who’s doing the work.
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123838409-Belt-Tensioner-Pulley

Don’t get me wrong, I also stand firm that “this” Mazda product overall suffer from material quality but have pretty good build and design quality. I find the Mz6 material quality is an improvement but it is a different class. One of my first posts was a gripe/vent how I feel this car is made up of cheapest parts but accept the fact of life in you get what you pay for. Ultimately I advise against my parents getting a Mazda and pointed them to Honda/Subaru. IMO, it takes a certain type of owner to really appreciate Mazda products.

The warranty is TotalCare: http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/dis...arameter=modelsWarrantyMEPP&vehicleCode=CX9#1
Deductible is $50, chump change for the stuff they had to do so far. I plan to listen to every possible thing that changes and take it to dealer, before the warranty expires. I hope my front shocks blow too. I would like a new pair before they actually go.

I think this says it all.

 

[brandini]

wife's civic is 7 years old and had nothing ever replaced other then routine stuff. If I could do it over, I would go with a Honda. The way I bought this car is that I looked on websites to find a last year model, and trade in my car and get the best deal possible, which I did at the time, but if I had to pay for all these repairs out of pocket this car would have been gone a long time ago

So a car with power rear doors vs a car without? Sounds fair. And FYI my mom had an Odyssey, same power door repair problems but it was a bit less in cost as that van was WAY more popular (but also big $$$). THAT van also had a grenade of an automatic transmission so be glad you didn't get one.

All cars have problems, stop being so dramatic about 2-3 repairs, especially in a rougher (read: cold as hell) climate.

And if your front shocks go, replace them with something nicer and you'll fall in love with the 5 all over again. Twin-tube shocks are known to be wear-prone, it's due to their design. Cars (all cars, Odyssey and civic included) are designed to last to, and just past, the warranty expires. A little preventive maintenance goes a long way to improving your experience. Look into Bilstein sports (monotube, king of all) or Koni FSDs (twin tube but greatly changed internal design) or Koni STR.T (twin tube but stiffer than OEM for more control and less undulation).

 

[MR6]

I'm strongly considering the extended on my MS3, if i keep her. The forums have a few threads about blown turbos on OEM tunes and shifting problems. If they let me put it on the van i would do it too. this is from a guy who loves wrenching but with the years/miles starting to really pile on, it's def worth doing a cost analysis on the thing. If it's under or around a grand for the "PowerCare" drivetrain only warranty, for at least 3 years/50k, then i would probably do it. Anymore than that or if it's a much shorter term, they can keep it.

I stated in the metallic noise thread what others have reiterated here...ALL cars have problems. Especially in the winter. If you find a problem free one, let us know! But not all cars seat 6 and corner on rails while on the way to get groceries And NO insult to your wife, but my wife, multiple neighbors' wives....are absolutely clueless when it comes to cars. If i could count how many times i stopped driving the van for months on end, thinking all was well, only to hop back in for a quick errand and feel/hear something wrong. My wife's response...every time? "I thought it was normal" yeah babe, clickity-clacks and grinding noises are totally normal lol She rode the last brake pads to the backing plate, killing the rotors! (hence my MS3 conversion) My neighbor's wife did the same thing to her Sonata. Now i make it a point to drive it once or twice a week. Again, NO insult AT ALL to your lovely wife, but maaaybe this Civic you hold in such high regard may have issues that she just might be describing as "normal". Drive it for a month and get back to us. lol

And Silent, the problem with local mechs is you WILL find out the hard way how rare a good one is...at least a bad dealer is backed by Mazda's bank roll. Also, for guys like you and i that wrench, a local mech isn't going to do much better than we would ourselves. In fact, we'll likely know more about our own vehicle than a local mech who may never see Mz5's. The (good) dealer, imo, is a step above my skill set and that's why it makes sense to get the extended. If the price/terms are right...

...The dealership parts manager's a bud and I get 27% off list on OEM.

so when is ginoparts.com coming online?!

 

[markuszoom5]

MR6 you are killing me man, I agree with everything you wrote, and my wife would not know wrong from right on her car. I do drive it at least once a week, but truly when I get in the car behaves like brand new. I put Wagner brakes on a while back for her thank god. My car now, after being put through free alignment and tire rotation and tensioner replace drives like brand new too. Now if it could only stay that way until at least the first waxing lol so I can feel better about it. And yes Gino, start funneling those OEM parts for cheap for us HAHAHHAHAA..