Well -- sheesh ! I Meant to post this on the money saving forum !! LOL Another Senior moment here ~~ *embarrassed grin* Well - as long as I posted it and asked , feel free to reply !!!

Never bought one, never will. Even though NOTHING lasts 15-30 years any more, we figure it'll outlive the warranty period. So far, our bet has been right.

Learned my lesson my my gas electronic ignited stove. Had to replace the first one after 2 years because repair was as much as replacement. Now I carry a warranty on it every year. It paid for itself the very first year within 6 months of purchasing. I think it has to do with the components and what their replacement cost will be. For me, I'll always carry a warranty on a stove. Forgive the pun, but after being burned once, I learned my lesson.

I try not to buy junk. I research like crazy, read message boards, look up Consumer Reports ratings etc. However, I am finding that that isn't enough. About 4 months ago my Kenmore dryer went. It was cheaper to buy a warranty than get it repaired so I did. A month later my fridge went, thankfully, it was a manufacturers defect and GE is fixing it free of charge. Just today my Kenmore washing machine went and we will probably have to get a new one. My car (honda) is on the fritz. It is 7 years old but only has 35K miles & my old Chevy lasted 13 years. Anyway, long story short, I wish I had bought the warranties for all upfront as it would have saved me $$ in the long run. I don't know if I just have bad luck, but from now on, I'm buying warranties for all my big purchases.

We haven't had good luck with warranties....Years ago, we got a nice, big TV and bought the extended warranty...6 months after we bought the TV, the store went belly up and our warranty was long gone....

If I can't readily afford to replace the item, I get the extended warranty. For major appliances, for me it is a no brainer because there is so much computerized junk in them these days (even things that don't LOOK like they have computer chips in them) that can fail SO easily, and a new circuit board can cost hundreds. I try to get the warranty from the manufacturer or from a major store like Sears with a long track record to minimize the likelihood of it vanishing into thin air - that is, unfortunately, an argument against buying from the smaller independent stores, the possibility that they may not be able to back up their long-term commitments.

The one-year warranty on the Kenmore dishwasher the PO installed during his rehab/flip ended three weeks ago. This weekend the dishwasher dumped a flood of water on the kitchen floor after approximately two weeks of use (it's only been about two weeks that we've been unpacked enough to use real dishes). Sears sez "too bad so sad, it's out of warranty so cough up" even though it had only been used less than 10 times! (So we're being punished because PO overpriced his house and took so long to sell it... lovely.) We were able to see that it is not the hose connections, past that we're both clueless. It irritates me that it may potentially cost almost as much to repair the stupid thing as to buy a new freakin' dishwasher on sale.

Just a funny 'aside' here... few years ago we bought a reconditioned (4 yr old) 22 cu.' fridge that I loved once we started using it. The store gave us a one yr warranty on it. One year later, the DAY before the warranty ran out, there was a small problem with it, and the store had to pay for repairs (it's been fine ever since), but I'll never forget how close we came to having to pay for it! Life is always weirder than fiction!

There have been many articles on extended warranties and of the ones I've read they all advise not to do it.

From what I understand extended warranties are a scam for companies to make more money off of the consumer (us).

If you decide to purchase a warranty, read the fine print!

Some times the company comes out ahead, more times than not. In the case of the stoves I've had, the components made it almost mandatory to buy the warranty if I didn't want to throw out an $1100 stove after a couple of years of use. There's always that one "lemon" out there and I guess it's a guessing game sometime as to who will be unlucky enough to get it.

For laptops and used cars only.