Considering a 2003 Santa Fe, used

A local Hyundai dealer had an '03 Santa Fe with 54,000 miles on it for sale.
It is a GLS 2WD and appears to be in great shape. No overspray anywhere (no
sign of accident), all tires the same age, and fit and finish are excellent
except for the front hood on the passenger's side, it is up about 1/16"
higher than it should be.

The former owner (one owner car, no problems showed up on a carfax report),
traded it in on an '06 (loyal owner promotion, is my bet, we received one of
those in the mail...) It was a local, North Texas owner.
A) If we buy it, should we consider buying an extended warranty?
B) Is $13,500 a good price? (I don't have time to go on a grail quest for
the perfect private owner deal.)
C) Is the '03 a good vehicle, in general?

My wife loves it and believes we still need hauling capacity.... this is to
replace her car that our daughter totaled, but with THREE kids in college,
we are pressed to cover tuition, let alone a new car.

Feedback? I will have to get things in motion tomorrow evening if it is a
go.
TIA

 

Sorry, it is a 2.7 Litre V6, automatic.

 

A. How big a gambler are you? Odds are great that it'll cost less in the
long term without the warranty. If you do consider buying the warranty,
check to see what it covers and what it excludes. Customers are often led
to believe that the extended warranty covers all the items that the
manufacturer's warranty covers, but I've not seen one extended warranty
that does this. Once you know what it covers, then you can reason out
some sort of cost-benefit analysis. Keep in mind, you're probably buying
this warranty from an independent company. If you nose around, you'll see
that some of them have a habit of going bankrupt-- they have your money,
and you cannot get them to pay for repairs.

B. I don't know much about used car pricing, but you can check on the web
at www.edmunds.com, www.nada.com, and www.kbb.com to get an idea. In my
opinion, KBB prices are a little high-- that's why the dealers like to use
them for price comparison.

C. The '03 (and all 2.7 V6 Santa Fes in my opinion) has been a good
vehicle.

 

As well, read the fine print. Seriously. You need to understand exactly
what parts are covered or not covered by commonly used terms. Commonly used
and commonly understood terms do not translate to contract terms.

Read well to see what the process is to file a claim against the warranty.
Likely you will find that you have to file the claim with the warranty
company which will then manage the process of finding an authorized
dealer/repair center (not guaranteed to be a Hyundai dealer, or even a shop
that you might otherwise go to), locating the replacement parts - this is
absolutely guaranteed not to be new dealer inventory. They will always try
to use salvage parts and they have select salvage yards around the country.
Do not be surprised to find your part will come from Texas and you're
located in Mass. Bet on it - parts will ship the slowest and cheapest
possible way.

Most of these have 5 day car rental plans included. But... that's 5 days -
period. You will likely see closer to a couple of weeks repair time by the
time the warranty company sends an adjuster to look at the car, gets his
report and processes it, locates replacement parts, ships them, and then the
work actually gets scheduled by the repair facility.

These aren't possibilities, these are the things that happen every day.

Let the buyer beware.

 

Good points, Mike. I've only encountered a few situations where the
extended warranty company didn't want to use dealer parts. This was
typically major or expensive component replacement. Used engines.
Aftermarket reman A/C compressors. Nearly every warranty company reserves
the right to choose new/reman/used and the source of the part. But,
perhaps the reason I've seen only a few instances of this is that I work
at the dealer. I don't see the ones that require the car to be taken
elsewhere.

 

Thanks! I will consider this.