Are Extended Car Warranties Worth it?

Extended Car Warranty?

One of the most attractive benefits of leasing or buying a new car is the peace of mind you get from knowing you’ll have no car repairs for 3-5 years. Most of the brand new car makers provide a warranty for the first 36-60 months of the car or 12,000 miles per year; whichever comes first. Obviously, one huge benefit of leasing a new car every 36 months is that you will spend very little of your time and money in the shop for repairs or maintenance. Most cars will last three years without needing brakes or tires. The most you will need to do is change the oil 2 or 3 times a year. So, what if you want to keep your car longer than its 3 or 5-year warranty period? Should you consider an Extended Car Warranty?

What Does an Extended Car Warranty Cover?

• What brakes on a car after 3 years? Not much.
• What brakes on a car after 5 years? Not much.
• Will you need new brakes and tires? Very likely.

Will an Extended Car Warranty cover new brakes and tires? Not at all. A few years ago, when I was finalizing the paperwork on the 4-year lease of my Pontiac G6, I was presented with an assortment of Extended Car Warranties. The car dealer explained to me that since my warranty would expire after 3 years, I would be left with a 3-year old car that was not covered by a warranty in my 4^th year of leasing it. Oh, the horror! The cost of extending my car warranty ranged from around $30 to $60 a month, depending on the size of deductible, coverage options and benefits. Benefits include things like hazard and road-size assistance. I was not impressed, nor even slightly inclined to pay for warranty coverage on a car that would be only 3 years old and have less than 40,000 miles of use. My previous experience with cars that I kept longer than 4 years was a 1996 Infiniti G20 and a 2000 Chevrolet Venture Mini Van. Read the rest of this entry

Is Dental Insurance Worth it?

Individual Dental Insurance

If there is one thing worse than a visit to the dentist it is having to pay for the grueling torture inflicted upon your mouth. I honestly don't know what is more painful; getting your teeth drilled or paying for cleanings, fillings, crows and root canals. I was one of the lucky ones, who stopped getting cavities after age 12, so I never considered Dental Insurance a necessity kids. Even then, I began asking myself, "Is Dental Insurance Worth it?" Kids do get lots of cavities so at the average price of $100 - $250 per filling, I decided I wasn't going to be without dental insurance. A good Dental Insurance Plan covers up to 80% of the cost of fillings and provides free check-ups and cleanings after every 6 months. (That's about $200 per child). If you don't have kids and don't get many cavities, there's yet another reason to consider whether or not dental insurance is worth it: All of those fillings you had as a child have likely started to weaken and cause cracks in the structure of your teeth. I've had three crowns since I was about 22 years old and my dentist says I will likely need about 3 or 4 more. At the uninsured price of around $1,000 each, this could get very expensive. And, that it's only for me, not including the wife and kids. Face it, a mouth full of teeth is one of the most expensive liabilities we all share. Are Dental Insurance for Individuals and Family Dental plans, PPO Dental Plans, etc., worth the cost of having no Dental Insurance at all? To answer this question, I did some basic research. This is what an uninsured dental patient can expect to pay for the most common procedures at the dentists office: Read the rest of this entry

Cooper STT Discoverer

Summer vacation season is here. If you treasure the rugged roads of the great outdoors, maybe it’s time to invest in some new Cooper STT Discoverer tires for your off-road excursions. Why Cooper STT? Well, because I’ve never found another brand of tire that fills the off-road needs of so many different vehicles like Cooper STT. The Cooper STT Discoverer tire series come in sizes to fit virtually every type of vehicle: 215/225/235/245/255/265/285/295/305/315,325 and in wheel-rim sizes from 15” to 21”.  The quality and performance of Cooper STT Discoverer tires is indisputable. If you enjoy taking your AWD vehicle up and down those single lane peaks with cliffs on both sides, and find yourself need to backup to clear the way for an oncoming vehicle, the last thing you want to do is worry about sliding backwards. You simply won’t find another tire that will give you more confidence and assurance than the Cooper STT Discoverer.

The good news is that there is always great pricing and free shipping on Cooper STT Discoverer tires on eBay. I’ve sorted out the most popular sizes for you. These are good deals on a really good off-road tire and they come with free shipping. If you don’t see your size listed, check out the ‘All Other Sizes’ section below. Read the rest of this entry

After I completed a somewhat less-than complimentary review on Blue Magic Headlight Lens Restorer a few months back, I received a few comments in defense of the product. A few users reported that it did a good job restoring a foggy headlight. Other reported that that they had tried another plastic restorer product or two and the BlueMagic is now their first choice in a plastic headlight polish. Yet, there are other people out there like myself who failed to get the results they wanted and were left with looking for another headlight lens repair solution or plastic restorer. Obviously different headlights are made out of different plastic materials and different headlights fog up for various reasons. Therefore, depending on the condition of your headlights or the reason they are fogged or scratched in the first place, different brands of plastic restorer products may offer varying results for different users. I thought it would be worthwhile to check out what a variety of users have to say about a few of the more popular plastic scratch removal or headlight lens restorer products that are on the market.
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