To buy an extended warranty on new to me Used LR4

I recently purchased a LR4 with 51k miles, it is basically our family car mostly for my wife. After the test drive everything seemed good, no weird knocks, engine sounded and felt good. On the way home I noticed some slight shaking in the steering wheel at higher speeds. This dealership put some crap Chinese tires on it so I figure no big deal just an unbalanced tire. Then pulling into the driveway I hear a pop from the passenger side front suspension. After looking under there I notice some play in the LCA bushing, the driver side is better but I feel like I'm hearing a knock from that side too. So I'm looking at replacing both front LCA's and both front and rear sway bar bushings. I'm also seeing some old oil looking stains around the bushings on the rear control arms. there is no sound or issues I can see so I'm not sure if it was old bushings that went out and had already been replaced. I contacted the closest dealership to me and they're offering me a few warranties one being a gold plus 48k mile warranty for just under 5600. the 36k mile warranty is 4615. I'm hoping to get opinions on if it is a better option to go with the warranty or to just fix the suspension issues at a local rover mechanic/myself if it is unreasonably expensive. I've done a bit of research here on prices to do the control arms and its looking like 1400 is the number for the two front LCAs. Any input is appreciated

I just bought an LR4 with similar mileage. The CarMax extended warranty to 100K, with $150 deductible, was around $4500. I got a similar price in two different states. I'm not sure what that would run in CA. Do you have a LR shop around you that you can call? Ask the mechanic which ones he's found are easy to work with. There is another one that was mentioned to me, but I forget the backing company's name.

Obviously, I think it's worth buying the warranty, but it's a personal decisions as everyone feels differently about that insurance. I'm not familiar enough with them to know what suspension issues are covered and which ones are considered normal wear, but yeah, sounds like you need some work completed.

Good luck and welcome to the forum!

I would be shocked if they warranty your vehicle without an inspection, and that inspection will surely turn up the problems you are having.

If not, though, a LCA job at a dealer is probably around a cool grand or more, so you're well on your way to a warranty.

That said, I bought mine CPO 15 months ago, currently have around 57k miles on it, and haven't had to use the CPO warranty once.

I paid about $4500 for an extended warranty for 4 more yrs and up to 100k. It covered about $15k in repairs... including differentials, front half shaft axles, rear hubs, and bunch of other pricey stuff.

Would LCA (bushings) even be covered under warranty anyway? They are a common wear and tear item on our heavy LR4s. Pretty much everyone I have heard with their first LCA issues are never covered even under manufacturer's warranty, myself included. Again, it's considered normal "wear & tear".

Unless for some reason that 3rd party warranty covers consumables like pads, rotors, and bushings.

Your best bet might be to contact that dealer you bought it from and see if they will cover, or at least meet you halfway on the LCA replacement costs. They sold it to you faulty. Of course, these are usually sold "as-is", but if they care about their customer service reputation they may be willing to work with you.

I had LCA bushings replace twice under regular new car warranty. At 20,*** miles and at 40,*** miles without any problems.
I should also mention that I run heavy BFG E-rated tires and full set of tactical rovers skid plates.
So it depends on a dealer and your relationship with your SA.
My factory warranty just expired. After talking to an independent land rover shop and the dealer I decided not to spend money on extended warranty, especially 3rd party warranty. If it was land rover branded warranty, then maybe. But land rover stopped their own extended warranties in 2017 ( at least this is what I was told when I visited my dealer).
Time will tell if this was a right decision.

I had mine replaced under a non-factory warranty, which darn near paid for half of the warranty right there.. I needed the peace of mind that if I have a rare catastrophic drivetrain failure, I am covered.. The week before I bought my Rover, my mother-in-law threw a rod in her 2012 Toyota Camry (yes, a frigging Toyota Camry) so I was pretty spooked.. I hope we all get to 250k with no problems, but I like keeping an ace in the hole..

Mike

TLB said:

But land rover stopped their own extended warranties in 2017 ( at least this is what I was told when I visited my dealer).
Time will tell if this was a right decision.

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the warranty quote i was given is from a land rover dealership. id check around

Just replaced both lower control arm bushings in California and the cost was $600.00.

I have Delta Auto Protect ESP on my 2010 RRS S/C and they covered the LCA bushings no problem. Took it to the dealer, got an evoque as a rental and picked it up a few days later. I did have to pay for the alignment though. I paid $1,900 for 2 years/24K miles. They said I can extend it for a longer term whenever i'd like. The warranty has already paid for itself in 6 months. Car currently has 108,000 bought the warranty at 98,000.