Budgets Are Sexy

I asked the wife what to blog about today cuz I was out of money ideas (it’s hard coming up with them every day! :)), and she told me to talk about warranties.  Which wasn’t the most exciting thing to hear if I’m being totally honest, haha, but I did realize I’ve never actually blogged about those before ;) And people are ALWAYS wondering if they should get a warranty or not, even me at times. So I figured why not – let’s do it! (This if for you honey!)

Before I start posting away though, keep in mind I’m not gonna spend the time digging up hard facts on whether warranties are *truly* worth it or not, cuz I’d rather just ingest 10 gallons of spoiled milk instead (that’s how boring it would be!). I’m just gonna give y’all my non-professional opinion cuz I think it pretty much comes down to a personal choice anyways. And I want to hear YOUR opinions on these afterward too, cuz I know half of y’all have some real life experiences to share with us also. And I’d much rather learn from you guys than the “gurus” out there anyway :) Cool?

Okay, here are times when you may, or may not, need Warranties:

1. When you buy a house.  Now these aren’t the typical warranties we hear about like w/ cars and electronics, etc, but you CAN grab a small 1 year one or so (and then renew it) for a few hundred dollars.  And I think it’s not a bad idea to do so – at least for the first year when you wanna make sure everything’s a-okay in that new house of yours.  We did it for our first two years if I recall correctly, and while we only used it once (when our bathtub randomly stated leaking), we got a LOT out of the peace of mind. And most warranties cover all your major appliances like fridges, AC units, stoves, dyers, etc.  The only other part that kinda sucks besides the yearly fee, is the deductibles you still have to pay on top of it, but again – they could really save you if something major happens that the previous owners happened to “forgot” to tell you about. This helps make it suck less.
2. When you buy a car – new or used.  I will ALWAYS always ALWAYS get one if they’re available to me – it’s a huge selling point in my books. My freakin’ cars break down all the time! Haha… and even when they don’t, I like knowing it’s all covered under the 3 or 5-year warranty I picked up.  The only sucky part here is that it gets harder, and more expensive, to keep it going on the older cars.  All new models come with one right off the bat (and even if you buy one that’s 1 or 2 years old, the warranty still transfers over to you), but when you’re talking about anything older than 4-5 years, you have to decide if the extra premium is worth it.  For example, my ’93 Caddy?  Def. not worth the $2k-$4k extra just to cover some parts – the car isn’t even worth that! ;)
3. When renting a car (though in this case it’s extra insurance). These are the worst cuz they always tempt you and then freak you out when you’re driving around w/ out one! Haha… but in all honesty I RARELY accept these because your normal car insurance (and sometimes even your credit cards) will cover it if something should stupidly happen.  I don’t personally think it’s worth the extra $15-20 A DAY to insure it even more, unless I’ll be driving a crazy amounts through large cities and/or ghettos. And you’d be amazed at some of the areas we ended up in through Love Drop last year, haha… If you ever want to know what it’s like to be in a horror movie, pass through Gary, Indiana really late at night and drive super slow ;) We got lost there last year and came across this super rundown church that had the words, “God save us all” spray-painted across the entire thing!  Man that was scary.  But yeah, for the most part I hardly ever add additional car insurance to my rentals.
4. When you buy computers or electronics. This one’s hard because I feel like by the time they break down, you’ll probably want to get a newer one anyways around that time, or at least a cheaper one (you know most of this stuff gets better and better as time goes on).  But if we’re talkin’ about larger items like computer or huge TVs, etc, I’ll usually pick up a 2-3 year warranty if it’s not too expensive.  Mainly just for the security of feeling I’m extra covered just in case something happens sooner than later (most things like that are already covered with a manufacturer’s warranty, but usually people don’t like mailing things in to get them fixed, so the store’s warranty makes it super easier for you). This one’s a 50/50 call in my books.

As you can tell, most of this stuff just comes down to personal preference, and how much of a clear mind you really want.  If you’re one to worry a lot about things breaking down, the extra money is probably worth it to you.  If you think you’ll always be just fine and your stuff is un-breakable, then you’re probably not gonna want to shell out all that extra for “nothing.”

Did this help y’all?  Are we glad the Mrs. brought it up? ;)  How do you guys handle these types of warranties?  I feel like I missed some other big ones too, but that’s all that comes to mind right now… leave ’em in the comments if you think of anymore. At the end of the day, though, you know yourself more than we do, and if something is worth it to you, just go for it.  We’ve got enough pressures to deal with in our daily lives, so the more stress we can get rid of the better :)

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(Photo by Random McRandomhead – haha…)

Originally published at budgetsaresexy.com.