# keep and get GMPP warranty or trade/sell when out of warranty???



## rjacobs (Feb 7, 2021)

New member although I guess I have been a lurker for almost 2 years now... thought I had made an account when I bought the car...

Been active on the couple of Cruze facebook groups, but I deleted my facebook last month... so here I am.

Anyway onto the meat and potato's...

2018 Cruze TD 9spd... 28k miles... still have warranty until 36k miles or May 2022. The car was a left over bought in May 2019. I will hit warranty mileage limit in another 7 months or so. My wife and I love the car and I love averaging 45mpg...

I havent had any MAJOR issues with the car, but it seems every 6 months or so I get an emissions related code, clear it, then wait for the system to hopefully reset. So far so good with that. The car had to have a NOX sensor replaced the day after we bought it, but I tried to chock it up to "infant mortality"...

I keep reading threads about nasty EGR, sooted up intake manifolds, dealers not being able to fix anything(because they dont know jack about these cars), etc... and its making me question keeping this car out of warranty. It seems that if I have no warranty and it needs work its basically dealer only and even at that you may or may not pay a bunch of money for diagnostics by somebody who doesnt really know what they are doing anyway.

So here is my quandary... 

I can get a GMPP(a real GM extended warranty, not the old ones by Ally) to take me out to 72m/75k which gives me basically another 3 years of coverage for $2650 as long as i buy it by 30k miles... after 30k the price goes up, but I didnt ask how much, guessing its not terrible, could be $3k.

OR

I can use that $2650-3000 and put it towards a new car and I would either trade or sell this car outright.


Are my "fears" of keeping this car out of warranty unfounded?


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## JLL (Sep 12, 2017)

I have a 2015 Cruze with the 1.4L turbo.

I bought the GMPP warranty when I bought my car. I believe I paid around $2000 for it. I had to use it twice in 3 years for a cracked washer fluid tank and washer motor and on the rear view mirror.

THEN I started to heavily modify my car so now the warranty probably isn't going to do me any good.  

But, it did give me peace of mind. From what I've read on here, Cruze's can either be GREAT or HORRIBLE. It seems like there's no in between.


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## phil1734 (Aug 30, 2019)

Most of the issues I've seen with the diesels are covered under the powertrain warranty, which is good for 60,000 miles. $3,000 for an additional 15,000 miles doesn't seem worth it to me.

I'm also in a similar situation to you. I love the car as a no-care no-cost daily driver, but the thought of owning it long term scares me. I have no intentions to delete mine and it's unsettling to know that one day out of the blue the SCR could kick the bucket and I'd have a worthless, undrivable car that needs $1,000+ repair. I suppose the one comfort we have is that those that do have higher mileage don't seem to see any uptick in the frequency or severity of the random check engine light illuminations.

If only someone would make an affordable electric car that wasn't weird just for the sake of being weird (I'm looking at you Bolt, and your god-awful Oreo cookie inspired interior.)


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## Thebigzeus (Dec 2, 2018)

I would pass on the extended warranty.


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## goochman (Mar 20, 2015)

Id keep the Cruze until you possibly run into major issues. $3k worth of problems _should_ be unusual within the first 100k miles. At the rate you are going you should easily get another 3+ years out of the car before getting close to the "something might go wrong" territory.

Just my $0.02


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## rjacobs (Feb 7, 2021)

phil1734 said:


> Most of the issues I've seen with the diesels are covered under the powertrain warranty, which is good for 60,000 miles. $3,000 for an additional 15,000 miles doesn't seem worth it to me.


Ive tried to read through the warranty supplement and here is what I have found...I think... and MOST isnt covered under the 5/60 powertrain warranty...

Page 21 starts with the emissions which is a 2/24k(which in reality is 3/36k) unless specified as longer(8/80k).

Page 25 has a list of what is covered under emissions which is a long list, but basically worthless outside the 3/36 unless covered out to 7/70k or 8/80k...
-DPF and DEF tank is 7/70k, but not the actuators or sensors(guessing this includes the NOX sensor)
-EGR valve cooler is covered for 7/70 but not the actual valve or anything else related to the system
-Diesel pump and injectors covered 7/70k
-Turbo covered for 7/70k...
-Catalytic converters(I believe the SCR counts as that) is covered out to 8/80k I believe, if not its a 7/70k item.

Those are the big things that have me worried...although most sensors dont appear to be covered that I can find. BUT reading through some threads such as the big EGR cooler blocked thread the guy had a huge fight with the dealership(2 or 3 actually) to get them to cover it(I dont think that SAGA is even over actually) because it was obviously blocked, but never threw a code. We drive the car on the highway 3-4 days a week so DPF clogging from short trips doesnt scare me, neither does the DEF tank leaking(ive not read of this being an issue), but the tank heater, pump, etc... doesnt seem to be covered at all. Ive only read one thread I think about injector or pump issues so not to big a worry there. I also dont think I have read any threads on turbo issues on these cars(the gas cars, yea, but not the diesels). And I dont know that I have read anything major with the SCR either.

I cant find the list of what is "generally" considered powertrain, but I generally consider that hard engine and transmission parts...but generally not sensors as "electrical items" are generally excluded in my experience... Im not to concerned with hard parts breakage in the engine or trans to be honest. IF the trans had issues that seems to be a problem because from what I can tell this 9spd auto is a ******* transmission that is basically in nothing else. I have read of people having their cars sit for 2-3 months for a trans problem because of no parts availability...

Im also generally ok with wrenching on my own cars, but with some of the ECU stuff on these cars being pretty locked down, even if you can replace hard parts yourself out of warranty, it may still require a trip to the dealer(possibly on a tow truck) to get the ECU cleared. About 2 months ago I had a NOX code that put the car into "100 miles to 65mph" mode. The DEF 300 mile warning came on and I think the system sucked in a little air. I called the dealer and the guy said drive it until the system runs again and it should reset(it did after about 45 miles). I asked "what do you all do if the car gets to the 5mph limit"... he said they have a way to reset that to the 65mph limit to do additional drive cycles, but thats it...until the system clears itself... crazy to me that even the dealer doesnt have a way to TRULY clear codes and reset the system after maintenance.

And if there was a reliable way to do a weight reduction(exhaust and EGR) on these cars I would be all in... I havent seen anything YET... not like the Gen 1 cars at least.


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## rjacobs (Feb 7, 2021)

goochman said:


> Id keep the Cruze until you possibly run into major issues. $3k worth of problems _should_ be unusual within the first 100k miles. At the rate you are going you should easily get another 3+ years out of the car before getting close to the "something might go wrong" territory.
> 
> Just my $0.02


I guess I read threads where the intake manifolds are filled with soot or the EGR cooler is filled with soot and it scares me a little... I cant necessarily see GM covering that outside of the 3/36k... "oh we will sell you this cleaning service for 800 bucks"... or as in the big EGR cooler thread they wont warranty it because "it hasnt thrown a code"...

And ive had a few DEF/NOX related check engine lights and a sensor replaced already, so that system sketches me out just a little, although its a fairly simple system.


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## Carminooch (Mar 23, 2018)

rjacobs said:


> I guess I read threads where the intake manifolds are filled with soot or the EGR cooler is filled with soot and it scares me a little... I cant necessarily see GM covering that outside of the 3/36k... "oh we will sell you this cleaning service for 800 bucks"... or as in the big EGR cooler thread they wont warranty it because "it hasnt thrown a code"...
> 
> And ive had a few DEF/NOX related check engine lights and a sensor replaced already, so that system sketches me out just a little, although its a fairly simple system.


That was my car with the clogged egr valve, where they refused to even look at the cooler since the work they were doing was being covered under warranty (as my GM a senior advisor urged them to).

My gm senior advisor urged them to also look at the egr cooler but two dealerships refused to do so after they learned it was going to be warranty work. Then they magically stopped feeling the hesitation I was referring to all together, and my senior advisor had no power to force them to comply.

To this day, when you start the car and drive after a minute or so of warning up, it bucks like a bronco for 30 seconds and stops. No one knows why, no CEL, no one feels any urgency to address the labor costs associated with removing the egr cooler, so I’m banking on something failing so I can bring the car in with the heap of paperwork I got from 4 different dealerships that claimed they felt the issue I described. 

I love the car, I’m a proponent of leaving emissions equipment intact working as the way they should, but GM doesn’t make a strong case for me to keep the car if they can’t hire anyone who is competent enough to work on this engine.

The warranty is peace of mind and a value adder when I sell the car. I’m one catastrophic failure away from getting it fixed and selling it at carvana. Shame too, I love the RS package hatchback with the 6 speed manual.


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## phil1734 (Aug 30, 2019)

Everything you list except the injectors is covered under the 5/60k powertrain warranty, as on page 4-6 here: https://www.chevrolet.com/content/d...warranty-and-owner-assistance-information.pdf

It is important to note that the referenced emissions system warranty (the 7/70 and 8/80 items) only applies to vehicles registered in CARB compliant states.

As Carminooch has experienced, warranty coverage of either kind is not going to matter if the dealers you have to use are garbage.


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## rjacobs (Feb 7, 2021)

Carminooch said:


> That was my car with the clogged egr valve, where they refused to even look at the cooler since the work they were doing was being covered under warranty (as my GM a senior advisor urged them to).
> 
> My gm senior advisor urged them to also look at the egr cooler but two dealerships refused to do so after they learned it was going to be warranty work. Then they magically stopped feeling the hesitation I was referring to all together, and my senior advisor had no power to force them to comply.
> 
> ...


Thats the kind of stuff that freaks me out a little bit... not the actual problem as its probably an "easy" fix, but dealers that dont know their ass from a hole in the ground in regards to these cars and they know its going to take HOURS to diagnose and without a definitive CEL code to point them where to go just simply refuse to acknowledge anything is wrong and play the "out of warranty" game... "oh you can pay for the diagnostics and us to tear the car apart to check the system you suspect, but if its not, you are on the hook for xx hours of labor at $150 an hour"... That and I live in DFW where there are probably, no ****, 30 Chevy dealers within a 2 hour drive from my house... I bet between them there are 2 mechanics that have ever touched one of these cars... But I get it, with less than 2k produced in the entire run, there isnt any reason for them to spend 1 minute of their training time learning a car that they will likely never see anyway.


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## rjacobs (Feb 7, 2021)

phil1734 said:


> It is important to note that the referenced emissions system warranty (the 7/70 and 8/80 items) only applies to vehicles registered in CARB compliant states.


You are right about the 7/70 stuff being CARB only...

There are certain 8/80 that are Federal though. Anything on page 25 that is a ** is 8/80 federal.

Page 5 lists all the components on a diesel that are covered by powertrain warranty as well as what is excluded... I dont see that the EGR system is covered under the 5/60 warranty. 


So im back to "the systems that sketch me out" are covered to 5/60....maybe... Thats better than 3/36k I was "assuming"... 

So I guess back to the thinking board on whether I keep it another 2 years through the 5/60...


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## cdccjohnson (Apr 10, 2018)

Well I also have a 18 6-speed hatch. Its right at 65k. I have had two sensors go bad - one was replaced under warranty and one I replaced myself. The cluch master cylinder is also a known issue with the 6-speeds. Outside of that the car has been as solid as anything I have ever owned. Not a fan of extended warranties - Every time I have run the numbers, it never works out that they make financial sense, unless a particular model is know for a very high probability of a large repair, due to some well know design issue. There are a lot of forum members with much higher miles than mine that also report only minor issues.


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## rjacobs (Feb 7, 2021)

OK, I think I am convinced to at least not even consider the extended warranty... 2600-3000 goes a long way to either fixing some small issues with the car or putting towards a new vehicle... It also appears that MOST of the issues with the car would be covered through at least the 5/60k warranty...


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## BDCCruze (Jul 12, 2017)

I personally think any warranty is a waste of money. The fact is they make money on warranties for a reason. Over your lifetime, unless you are extremely unlucky, you will spend more on warranties than get from them. You are better off self insuring by having an emergency fund you can tap into.


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## JLL (Sep 12, 2017)

BDCCruze said:


> I personally think any warranty is a waste of money. The fact is they make money on warranties for a reason. Over your lifetime, unless you are extremely unlucky, you will spend more on warranties than get from them. You are better off self insuring by having an emergency fund you can tap into.


This is very true if you can afford it. As is true with ALL insurance, it is helpful if you need to spread the premium out over time. They normally just add the $2000 of whatever the price is to you monthly car payment amount.


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## BDCCruze (Jul 12, 2017)

JLL said:


> This is very true if you can afford it. As is true with ALL insurance, it is helpful if you need to spread the premium out over time. They normally just add the $2000 of whatever the price is to you monthly car payment amount.


Sure, but if you can't afford to come up with $2,000 in an emergency fund then you can't afford to buy a new car.


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## JLL (Sep 12, 2017)

BDCCruze said:


> Sure, but if you can't afford to come up with $2,000 in an emergency fund then you can't afford to buy a new car.


That's not true. They sold me a 5 year extended warranty from the date of purchase on a used vehicle. 2 years old with 9,000 miles. At the time, I didn't have $2,000 in savings. But I needed a reliable vehicle. That's why I bought the extended warranty. It only raised my monthly payments by $33 a month.


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## BDCCruze (Jul 12, 2017)

JLL said:


> That's not true. They sold me a 5 year extended warranty from the date of purchase on a used vehicle. 2 years old with 9,000 miles. At the time, I didn't have $2,000 in savings. But I needed a reliable vehicle. That's why I bought the extended warranty. It only raised my monthly payments by $33 a month.


Well I wont sit here and argue with you if you believe that. I think that sometimes people overestimate what they need, vehicle wise, as an excuse to buy more than they can afford. You don't need a 1-2 year old vehicle to have a reliable car. But I also believe in paying cash for vehicles and having no debt, so to each their own.


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## JLL (Sep 12, 2017)

BDCCruze said:


> Well I wont sit here and argue with you if you believe that.
> 
> So to each their own.


IF only everyone thought this way.


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## BDCCruze (Jul 12, 2017)

Consumer Reports posted recently about this subject:









Should You Get an Extended Warranty for Your Car? - Consumer Reports


Should you buy an extended warranty for your car? Consumer Reports consults experts and provides advice.




www.consumerreports.org


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