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Hi folks,
I purchased a Suzuki Boulevard M50 4 weeks ago and was offered a 5-yr extended warranty (manufacturer) for around $500. I did not purchase it but said that I will come back and get it in a few weeks and they said it is ok.
Yesterday, my bike was parked for 10 minutes while I was at a store. When I came out to start it, it wouldn't start. To make the story short, I was on the phone with the dealer's service dept. and something was shorting out as the fuse was burnt and when replaced with a spare, caused some burning and smoking from the starter assembly under the gas tank! They sent a truck to take the bike to their location, and they will pay me any taxi expenses to go home that night. They were very good about it. But here is my question, should I accept the warranty? It seems to be worth it if Suzuki always pays for towing to a dealership, and I verified that the warranty works in Canada too (I am Canadian living in Seattle.) Any comments, experience with extended warranty on bikes? This is my first bike...

Thanks

For $500 I'd say it's well worth it, especially if you're the type that puts lots of miles on your bike. You can easily spend that amount in accessories and more than that in insurance in one year anyways, so it sounds like a bargain to me. I bought the extended warranty for my bike and although I'll probably never use it, just having it takes a lot of worries off my mind on long trips.

Is it an unlimited miles warantee? Is it transferable to a new owner, if you decide to sell within 5 years?

My experience with extended warrantees is that they are very good for the dealer and a great profit maker. Presuming that your bike is new, once the few kinks are ironed out of it, there is small llikelihood that you will ever need warrantee. I got sucked in once and have since turned down dozens of extended warrantees (on almost anything that you purchase) As far as I am concerned, I am way ahead on that game. Of course I nearly always buy used (vehicles) today, rather than new. I prefer to let someone else take the hit on depreciation. I bought a year old Lincoln for nearly $20,000 less than new. It had 19,000 KMs on it. That was about a dollar per kilometer saving for me. I like my money in my pocket!

The standard business answer is that extended warranties are almost a con game, you almost never get your money out of it. I don't do them for anything, but then, like oldandslow, I prefer used and am handy enough with mechanical things that I'm willing to play the odds. Of course, you'll always hear from someone who recouped his cost with a new tranny after 18 months, but it's never happened to me.

I think if I were a typical American rider who buys a bike and ends up selling it from his garage 30 years later after accumulating 3000 whole miles, I definitely would not consider it. I will probably run 15,000+ miles a year on mine, so I might consider it given the standard factory warranty is almost useless.

Well, at least a couple angles to think about.

I did with mine only because I plan on putting a whole lot of miles on it. I ride every day, and only stop for about two months in the winter. The miles rack up fast and I really don't see the bike keeping up with me for many years this way. If you're not planning on really racking them up, then I wouldn't do it.