Should I take out this extra 5 year warranty?

I received the following question today about whether to take out an extended warranty or not. This particular decision is harder than normal because the washing machine in question has a reputation for outstanding build quality and reliability and already has a 5 year warranty -

“Having purchased a Miele Premier 520 washing machine from John Lewis recently with a 5 year guarantee, we’ve now received the warranty certificate. (This was after taking advice from your excellent site).

My question is, we’ve been offered a further 5 years guarantee which will make a total of 10 years for £199.00. Is this in your opinion good value for money? Or, is the machine that good that it wouldn’t need more money spent on it? The price we paid was £529. With the extra it does bump it up to £759.”

My reply

It’s a bit paradoxical isn’t it? You’ve bought one of the most reliable washing machines available and they are trying to sell you an extra warranty. It’s a tough one because you worry that if you choose not to and it does break down you might kick yourself.

Although the Miele is very reliable, you do have to bear in mind that if faults do occur they can be very expensive to fix because obviously they need expensive, quality parts. The odds are quite high that you won’t need the cover though.

Ideally if you could put the £199 in a high interest savings account and leave it there it would either cover, or go a long way towards any potential repair between 5 and 10 years. In the mean time it would earn interest and if you don’t need it you get all your money back. There aren’t many people with the discipline to do that and not touch the money though.

Another thing to bear in mind is that extended warranties don’t cover wear and tear, so if a part breaks down because it’s worn out it isn’t covered. In the first 5 years parts should be OK (apart from on cheap washing machines) but the period between 5 and 10 years is when parts can definitely start to fail because of wear. However, this is far more relevant on more ordinary washing machines and you should expect the Miele to stand up to a lot of wear because it’s designed to last at least 20 years.

Unfortunately in this case it isn’t good value for money because other Miele models such as the one I use Miele W 3740 have a lot of extra features and already come with a 10 year warranty (NOTE: These extended warranties are used promotionally by Miele and subject to change). The price of the W 370 is no more expensive than the combined Premier 520 and extra warranty. So if you took out the warranty you’d end up paying the same as a W 3740 but with no Honeycomb drum and other worthwhile features.

Good rule of thumb

Therefore, an important rule of thumb would be that if you are interested in a longer than normal guarantee you should really buy a washing machine that has it included in the price.

If the reason you didn’t go for a model costing over £700 with the 10 year warranty included is because you didn’t really want to spend that much or just couldn’t afford it then unless you’ve had a change of heart I’d bear that in mind.

Final thought

The Miele extra warranty is different to third party warranties because it’s run by Miele themselves. This cuts out the middleman and of course it’s geared up specifically for Miele washing machines. I understand you could take it out later, maybe even much later. If you like the idea of being covered from 5 – 10 years it could be something worth considering in the future after recovering from the shock to your wallet.

Related advice:

• Washing machines are expensive to repair but are extended warranties the answer?
• Miele washing machine build quality review

Written By - Washerhelp on July 3rd, 2007 with 3 comments
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